CHAPTEE XII. 



CAPTAIN SPEKE. 



' Tantus amor yeri, nihil est quod noscere malim 

 Quara fluvii causas per saecula tanta latentes, 

 Ignotumque caput.' — LrcAX, x. 189. 



I FULLY recognize the difficulty of writing a 

 chapter with such a heading. Whatever is 

 spoken will be deemed by some better unspoken ; 

 whilst others would wish me to say much that 

 has been, they will believe, left unsaid. Those 

 who know me, however, will hardly judge me 

 capable of setting down ought unfairly, or of 

 yielding, after such a length of years, to feelings 

 of indignation, however justifiable they might 

 have been considered in the past. Shortly after 

 Capt. Speke's decease I was asked to publish a 

 sketch of his life and adventures : at that time I 

 had hardly heart for the task. 



