SIR RICHARD BURTON.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17401, 11 March 1922, Page 4

SIR RICHARD BURTON.

"A RESPECTABLE VAGABOND."

In Hertfordshire, England, just over a hundred years ago, there was born a boy who was fated to be the first Englishman to enter Medfca, to explore Somaliland and to discover the Great Lakes of Central Africa. The child's name was Richard Burton; in riper years he was generally referred to by his frends as "Ruffian Dick."

His ancestry and education were in harmony with his own achievements. His parents loved the nomadic life, and from the time he was five thev took their boy abroad and roamed all over Europe with him. Education in these circumstances could not be systematic'; for a while Dick and his younger brother had a travelling tutor. They2ave that gentleman a torrid time. But Dick had an abnormal facility for acquiring foreign languages. He picked them up from both reputable and disreputable sources. While still a boy he could use half a dozen different languages colloquially. His father, an English colonel, designed Dick for the church. Even, a fond father might have seen that the youth's talents did not point in that direction. But to Oxford Dick went. There a fellow student made merry over the ferocity of Burton's militarylooking moustache. Burton promptly challenged him to fight a duel. Several incidents of a similar character satislied the pence-loving dons tliat voung Burton was out of place at Oxford. So, at the end of a year, they expelled him, and hip father entered him for the army, which was exactly where Dick had all along wanted to be. The Afghan war of 1842 was on. Burton went out a& a endet in the Indian army, took to the Oriental life instantly, and began to pass examinations in Hindustani. Within a year he was the regimental interpreter; he was also the -rack wrestler, swordsman and rider in the regiment. Soon he was moved north to Sind, where he was appointed to assist in a survey of what is probably the mosi? Mohammedan province in India.

Nothing could have suited him better. . He had learned all he could through ordinary channels. iHe now "went native"; he became '<a white nigger." In London he bad worked twelve htmrs a day at Hindustani before starting, for India; in India., he worked as hard at the vernaculars! His aptitude, combined with his industry, made Him a linguistic marvel.' Disguised, lie moved about the bazaars, deceiving the natives; deceiving his messmates and colonel was a matter of almost daily occurrence. His ceaseless intermingling with all types gave him a faihiliarity with Eastern life and customs that has rarely been paralleled, never surpassed. Oil the sandy deserts' of Sind his health broke down. To recover hie went south to the lovely Nilgiri', hills, but he fpent much of his time in the Portuguese territory of Goa; where he studied thelanguagp and learned to appreciate Camoens/ the famous Portuguese poet, a .man whose spirit had been kin with hA own. Ophthalmia afld others ills, however, drove Burton home to England, where be arrived with a mass of Oriental manuscripts, curios and material for several books on India. Within an amazingly shoct time he 'published Separate grammars of three North Indian languages, and volumes on "Sind. the Unhappy Valley," "The Race, that.ln; habits the Valley of the Indus, ' Goa and the Blue Mountains," "Falconny in India," and "A Complete System, of Bayonet' Exercise." "Whatever Burton's fanlt3, laziness was not one _ of •them.. • ' During this period M vraa .'ofrer at Boulogne one day when, for the first time, he saw «n extremely pretty girl named Isabella Arundell. They did not guesa it, but they were destined to know.

