SIR RICHARD BURTON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16680, 11 March 1922, Page 3

SIR RICHARD BURTON.

A RESPECTABLE VAGABOND ENTERPRISE AND ADVENTURE. Tn Hertfordshire, "England, just ow j n hundred years ago, there was born I a bor who was fated to be the fuvi i Englishman to enter Mecca, to explore Somaliland and to discover the Great Lakes of Central Africa (writes a contributor to the Melbourne ‘“Age”; The child’s name was Richard Burton ; in riper years he was generally referred to hv his friends ns tc Buffi an Hick.” His ancestry and education were in harmony with his own achievements. His parents lored the nomadic life, and from the time he was fire they took their hoy abroad and roamed all over Europe with him. Education in thes*e circumstances could not he systematic ; for a while Hock avid his younger brother had a travelling tutor Thev gave that gentleman a torrid time. But Hick had an abnormal facility for acquiring foreign languages. He picked them up from both reputable and disreputable sources. While still a boy be could use half a dozen different lan gunges colloquially. EXPET/LED FROM OXFORD. His father, an English colonel, designed Hick for the church. Even n fond father might have seen that the youth's talents did not point in that direction- But to Oxford Hick 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 satisfied the peace-loving dons that young Burton was out of place at Oxford. So at the end of a year, they expelled him, and his father entered him for the army, which was exaotiv where Dick had all along wanted to be. The Afghan war of 1842 was on. Burton went out as a cadet in the Indian Army, took to the Oriental life instantly, and began to pass examinations in Hindustani. Within a year li3 was the regimental interpreter; he w.us also the crack wrestler, swordsman and rider in the regiment. Soon he was moved north to Sind, where he was appointed to assist in a survey of wlni is probably the moat Mohammedan piovince in India. ” WENT NATIVE.” Nothing could have suited him better He had learned all he could through ordinary channels. He now “ went xm tive,” he became ‘‘ a white nigger.'* In London he had worked twelve rtu..«o a day at Hindustani before starting for India; in India lie worked as hard at the vernaculars. His aptitude, combined with his industry, made him a linguistic marvel. Disguised, he moved about the bazaars, deceiving the na tives : deceiving his messmates anti colonel was n matter of almost daily occurrence. His ceaseless intermingling with all types gave him a familiarity with Eastern life and customs that has rarely been paralleled, never passedOn the sandy deserts of Sind bis health broke down. To recover he wen s south to the lovely Nilgiri hills, but he spent much of his time in the Portu guese territory of Goa, where he studie 3 the language and learned to appreciate Camoens. the famous Portuguese poet, a man whose spirit had been kin with his own Ophthalmia and other ills, however, drove Burton home to England, where he arrived with a mass or Oriental manuscripts, curios and material for several books on India. Within an amazingly short time he published separate grammars of thre'. North Indian languages, and volumes on “Sind, the Unhappy Valley,” “Tin-: Race that Inhabits the Valley of the Indus.” 61 Goa and the Blue Mountains,” “ Falconny in India,” and ” A Complete System of Bayonet Exercise.’ Whatever Burtoms faults. laziness was inot one of them. ‘During this period he was over at Boulogne one day when, for the first time, he saw an extremely pretty girl named Isabella Arundell. They did not gness it, hut they were destined to know' each other better some yours later. Meantime the East Tndia Company harl given Burton leave in order to study Arabic in lands where the language could best be learned. PILGRIMAGE TO MECCAMecca is the Arab’s zealously guard ed, sacred centre, but Burton decided to venture thither. He left England as a. Persian, halfway he became a I>3» vish ; he finally entered the holy city as an Afghan. It was a daring experiment. The experimenter was constantly under the scrutiny of thousands of fanatical eyes, one false move woulu have meant instantaneous death. But Burton's unrivalled knowledge of Arab speech and habit, his strong nerve and boundless r-ourage carried him through. He survived to tell his story in one of bis most popular books, “ A Pilgrimage to Mecca.” The Bombay Government- now appointed him, along with Captain Speke and some others, to explore Somaliland. then an unknown country. While the 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 Arab merchant, he had entered Harar. the inland capital, a place no European had ever before visited. He was lucky to have escaped with his life.

