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= Richard_Francis_Burton =
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Introduction
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Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, KCMG, FRGS, (19 March 1821 - 20
October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orientalist writer
and scholar. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia,
Africa and South America, as well as his extensive knowledge of
languages and cultures, speaking up to 29 different languages.
Born in Torquay, Devon, Burton joined the Bombay Army as an officer in
1842, beginning an eighteen-year military career which included a
brief stint in the Crimean War. He was subsequently engaged by the
Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to explore the East African coast,
where Burton along with John Hanning Speke led an expedition to
discover the source of the Nile and became the first European known to
have seen Lake Tanganyika. He later served as the British consul in
Fernando Pó, Santos, Damascus and Trieste. Burton was also a Fellow of
the RGS and was awarded a knighthood in 1886.
His best-known achievements include undertaking the Hajj to Mecca in
disguise, translating 'One Thousand and One Nights' and 'The Perfumed
Garden', and publishing the 'Kama Sutra' in English. Although he
abandoned his university studies, Burton became a prolific and erudite
author and wrote numerous books and academic articles on subjects such
as human behaviour, travel, falconry, fencing, sexual practices and
ethnography.
Early life
============
Richard Burton was born in Torquay, Devon, on 19 March 1821; in his
autobiography, he incorrectly claimed to have been born in the family
home of Barham House in Elstree, Hertfordshire. Burton was baptised on
2 September 1821 at Elstree Church in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. His
father, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Netterville Burton, was an
Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army's 36th (Herefordshire)
Regiment of Foot. Joseph, through his mother's family, the Campbells
of Tuam, was a first cousin of Henry Pearce Driscoll and Eliza Graves.
Burton's mother, Martha Baker, was the daughter and co-heiress of
Richard Baker, a wealthy Hertfordshire squire whom Burton was named
after. He had two siblings, Maria Katherine Elizabeth Burton (who
married Lieutenant-General Sir Henry William Stisted) and Edward
Joseph Netterville Burton.
In his early life, Burton grew up between Elstree, England, the home
of Richard's esteemed and wealthy namesake, Richard Baker, and,
initially, Tours, France, the latter after their father sought a
better climate for his asthma. The transition to Tours appears to have
been before the death of Baker, on 16 September 1824. Burton was
looked after while very young, in both England and France, by the
family's "Hertfordshire nurse, Mrs. Ling, a good, but obstinately
English soul"; his formal, early education began at a school in Tours,
taught by "a lame Irishman named Clough", which was followed, when
"for the children’s sake" the family moved to a house in the Rue De
L’Archeveche, "the best street" in Tours, after which "[t]he little
Burtons... attended the academy of a Mr. John Gilchrist, who grounded
them in Latin and Greek".
The Colonel, earlier preoccupied with (but also sustaining injury by)
boar hunting, eventually began a pursuit of the study of chemistry,
including experimental, that would persist for some time, while,
during forays "into society", becoming known for his ability to
"inexpressibly shoc[k]... sensitive company" in his directness of
speech (e.g., publicly referring to “an adulteress” in that way), a
characteristic that Thomas Wright, in his 'Life', suggests the son
having learned from the father. The Burton family returned to England
in 1829, and Richard and his brother Edward were sent to a preparatory
school at Richmond Green run by a Reverend Charles Delafosse, a school
that Wright describes in his 'Life' as having "fees [that] were high",
and the school as being "badly conducted" with the boys being "both
ill-taught and ill-fed".
By the time measles broke out in the school, the Colonel had "tired of
Richmond", and after arranging tutors for the children--a Rev. H. R.
Du Pre for the boys, and a "peony-faced lady named Miss Ruxton" for
Maria--the family moved to Blois, France (Du Pre continuing
tenaciously, but Ruxton returning home, having "g[iven] up in
despair"). The time in Blois would amount to a year, after which, via
Marseille, France and "Leghorn" (Livorno, Italy), on the coast of
Tuscany,), the family settled in Pisa, allowing the boys to become
"proficient in Italian and drawing", and to begin the violin (against
which Richard would rebel, and in which Edward would excel). By July
1832, they were in Siena and Perugia, then Florence, Rome and Naples,
then Sorrento and Capri (with Rev. Du Pre yet in tow, and the Colonel
still devoted to pursuits related to "[o]xygen, abandoning... mass” to
become a gas). At this juncture, the boys are described as having
become "generally ungovernable", with escapades that included "a visit
to a house of poor reputation" and thwarted whipping by father and
tutor.
Colonel Burton quit England again for France in 1836, for Pau in the
south, and soon again after, for Italy, first Pisa, then Lucca, where
the sons divided time "ruffl[ing] it with a number of dissolute
medical students" learning "several quite original wickednesses", and
time spent under the influence of their parents, in "more wholesome
society", in the latter case with introductions to the painter Louis
Desanges, to "Helen Croly, daughter of... [George Croly, author of]
'Salathiel'", and to Virginia Gabriel, later a composer, and daughter
of an English Major-general.
