384 



THE FIREBRAND. 



tween Dra Salih and Ra'as el Khayl, the valley, 

 and its stream debouching upon the coast. He 

 had recorded his misadventures in a diary whose 

 st^^le, to say nothing of sentiments and geo- 

 graphical assertions, rendered it, in my opinion, 

 unfit for publication, and I took the trouble of 

 re-writing the whole. Published as an Appendix 

 to ' Pirst Pootsteps in East Africa,' it was in the 

 third person, without the least intention of 

 giving offence, but simply because I did not wish 

 to palm upon the reader my own composition as 

 that of another person. Unhappily, however, 

 an article from a well-known pen appeared in 

 Blackwood (p. 499, October, 1856), and con- 

 tained these words : — 



* A resum(3 of Mr Speke's ol)servations is ap- 

 pended to Mr Burton's book, but it lacks the 

 interest of a personal narrative ; and we much 

 regret that the experiences of one whose exten- 

 sive wanderings had already so well qualified 

 him for the task, and who has shown himself so 

 able an explorer, should not have been chronicled 

 at a greater length, and tlirown into a form 

 which would have rendered them more interest- 

 ing to the general reader.' 



This brand was not foolishly thrown : it 

 kindled a fire which did not consume the less 



