Gordon, Charles George.

writing in reply to Burton's letter declining the Governorship of Darfur, he apologises for having offered an inadequate salary, indeed for having offered one at all ("...I considered you, from your independence, one of nature's nobility, who did not serve for money, excuse the mistake, if such it is..."); discusses the death of white men in tropical climates ("...do not you, who are a Philosopher, think it is due to moral prostration..."), with reference to his assistant [Colonel] Prout, who, he says, "has been lingering on the grave's brink for a long time"; asserts that he himself has no fear of dying in any climate and quotes Burton's aphorism "Men now seek honors not honor" ("...you put that in one of your books, do you remember it, how true it is. I have often pirated it and not acknowledged the author, though I believe, you stole it...");



he also mentions or gives views on Livingstone ("...I would like to hear you hold forth on the idol 'Livingstone'..."), Sir Samuel Baker ("...Baker certainly gave me a nice job, in raising him ag[ain]st the Govt so unnecessarily, even on his own shewing, vide his book 'Ismailia' & judge hastily..."), James Grant and his claim to have found the source of the Nile ("...I suppose you know that old creature Grant who, for 17 or 18 years has traded on his wonderfull walk..."), H.M. Stanley, with a passing reference to his finding Livingstone ("...Stanley will give them some bother, they cannot bear him, and, in my belief, rather wished he had not come through safe, he will give them a dose for their hard speeches. he is to blame for writing what he did, as Baker was. these things may be done, but not advertized..."), the traveller and writer Andrew Wilson, and the African explorer [Verney Lovett] Cameron;



Gordon also discusses the slave trade ("...Setting aside the end to be gained, I think that slave convention is a very unjust one in many ways, towards the people, but we are not an overjust nation, towards the weak..."), his own plans ("...I am now going to Dongola...and then to Berberah viz a viz Aden near your old friends the Somalis (now there is a Govt which might suit you, and which you might develop, paying off old scores, by the way, for having thwarted you...)...I then return to Kartoum and then go to Darfur..."), politics in the Sudan and his own ambitions ("...Kaba Rega [King of Unyoro], now we have two steamers on Lake Albert...asks for peace, which I am delighted at, he never was to blame...Little by little, we creep on to our goal, viz the two lakes, and nothing can stop us, I think..."), and the work of the missionaries ("...You know the hopelessness of such a task, till you find a St Paul or St John..."); 6 pages, 8vo, hinged and sewn into a dark green wrap-around binding, lettered in gilt "Letter from General Gordon to Sir Richard Burton", "En route to Berber" [Sudan], 29 October 1877

an extraordinary letter from one of the greatest african explorers to another of them, discussing or alluding to most of the other major figures and some significant events, including the finding of Livingstone by Stanley and the discovery of the source of the Nile by Grant (who denied Burton his part in this collaborative venture).

Gordon, having been appointed Governor-General of the Upper Sudan by the Kedive, with orders to pacify the tribes and annex the million square mile area stretching up to the Great Lakes, had written to Burton in June 1877 offering him the Governor-Generalship of Darfur at £1,600 a year ("...Now is the time for you to make your indelible mark in the world and in these countries..."). In a later letter Burton explained his reasons (aside from the smallness of the sum involved): "You and I are too much alike. I could not serve under you nor you under me." The post went to Rudolf Carl von Slatin and Gordon retired. The Madhi took advantage of Slatin's weakness, captured him, forced him to convert to Islam and made him serve as his slave for fourteen years. Six years later the Mahdi took Khartoum and killed Gordon.