Sciences naturelles

1859 — 4to, original buff wrappers with all the ads, as issued. Seldom seen in such good and original condition. BURTON and SPEKE's DISCOVERY OF THE NILE SOURCES with TWO of the best MAPS of the time! This is the September and December 1859 issue of the pre-eminent Geographical Journal published in Germany containing one of the first reports of the Burton/Speke Expedition. This publication pre-dates both Burton's and Speke's respective books which did not appear until the 1860's. On this expedition which was sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society, Richard F. Burton traveled with John Hanning Speke - on their second journey together - in order to find the Mountains of the Moon and shed some more light on the Sources of the Nile. They made a brief examination of Lake Tanganyika, but with failing health they were forced to return to Kazeh to recuperate. Following this, Burton sent Speke off by himself to investigate a large lake north of their camp. Speke reached this lake after a few days marches and found its altitude to be much higher than the surrounding country. Hence, even without being able to prove his claim because all his instruments were lost or broken, Speke became convinced that this was the source of the Nile; a conclusion disputed by Burton which led to their falling out and, probably, Speke's mysterious death in 1864. The Nile debate raged on for the next 15 years and as it turns out Speke was indeed correct. This however was not conclusively proven until late in the 1870's when Henry Morton Stanley marched around Lake Victoria and brought an end to all speculation.