26 Life and Letters of Francis Galton.
We can here only afford space for one letter of interest, that from Speke of February 26th, 1863; it indicates the growing feeling between Speke and Burton and at the same time the difficulties that Galton had to encounter.
°' My reports will be sent from Khar- GosVOKORO 26 February /63
toum as soon as we arrive there. 5 (to be posted on arrival at [Khartoum'.]
14° 30' N. Lat. Head winds keep us back.)
27 March.
MY DEAR GALTON
Petherick has shown me a paper of the R. G. Society by which I infer you wrote me a letter suspecting the V. N'yanza to be the source of the Congo or perhaps one of Du Chaillu's rivers because a river was made to run both in and out of it. I fear you did not receive the letter I wrote from Madeira after reading Burton's journal in the Society's volumes, else you could not have supposed so, for in addition to the fact that every Arab knew the 'Kiuiva' river ran out of the Lake and told us they supposed the Lake to be the source of the Jub, every Arab had heard of the vessels on the Nile though Burton tried to hide these matters from the public; I suppose to excuse himself for not visiting the N'yauza. I can only say it is a pity my geographical papers read before the Society were not put into the Society's Journal in preference to Burton's papers, which were not read and therefore not commented on, for that alone has put everybody wrong. Burton's geography was merely a copy of my unfinished original maps, left open until I reached England for further information. Burton wanted me to instruct him, acknowledging that he knew nothing of the typographical features of a country. He could not have written one word unless I had instructed him, but he gave up his lessons too soon, imagined largely on the nucleus I gave him and fell into error accordingly. -You will find all the information you require upon this journey in my reports, so I will now open a new project to you for crossing Africa from East to West following as close as possible upon the line of the Equator; for unless I do it, it will not be done this century. It can be done easily enough on a large scale and with a power of money, but not as I have been travelling at the beck and call of every chief that falls in the way. This is the sum total of my requirements, provided the Govt. is enlightened enough to accept it, which is doubtful we know : Four men of science as captains to 400 negroes, half Crue men from the West Coast, and the other half from Zanzibar, all hands to be furnished with carbines. I should then want a vessel to visit Venice and pick up boats, pass round the West Coast for Crue men, and continue to Zanzibar where the vessel would wait until I commenced the march and then return by the Cape to the mouth of the Congo, where it would await my arrival and convey the 400 men to their respective homes. But this is not all, for I should require another vessel to go up the Nile and form a depot at Gondokoro. The rest you can imagine. With one word more, I will close my letter and I tell it to you as an overseer to the Society-I firmly believe I should have reached this one year ago and at 719 less expense, if my projects for the journey had been promptly attended to. I asked for leave and money 12 months before starting in order that I might form two Depots in the interior, but I neither got my leave nor the money until 2 months or so before I started, and therefore could only form one Depot in advance. That has been the root of my disasters and delay-but `all's well that ends well,' and there is an end of it, only let the warning be a caution for the future. How I should have rejoiced to receive your letter, but nothing has reached me, not even a letter of advice from Rigby, which announced the departure of some letters and a boat of delicacies sent by kind friend Rigby. And now old Galton with Grant's best wishes and my own to yourself and Wife, believe me
Yours ever sincerely H. SPEKE.
P.S. I have sent a map and several papers as I shall not be home in time to contribute to this year's Journal and I fancy it important this should have an early issue."
Let us pity "old Galton" as he read of those 400 men, each to be furnished with a carbine! That great journey, which would have antedated
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