No. VIII.
A Document relating to the Death of Mungo Park.
“Hence, be it known that some Christians came to the town of Youri, in the kingdom of Yaoor, and landed and purchased provisions, as onions and other things; and they sent a present to the King of Yaoor. The said king desired them to wait until he should send them a messenger, but they were frightened, and went away by the sea (river). They arrived at the town called Bossa, or Boossa, and their ship then rubbed (struck) upon a rock, and all of them perished in the river.
“This fact is within our knowledge, and peace be the end.
“It is genuine from Mohammed ben Dehmann.”
[In addition to the above, there is a kind of postscript appended to the document by a different hand; which, being both ungrammatical and scarcely legible, I had some difficulty in translating and giving it a proper meaning. The words, however, are, I think, as follows; though most of them have been made out by conjecture.]
“And they agreed, or arranged among themselves, and swam in the sea (river), while the men, who were with (pursuing) them, appeared on the coast of the sea (bank of the river), and fell upon them till they went down (sunk) in it.”
No. IX.
A Letter from the Sheikh of Bornou to Captain Clapperton.