for to us it appeared final and decisive.  But in the evening they were again raised by a hint from our host, who is the king’s drummer, and one of the principal men in the country:  he assured us, that there was certainly one book at least saved from Mr. Park’s canoe, which is now in the possession of a very poor man in the service of his master, to whom it had been entrusted by the late king during his last illness.  He said moreover, that if but one application were made to the king, on any subject whatever, very little was thought of it; but if a second were made, the matter would be considered of sufficient importance to demand his whole attention,—­such being the custom of the country.  The drummer therefore recommended us to persevere in our inquiries, for he had no doubt that something to our satisfaction would be elicited.  At his own request, we sent him to the king immediately, desiring him to repeat our former statement, and to assure the king, that should he be successful in recovering the book we wanted, our monarch would reward him handsomely.  He desired the drummer to inform us, that he would use every exertion, and examine the man who was reported to have the white man’s book in his possession, at an early hour to-morrow.  Here the matter at present rests.

* * * * *

“In the afternoon, the king came to see us, followed by a man with a book under his arm, which was said to have been picked up in the Niger after the loss of our countryman.  It was enveloped in a large cotton cloth, and our hearts beat high with expectation as the man was slowly unfolding it, for by its size we guessed it to be Mr. Park’s journal; but our disappointment and chagrin were great, when, on opening the book, we discovered it to be an old nautical publication of the last century.  The title-page was missing, but its contents were chiefly tables of logarithms.  It was a thick royal quarto, which led us to conjecture that it was a journal; between the leaves we found a few loose papers of very little consequence indeed; one of them contained two or three observations on the height of the water in the Gambia; one was a tailor’s bill on a Mr. Anderson; and another was addressed to Mr. Mungo Park, and contained an invitation to dinner,—­the following is a copy of it:—­

’Mr. and Mrs. Watson would be happy to have the pleasure of Mr. Park’s company at dinner on Tuesday next, at half-past five o’clock.

  ’An answer is requested.

  ‘Strand, 9th Nov. 1804.’

“The king, as well as the owner of the book, looked as greatly mortified as ourselves, when they were told that the one produced was not that of which we were in quest, because the reward promised would not of course be obtained.  As soon as our curiosity had been fully satisfied, the papers were carefully collected and placed again between the leaves, and the book as carefully folded in its envelope as before,