Hi£ luck was out, however, when the official expedition started. The Somalis attacked it promptly; most of the leaders were wounded, one was killed. Burton’s faoe aws transfixed ny a- spear thrust from cheek to cheek. He went home to England to recover, and while recovering he followed his usual custom of writing a book. Jt is entitled " First Footsteps in East Africa. ” DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA. The Royal Geographical Society now requisitioned his services. They organised an expedition into Central Africi ; Burton to he leader, Speke to be second in command. Nothing was known of J 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 ; tlie native tribes resisted him, his own followers deserted him ; bnt rt last Tanganyika, the largest of the Centra] African lakes, was sighted. T On the way back Speke sighted the A ictoria Nvanza. which he surmised to be the true source of the Nile. Burton and he had a row about it. When they reached the coast Burton was delayed by illness; Speke went home. Bv the time Burton reached England a new expedition had been formed, and Burton iound there was no place in itfor him. He sought solace in another book. He was now at a loose end. But be couldn’t rest ; he set out for the headquarters of the Mormons, at Salt Hake, and. returning, wrote “ The City of the Saints,'' a book highly entertaining, because of its plain speaking. Meantime Isabella Arundell and bo had grown highly appreciative of each other. Isabella's parents, however, did not view the friendship with favour, so she offered to marry Burton without their knowledge. When they learned she had actually done it they behaved very nicely about it. Soon thereafter Burton began bis career as a British consul. His first appointment was Fernando Po, a white man’s grave on the tvest const of Africa. But the duties of the consul could not stifle the instincts of the explorer. He was the first white to climb the Cameroons; be penetrated far ip the Congo ; he visited Benin and T>ahomey, hotbeds of African devilry, and out of that material he made half a dozen books. BACK TO THE ORIENT. Brazil was his next appointment. He had just finished some exploring feats there when he was transferred to 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 10 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 movement that brought her ill-will. The upshot was that Burton was abruptly removed from Damascus and appointed to Trieste. Here for nearly thirty rears he was consul. By the time he was sixty }.e realised that his exploring days were done. .~y he devoted himself more closely to litera.ture. His greatest achievement in that department was his translation of “ The Arabian Nights.’* a remarkable production which brought him £IO.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 " he interprets East to West. “ THE AR ABIAN NIGHTS.” Curiously enough, while Burton wa* busy with his “Nights'’ the Arabic originals of two previously unknown tales were accidentally discovered. Burton was enabled to incorporate them with lii is “Supplementary Nights, ” . and now these latest additions have become the first favourites. They are { ‘ Alladin ” and “ Ali Baba.” Burton died at Trieste on October 20, 1800. aged sixty-nine. Several months later his body was conveyed to England and buried at Mortlake. His monument consists of a white marble mausoleum fashioned in the form of an Arab tent. His widow took a cottage close to his tomb : there she spent Tier 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 lie was middleaged 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 he had his limitations- He had characteristics that laid him open to criticism, and the critics have freely availed themselves of the opon i n gs. His nature was impulsive, but it is doubtful if he could have achieved ho much without being assertive to a degree that may sometimes have made him seem unattractive. He was bluntly outspoken, but lie wa§ so in the knowledge that it would cost him promotion. Yet he never hesitated. BY NATURE A VAGABOND. There were numerous diverse strains in his blood ; there had been much in his life that made the con. ventions of civilisation irksome. hong experience and mental habit had made him largely an Oriental. TIIO gypsies with whom he consorted in various countries said they saw many signs of themselves in his eyes. He was ny nature a vagabond. But. he was no idle vagabond. Despite his active life, he. has over fifty 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. Tie knew' more than thirty languages and dialects, and could speak them with appropriate gestures and inflections. Not only could he converse with leamed Orientals on subjects requiring profound erudition but. be could chaff the most ignorant of natives and exchange with them the, slang of the bazaars Such was the bent of bis genius Probably few others would find in Ills special bent the direction of their ambition- But for those who are capable of appreciating unselfish endeavour, there will always be inspiration in Sir Richard Burton’s wonderful life st.orv.