As well, during his youth, he allegedly had a sexual relationship with
a Roma girl and learned the rudiments of the Romani language. The
peregrinations of Burton's youth may have encouraged him to regard
himself as an outsider for much of his life. He would later write, "Do
what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause".
Throughout the foregoing period, Burton had ample opportunity to learn
languages, modern and ancient, for which he had demonstrated aptitude;
prior to departing for university, he had become acquainted with
written, ancient Greek and Latin, and had become fluent in French,
Italian, and modern Greek, quickly learning these as well as
Neapolitan and several dialects. According to biographer Ed Rice,
during Burton's days at university, he would sti[r] the bile of the
dons by speaking real--that is, Roman--Latin instead of the artificial
type peculiar to England, and [by speaking] Greek Romaically, with the
accent of Athens, as he had learned it from a Greek merchant at
Marseille, as well as [knowing] the classical forms. Such a linguistic
feat was a tribute to Burton's remarkable ear and memory, for he was
only a teenager when... in Italy and southern France."
In October 1840, he matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford. Before
getting a room at the college, Burton was coached by William Alexander
Greenhill and by a "Dr. Ogle"; he lived for a short time in the house
of Greenhill, a doctor at the Radcliffe Infirmary. Wright, in his
'Life', notes that Burton "spent his first months, not in studying,
but in rowing, [and] fencing"--in the latter case, in the "fencing
saloons" of an Italian and a Scotsman, with mastery of foil and
broad-sword--to which he added falconry. As well, he had engaged in
"shooting the college rooks, and breaking the rules generally", and,
despite his expressed respect, in pranks "at the expense of [a] Dr.
Jenkins".
For all the experiences and education Burton brought with him to
Oxford, he described his reception there as being unpleasant, and
disparaged its educational offerings, stating that the "college
teaching for which one was obliged to pay... was of the most worthless
description", with "[t]wo hours a day... regularly wasted", noting
that "those who read for honours... choose and pay a private coach".
On a personal level, he describes having "grown a splendid
moustache... the envy of all the boys abroad", that, despite his
mentors Greenhill and Ogle advising removal, was only shaved after
being given formal college orders; he describes having already formed
strong ideas upon the Shaven Age of England, when her history, with
some brilliant exceptions, such as Marlborough, Wellington and Nelson,
was at its meanest. On being laughed at by a fellow undergraduate, he
responded by challenging him to a duel. While there, he sat under the
Christian teaching of John Henry Newman, "[t]he only preacher Burton
would listen to"; Greenhill, Burton's mentor, was Newman's
churchwarden.
Still, Burton "longed to excel as a linguist, and particularly in
Oriental languages", and sought to learn Arabic, approaching the
Regius Professor--whose retort was that professors did not teach
individuals--and then going it alone, with "a little assistance from
the Spanish scholar Don Pascual de Gayangos". In April 1842, Burton
attended a steeplechase event at the Oxford races, an act forbidden
"at the last moment" by the college; the culprits being brought before
the same on the morning following the event, "the dons having lectured
Burton, he began lecturing them"--in particular, observing that "young
men ought not to be treated like children". As such, while all other
offenders were "rusticated" (temporarily expelled), Burton was instead
permanently expelled from Oxford.
Bombay Army career
====================
In his own words, "fit for nothing but to be shot at for six pence a
day", Burton was commissioned into the Bombay Army at the behest of
his former classmates in college who were already serving as officers
there. He had hoped to fight in the First Anglo-Afghan War, but the
conflict was over by the time Burton arrived in India. He was posted
to the 18th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, which was stationed in
Gujarat and under the command of General Charles James Napier. He
earned the nickname "Ruffian Dick", for his "demonic ferocity as a
fighter and because he had fought in single combat more enemies than
perhaps any other man of his time".
While in India, he became a proficient speaker of Persian and Arabic,
as well as Hindustani, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, and
Marathi, having passed six formal language examinations, and being in
the process of studying for two more. (And while in the Bombay Army,
he kept a large menagerie of tame monkeys in the hopes of learning
their language, and has been quoted as stating he had accumulated
sixty "words" of their speech.)
Burton also had a documented interest and actively participated in the
cultures and religions of India. This was one of the many peculiar
habits that set him apart from other British officers in India.
According to a Burton autobiographical work, his studies of Hindu
culture had progressed to such an extent that "my Hindu teacher
officially allowed me to wear the 'janeo'".
Burton's religious experiences were varied, including attending
Catholic services, becoming a Naga Brahmin, converting to Sikhism and
Islam, and undergoing the 'chilla' retreat for Qadiriyya Sufism.
Regarding Burton's Muslim beliefs, Rice stated that "he was
circumcised, and made a Muslim, and lived like a Muslim and prayed and
practiced like one." Furthermore, Burton, "was entitled to call
himself a 'hāfiz', one who can recite the Qur'ān from memory."
According to Rice, "Burton now regarded the seven years in India as
time wasted." Yet he had passed six language examinations, was en
route to two further, and so is described by Rice as "eminently
qualified."
