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Travels with Gutenberg

Of the gladdest moments in human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of Habit, the leaden weight of Routine, the cloak of many Cares and the slavery of Hope, one feels once more happy.

- Richard Burton, Zanzibar (London, 1872)

I am not referring to the German inventor of movable typeface who had little time for travel, but to the ‘Gutenberg project of Google’ which brings out copyright digital books in various subjects.

One of the most fascinating subjects in this and other collections such as www.archives.com, ebooks.adelaide.edu.au and India’s http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in are the books on travel to exotic lands like Arabia, Africa, India, Central Asia and Tibet. In the nineteenth century, most of these lands weren’t explored by Europeans and there was a lot of curiosity among the wealthy and new middle class about distant places. Thomas Cook invented organised tours in 1841 and places like Egypt, as a result of which Railway and Suez Canal came within reach of budget tourists. In 1842, Illustrated London News was born and with it the advent of illustrative journalism. There was an unmet demand for travelogues; the stage was set for selling exotica to the masses. All that was missing were those who would write about these places, inter-spread with drawings. The adventurers who travelled were not only explorers, but also linguists, artists and writers (ghost writing was not invented then).

Africa

One of the greatest puzzles of 19th century Africa was to find the source of River Nile. It was a death-defying adventure of passing through hundreds of miles of malaria-infected land, hostile tribes, and predatory wild animals. The heroes were Richard Burton, John Speke, David Livingstone, Samuel Baker, Henry Morton Stanley and others. Their books often with sketches and maps became bestsellers on publications, but the prize of discovering the source of Nile eluded them.

For many years, explorer David Livingstone had been leading expeditions into Africa and writing about it. In 1866, Livingstone returned to Africa, intent on finding the source of Nile, Africa’s longest river where he vanished without a trace.

Gordon Bennett, the wealthy owner of New York Herald, realised it would be a publishing coup to find Livingstone, and gave the assignment to his reporter – the intrepid Henry Stanley. He summoned Stanley to his hotel in Paris and in the words of Stanley:

“I went straight to the Grand Hotel, and knocked at the door of Mr. Bennett’s room.”

“Come in,” Stanley heard a voice say.  Entering, he found Mr. Bennett in bed.  “Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Stanley,” he answered.

“Ah, yes! Sit down; I have important business on hand for you.”

After throwing over his shoulders, his robe-de-chambre Mr. Bennett asked, “Where do you think Livingstone is?”

“I really do not know, Sir.”

“Do you think he is alive?”

“He may be, and he may not be,” Stanley answered.

“Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found, and I am going to send you to find him.”

“What! Do you really think I can find Dr. Livingstone? Do you mean me to go to Central Africa?”

“Yes, I mean that you shall go, and find him wherever you may hear that he is, and to get what news you can of him, and perhaps (delivering himself thoughtfully) the old man may be in want – take enough with you to help him should he require it.  Of course you will act according to your own plans, and do what you think best – but find Livingstone!”

Wondering at the cool order of sending one to Central Africa to search for a man whom Stanley, in common with almost all other men, believed to be dead, “Have you considered seriously the great expense you are likely to incur on account of this little journey?”

“What will it cost?” he asked abruptly.

“Burton and Speke’s journey to Central Africa cost between £3,000 and £5,000, and I fear it cannot be done under £2,500.”

“Well, I will tell you what you will do.  Draw a thousand pounds now; and when you have gone through that, draw another thousand, and when that is spent, draw another thousand, and when you have finished that, draw another thousand, and so on; but find Livingstone.”

How I Found Livingstone published in 1871 is Henry Stanley’s account of his journey to discover the whereabouts of Dr Livingstone. Stanley, though not immune to self-promotion, comes out as a man totally focused in his task. He had no prior experience of exploration, though he had reported from distant battlefields.

Stanley travelled to Zanzibar in March 1871 and outfitted an expedition with the best of everything, requiring no fewer than 200 porters. The 700 miles (1,100 km) expedition through the tropical forest became a nightmare. His stallion died within few days after being bitten by a tsetse fly, many of his carriers deserted and the rest were decimated by tropical diseases. Stanley and his men were often obliged to wade through swamps filled with alligators. Crawling on hands and knees, they forced their way through miles of tangled jungle, breathing in as they went the sickening odor of decaying vegetables. They were obliged to be continually on guard against elephants, lions, hyenas and the savage tribes whom they encountered. For months, they journeyed under these conditions.

