This man was a complete and utter bounder. Discuss.

No, just limited and probably no more than averagely caddish!

Speke was probably alright until he came under the influence of Laurence oliphant, who really was a complete and utter bounder.

I think Speke was terribly insecure and good at deluding himself into whatever made him look better. Since Burton was so obviously Speke's intellectual superior, it was important for Speke's self-image to convince himself of his own moral superiority. Therefore, he was right, and Burton was wrong. And not English, enough, as well (gasp). Oliphant really enjoyed mischief and was pleased seeing Burton taken down a peg or two. He probably saw Speke as a easily manipulated tool.

Speke was very insecure and probably easily manipulated by someone like Oliphant. But he did have one very important thing in his favor with the public - he was the one who discovered Lake Victoria while Burton remained in camp!

Thank you one and all, especially 'Rand the Man'. You've all set me off researching Mr. Oliphant. I'm sure this discussion will help with my dissertation s it triggers lines of enquiry! Regards, Toni Pilbrow.

If you are really interested in individuals who encouraged Speke in his betrayl of Burton, I suggest you also look into Rigby, the British Consul in Zanzibar who also hated Burton because of intellectual jealousy (Burton scored higher than him in a government linguistic exam or something) and actively backed Speke in his campaign to discredit Burton.

Hi Rand the man. Try typing 'Rigby Zanzibar 1858' into google search engine. The University of Adelaid has an amazing free e-text library including the whole 'Life of Sir Richard Burton' by Thomas Wright. Regards, Toni Pilbrow.

Yes, Burton stayed behind (deathly ill), and allowed Speke to head up North for a side-trip. But, Burton was still the leader of the expedition, and should have gotten at least part of the credit. Because of Speke's glory-hogging, history has been discolored, as shown in the following example: I just picked up a book titled "Minute Stories of Famous Explorers", published in 1934, which has two-page features on each of 77 different men. It has a map, a portrait, and some small illustrations for each of them. Speke is listed in the book, as is Bertram Thomas, who copied Burton in the 1920's & 30's by posing as a native to explore part of Arabia. Burton is not listed.

Burton discovered the source of the Nile. There were already people living there but he was the one who told Speke where the lake was and how to get there. When I read about nonsense re Speke it makes me angry. If he was silly enough to shoot himself why would anyone support him now?

I was the mental superior of Speke and everyone. I never let anyone now I was God the whole time I was living. Reason- to avoid the ingratiation souls are capable of doing to their maker.