First explorations and journey to Mecca
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Motivated by his love for adventure, Burton gained the approval of the
Royal Geographical Society (RGS) for an exploration of the Middle
East, and, now at the rank of captain, received permission from the
directors of the East India Company (EIC) to take leave from the
Bombay Army. The seven years he spent in India gave Burton a
familiarity with the customs and behaviour of Muslims and prepared him
to attempt a Hajj to Mecca and Medina. He planned it whilst travelling
disguised among Muslims in Sindh, and had laboriously prepared it by
studying and practising Muslim culture, including undergoing
circumcision to further lower the risk of being discovered.
Burton's undertaking of the Hajj in 1853 was his realisation of "the
plans and hopes of many and many a year... to study thoroughly the
inner life of the Moslem." He donned the guise of a Persian mirza, and
then a Sunni sheikh, doctor, magician and dervish, accompanied by an
enslaved Indian boy named Nūr. In April, he travelled through
Alexandria before reaching Cairo by May, where Burton stayed during
Ramadan in June. He further equipped himself with a case for carrying
the Quran, but which instead had three compartments for his watch,
compass, money, penknife, pencils and numbered pieces of paper for
taking notes.
Burton travelled onwards with a group of nomads to Suez before sailing
to Yambu and joining a caravan to Medina, where he arrived on 27 July.
Departing Medina with a caravan on 31 August, Burton entered Mecca on
11 September, where he participated in the Tawaf. He travelled to
Mount Arafat and participated in the stoning of the Devil, all the
while taking notes on the Kaaba, its Black Stone and the Zamzam Well.
Departing Mecca, he journeyed to Jeddah and then back to Cairo,
returning to Army duty in Bombay. In India, Burton wrote his 'Personal
Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah', writing that "at
Mecca there is nothing theatrical, nothing that suggests the opera,
but all is simple and impressive... tending, I believe, after its
fashion, to good."
Although Burton was not the first non-Muslim European to undertake the
Hajj, with Ludovico di Varthema first to do so in 1503, and Johann
Ludwig Burckhardt doing so in 1815, Burton's entry into Mecca is the
most famous and the best documented of the period. He adopted various
disguises, including that of a Pashtun, to account for any oddities in
speech, but he still had to demonstrate an understanding of intricate
Islamic traditions and a familiarity with the minutiae of Eastern
manners and etiquette. Burton's trek to Mecca was dangerous, and his
caravan was attacked by bandits (a common experience at the time). As
he put it, although "... neither Koran or Sultan enjoin the death of
Jew or Christian intruding within the columns that note the sanctuary
limits, nothing could save a European detected by the populace, or one
who after pilgrimage declared himself an unbeliever". The pilgrimage
entitled him to the title of Hajji and to wear the green turban.
While back in India, Burton sat for the examination as an Arab
linguist for the EIC. The examiner was Robert Lambert Playfair, who
mistrusted Burton. As academic George Percy Badger knew Arabic well,
Playfair asked Badger to oversee the exam. Having been told that
Burton could be vindictive, and wishing to avoid any animosity should
he fail, Badger declined. Eventually, Playfair conducted the tests;
despite Burton's success in living like an Arab, Playfair recommended
to the committee that Burton be failed. Badger later told Burton that
"After looking [Burton's test] over, I sent them back to [Playfair]
with a note eulogising your attainments and... remarking on the
absurdity of the Bombay Committee being made to judge your proficiency
inasmuch as I did not believe that any of them possessed a tithe of
the knowledge of Arabic you did."
Early explorations
====================
In May 1854, Burton travelled to Aden in preparation for an RGS-backed
expedition, which included John Hanning Speke, to Somaliland. The
expedition lasted from 29October 1854 to 9February 1855, with much of
its time spent in Zeila, where Burton was a guest of the town's
governor Sharmarke Ali Saleh. Burton, assuming the disguise of an Arab
merchant "Hajji Mirza Abdullah", awaited word that the road to Harar
was safe. On 29 December, Burton met with Gerard Adan in the village
of Sagharrah and openly proclaimed himself as a British officer with a
letter for the Emir of Harar. On 3 January 1855, Burton made it to
Harar and was graciously met by the Emir. He stayed in the city for
ten days, officially a guest of the Emir but in reality his prisoner.
Burton also investigated local landmarks in Harar; according to him,
"A tradition exists that with the entrance of the first [white]
Christian, Harar will fall." With Burton's entry, the tradition was
broken. The journey back was plagued by lack of supplies, and Burton
wrote that he would have died of thirst had he not seen desert birds
and realized they would be near water. He made it back to Berbera on
31 January 1855.
Following this expedition, Burton prepared to set out in search of the
source of the Nile, accompanied by Speke and a number of African
porters and expedition guides. The Indian Navy schooner transported
them to Berbera on 7 April 1855. While the expedition was camped near
Berbera, they were attacked by a group of Somali warriors from the
Isaaq clan; the British estimated the number of attackers at 200. In
the ensuing fight, Speke was wounded in eleven places before he
managed to escape, while Burton was impaled with a javelin, the point
entering one cheek and exiting the other, leaving a permanent scar.
