journey, could be considered in no other light than as a reasonable
conjecture, till the fact was ascertained by the unexceptionable
testimony of an eye-witness. [Footnote: See Appendix, No. II.]

Another important circumstance respecting the Niger, previously unknown,
but which was fully established by Park, is the vast magnitude of that
stream; an extraordinary fact, considering its situation and inland
course, and which has led, as will hereafter be seen, to several
interesting conjectures respecting the course and the termination of
that river.

In addition to these discoveries relative to the _physical_ state of
Africa, others were made by Park scarcely less important; in what may be
termed its moral geography; namely, the kind and amiable dispositions of
the Negro inhabitants of the Interior, as contrasted with the
intolerance and brutal ferocity of the Moors; the existence of great and
populous cities in the heart of Africa; and the higher state of
improvement and superior civilization of the inhabitants of the
interior, on a comparison with the inhabitants of the countries
adjoining to the coast.

To this it may be added, that the work in question contains many
interesting details not before known, concerning the face of the
country, its soil and productions, as well as the condition of the
inhabitants; their principal occupations, and their manners and habits
of life; and the anecdotes which are interspersed, illustrative of the
character and disposition of the Negro inhabitants at a distance from
the coast, and beyond the influence of the Slave Trade, are in the
highest degree interesting and affecting. [Footnote: See especially the
following passages in Park's Travels, p. 82, 197, 336.]