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1 results

  • 5 - The Second Time as Farce

  • Dane Kennedy, George Washington University, Washington DC
  • Book:
    Mungo Park's Ghost
    Published online:
    24 December 2023
    Print publication:
    25 January 2024, pp 112-136

  • Summary

    The Niger expedition was reconstituted and relaunched under the command of Captain William Gray in 1817. Although it took a different route, it adopted the same methods as its predecessor and met with the same results. Reliant on pack animals to transport its supplies and African rulers to grant it passage through their lands, it ground to a halt when the animals died and the rulers failed to cooperate. A suspicious Bundu regime detained the expedition. Some members deserted; others succumbed to disease. The rest fled to the French trading settlement of Bakel. In a desperate final bid to reach the Niger, Gray led a smaller party to Kaarta, but there too he encountered resistance, forcing his retreat to the coast. Gray’s later career as a settler in Tasmania highlights a key contrast to his experience as an explorer in Africa; unlike Aborigines, Africans held the upper hand in dealing with Europeans.