Burton was forced to escape with the weapon still transfixing his
head. Burton subsequently wrote that the Somalis were a "fierce and
turbulent race". However, the failure of this expedition (which also
resulted in the second blockade of Berbera) was viewed harshly by the
British authorities, and a two-year investigation was set up to
determine to what extent Burton was culpable for this disaster. While
he was largely cleared of any blame, his career prospects were
damaged. He described the attack in 'First Footsteps in East Africa'
(1856).
After recovering from his wounds in London, Burton travelled to
Constantinople during the Crimean War, seeking an officer's
commission. He received one from Major-General William Ferguson
Beatson as the chief of staff for Beatson's Horse, an irregular
Ottoman cavalry unit stationed in Gallipoli. Burton returned to
England after an incident which implicated him as the instigator of a
mutiny among the unit, damaging his reputation and disgracing Beatson.
Exploring the African Great Lakes
===================================
In 1856, the Royal Geographical Society funded another expedition for
Burton and Speke, "and exploration of the then utterly unknown Lake
regions of Central Africa." They would travel from Zanzibar to Ujiji
along a caravan route established in 1825 by an Arab ivory and slave
merchant. The Great Journey commenced on 5 June 1857 with their
departure from Zanzibar, where they had stayed at the residence of
Atkins Hamerton, the British consul, their caravan consisting of
Baluchi mercenaries led by Ramji, 36 porters, eventually a total of
132 persons, all led by the caravan leader Said bin Salim. From the
beginning, Burton and Speke were hindered by disease, malaria, fevers
and other maladies, at times both having to be carried in a hammock.
Pack animals died, and natives deserted, taking supplies with them.
Yet, on 7 November 1857, they made it to Kazeh, and departed for Ujiji
on 14 December. Speke wanted to head north, sure they would find the
source of the Nile at what he later named Victoria Nyanza, but Burton
persisted in heading west.
The expedition arrived at Lake Tanganyika on 13 February 1858. Burton
was awestruck by the sight of the magnificent lake, but Speke, who had
been temporarily blinded, was unable to see the body of water. By this
point much of their surveying equipment was lost, ruined or stolen,
and they were unable to complete surveys of the area as well as they
wished. Burton was again taken ill on the return journey; Speke
continued exploring without him, making a journey to the north and
eventually locating the great Lake Victoria, or Victoria Nyanza, on 3
August. Lacking supplies and proper instruments, Speke was unable to
survey the area properly but was privately convinced that it was the
long-sought source of the Nile. Burton's description of the journey is
given in 'Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa' (1860). Speke gave his
own account in 'The Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the
Nile' (1863).
Burton and Speke made it back to Zanzibar on 4 March 1859, and left on
22 March for Aden. Speke immediately boarded the for London, where he
gave lectures, and was awarded a second expedition by the Society.
Burton arrived in London on 21 May, discovering "My companion now
stood forth in his new colours, an angry rival." Speke additionally
published 'What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile'
(1863), while Burton's 'Zanzibar; City, Island, and Coast' was
eventually published in 1872.
Burton then departed on a trip to the United States in April 1860,
eventually making it to Salt Lake City on 25 August. There he studied
Mormonism and met Brigham Young. Burton departed San Francisco on 15
November for the voyage back to England, where he published 'The City
of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California'.
Burton and Speke
==================
A prolonged public quarrel followed, damaging the reputations of both
Burton and Speke. Some biographers have suggested that friends of
Speke (particularly Laurence Oliphant) had initially stirred up
trouble between the two. Burton's sympathizers contend that Speke
resented Burton's leadership role. Tim Jeal, who has accessed Speke's
personal papers, suggests that it was more likely the other way
around, Burton being jealous and resentful of Speke's determination
and success. "As the years went by, [Burton] would neglect no
opportunity to deride and undermine Speke's geographical theories and
achievements".
Speke had earlier proven his mettle by trekking through the mountains
of Tibet, but Burton regarded him as inferior as he did not speak any
Arabic or African languages. Despite his fascination with non-European
cultures, some have portrayed Burton as an unabashed imperialist
convinced of the historical and intellectual superiority of the white
race, citing his involvement in the Anthropological Society of London,
an organisation which supported scientific racism. Speke appears to
have been kinder and less intrusive to the Africans they encountered
and reportedly fell in love with an African woman on a later
expedition.
The two men travelled home separately. Speke returned to London first
and presented a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, claiming
Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile. According to Burton, Speke
broke an agreement they had made to give their first public speech
together. Apart from Burton's word, there is no proof that such an
agreement existed, and most modern researchers doubt that it did. Tim
Jeal, evaluating the written evidence, says the odds are "heavily
against Speke having made a pledge to his former leader". Speke
undertook a second expedition, along with Captain James Grant and Sidi
Mubarak Bombay, to prove that Lake Victoria was the true source of the
Nile. Speke, in light of the issues he was having with Burton, had
Grant sign a statement saying, among other things, "I renounce all my
rights to publishing ... my own account [of the expedition] until
approved of by Captain Speke or [the Royal Geographical Society]".