It’s no wonder that the survivors of the expedition – all but Stanley had grown disheartened. Half starved, wasted by sickness and hardships of all kinds, with bleeding feet and torn clothes, some of them became mutinous. Stanley’s skill as a leader was taxed most. Alternately, coaxing the faint-hearted and punishing the insubordinate, he continued to lead.

But Stanley would not give way to any feeling that might lessen his chances of success, and it was at this crisis he wrote:

“No living man shall stop me – only death can prevent me. But death, not even this; I shall not die, I will not die, I cannot die! Something tells me I shall find him and write it larger – find him, find him! Even the words are inspiring.”

Stanley meets Livingstone

Soon after this, a caravan passed and gave the expedition news which renewed hope: A man, old, white haired, and sick, had just arrived at Ujiji.Stanley was led to a white man living on the shores of LakeTanganikya. He started with the famous words, “Doctor Livingstone, I presume?” A smile lit up the features of the frail white man, as he answered, “Yes, and I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you.”

Stanley joined Livingstone in exploring the region, establishing for certain that there was no connection between Lake Tanganyika and the Nile.  This book is a captivating read, an excellent example of journalistic writing involving native wars, sickness, slavery, big game hunting, egos and cultural differences.

Stanley’s expedition through the swamps

“This marsh as it appeared to us presented a breadth of some hundreds of yards, on which grew a close network of grass, with much decayed matter. In the centre of this, and underneath it, ran a broad, deep, and rapid stream. As the guides proceeded across, the men stole after them with cautious footsteps. As they arrived near the centre, we began to see this unstable grassy bridge, so curiously provided by nature for us, move up and down in heavy languid undulations, like the swell of the sea after a storm.”

How I Found Livingstone was written in six weeks, published in November 1872 and it immediately became a bestseller and continues to be a classic of African exploration.

Arabia and the Middle East

Arabia was a mysterious land with annual rituals in Hajj at Mecca and Medina, the largest congregation of Muslims in the world. Non-Muslims were prohibited from entering the two holy towns.

Between 1500 and 1931, about 25 non-Muslims visited Mecca, but the first scholarly account was narrated by German explorer Johann Burckhardt. Burckhardt made a journey in 1814 in guise of a poor Syrian merchant whence he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca en route Jidda. At Mecca, he stayed three months and afterwards visited Medina. He describes his experiences in Travels in Arabia.

Burckhardt had the advantage of extended stay for three months in Meccaso. He was able to observe the rituals of pilgrimage, people – their customs, dresses.

Forty years later, in 1853, Richard Francis Burton, the famous traveller, taking a leave from the East India Army to pursue more ambitious adventures, donned an Arab personality so complete that he was able to pass as a devout Muslim, perfect in command of language and rituals of Islam. Burton prepared to embark on a pilgrimage to Al Medinah and Mecca. Almost immediately afterwards, he became famous. It was a sensational journey and his account of it Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah became a bestseller.

Profoundly moved not only by the sight of the Ka’bah, but by the devotion of the pilgrims, Burton went through the complicated ceremonies of the Hajj, describing in detail the actions and prayers which accompany the various rites.

Today, Richard Burton is known for translating the Kama Sutra into English and for discovering the source of Nile with his expedition partner John Speke.  Burton’s accomplishments extend well beyond these and at various times he was an explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. According to one count, he spoke twenty-nine languages. During his life he published forty-three volumes on his explorations and almost thirty volumes of translations. Considered both a hero and a scoundrel in his time, Burton attracted controversy wherever he went.

Lake Victoria, Great Pamirs

India was effectively in the hands of East India Company since early 1800s and was its most valuable property. England and Russia were the great powers of the 19th century. There was great rivalry and suspicion between them regarding their intentions and actions in Central Asia.  The Great Game was a term for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British empire and the Russian empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The British Government was suspicious of Russian advances in Central Asia with a view of entering India.

