any circumstances much short of a positive and undoubted necessity.

In this difficult situation, he adopted that alternative which was most
congenial to his character and feelings; and having once formed this
resolution, he adhered to it with tranquillity and firmness; dismissing
from his own mind all doubts and apprehensions, or at least effectually
concealing them, from the companions of his journey, and from his
friends and correspondents in England.

* * * * *

For the particulars of this second expedition, the reader must be
referred to the Journal now published, which commences from this period.
But in order to give a general view of the extent of Park's labours, it
may be useful on this, as on the former occasion, to note the more
important dates, and some of the principal circumstances of the journey.

The persons composing the expedition, being assembled at Kayee, a small
town on the Gambia a little below Pisania, Park engaged a Mandingo
priest, named Isaaco, who was also a travelling merchant and much
accustomed to long inland journies, to serve as the guide to his
caravan. On the 27th of April 1805, he took his departure from Kayee,
and arrived in two days at Pisania, from whence he had set out for the
interior of Africa nearly ten years before. Some of the practical
difficulties of the march were apparent during this short journey: and
he found it necessary to stop at Pisania six days (a delay which must
have been highly inconvenient), to purchase additional beasts of burden,
and make other arrangements for the expedition.

He quitted Kayee on the 4th of May, and arrived on the 11th at Madina,