On 16 September 1864, Burton and Speke were scheduled to debate the
source of the Nile at a meeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science. On the day before the debate, Burton and Speke
sat near each other in the lecture hall. According to Burton's wife,
Speke stood up, said "I can't stand this any longer," and abruptly
left the hall. That afternoon Speke went hunting on the nearby estate
of a relative. He was discovered lying near a stone wall, felled by a
fatal gunshot wound from his hunting shotgun. Burton learned of
Speke's death the following day while waiting for their debate to
begin. A jury ruled Speke's death an accident. An obituary surmised
that Speke, while climbing over the wall, had carelessly pulled the
gun after himself with the muzzle pointing at his chest and shot
himself. Alexander Maitland, Speke's only biographer, concurs.
Diplomatic service and scholarship (1861–1890)
================================================
On 22 January 1861, Burton and Isabel Arundel married in a quiet
Catholic ceremony, although he did not adopt the Catholic faith at
this time. Shortly after this, the couple were forced to spend some
time apart when he formally entered the Diplomatic Service as consul
on the island of Fernando Po, now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea. This was
not a prestigious appointment; because the climate was considered
extremely unhealthy for Europeans, Isabel could not accompany him.
Burton spent much of this time exploring the coast of West Africa,
documenting his findings in 'Abeokuta and The Cameroons Mountains: An
Exploration' (1863), and 'A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome' (1864).
He described some of his experiences, including a trip up the Congo
River to the Yellala Falls and beyond, in his 1876 book 'Two trips to
gorilla land and the cataracts of the Congo'.
The couple were reunited in 1865 when Burton was transferred to Santos
in Brazil. Once there, Burton travelled through Brazil's central
highlands, canoeing down the São Francisco River from its source to
the falls of Paulo Afonso. He documented his experiences in 'The
Highlands of Brazil' (1869). In 1868 and 1869, he made two visits to
the war zone of the Paraguayan War, which he described in his 'Letters
from the Battlefields of Paraguay' (1870). In 1868, he was appointed
as the British consul in Damascus, an ideal post for someone with
Burton's knowledge of the region and customs. According to Ed Rice,
"England wanted to know what was going on in the Levant," another
chapter in The Great Game. Yet, the Turkish governor Mohammed Rashid
'Ali Pasha feared anti-Turkish activities, and was opposed to Burton's
assignment.
In Damascus, Burton made friends with Abdelkader al-Jazairi, while
Isabel befriended Jane Digby, calling her "my most intimate friend."
Burton also met Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake and Edward Henry Palmer,
collaborating with Drake in writing 'Unexplored Syria' (1872).
However, the area was in some turmoil at the time, with considerable
tensions between the Christian, Jewish and Muslim populations. Burton
did his best to keep the peace and resolve the situation, but this
sometimes led him into trouble. On one occasion, he claims to have
escaped an attack by hundreds of armed horsemen and camel riders sent
by Mohammed Rashid Pasha, the Governor of Syria. He wrote, "I have
never been so flattered in my life than to think it would take three
hundred men to kill me." Burton eventually suffered the enmity of the
Greek Christian and Jewish communities. Then, his involvement with
the Sházlis, a Sufi Muslim order among whom was a group that Burton
called "Secret Christians longing for baptism", which Isabel called
"his ruin." He was recalled in August 1871, prompting him to send a
telegram to Isabel: "I am recalled. Pay, pack, and follow at
convenience."
Burton was reassigned in 1872 to the port city of Trieste in
Austria-Hungary. A "broken man", Burton was never particularly content
with this post, but it required little work, was far less dangerous
than Damascus (as well as less exciting), and allowed him the freedom
to write and travel. In 1863, Burton co-founded the Anthropological
Society of London with Dr. James Hunt. In Burton's own words, the main
aim of the society (through the publication of the periodical
'Anthropologia') was "to supply travellers with an organ that would
rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscript and
print their curious information on social and sexual matters". On 13
February 1886, Burton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of
St Michael and St George (KCMG) by Queen Victoria.
He wrote a number of travel books in this period that were not
particularly well received. His best-known contributions to literature
were those considered risqué or even pornographic at the time, which
were published under the auspices of the Kama Shastra society. These
books include 'The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana' (1883) (popularly known
as the Kama Sutra), 'The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night'
(1885) (popularly known as The Arabian Nights), 'The Perfumed Garden
of the Shaykh Nefzawi' (1886) and 'The Supplemental Nights to the
Thousand Nights and a Night' (seventeen volumes 1886-98). Published in
this period but composed on his return journey from Mecca, 'The
Kasidah' has been cited as evidence of Burton's status as a Bektashi
Sufi. Deliberately presented by Burton as a translation, the poem and
his notes and commentary on it contain layers of Sufic meaning that
seem to have been designed to project Sufi teaching in the West. '"Do
what thy manhood bids thee do/ from none but self expect applause;/ He
noblest lives and noblest dies/ who makes and keeps his self-made
laws"' is 'The Kasidahs most-quoted passage. As well as references to
many themes from Classical Western myths, the poem contains many
laments that are accented with fleeting imagery such as repeated
comparisons to '"the tinkling of the Camel bell"' that becomes
inaudible as the animal vanishes in the darkness of the desert.