each otiher better - some yenrs later. Meantime the East India 'Company had given Burton leave in order to study Arabic in lands -where the language could-best be learned. Mecca is tho Arab's zealously guarded sacred centre, but Burton decided to venture thither., He left England as a Persian, halfway lie became a Dervish; he finally entered the holy city as an Afghan-* It was a daring experiment. The experimenter was constantly under the scrutiny of thousand* of fanatical eves one false move' would have meant instantaneous death. But- Burton's unrivalled knowledge of Arab speech and habit, his strong nerve and boundless courage carried him through. He survived to tell hie story in one of his : most popular books, "A Pilgrimage to Mecca." _ , The Bombav Government now appointed him, along with Captain Speke and some others, to expioTe Somalnand, then nn unknown country. While tho expedition was getting ready Burton disappeared and, for four'months, was never heard of. At last he turned up, and explained he had been doing some exploring on his own. Disguised as an Arjil) merchant, n© Imci cnteictl Hoist} the inland capital, a place no European had ever before visited. He was lucky to have escaped with his life. His luck was out, however, when the official expedition started. The Somalia attacked it promptly; most of the leaders wore wounded, one was killed. Burton's face was transfixed by a spear thrust from cheek to cheek. Ho wenthome to England to recover, and while recovering he followed hi» usual custom df writing a book. It is entitled First Footsteps in East Africa. The Royal Geographical Society now requisitioned his services. They organised an expedition into Central Africa: Burton to be leader, Speke to be se:ond in command. Nothing was known or the particular area, but there (had been rumours of some great lakes. Burton s business was to find these lakes. And he did. But it took him two and a half years. The difficulties were enormous; the native tribes resisted him, his own followers deserted him; but at last Tanganyika, the largest ot the Central African lakes, was sighted. On the way back Speke sighted the Victoria Nyanza, which he surmised to be the true spurce of the Nile. Burton and he had a row about it. When they reached the coast Burton was delayed by illness; Speke went home, xiy the time Burton reached England, a new expedition had been formed, and Burton found there was po place in it for him. He sought solace in another He was now at a loose end. But he couldn't rest; he set out for the headquarters of tne Mormons, at Salt Ijake, and, returning, wrote "The City of the Saints,'' ia. book highly entertaining, because of its plain speaking. Meantime Isabella Arundell and he had grown highly appreciative of each other. Isabella's parents, however, did not view the friendship with favour, so she offered to marry Bjirton without their knowledge. When they learned she had actually done it, they behaved very nicely about it. Soon thereafter Burton began his career as a British consul. His first appointment was Fernando Po, a white man's grave on the west coast of Africa.' But the duties of the consul could not stftle. the instincts of the explorer. He was the first white to climb the Cameroons; he penetrated far.up the Congo; he visited Benin and Dahomey, hotbeds of African, devilry, and out of that material he made half-a-dozen books. Brazil was his next appointment. He had just finished some exploring feats there ; when he was transferred to j Damascus. That restored him-to the; 'setting for which he was most suited--the Orient But he was only two years there.: Something went wrong. Precisely'what went wrong has never to this day been made clear; Burton quarrelled with the leading ; Jews in Damascus, he quarrelled with the leading Greeks in Nazareth;-his wife became entangled in some religious movements that - brought-her ill-will; The upshot was that Burton was abruptly removed from Damascus and appointed to Trieste.

Here for nearly 30 years he was consul. By the time he was 60 he realised that his exploring days were done, so he devoted himself more closely to literature. His greatest achievement! in that department was his translation of "The Arabian Nights," a remarkable production,' which. 1 brought him £'lo,ooo. The value. of the book lies less in the translation than in the full, frank, and illuminating notes. Probably no other white man ever had the knowledge these notes contain. Burton was an Oriental at heart, and in his "Arabian Nights" be interprets East to West; . /

Curiously enough, while Burton was busy with his "Nights," the Arabic originals of two previously unknown tales were accidentally discovered. Burton ! was enabled to incorporate them with, his "Supplementary Nights," and now! these latest additions have become the first favourites. They are' "Alladin" and "Ali Baba." !

Burton died at Trieste, October 20th, 1890, aged (39. Several months later his body was conveyed to England and buried at Mortlake. ; His monument coneists of a white marble mausoleum fashioned in the form of an Arab tent. His widow took a cottage close to his tombthere she spent her time writing the: biography of the! remarkable man who had been her husband. How remarkable he was no mere record of his activities can express. Speaking of him on one occasion, Lord Derby said: "Before he was middle aged he had compressed into his life more of study, more of hardship, more of successful, enterprise and adventure than would have sufficed to fill up the existence of half-a-dozen ordinary persons." Of course hj& had his limitations. He had characteristics that laid him open to criticism, and the critics have freely availed themselves of the openings. His-feature was impulsive, but it is doubtful if he could, nave achieved so much without being assertive to a de--1 groe that may sometimes have made hjin seem unattractive. He was bluntly outspoken, but he was so in the knowledge that it would cost him promotion. Yet he never hesitated. There were numerous diverse strains in. his blood ; there had been much in his life that made the conventions of .civilisation irksome.; .Long experience and mental habit had made him largely an Oriental. The /jypsies with whom ho consorted in various countries said they saw many signs of themselves in his eyes. He was by nature a vagabond!. ' j But he was no idle vagabond. Itespite his active/life, he has over 60 volumes to his credit; he left material enough to make nearly as many more. His linguistic powers were no endowment from heaven, they were the fruit of systematic, hard work. He knew more than 30 languages and dialects, and could speak them with appropriate gesturea and inflections. Not only could he converse with learned Orientals on subjects requiring profound erudition, but he could chaff the most ignorant of native?; and exchange with them the slang of the bazaars. Such was the bent of his genius. Probably few others .would find in his special bent' the direction of their ambition. But for. those who are capable of appreciating unselfish endeavour, dauntless courage, and tireless industry, there will always be inspiration in Sir Kichard Burton's wonderful life story. i ;