He had been absent three years, and was met by his friends with many expressions of joy.

When he had seated himself upon a mat near the threshold of his door, a young woman, his intended bride, brought some water in a calabash, and, kneeling before him, requested him to wash his hands.

This being done, the young woman drank the water; an action here esteemed as the greatest proof that can be given of fidelity and affection.
Mr.Park now arrived on the shores of the Gambia, and on the 10th June 1797 reached Pisania, where he was received as one risen from the dead; for all the traders from the interior had believed and reported, that, like Major Houghton, he was murdered by the Moors of Ludamar.

Karfa, his benefactor, received double the stipulated price, and was overpowered with gratitude; but when he saw the commodious furniture, the skilful manufactures, the superiority in all the arts of life, displayed by the Europeans, compared with the attainments of his countrymen, he was deeply mortified, and exclaimed "Black men are nothing," expressing, at the same time his surprise, that Park could find any motive for coming to so miserable a land as Africa.
Mr.Park had some difficulty in reaching home.

He was obliged to embark on the 15th June, in a vessel bound to America, and was afterwards driven by stress of weather, into the island of Antigua, whence he sailed on the 24th November, and on the 22nd December landed at Falmouth.