Other works of note include a collection of Hindu tales, 'Vikram and
the Vampire' (1870); and his uncompleted history of swordsmanship,
'The Book of the Sword' (1884). He also translated 'The Lusiads', the
Portuguese national epic by Luís de Camões, in 1880 and, the next
year, wrote a sympathetic biography of the poet and adventurer. The
book 'The Jew, the Gipsy and el Islam' was published posthumously in
1898 and was controversial for its criticism of Jews and for its
assertion of the existence of Jewish human sacrifices. Burton's
investigations into this had provoked hostility from the Jews of
Damascus. The manuscript of the book included an appendix discussing
the topic in more detail, but by the decision of his widow, it was not
included in the book when published.
Death
=======
Burton died in Trieste early on the morning of 20 October 1890 of a
heart attack. His wife Isabel persuaded a priest to perform the last
rites, although Burton was not a Catholic, and this action later
caused a rift between Isabel and some of Burton's friends. It has been
suggested that the death occurred very late on 19October and that
Burton was already dead by the time the last rites were administered.
On his religious views, Burton called himself an atheist, stating he
was raised in the Church of England, which he said was "officially
[his] church".
Isabel never recovered from the loss. After his death, she burned many
of her husband's papers, including journals and a planned new
translation of 'The Perfumed Garden' to be called 'The Scented
Garden', for which she had been offered six thousand guineas and which
she regarded as his "magnum opus". She believed she was acting to
protect her husband's reputation, and that she had been instructed to
burn the manuscript of 'The Scented Garden' by his spirit, but her
actions were controversial. However, a substantial quantity of his
written materials have survived, and are held by the Huntington
Library in San Marino, California, including 21 boxes of his
manuscripts, 24 boxes of correspondence, and other material.
Isabel wrote a biography in praise of her husband.
The couple are buried in a tomb in the shape of a Bedouin tent,
designed by Isabel, in the cemetery of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic
Church Mortlake in southwest London. The coffins of Sir Richard and
Lady Burton can be seen through a window at the rear of the tent,
which can be accessed via a short fixed ladder. Next to the lady
chapel in the church, there is a memorial stained-glass window to
Burton, also erected by Isabel; it depicts Burton as a medieval
knight. Burton's personal effects and a collection of paintings,
photographs and objects relating to him are in the Burton Collection
at Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham. Among these is a small quartz
stone from Mesopotamia, inscribed in supposed Kufic script, which has
thus far resisted decipherment by experts.
Kama Shastra Society
======================================================================
Burton had long had an interest in sexuality and some erotic
literature. However, the Obscene Publications Act 1857 had resulted in
many jail sentences for publishers, with prosecutions being brought by
the Society for the Suppression of Vice. Burton referred to the
society and those who shared its views as 'Mrs Grundy'. A way around
this was the private circulation of books among the members of a
society. For this reason Burton, together with Forster Fitzgerald
Arbuthnot, created the Kama Shastra Society to print and circulate
books that would be illegal to publish in public.
One of the most celebrated of all his books is his translation of 'The
Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night' (commonly called 'The Arabian
Nights' in English after early translations of Antoine Galland's
French version) in ten volumes (1885), with seven further volumes
being added later. The volumes were printed by the Kama Shastra
Society in a subscribers-only edition of one thousand with a guarantee
that there would never be a larger printing of the books in this form.
The stories collected were often sexual in content and were considered
pornography at the time of publication. In particular, the 'Terminal
Essay' in volume 10 of the 'Nights' contained a 14,000-word essay
entitled "Pederasty" (Volume 10, section IV, D), at the time a synonym
for homosexuality (as it still is, in modern French). This was and
remained for many years the longest and most explicit discussion of
homosexuality in any language. Burton speculated that male
homosexuality was prevalent in an area of the southern latitudes named
by him the "Sotadic zone".
Perhaps Burton's best-known book is his translation of 'The Kama
Sutra'. It is untrue that he was the translator since the original
manuscript was in ancient Sanskrit, which he could not read. However,
he collaborated with Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot on the work and
provided translations from other manuscripts of later translations.
The Kama Shastra Society first printed the book in 1883 and numerous
editions of the Burton translation are in print to this day.
His English translation from a French edition of the Arabic erotic
guide 'The Perfumed Garden' was printed as 'The Perfumed Garden of the
Cheikh Nefzaoui: A Manual of Arabian Erotology' (1886). After Burton's
death, Isabel burnt many of his papers, including a manuscript of a
subsequent translation, 'The Scented Garden', containing the final
chapter of the work, on pederasty. Burton all along intended for this
translation to be published after his death, to provide an income for
his widow.
Scandals
======================================================================
Burton's writings are unusually open and frank about his interest in
sex and sexuality. His travel writing is often full of details about
the sexual lives of the inhabitants of areas he travelled through.
Burton's interest in sexuality led him to make measurements of the
lengths of the penises of male inhabitants of various regions, which
he includes in his travel books. He also describes sexual techniques
common in the regions he visited, often hinting that he had
participated, hence breaking both sexual and racial taboos of his day.
