176 KARL DE GREY'S At)t)RESS. [May 28, 1860. 



which is almost wholly occupied with an account of their expedi- 

 tion, from the pen of its leader : so ample in its contents, so rich 

 in observation, so minute in description, as to make us marvel at 

 the energy of t^^e man who, prostrated and half-paralysed with 

 fever and its consequences, nevertheless continued to observe, 

 question, and note down the enormous number of facts therein 

 contained, that elucidate the ethnology and condition of negro 

 society in Eastern Africa. 



The result of the careful mappings of Captain Speke is appended 

 to Captain Burton's Paper. Full justice has now for the first 

 time been done to his work. For the astronomical observations 

 have been re-computed by Mr. George at the Society's rooms ; the 

 itineraries and bearings have been examined and collated, and his 

 data protracted with the greatest care by Mr. Findlay. 



The nature of every-day life among the negroes of Eastern Africa 

 as pictured in numerous lights in Captain Burton's pages, is one 

 that cannot fail to leave a painful impression on all lovers of the 

 human race. It is not only the reckless cruelty of the people that 

 shocks us, nor their slave-dealings nor marauding propensities, nor 

 their degrading superstitions and incurable indolence, for we are 

 fully prepared to accredit any rude race with all or any of these 

 qualities, but it is the picture of one unbroken spread of vulgar, 

 disunited, and diTinken savagery over the entire land, connected 

 apparently with fewer redeeming qualities than are possessed by 

 any other race with whom previous travellers have made* us 

 acquainted. In fact, it is hard to discover a single trait in East 

 African character, as described by Captain Burton, upon which we 

 are able to dwell with pleasurable recollection. The very features 

 of the land have a repulsive aspect. His description leaves us with 

 the idea of a fever-stricken country that is skirted by a wide, low- 

 lying belt of overwhelming vegetation, dank, monotonous, and 

 gloomy, while it reeks with fetid miasma. 



The difficulties in the way of a thorough exploration of this 

 country seem enormous. The porters and servants of an expedi- 

 tion in this land of rude equality are insubordinate, and held 

 together by the slightest possible restraint. They act on impulse, 

 abandoning their loads and decamping at slight temptations, while 

 hardly any inducement can persuade them to violate routine by 

 deviating the smallest distance from the established track. The 

 tyranny of custom, as well as the tyranny of brute force, is esta- 

 blished in these lands with a power that we, nurtured in freedom, 

 find it hard to conceive. 



