756 



SPEKE JOHN F 



STEUVE, FRIEDRICH G. W. 



he was trying to save money enough to enable 

 him to make a long exploration of the valley 

 of the Nile during the three years' furlough to 

 which he would be entitled as soon as he had 

 served ten years in India ; and he found that 

 life in the jungles and the backwoods was much 

 cheaper than life in the cantonments. In Sep- 

 tember, 1854, he received his furlough and set 

 out for Aden, in Arabia, intending thence to 

 cross the Gulf of Aden into the territory of the 

 Somalis, reputed one of the most savage of all 

 the African tribes. Here, however, at the sug- 

 gestion of Sir James Outram, he was induced 

 to join the expedition which was about starting 

 for the same region under Lieut. Richard F. 

 Burton. While waiting for this expedition to 

 move, he made an excursion of three months in 

 Arab disguise into the Somali country, without 

 white companions. On April 7, 1855, the ex- 

 pedition rendezvoused at Berbera, on the African 

 shore of the Gulf of Aden. Lieutenant Burton 

 assumed command; Lieutenants Stroyan and 

 Ilerne took charge of the principal scientific 

 duties ; and Speke, to use his own words, was 

 " a Jack-of-all-trades, assisting everybody, look- 

 ing after the interests of the men, portioning 

 out their rations, setting the guards, and col- 

 lecting specimens of natural history in all its 

 branches." At the very outset of the journey 

 they were attacked by the savages ; Lieutenant 

 Stroyan was killed; Speke was seriously and 

 the others slightly wounded, and after making 

 their escape with difficulty they returned to 

 Aden. By his physician's order Speke now re- 

 turned to England, having nothing to show, 

 said he, after this signal failure, " but eleven 

 artificial holes in my body." On reaching 

 home he found the country engaged in the 

 Russian war. He went to the Crimea, as a 

 volunteer in the Turkish contingent, with the 

 rank of captain, served through the campaign, 

 and on the conclusion of peace projected an 

 excursion to the Caucasus, to examine the fauna 

 of that region. He gave up this plan, however, 

 on receiving from Captain Burton an invitation 

 to join him in another African journey. Their 

 steps on this occasion were to be turned toward 

 the great lake-regions of Central Africa, of 

 which the most enticing reports, gathered from 

 the natives by Drs. Krapf and Rebmann, had 

 reached England. The history of this trip is 

 given in Captain Burton's "Lake-Regions of 

 Central Africa " (1860). Starting about mid- 

 summer, 1857, from the mission-house of Rabbai 

 Alpia, on the Eastern coast, opposite the island 

 of Mombas, they proceeded inland, discovered 

 Lake Tanganyika, and separated at Kazeh, 

 whence Captain Speke, following the route in- 

 dicated by some native traders, reached Lake 

 Nyanza, which he then suspected and afterward 

 proved to be the source of the Nile. The im- 

 portant geographical results of this expedition 

 were mainly due to Speke, his companion ap- 

 plying himself mainly to the history, languages, 

 and peculiarities of the people. 

 Captain Speke returned to England in 1859, 



and immediately prepared for his last expedi 

 tion, of which he has given an account in his 

 "Journal of the Discovery of the Sources of 

 the Nile " (1864). His companion on this occa- 

 sion was Captain Grant. They left the Eastern 

 coast of Africa, Oct. 2, 1860, intending to make 

 at once for Lake Nyanza, and trace downward 

 to Egypt that outlet which they believed to be 

 the source of the Nile. They were not heard 

 of for nearly two years and a half. On Feb. 

 15, 1863, they were encountered at Gondokoro, 

 on the Nile, by Mr. Baker, who had gone up 

 the river in the hope of hearing news of 

 them. They had reached the western side of 

 the lake about a year after the time at which 

 they started, and remained there until Aug. 

 1862. Owing to the vexatious delays inter- 

 posed by petty kings on the bank of the river, 

 they were six months making their way from 

 the lake to Gondokoro. They had reached this 

 point by following the course of the stream, 

 with the exception of avoiding a few bends by 

 land-travelling. On his return home he was 

 received with the most flattering demonstra- 

 tions of welcome. He received the medal of 

 the Royal Geographical Society and a gold 

 medal from the King of Italy, and his merits 

 were recognized in Parliament by Lord Pal- 

 merston. In September, 1864, he went to Bath 

 to attend the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion, where it was expected that some contro- 

 versy would take place between him and his 

 former companion, Burton, growing out of a 

 difference of opinion respecting their discoveries 

 in Africa. Captain Speke published an account 

 of his first and second African journeys in 

 "Blackwood's Magazine" in 1859-'60, and n 

 volume entitled, " What led to the Discovery of 

 the Source of the Nile." 



STRUVE, FEIEDEICH GEORO WILDELM vox, 

 a Russian astronomer, born in Altona, April 15, 

 1793, died at Pulkowa, near St. Petersburg, 

 Nov. 23, 1864. In 1813 he entered the Univer- 

 sity of Dorpat, in the government of Livonia, 

 where he devoted his attention to philology 

 and astronomy, and in 1817 became director 

 of the observatory in that city. After render- 

 ing the name of Dorpat illustrious in the annals 

 of astronomy, a wider sphere of usefulness was 

 opened before him by the Emperor of Russia. 

 An observatory at Pulkowa was projected, and 

 Struve was the master-spirit which superin- 

 tended its erection, and so perfect are all the 

 arrangements that it will serve as a model for 

 all time. The work done at Pulkowa princi- 

 pally relates to sidereal astronomy, and each 

 contribution to science which emanated from 

 tnat observatory was the result of twenty-five 

 years of arduous study on his part. Besides 

 the observations and. reductions of northern 

 stars, determinations of the parallaxes of 1830, 

 observations of comets, nebula), and Saturn's 

 ring, &c., were undertaken, and a large amount 

 of geographical work. One of the last impor- 

 tant acts of M. Struve was to visit the Crown 

 ministers and the Superintendents of Surveys 



