couple of rump-steaks were extracted
from a cow while alive, the wound sewn up, and the animal driven
on farther.

Here, guided by some Gallas, he worked his way up the Blue Nile
to the three fountains, which he declared to be the true sources
of the Nile, and identified with the three mysterious lakes in
the old maps. From there he worked his way down the Nile, reaching
Cairo in 1773. Of course what he had discovered was merely the
source of the Blue Nile, and even this had been previously visited
by a Portuguese traveller named Payz. But the interesting adventures
which he experienced, and the interesting style in which he told
them, aroused universal attention, which was perhaps increased
by the fact that his journey was undertaken purely from love of
adventure and discovery. The year 1768 is distinguished by the
two journeys of James Cook and James Bruce, both of them expressly
for purposes of geographical discovery, and thus inaugurating the
era of what may be called scientific exploration. Ten years later
an association was formed named the African Association, expressly
intended to explore the unknown parts of Africa, and the first
geographical society called into existence. In 1795 MUNGO PARK was
despatched by the Association to the west coast. He started from
the Gambia, and after many adventures, in which he was captured
by the Moors, arrived at the banks of the Niger, which he traced
along its middle course, but failed to reach as far as Timbuctoo.
He made a second attempt in 1805, hoping by sailing down the Niger
to prove its identity with the river known at its mouth as the
Congo; but he was forced to return, and died at Boussa, without
having determined the remaining course of the Niger.

Attention was thus drawn to the existence of the mysterious city
of Timbuctoo, of which Mungo Park had brought back curious rumours
on his return from his first journey. This was visited in 1811 by
a British seaman named Adams, who had been wrecked on the Moorish
coast, and taken as a slave by the Moors across to Timbuctoo. He
was ultimately ransomed by the British consul at Mogador, and his
account revived interest in West African exploration. Attempts were
made to penetrate the secret of the Niger, both from Senegambia
and from the Congo, but both were failures, and a fresh method was
adopted, possibly owing to Adams' experience in the attempt to
reach the Niger by the caravan routes across the Sahara. In 1822
Majo