Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-09-23
The Bitter Quarrels of the Dis
coverers.
How Cook and penry Have Followed
In the Footsteps Of other Famous
Explorcrs.-Iistoric COntrOv-
ersies of Exploration.

them disputed In fighting over the
honor OF having discovered the North
Pole. Cook and Peary are but following
in the footsteps Of Spoke and Burton,
whose fight over the discovery OF the
source OF the Nile embroiled .ho scien-
tifc world for many years. writes Artnnr
Remington In the New York World. The
misfortune ~ Cool; In having his state
merits questioned Is but that or Bruce.
Had there been telegra piers and news
papers In the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. they would have been hlicd
with just such row az this over the
rival claims OF Christopher Columbus
and Amerigo Vespucc to have discov-
cred America, and es 70 whether YER
razznro or Hudson first discovered the
Hudson river.
james Brucc's fate was enough to ON
bitter almost any man After ascend
ing tho Elue Nile to its source In the
Ruwenyori Mountains. OF Mountains or
the Moon. IN 17e6. he reached Marseilles
in l71S. ar; there met DAnville. the
great French geographer. who told nm
that what ne had discovered was inter-
os'ing but not new. in proof Of winch
he showed him n map which DAnV'iie
h.d published in the preceding year.
based upon sketch maps made by TWO
Portuguese Jesuit priests. Father PaeH'
who had explored this very ground IN
ifl5. and Father T.oho. who had gone
over II in 1927. Paez's may had been
published in 1862 ard I.oho's in 1870. II
was rather n shock tn Bruce to And that
instead Of discovering what had been
sought fo- centuries he was merely an
| "also ran"
| But worse was vet to come. He pub
lishcd aN extremely interesting account
Of hts travels in Abvssinia and Central
Africa and in It he described many OF
the oxtrp ordinary customs OF the people.
| including their fondness for live beef
steak. cut from the living animal and
eaten before the flesh had cooled or
ceased to culver from the pain OF the
knife Ills hook was hailed witt deri-
sion: 10 was compared to Herodotus rs
writer OF more imagination than
truth DR. Johnson denounced him az an
"unscrupulous romancer' and Horace
Wn'polo said his book was dull and
dear" But Bruce's statements have
been verified. and hts book is as good
reading to-day as It was $50 years ago.
The Nile has two branches, the Blue
| w
er settled, explorers turned their atten-
tion to the latter. 1t was not until the
middle OF the last century that the prob
| lem was attacked In n scientific man
ner. How the real source was discov-
cred and what disagreeable quarrel
arose from, the discovery is told by Sir
Harry Johnston, in his book THE Nile
Quest" Sir Richard Burton and John
flaming Spoke together discovered Lake
Tanganyka in 1886 and surmised It was
the source Of the Nile hut the natives
| told them that no river ran ont OF that
| lake The river Rusizi. however. ran
| into It. Then Burton became i'll and
| Speke determined to explore still fur
| ther.
| Burton Welded his consent reluctant
w." saws Sir Harry Johnston. land ap-
pears TO have given but grudg!ng as
sstarce in the way of men and guides
Full of energy. however. Spoke gathered
together caravan, which crossed In
yamwozi and Usukuma. and on the 30th
| Of July, 1855 he saw the Mwarza Creek
one of tho southernmost CULTS of the
Victoria Nynnza. Travelling northwnrds
| along this creek, on Aug 2. 1858, early
in the morning Spoke saw the open
waters OF great lake with sea hori-
zorl to the north. Much OF the horizon
was shut In 10y great and small Islands.
but Spoke detected through their inter-
| stces the vast extent OF open water
which stretched 10 the north.
"He realized to the full the wonder
of his discovery, and the obvious prob
ability that this mighty lake would
prove TO he the main headwaters % the
White Nile
Unable to delay longer In his explor-
alton Of the southern shores Of the Vic
toria Nyanza. as ne had promised to re-
join Burton by a certain date Spoke re-
turned to Kaze In Unyanyembe, TO find
hts companion vexed at the great dis
covery which ne had made Spoke did
not pursue the argument as TO the Vic
toria Nyanza being the main source Of
the Nile -he two men jouT'eyed to-
gether on more or less bad terms 20
Zanzibar. where Briton remained 20
wind mp the affairs of the expedition,
Spoke returning direct to England
"Rurton returned TO England IN 1850,
somewhat chagrired TO hear ~ the en-
thusasm with which Speke's discovery
OF the Victoria Nyanza had been reoeir-
ed-an enthusiasm which to some extent
had put the revelation of Lake flanagan
yika In the shade. Burton nevertheless
was awarded. In 1860. the gold medal OF
the ROYAL Geographical society, and In
returning thanks for the honor. he ut
tered handsome acknowledgment OF
Speke's services as surveyor on the ex-
petition to the great lakes, But the two
mon were evidently on bad terms. and
though the fault OF their dlsaccord may
have been With RurtOns conduct, the
world knew II first through the writings
OF Spoke in 'Rlackwoods Magazine and
later lin 1864 IN the reproduction ot
these Blnckwood articles with additions
under tho title OF What Led TO the Dis
covery Of the Source of the Nile. In
these works Spoke makes some sting
ing references 10 Burton.
"Burtons own attacks on Speke scar
cey appeared In n public form until -four
wears after Speke had returned IN Afri-
ca. Bur;on's chief revenge lay In Ell
deavoring for many Years to prove tim,
Spoke had made no very great discovery
that hts Victoria Nyanza was not the
greatest lake in Africa and the main
source ~ the Nile but network OF
swamps and lakelets"
This cont roversy was waged for years
IN 1859 Speko verified his theory tina
Victoria Nyan1a was the source OF the
, Nile by discovering Ripon Falls, the spo,
NJ which the river leaves tho lake. Or
his return to England in 1874 the Brit
ish association arranged that he and
| Burton should debate their different
$ views rs To the Nile sources on Sept