Explorers of the Nile
By Tim Jeal
(Faber & Faber, R314,95)
The great Victorian quest for the source of the Nile is documented in Explorers of the Nile.
Some of the material is familiar, but there is also wonderful new information based on Tim Jeal’s original research that makes for a fascinating account.
Furthermore, the author is a perceptive analyst and a skilful narrator, so even the familiar bits can be quite gripping at times.
During the 20 years from 1856 to 1876, five British explorers – Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley – endured almost unimaginable discomfort, danger and disease in pursuit of their Holy Grail.
The author does full justice to the explorers’ courage and resilience, but also acknowledges the vital role of hundreds of local guides, interpreters and porters, without whom their achievements would not have been possible.
The extent of the devoted commitment of local helpers is familiar to us from the story of the porters who carried Livingstone’s body to Zanzibar in a five-month trek during which 10 of them died.
In contrast to the hagiography of earlier writings on the explorers, Jeal tells us of people capable of cruelty, deception and vindictiveness.
Particularly startling was the poisonous rivalry between Burton and Speke, and the author performs a valuable service in setting the record straight by his vindication of Speke.
There are beautiful vignettes, such as Speke’s touching unrequited love for a Bagandan woman and the story of Baker’s companion, the 19-year-old Florence, whom he had bought at a Bulgarian slave auction and who shared his tribulations in Africa and subsequently became his wife in England.
Explorers of the Nile is an authoritative historical guide with the author’s sources painstakingly detailed in the end notes.
It is a fine piece of scholar ship, and it is never boring.
The unencumbered text is clean and sparkling and the general reader will find it informative and entertaining, and occasionally edifying as well.