Mungo, a celebrated traveller, was born at Fowlshill, near Selkirk, on the 10th of September 1771. His father occupied the farm of Fowlshill under the Duke of Buccleuch. He appears to have bestowed uncommon attention on the education of his children; and he even employed a tutor to reside in his house, an expense which was then supposed to exceed the resources of an ordinary farmer. Young Park made a good figure at school. His general demeanour was reserved and thoughtful; yet occasional sparks of ambition broke forth, indicative of that adventurous spirit which lay concealed under a somewhat cold exterior. This thoughtful disposition led his friends to consider the church as the profession best suited to his character; but as he himself preferred physic to theology, his wishes were acquiesced in; and he spent three years at the university of Edinburgh in the studies necessary to qualify him for that profession.

At Edinburgh, Park studied with ardour and success; and in particular he imbibed a fondness for botany, which served to give a strong colour to his future life. It strengthened his natural connection with his brother-in-law, Mr James Dickson, who, notwithstanding many disadvantages, attained such skill in that science, that, on going as a gardener to Hammersmith, he obtained a large share of the patronage and favour of Sir Joseph Banks. This connection induced Mr Park to repair to London. He was introduced to Sir Joseph, who was so much pleased with him that he obtained for him the appointment of assistant-surgeon to the Worcester East Indiaman. In this capacity Mr Park performed a voyage to Bencoolen, where he made some collections and observations in botany and natural history, which were submitted to the Linnean Society, and an account of them printed in the third volume of their Transactions.

The African Association were now anxiously looking out for a successor to Major Houghton, their unfortunate missionary, who had perished in the attempt to penetrate to the Niger and Timbuctoo. This opening, although foreign to any of Mr Park's former pursuits except that of natural history, was immediately embraced by him with an ardour which showed how congenial it was to the character of his mind. Without hesitation, he offered himself for this arduous and perilous service, and, being supported by the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, he was at once accepted.

Park spent about two years in and near London, acquiring the qualifications necessary for his mission. In May 1795 he set sail; and on the 21st of June following arrived at Jillifree, near the mouth of the Gambia. After spending some months with Dr Laidley at Piasia in acquiring the Mandingo language, he, on the 2d of December 1795, departed on his grand expedition. By what route he reached the river, how much of its country he explored, and by what track he returned, is described under NIGER. He arrived, after the length of his absence and the want of intelligence respecting him had nearly extinguished all hopes of his safety. Reaching London early in the morning of Christmas 1797, he went to pass the time before breakfast in the gardens of the British Museum, where, by a singular chance he met Mr Dickson, who embraced his friend as one returned from the grave. An extraordinary interest in his adventures was immediately excited amongst the African Institution, its friends, and the public in general. Major Rennell drew up an important memoir, showing the new light thrown by his journey upon African geography, which, with an abstract of his narrative by Mr Bryan Edwards, was speedily offered, to satisfy the curiosity of the public. In the spring of 1799 Mr Park presented the public with a full narrative from his own pen. Major Rennell's memoir was appended, and a considerable part of Mr Edwards' abstract was incorporated verbatim; upon which circumstance alone seems to have been built the rumour of that gentleman having been the actual writer of the volume. The work was read with an avidity proportioned to the novelty and importance of the information contained in it, and to the interesting and agreeable manner in which the events were narrated.

Having finished this task, Mr Park seems to have resolved to retire into domestic and professional life. In 1799 he married Miss Anderson of Selkirk, daughter of the gentleman with whom he had served his apprenticeship as a surgeon. In October 1801 he embraced a professional career at Peebles, and soon found himself in respectable practice. He now seemed sufficiently comfortable, being happy in domestic life, possessed of a competence, and surrounded by respectable society; yet his active mind was secretly panting after a higher sphere of exertion.

Important as were his discoveries, their effect had been, not to satisfy, but to excite still farther, the public curiosity. The course of the Niger through the unknown and central parts of the continent could not fail to excite peculiar interest. This was strongly felt, not only by the scientific world, but by some intelligent members of administration, who, on the conclusion of the peace in 1801, determined to fit out an expedition on a great scale, to effect the discovery of the termination of this great river. In autumn 1803, Lord Hobart, afterwards Earl of Buckinghamshire, who was then colonial secretary, offered the command of it to Mr Park, who, though he asked a short interval to consult his friends, seems never in his own mind to have hesitated as to its acceptance. To those who represented to him the dangers that were to be incurred, he urged, that the hardships attendant on the exercise of his profession, his journeys to distant patients, his long and solitary rides over "cold and lonely heaths," and over "gloomy hills, assailed by the wintry tempest," would tend as effectually to shorten life as the journey now in contemplation.

Accordingly he set sail from Portsmouth on the 30th January 1805. The melancholy history of this second expedition is well known. With what equipments he departed from Pisania on the 4th May 1805, how his forty-four European companions dwindled down to four, and how he was at last drowned at Boussa, is related under Niger.

Park has been pronounced by some the first of modern travellers. Without altogether adopting this opinion, we may observe, that the problem of the course of the Niger, which he had the fortune partially to solve, was one which had involved in error almost all former geographical systems on Africa. D'Anville, indeed, had stated it correctly; but as he had not communicated the grounds upon which his conclusion rested, the opposite opinion, which represented the Niger as flowing westward, and joining the ocean by the channel of the Senegal, continued still prevalent. This point, finally decided, fixed the geographical character of the continent. In Bambarra, also, a name as yet scarcely heard of by Europeans, Park found a kingdom much farther advanced in civilization than had yet been supposed to exist in the heart of Africa.

Mr Park's literary, though not equal to his active qualifications, were nevertheless respectable. But notwithstanding his knowledge of botany, he cannot be considered as a scientific traveller. We see not in him that varied and splendid science which, in Humboldt, illustrates and adorns, though it sometimes overlays, the main subject. But with regard to the general aspect of nature, and the forms of human society, his observations are careful, accurate, and judicious. Nothing can be more lively than the idea which we receive from him of the African forests and deserts, the cities of Bambarra, the stream of the Niger or Joliba, and the regions watered by that river. The spirit, joined to the simplicity of his narrative, has rendered his work one of the most popular of its kind in the English language.

Mr Park's bodily frame was well fitted for the arduous enterprises in which he engaged. He was six feet in height, his limbs were well proportioned, and his whole frame was active and robust. His countenance was prepossessing, and his manners always retained their native plainness and simplicity. But this was combined with a natural coldness and reserve, which rendered his conversation less interesting than was expected by those who considered his general talents and extensive opportunities of observation. His conduct in all the relations of private life was highly exemplary. He left a widow, three sons, and a daughter.