Many people at the time considered the Kama Shastra Society and the
books it published scandalous.
Biographers disagree on whether or not Burton ever experienced
homosexual sex (he never directly acknowledges it in his writing).
Rumours began in his army days when Charles James Napier requested
that Burton go undercover to investigate a male brothel reputed to be
frequented by British soldiers. It has been suggested that Burton's
detailed report on the workings of the brothel led some to believe he
had been a customer. There is no documentary evidence that such a
report was written or submitted, nor that Napier ordered such research
by Burton, and it has been argued that this is one of Burton's
embellishments.
A story that haunted Burton up to his death (recounted in some of his
obituaries) was that, during his journey to Mecca disguised as a
Muslim, he came close to being discovered one night when he lifted his
robe to urinate rather than squatting as an Arab would. It was said
that he was seen by an Arab and, to avoid exposure, killed him. Burton
denied this, pointing out that killing the boy would almost certainly
have led to his being discovered as an impostor. Burton became so
tired of denying this accusation that he took to baiting his accusers,
although he was said to enjoy the notoriety and even once laughingly
claimed to have done it. A doctor once asked him: "How do you feel
when you have killed a man?", Burton retorted: "Quite jolly, what
about you?". When asked by a priest about the same incident Burton is
said to have replied: "Sir, I'm proud to say I have committed every
sin in the Decalogue." Stanley Lane-Poole, a Burton detractor,
reported that Burton "confessed rather shamefacedly that he had never
killed anybody at any time."
These allegations coupled with Burton's often irascible nature were
said to have harmed his career and may explain why he was not promoted
further, either in army life or in the diplomatic service. As an
obituary described: "...he was ill fitted to run in official harness,
and he had a Byronic love of shocking people, of telling tales against
himself that had no foundation in fact." Ouida reported: "Men at the
FO [Foreign Office] ... used to hint dark horrors about Burton, and
certainly justly or unjustly he was disliked, feared and suspected ...
not for what he had done, but for what he was believed capable of
doing."
Sotadic zone
======================================================================
Burton theorized about the existence of a "Sotadic zone" in the
closing essay of his English translation of 'The Arabian Nights'
(1885-1886). He asserted that there exists a geographic-climatic zone
in which sodomy and pederasty (sexual intimacy between older men and
young pubescent/adolescent boys) are endemic, prevalent, and
celebrated among the indigenous inhabitants and within their cultures.
The name derives from Sotades, a 3rd-century BC Ancient Greek poet who
was the chief representative of a group of Ancient Greek writers of
obscene, and sometimes pederastic, satirical poetry; these homoerotic
verses are preserved in the 'Greek Anthology', a collection of poems
spanning the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature.
Burton first advanced his Sotadic zone concept in the "Terminal
Essay", contained in Volume 10 of his English translation of 'The
Arabian Nights', which he called 'The Book of the Thousand Nights and
a Night', published in England in 1886.
Fiction
=========
*In the novel 'Nostromo' (1904) by Joseph Conrad, the character Martin
Decoud is believed to be partly modelled after Don Juan Decoud, the
editor of the newspaper 'El Liberal', described in Burton’s 'Letters
from the Battle-fields of Paraguay' (1870).
* In the short story "The Aleph" (1945) by Argentine writer Jorge Luis
Borges, a manuscript by Burton is discovered in a library. The
manuscript contains a description of a mirror in which the whole
universe is reflected.
* The Riverworld series of science fiction novels (1971-83) by Philip
José Farmer has a fictional and resurrected Burton as a primary
character.
* William Harrison's 'Burton and Speke' is a 1984 novel about the two
friends/rivals.
* 'The World Is Made of Glass: A Novel' by Morris West tells the story
of Magda Liliane Kardoss von Gamsfeld in consultation with Carl Gustav
Jung; Burton is mentioned on pp. 254-7 and again on p. 392.
* 'Der Weltensammler' by the Bulgarian-German writer Iliya Troyanov is
a fictional reconstruction of three periods of Burton's life, focusing
on his time in India, his pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca, and his
explorations with Speke.
* Burton is the main character in the "Burton and Swinburne" steampunk
series by Mark Hodder (2010-2015): 'The Strange Affair of
Spring-Heeled Jack'; 'The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man';
'Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon'; 'The Secret of Abdu El
Yezdi'; 'The Return of the Discontinued Man'; and 'The Rise of the
Automated Aristocrats'. These novels depict an alternate world where
Queen Victoria was killed early in her reign due to the inadvertent
actions of a time-traveller acting as Spring-Heeled Jack, with a
complex constitutional revision making Albert King in her place.
* Though not one of the primary characters in the series, Burton plays
an important historical role in the 'Area 51' series of books by Bob
Mayer (written under the pen name Robert Doherty).
* Burton and his partner Speke are recurrently mentioned in one of
Jules Verne's 'Voyages Extraordinaires', the 1863 novel 'Five Weeks in
a Balloon', as the voyages of Kennedy and Ferguson are attempting to
link their expeditions with those of Heinrich Barth in west Africa.