This political activity led to a large number of expeditions and travels in the region for mapping and investigations.In 1831-32 Lieutenant Alexander Burnes was sent by way of Kabul to Bukhara, for which he became famous as an explorer and political agent and earned the nickname ‘Bokhara’ Burnes.

Alexander Burns in native garb

Burnes was a gifted linguist, fluent in Persian and Urdu and spoke enough Punjabi to get by disguised as a merchant, negotiating his way past bandits on the road into the Hindu Kush and in negotiating entrance into Bukhara in present day Uzbekistan. When the original was published in 1835, Burnes became an overnight sensation, lecturing to packed halls in London and even given an audience by the King. Travelling by boat, horseback and on foot, dressed in local garb and mixing with a range of noblemen and villagers, he brought the last century’s version of The Discovery Channel into British homes.

Burton records geographical, environmental and strategic detail, but he also has an eye for the quirks of local life. He saw the Buddhas of Bamiyan, a mountain where the Afghans say tthat the Noah’s Ark landed and found coins dating back to Alexander’s invaders.

Later, he became the political agent in Kabul and was killed in an insurrection in 2 November 1841 He demonstrated that the perils of the spartan land had not changed. Even today, only the very brave and perhaps a foolhardy person would make this journey.

India and Tibet

Before the British government took over administration of India and after the Indian mutiny in 1857, travellers in India were not burdened with puritanical and racial attitudes of the ‘Victorian Age’. They displayed a very compassionate, sympathetic and engaging discovery of India. One such traveller was Fanny Parkes, who came to India in 1822 as a soldier’s wife and stayed till 1845. She was allowed into the zenanas –ladies quarters in Indian homes.

Fanny Parkes describes her sojurn in Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the picturesque, During Four-and-Twenty Years in the East; with Revelations of Life in the Zenana (1850):“How much there is to delight the eye in this bright, this beautiful world! Roaming about with a good tent and a good Arab [horse], one might be happy for ever in India..The evenings are cool and refreshing..The foliage of the trees, so luxuriously beautiful and so novel, is to me a source of constant admiration.”“Fanny Parkes was a lady of exceptional personality, cultured, observant and enterprising, who could wield a very facile pen. To her, we owe the best and most fascinating account we possess of Indian life in the early part of the last century,” wrote The Pioneer in 17 May 1036.

William Dalrymple writes in June 9, 2007 edition of The Guardian: “Fanny Parkes’ exuberant journals trace her journey from prim memsahib to sitar-playing Indophile and provide one of the most enjoyable accounts of colonial India.”

“Partly it was the beauty of the place that hypnotised her. She found Indian men ‘remarkably handsome’, while her response to the landscape was no less admiring. But it was not just the way the place looked. The longer she stayed in India, the more Parkes fell in love with the culture, history, flowers, trees, religions, languages and peoples of the country, and the more she felt possessed by an overpowering urge to pack her bags and set off to explore.”Fanny Parkes’ detailed memoirs written in a lively style reveal her independent mind. Parke allows a pre-colonial perspective of India, its peoples and customs without prejudice and displays a respect for the richness of Indian culture.

Illustration from Fanny Park’s Wanderings Of A Pilgrim

However, the most intrepid woman traveller of the 19th century was Isabella Lucy Bird. The Times of London described her as ‘the boldest of travellers’. Time spent in Britain always seemed to make her ill. At a time when proper ladies were expected to stay home; after receiving a gift of £100 from her father, Isabella embarked on a series of excursions to US, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. Finally, at the age of 60, the Indian subcontinent’s turn came in 1889 and she travelled through Tibet, Persia, Kurdistan and Turkey.

For it was here, in this vast, windswept, frozen northland that the intrepid English woman nearly met her match! She and her little horse, Gyalo, were dashed into icy rivers. They crossed passes so high that the porters begged for mercy. They saw more adventure, and covered more miles than had ever been experienced by a female equestrian explorer.

Among the Tibetans is a wonderful book, a rousing adventure, an enchanting travelogue, a forgotten peek at the mountain kingdom swept away by the waves of time. She died with her saddle next to her bed. In 1892, she became the first woman inducted into the Royal Geographical Society.

For explorers and writers, Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.) wrote: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”  In Gutenberg Online Library, one can read only a page at a time over one’s lifetime.