Going to the source

When we read history written by Candice Millard, it is easy to imagine we're watching a movie. Whether she is telling about Theodore Roosevelt nearly dying while exploring the Amazon (The River of Doubt) or the death of President Garfield (Destiny of the Republic), her details are so vivid that we picture them as if on a giant screen.

This happens again in River of the Gods (2022), her book about the attempts by Richard Burton and John Speke to find the source of the Nile. How could someone not want to make a movie about this?

Now it seems hard to imagine that finding the source of the Nile River was considered so important to mid-19th century explorers. As Millard tells, it was mostly an excuse to explore the interior of Africa, which was then still largely a mystery to those in Western Europe. Europeans went to the coast of Africa to buy slaves, but they didn't know what they might find in the interior of this huge continent.

Burton and Speke began as allies, turned into rivals and eventually became enemies. This was more Speke's doing, than Burton's. Burton was easy going and quick to forgive. Not so Speke.

Burton was a restless British intellectual who spent little time in Britain. He learned languages easily and made most of his money translating dirty books from other cultures. He considered the Nile a worthy challenge, and hired Speke, a dedicated hunter, to go with him on his underfunded expedition in 1856.

Both men were sick from one illness or injury or another for most of the journey. They discovered Lake Tanganyika, which seemed like a good candidate for the source, but Speke alone was healthy enough to make it to Nyanza, which he renamed for Queen Victoria, and decided that was the true source. Burton remained unconvinced, but Speke beat Burton back to London and took all the credit, even though Burton had headed the expedition.

Speke later returned to Africa to better explore Lake Victoria. Back in London, although Speke had the advantage of seeing Lake Victoria and of having more friends and more money, he was a terrible writer and a terrible speaker, skills that Burton possessed in spades. On the night before they were scheduled to debate the subject, Speke, the experienced hunter, "accidentally" killed himself with a shotgun.

There is much more to the story, of course, and Millard tells it well. Even now the question of the source of the Nile may not be entirely answered. After all, there are rivers feeding into Lake Victoria. So where is the true source of the Nile?