Good reading
though a little dry, is “First Footsteps in East Africa” by Sir Richard Francis Burton, available free for Kindle.
Burton’s narrative style is very matter-of-fact, but if you read between the lines this is an indiana-jones worthy adventure, told with the dry technique of a Victorian accountant. Somali warlords, murderous Bedouins, privation and hardship all along the way. Reccomended.
Wow! I bought it at the ‘Kindle’ price!
The new generation whines about privation. The older generation bragged about it.
*nods* I’ve read several of Burton’s books, and have some of them on the Kindle. The movie Mountains of the Moon, starring Patrick Bergin as Burton, is worth watching, and Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld series of SF novels feature Burton as the hero.
It’s at Gutenberg. And on my list after Haggard and Kipling.
M
You might find this interesting, too–burtoniana.org, a collection of Burton’s writings, a gallery, and much more.
Fascinating man, I read his biography by Rice earlier this year. They don’t make ’em like that anymore.
http://burtoniana.org/
You might enjoy Byron Farwell’s biography of Burton as well.
I have several of Burton’s works, including a first edition of his Arabian Nights. It takes a half a bookshelf since it is several volumes, and I am still working my way through it.
In researching Henry Morton Stanley, I was intriqued to learn Burton despised him for “shooting negroes like they were monkeys.” It seems this was not entirely true, but braggadocio on Stanley’s part to prove how grueling his own expedition was. And because British audiences ate that shit up.