The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-03


nohodv draah. N wlseout mshlMa . Wy
faee Approaching No Blaoh HtOae, Trey
made around n ne sven ~pfsscFthsd eir'
ouifa, Wlalns sruFu linle ~ time tSstf y
~ thgle aafa, and e~aatalfnina, In tbe HafAe
~ allah, aatl Allah N omalpoteut =
fhon deamad advimbls ~ slaa the Hlaok
asone wits hlaalaa n a0d ribblne handa
and f1fafaads tA1H n, phfrtoH narrowly
observed v, aHd eAas away f~elsuaded
that N Was IN aNfolte Returning ~ way
~ the wsii gemsEem, NJ had ~ take anofhef
nauaeuts dfauaht, and was deiueed 9th
two sklnfaf ~ Watef aeahed oveg III head
Ne slro aid the customary gfsyefa ~ the
Praying piacs n AhFAhaet and other shfihes
me hhy.hvs woudeFs ~ the oity SAVING
tren visited, H,Fton lOgk psaaaFsat Jeddsh'
the poft N Mgeca, on m Enaliah snip,
~whereupoa, aflar descending ~ M cabin
and waehlna "A MIA colofine, Ne efnefAgd IN
the dreaa N ~ EHellss gentleman,
n IL veil known that thia extraordinary
espioit made nhIfto0'a hafts hotpHbold
word t~hfdfehota ths world md tuF.ed
N ihto a synonym for daring, willis HE
hook, the 'ffaimaas ~ ALMadinah aud
Neccah. witch appeAred the following yeef,
NfN FNINU NNNIN WnNVN WINU NVHfFEF NtfN Wv
light. The bloaFsphef prints out the,
had he bcea worldly wiac, he would have
ptcVrtied straight 10 Eneiand, Where, a.
N" I'm n me hosB, he might have obtained
y n Sarf more substantial than mere pfnies.
Worldly wias, however, Burton was not. and
h. did not show hlmelf until the commo-
ton caused by his achievement had been
half forgotten, He made n similar mis-
take some years later, after HE return from
TanRanyika.
II SENS that Burton had been known
In the army Of the Eas, India Company 90
"Ruflan Dick" not by way of disparage-
ment but becauss of his demoniac ferocity
"a a fighter and becsuss he had fought
in single combat more enemies than per-
haps any other man Of his time. The story
Of his adventures In Arabia having spread
abroad. people who knew of his Nickname
took the trouble 10 invent many Incidents
that were untrue. THY circulated, for
example, a griHly tale Of n murder which
he was reported 10 have committed on q
man who had penetrated his disguise, and
the tale rolling like a snowball the murder
became eventually two murders. As Bur-
ton delighted TO shock people, he would not
deny the charge.
Having spent a few weeks In Egypt,
Burton. still travelling in his Arab dress,
returned to Bombay, where he conceived
the idea Of j%ourneying, via leila in Somali-
land, to the forbidden and then almost I'm
known city Of Harar and thence to Zanzi-
bar, or else to Berberah, on the Indian
Ocean, where he could join Lieut.. speke,
who ultimately arranged to await him
tkara n,,rt.a Iaft AIap IN Ortnhar 1874
and reached Harar In January, 1855. When,
in the following February. Burton and his
friends reached Berberah, people were
amazed TO zee them not only alive but un-
injured, and the travellers temerity became
the talk Of the desert. Unable to let we'll
alone, Burton wanted TO make a new expe-
dition, this time to the Nile via Berberah
and Harar and on a larger scale. In April,
1855, Burton and Spoke. with two other
officers and forty-two colored assistants,
established a pied d terre on the coast OF
Somalilsnd, and were preparing to pene-
trate the interior when they were attacked
at night by 800 natives and a desperate
hand to hand fight ensued. Eventually
the few survivors Of the expedition man
aged to reach a friendly native craft which
ooh them back to Alden.
Owing to the wounds received in Sonali-
land, Burton had to return to England.
where, as soon as possible, he gave an &C.
count OF his explorations before the Royal
Geographical Society, Little, however,
was then talked OF in London except the
Crimean war. and Burton managed to get
himself appointed Chief Of STAFF to Gen.
Beatson, in which post he saw something
Of the closing scenes Of the contest. While
in Const antinople Burton suffered from
the untrue tales that were told about him,
but he never troubled to d~isprove them.
Some were circulated by a fellow officer
of his, an unmitigated s%coundrel, whose
life had been sullied by every species of vice.
This man not only invente calumniatory
stories, but inserted particulars that gave
them versimilitude. A favorite phrase
in his mouth was Il and Burton are great
scamps.' Percy smythe, afterward Lord
~Strangford, but then an official under Lord
Stratford de Redclhfe, British Ambassador
to the Ottoman Sultan, commented, on hear
ing the saying: AiNo, that won't do; - lisa
real scamp. but Burtoni is only wild. Calum-
MES of an offensive nature got abroad. Pious
English mothers came to loathe Burton's
name, and even men of the world mentioned
it apologetical1y. In time, it is true, he
lived all this d~own-still, he was never, nor
is he now. generally regarded as a saint
worthy Of canonization.
-.N--~
".
It was in 1850 that Burton, the Il me Of a
soldier having been denied him, turned his
thoughts once more to exploration and
planned an exposition for the discovery Of
the sources Of the Nile. To that end, in
October Of the year named, he quilted
England for Bombay, whence he crossed the
Zanzibar in a British sloop-of-war, Spoke,
who was to be his companion in the expe-
dition, sailing with him. In June. 1857, the
party Of explorers left Zanzibar for Lake
T~anganyika, which they mistakenly sup
posed to be the ultimate source Of the Nile,
not knowing that the true source lay to the
northeast Of that basin. namely. in the
Victoria Nyanza. About two-thirds Of the
way from Zanzibar to ~Tanganyika, they
came to the village Of Kazeh. where they
met some kindly Arab merchants. These
Burton found living comfortably. and even
scientifically. They had large, substan-
tial houses. fine gardens, luxuries from the
- \; oaI elo So y