River of the Gods

Millard, Candice. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile. New York: Doubleday 2022. Print.

First Sentences:

Sitting on a thin carpet in his tiny, rented room in Suez, Egypt, in 1854, Richard Francis Burton calmly watched as five men cast critical eyes over his meager belongings.....He knew that if they discovered the truth, that he was not Shaykh Abdullah, an Afghan-born Indian doctor and devout, lifelong Muslim but a thirty-two-year-old lieutenant in the army of the British East India Company, not only would his elaborately planned expedition be in grave danger, but so would his life. Burton, however, was not worried.


Description:

Any book about Richard Burton (the 19th century soldier/explorer, not the 20th century actor) has got my full attention. Here is a man who was described by Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, as "dark, and forceful, and masterful, and ruthless...He is steel! He would go through you like a sword." Burton was the first white, non-Moslem to successfully journey into Mecca and view the most sacred religious rite of the Hajj. In short, a man to be reckoned with.

Candice Millard and her brilliantly detailed River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the NIle, follows Burton throughout his burning quest to discover the source of the Nile. 

The world of the 1850s was wildly excited about exploration of any type. Those who voyaged to the North and South Poles or searched for the Northwest Passage were world-wide heroes of their day. And the Nile origin was one of the last great mysteries the public clamored to be solved, especially, the English believed, by a Britisher.

  

Surrounded by impenetrable jungles, deserts, hostile tribes, monsoon rains, and dangerous animals every mile, the Nile source had proved unconquerable for centuries. No one in history had ever been able to follow the Nile from its mouth back to its source. 

So, of course, Burton believed he was just to man to do this. But this time he planned to take an untried route across Africa straight to where he felt the Nile's source was rather than trying to float upstream from its mouth. He would follow game trails, ancient routes used by slavers to march their captives from inland to departure ports, or just hack his way through the jungles, relying on tribal guides, his instincts, and pure luck. Nine months was the projected time allotted to the expedition by the sponsoring Royal Geographical Society along with a paltry sum of money for supplies and bearers..

But Burton's East African Expedition was plagued with trouble almost from the start. Debilitating disease, lack of food and funds, desertion of native bearers, and worst of all betrayal by his second in command lead to disaster after disaster. Burton himself became so sick he had to be transported on a stretcher by bearers for much of the journey.

But there is hope for a second expedition and Burton, ever the bold optimist, again must raise funds and expedition members for another full-on assault to the source, which Burton felt was the recently-discovered gigantic Lake Tanganyika. River of the Gods provides a highly-detailed, thoroughly absorbing description of all his expeditions.

Author Millard relies heavily on Burton's prodigious writings for authenticity, including books, articles, essays, lectures, and copious field notes. She also quotes original news articles, diaries, and other primary source documents for more timely details. 

The result is a wonderfully in-depth description of how an expedition is envisioned, funded, staffed, and carried out, with background information on the countries passed through, their histories, African culture, and the outside world of the mid-19th century --- each of which plays a significant role to drive such expeditions.

There is so much to detail about Burton's adventures that, if you are interested in exploration, expeditions, African history, British confidence, and the mysterious Nile, then River of the Gods is definitely for you. Highly engrossing, challenging, triumphant, and heart-breaking.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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