THE LIFE OF

CAPTAIN

SIR RICHARD F. BURTON,

K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S.

BY HIS WIFE,

ISABEL BURTON.

WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND MAPS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD.
1893.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

TRIESTE—HIS FOURTH AND LAST CONSULATE.

We meet by accident in Venice and go to Trieste—Richard as a "Celebrity at Home"—Articles by Alfred Bates Richards—Cicci—A wild race—Opçina—Trieste life—And environs—Rome and the Tiber—Vienna—The Imperial family—Fiume—Castellieri—Duino—Venice—Good-bye to Charley Drake—Excursions—Proselytizing—Richard is very ill—Charley Drake's death—Travelling for his health—The Nile on the tapis again—My Arab girl goes home to be married—Gordon—Winwood Reade's death—K.C.B.—Meeting Mr. Gladstone—Incidents of London life—Excursions—More London life—Leave England.

CHAPTER II.

INDIA.

Jeddah—Bazars of Jeddah—Experiences on a crowded pilgrim-ship—Bombay—Sind—Travelling in Sind—Richard's remarks on changes in Indian army—The Indian army—And Sind—The Muhárram—Richard's old Persian moonshee—Mátherán—Karla Caves.

CHAPTER III.

THE DECCAN.

Hyderabad in the Deccan—Elephant riding—Ostrich race—Hospitality—Eastern hospitality at Hyderabad—Golconda—The famous Koh-i-noor—Regret at leaving the Deccan—Towers of Silence—Sects—The Hindu Smáshán—The Pinjrapole—Bhendi Bazar—Máhábáleshwar—Goa and West India—Life there—What to see—The Inquisition—Xavier's death—The Inquisition perishes—Sea journey to Suez—After a stay in Egypt, to Trieste.

CHAPTER IV.

A QUIET TIME AT TRIESTE.

Delightful Trieste life—Henri V. of France—Bertoldstein—Midian—Akkas—Waiting and working—I go out to join him—Richard's triumphant return—We go home—The British Association for Science—Society and amusement.

CHAPTER V.

SPIRITUALISM.

Spiritualism—A memorable meeting on the subject—Richard's lecture—Some very amusing and instructive speeches—Interesting discussions—And letters.

CHAPTER VI.

ON LEAVE IN LONDON.

A remarkable visit—On leave in London—We leave London—I get a bad fall—The Austrian Scientific Congress—A ghost story—Excursions—Richard sends me home to a bone-setter—Richard meets with foul play—Camoens—A little anecdote about a Capuchin—The Passion Play—Ober-Ammergau—Celebrating a Vice-Consul's jubilee—Monfalcone—Richard's metal and colour.

CHAPTER VII.

ON SLAVERY.

Richard's three letters to Lord Granville—His application to be made Slave-Commissioner—How to deal with the slave scandal in Egypt.

CHAPTER VIII.

TRIESTE LIFE AGAIN.

Duino—Our Squadron—Our Squadron leaves—We go to Veldes—We part company—I am sent to Maríenbad—The Scientific Congress at Venice—Life and incidents of Trieste—Gold in West Africa—Mining—African mines.

CHAPTER IX.

ANOTHER SHORT LEAVE TO LONDON.

London and back—The Great Trieste Exhibition—Émeute at Trieste—We lose an old Vice-Consul—Lord Wolseley—Richard is sent to find Palmer—Trieste life—Count Mattei's cure—Count Mattei—We get the house we wanted—Scorpions—"Gup".

CHAPTER X.

MISCELLANEOUS TRAITS OF CHARACTER AND OPINIONS.

Miscellaneous traits of character and opinions—Descriptions from other sources.

CHAPTER XI.

DECLINE IN OUR WELL-BEING.

Richard's first bad attack of gout—His leave of absence—We return to Trieste—Streams of visitors—Richard's second attack of gout—Gordon's death—Colonel Primrose's death—Leave to England—"Arabian Nights"—London again—Richard's programme for Egypt—He asks for Tangier—Parts with my father—Goes to Marocco—What the world said—He waits for me at Tangier.

CHAPTER XII.

RICHARD ON HOME RULE AND THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION.

Diet for Ireland—Another postscript—Treatment of Catholics and loyalty—We winter in Marocco—Richard made a K.C.M.G.—A bad hurricane at sea—I have another fall—Naples—The great Chinese move—We get leave again to England—Oxford—His last appeal to Government—What the world thought about it—Chow-chow—His third bad attack of gout without danger.

CHAPTER XIII.

WE LEAVE ENGLAND.

Cannes and Society—The earthquakes—Riviera—Richard becomes an invalid—His own account of it—Our journey with Dr. Leslie—Drains—The Queen's Jubilee—Richard's speech—Ally Sloper—We think of a caravan—He gets much better—We go for our summer trip—Some of our Royalties come to Trieste—We lose Dr. Leslie, and Dr. Baker comes to us.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHANGES.

Programme of our day—Abbazia—We return to Trieste—His notes on his Swiss summer—Aigle—Our last visit to England—Richard leaves it for ever—His advice about Suákin—Discussing about Ludlow—Richard's remarks on Lausanne.

CHAPTER XV.

AT MONTREUX.

