The Discovery of the Source of the Nile eBook John Hanning Speke
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The Discovery of the Source of the Nile eBook John Hanning Speke
Great book on African adventure. If you like this book you will want to read the following 99 cent classics of African travels:1. Alone Among the Zulus: The Narrative of a Journey Through the Zulu Country, South Africa (1866)
2. First Footsteps in East Africa or, An Exploration of Harar [Illustrated] (1856)
3. Tropical Africa (1889)
4. A Camera Actress in the Wilds of Togoland (1915)
5. The Life and Exploits of Hugh Clapperton the Distinguished Voyager, Adventurer, and Discoverer (1840)
6. Scouting for Stanley in East Africa (1890)
7. Through the Kalahari Desert (1886)
8. Lassoing Wild Animals in Africa (Illustrated) (1911)
9. Stories of the Gorilla Country (1870)
10. The Unknown Horn of Africa (1888) (With active table of contents)
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The Discovery of the Source of the Nile eBook John Hanning Speke Reviews
I read this in PDF format.
I read this after completing his main work, "Journal of the Discovery". This book is actually more interesting, there's more variety and definitely more drama. The two main dramatic incidents are the attack by Somali raiders at the end of the first, Somali, part, and the very famous beetle-in-the-ear episode towards the beginning of the Lake Tanganyika part. In fact, I recommend just reading those two parts as the rest of the book is pretty dull and humdrum. I guess the version is searchable and there's a Project Gutenberg version available online that's searchable.
If you do read the whole thing then be prepared for a lot of daily travel and wrangling stuff. Most of the wrangling is with the porters whereas in the "Journal" book most of the wrangling was with the chiefs whose territories he passed through.
This edition, the White Star one, is really a beautiful edition. It's a nice small size for holding in your hand. It's got some great illustrations, both old style and some modern photos. The page number listed above is way off, though. It's a little over 700 pages. There are a number of typos, too.
This was written in a pretty hurried style and it can be pretty hard to follow pretty often. It would be nice to have an edition with a glossary and a lot of annotations to try and clear up what is actually going on and why.
This book has very little geographical or exploration material in it, unless you count going to a heavily populated area that hasn't been visited before by Europeans exploration. Most of the material is devoted to wrangling with the Africans, either the porters or the various chiefs and kings. The true value of this book at the time it was written was, I am sure, as a report on trading prospects with these people, what they have to offer and how to deal with them.
I've read over a half dozen 1st-person narratives about African exploration at this point and I'm heartily sick of them. The whole continent (apart from the desert, obviously) has been heavily populated for millennia, the population comprising a deeply entrenched, low-tech civilization. The narratives are consistently concerned with endless, repetitive wrangling with the native inhabitants who are in the habit of to taxing caravans traveling through their territories and in taking max advantage of any travelers traveling through. I don't think I'll be reading very many more of these.
Speke seems like a good guy and you can't help admiring his dedication and determination. But I grew sick of this book about half-way through and couldn't wait to get out of it. The middle section on his protracted stay as a guest of Mtesa in Uganda was especially dreary and it takes up about a quarter of the book.
3.5 stars. The book is really in two parts, the first half consisting of the author's attempts to explore the hinterlands of Somalia as part of an expedition headed by Richard Burton that ended disastrously and the second half the author's explorations again with Burton from Zanzibar on the coast inland to Lake Tanganyika and from there to Lake Victoria (of which the author laid to claim to being the first European to discover). The narrative is mainly a recounting of the various geographical points of interest (there were some hills, then more hills and then ooh, some grassy plains) and endless naming the various tribes they encountered. Well known story, very dry recounting and short on adventure or episodes of real interest. First half I found much more enjoyable.
An interesting travel back in time. Interesting how little Africa seems to have changed in 150 years. Would loved to have had a map readable on the to follow Speke's progress.
Speke is a poor observer and writer but his journey was extraordinary. It is a pity he was more concerned with the details of organising his porters than writing about the peoples he passed through.
John Hanning Speke's story of finding the Source of the Nile as Lake Victoria. It seems to be his attempt for him to get away from Richard Francis Burton's attempt to control the story and to make the source as something else other than Victoria. He tried to put his controubuion into the light and dispell himself as doing nothing for their travels together.
Great book on African adventure. If you like this book you will want to read the following 99 cent classics of African travels
1. Alone Among the Zulus The Narrative of a Journey Through the Zulu Country, South Africa (1866)
2. First Footsteps in East Africa or, An Exploration of Harar [Illustrated] (1856)
3. Tropical Africa (1889)
4. A Camera Actress in the Wilds of Togoland (1915)
5. The Life and Exploits of Hugh Clapperton the Distinguished Voyager, Adventurer, and Discoverer (1840)
6. Scouting for Stanley in East Africa (1890)
7. Through the Kalahari Desert (1886)
8. Lassoing Wild Animals in Africa (Illustrated) (1911)
9. Stories of the Gorilla Country (1870)
10. The Unknown Horn of Africa (1888) (With active table of contents)
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