* In the novel 'The Bookman's Promise' (2004) by John Dunning, the
protagonist buys a signed copy of a rare Burton book, and from there
Burton and his work are major elements of the story. A section of the
novel also fictionalizes a portion of Burton's life in the form of
recollections of one of the characters.
* Burton and Speke appear as characters in the historical novel 'The
Romantic' by William Boyd (2022).
Drama
=======
* In the BBC mini-series 'The Search for the Nile' (1971), Burton is
portrayed by actor Kenneth Haigh.
* The film 'Mountains of the Moon' (1990) (starring Patrick Bergin as
Burton) relates the story of the Burton-Speke exploration and
subsequent controversy over the source of the Nile. The script was
based on Harrison's novel.
* In the Canadian film 'Zero Patience' (1993), Burton is portrayed by
John Robinson as having had "an unfortunate encounter" with the
Fountain of Youth and living in present-day Toronto. Upon discovering
the ghost of the famous Patient Zero, Burton attempts to exhibit the
finding at his Hall of Contagion at the Museum of Natural History.
* In the American TV show 'The Sentinel', a monograph by Sir Richard
Francis Burton is found by one of the main characters, Blair Sandburg,
and is the origin of his concept of Sentinels and their roles in their
respective tribes.
Film documentaries
====================
* In 'The Victorian Sex Explorer', Rupert Everett documents Burton's
travels. Part of the Channel Four (UK) 'Victorian Passions' season.
First Broadcast on 9 June 2008.
Chronology
======================================================================
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at:1840 text:"1840: Enrolls in Trinity College, Oxford."
at:1842 text:"1842: Expelled from Oxford and joins the army."
at:1851 text:"1851: Meets Isabel Burton (then Isabel Arundell), his
future wife. Publishes first book."
at:1853 text:"1853: Travels to Meccah and Medina disguised as a
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at:1855 text:"1855: Burton and Speke attacked and wounded while
exploring Berbera."
at:1856 text:"1856: Burton serves in the army in the Crimean War and
becomes engaged to Isabel Arundell."
at:1858 text:"1858: Burton and Speke explore the Central African
lakes, locating Lake Tanganyika (Speke locates Lake Victoria)."
at:1860 text:"1860: Travels to America, visiting Salt Lake City and
California."
at:1861 text:"1861: Marries Isabel Burton and becomes consul to
Fernando Po (Bioko)."
at:1865 text:"1865: Appointed consul to Santos."
at:1869 text:"1869: Appointed consul to Damascus."
at:1873 text:"1873: Appointed consul to Trieste."
at:1883 text:"1883: Translates the Kama Sutra with Forster
Fitzgerald Arbuthnot."
at:1884 text:"1884: Translates The Arabian Nights."
at:1886 text:"1886: Awarded KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and
St George)."
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or 20."
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Works and correspondence
======================================================================
Burton published over 40 books and countless articles, monographs and
letters. A great number of his journal and magazine pieces have never
been catalogued. Over 200 of these have been collected in PDF
facsimile format at burtoniana.org.
Brief selections from a variety of Burton's writings are available in
Frank McLynn's 'Of No Country: An Anthology of Richard Burton' (1990;
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons).
See also
======================================================================
* Selim Aga
* Mausoleum of Sir Richard and Lady Burton
* List of polyglots
Sources
=========
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Hastings, Michael (1978), 'Sir Richard Burton. A Biography', Hodder
& Stoughton, London.
* Hitchman, Francis (1887), 'Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G.: His Early,
Private and Public Life with an Account of his Travels and
Explorations', Two volumes; London: Sampson and Low.
*
*
*
* McDow, Thomas F.
'[
http://cssaame.dukejournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/3/491
Trafficking in Persianness: Richard Burton between mimicry and
similitude in the Indian Ocean and Persianate worlds]'. Comparative
Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 30.3 (2010):
491-511.
*
*
* Newman, James L. (2009), 'Paths without Glory: Richard Francis
Burton in Africa', Potomac Books, Dulles, Virginia; .
*
*
*
*
*
* Sparrow-Niang, Jane (2014). 'Bath and the Nile Explorers: In
commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Burton and Speke's encounter
in Bath, September 1864, and their 'Nile Duel' which never happened.
'Bath: Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.
*
* Wisnicki, Adrian S. (2009). "Charting the Frontier: Indigenous
Geography, Arab-Nyamwezi Caravans, and the East African Expedition of
1856-59". 'Victorian Studies' 51.1 (Aut.): 103-37.
*
External links
======================================================================
* [
http://burtoniana.org Complete Works of Richard Burton at
burtoniana.org]. Includes over 200 of Burton's journal and magazine
pieces.
*
*
*
* - index to world holdings of Burton archival materials
* [
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11764/ 'The Penetration of Arabia' by
David George Hogarth (1904)] - discusses Burton in the second section,
"The Successors"
* [
http://www.sirrichardburtonmuseum.co.uk/ Capt Sir Richard Burton
Museum] (sirrichardburtonmuseum.co.uk), "located in a private
residence in central St Ives, Cornwall UK"
*
License
=========
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton
