River of the Gods – Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the
Search for the Source of the Nile, by Candice Millard, Doubleday, NY, 2022.
River of the Gods is an in-depth investigation into the
lives and psyches of explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke. The author did an astonishing amount of
research and artfully employs quotations and citations from hundreds of
letters, journals, and official records from the era. The sheer amount of material available gives
evidence to a pre-electronic culture where people wrote things down.
The two protagonists in this epic were men of strong views
and towering egos. They connected first in an effort to explore the Horn of
Africa. Failures and misunderstandings there festered for years and resurfaced later
when the two joined to find the source of the Nile. Departing from Zanzibar
with a huge caravan of porters, they headed into the interior of what is now
Tanzania. Their safari was rife with obstacles, bad weather, insects,
desertions, hostility from indigenous tribes, sickness, and inadequate
supplies. Once on the shores of Lake Tanganyika they were determined to prove
that it had a northern outlet which was the Nile. They were unable to make that determination.
Exhausted in spirit and body, and out of supplies they began the trek back to
the coast. While Burton lay ill, Speke
mounted a trek to a northern lake. He
subsequently spotted Lake Victoria, which he named in honor of his queen, and
proclaimed it the source of the Nile.
Returning to England the two bickered openly about the
facts. Ultimately Speke was funded for a second expedition to determine the
truth. Accompanied by James Grant he did circle Lake Victoria and verified that
the Nile exited from it. Even so, Burton
and Speke’s personalities and standing in society continued to clash leading to
a planned public debate in England on the issues. However, on the day prior to
the encounter, Speke died in a hunting accident.
The value of this book is not so much its recitation of the
facts of the explorers’ journeys, which have been well described elsewhere over
the years, but in the in depth look at the personalities of the two men – their
foibles, passions, strengths, and prejudices.
It is a fascinating study.
I have, however, several quibbles with the book. First the
cover contains a photograph of Murchinson Falls on the Nile, a sight that
neither Burton nor Speke ever saw. Why
imply that they did? Secondly, the author refers throughout to the lake as Lake
Victoria Nyanza without noting that ‘Nyanza’ is a local term for lake. So, Lake
Victoria Nyanza is ‘Lake Victoria Lake.’
Finally, she neglected to tell the after-the-fact story that the British
colonial government erected a statue of Speke overlooking Owen Falls, where the
Nile begins, with a plaque stating that Speke was the first man to ever see
that sight. Shortly after independence the new Ugandan government dismantled
the monument noting that Ugandans had been seeing the sight for centuries.
My quibbles aside, this is a book worth reading.