M. Elisée Réclus—Our Swiss outing—Trieste again—Maria-Zell—Austrian Lourdes—Semmering—Home again—Malta—Tunis—Carthage—Constantine—Sétif—Bouira—Algiers—Hammam R'irha—Things one would rather have left unsaid—Marseilles—Hyères—Nice—Home—Our last trip—Switzerland—Davos-Platz—Ragatz—St. Moritz—Maloja—We descend into Italy homewards.

CHAPTER XVI.

WE RETURN HOME FOR THE LAST TIME.

Our last happy day—The sword falls—He is called away—The sixty hours between death and funeral—The funeral at Trieste—The dreadful time that followed—Colonel Grant attacks Richard after his death—I answer directly to the Graphic in two parts—My answer—The beloved remains are removed to England—I leave Trieste and go to Liverpool—I fall ill—The mausoleum tent complete—The funeral in England at Mortlake—"It" confesses: too late.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE TWO CONTESTED POINTS BETWEEN A SMALL SECTION OF ANTAGONISTS AND MYSELF.

My defence about the burnt MS.—To the Echo—And to the New Review—Religion—I take my leave—Good-bye.

APPENDICES.

A.—List of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton's Works.

B.—Notes on "the Kasîdah."

C—Bhujang and the Cock-fight.

D.—Visit to the Village of Meer Ibrahim Khan Talpur, a Beloch Chief.

E.—POLITICS.

F.—Letters bearing on the Jeddah Massacre, and Cholera—His Warning to the Government, which called down a Reprimand on him.

G.—Description of African Character—The Raw Material in 1856-59.

H.—Report after going to search for Palmer.

I.—Opinions of the Press and of Scholars on the "Arabian Nights."

Index.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Daneu's Inn, Opçina, in the Karso.

Akkas.

Sir Richard Burton, 1879.
By Madame Gutmansthal de Benvenuti, Trieste.

Stave of Music.

Sir Richard Burton in 1880.

House at Trieste, where Burton died.

A Corner of the Burtons' Drawing-room at Trieste.

Richard Burton in his Bedroom at Trieste.

The Burtons' Smoking Divan, Trieste.

The View from the Burtons' Bedroom and Study over the Sea at Trieste.

Arab Tents (Tunis).

The Mausoleum at Mortlake, where Sir Richard Burton is laid at rest.

Lady Burton.

THE LIFE OF SIR RICHARD BURTON.

CHAPTER I.

TRIESTE—HIS FOURTH AND LAST CONSULATE.

On the 24th of October, 1872, Richard left England for Trieste, to pass, though we little thought it then, the last eighteen years of his life. He was recommended to go to Trieste by sea, which always did him so much good. He was to go on and look for a house, hire servants, etc.; and I was to lay in the usual stock of everything a Consul could want, and follow as soon as might be by land. We all went down to Southampton to see him off, but, as the gale and fog were awful, they were only able to steam out and anchor in the Yarmouth Roads.[1]

On the 18th of November I went down to Folkestone to cross, en route to Trieste, and ran through straight to Brussels, where I slept, and next day got to Cologne.

Of course, I stopped and looked at the Cathedral, and went to Johann M. Farina's (4, Jülichs Platz), and the Museum, top of Cathedral, for view, stained glass, and all that; and then I sauntered on to Bonn, Coblenz, Bingen, Castel, Mayence, until I got to Frankfort. I enjoyed the Rhine very much, but my perception for scenery had been a little blunted by the magnificence of South America, and for antiquities by ancient Syria. I thought the finest things in Frankfort were Dannecker's Ariadne, belonging to Mr. Bethmann, a private collection of pictures; and Huss before the Council of Constance, by Lessing; and another of four priests at the throne of the Virgin, by Moretto; and I thought how pretty the place must be in summer.

From here I went quietly on to Würzburg, and thence to Munich, where I was enchanted with the Hôtel des Quatres Saisons. I enjoyed the winding river, and the Forest of Spessart (the remnant of the great primeval Hercynian Forest described by Cæsar and Tacitus), the Spessart range of hills wooded to the top, the wild country with a few villages. I thought the rail along the river-side ascending amongst the wooded hills, crossing the stream of the Laufach, very beautiful, and the entrance to Würzburg reminded me of Damascus and its minarets. Here I called on the famous Dr. Döllinger. I went to see Steigenwald's Bavarian glass, and the porcelain with the Old Masters painted on it, ascended to the top of the Cathedral tower to see the view, and went to every museum and picture-gallery in the place, and thought, as most people do, I imagine, that the City was very pretty, but the Art was very new.

I then went on quietly to Innsbrück. The scenery is magnificent along the banks of the river Inn, through the Tyrolese mountains, capped with snow, wooded, dotted with villages, and with cattle on the mounds, and churches and chapels with delicate spires. I liked the exhilarating air, and especially the valley of Zillerthal, and seeing the fine Tyrolean peasants. The best thing to see at Innsbrück is the Hof-Kirche, or Court Church. There are statues in bronze of all the great Emperors of Austria, and one or two Empresses; they stand in two lines down the church, all in armour and coats of mail. The moment I went into the centre, between these imperial lines, I singled out one of them, exclaiming, "There is a gentleman and a knight, from the top of his head to the sole of his foot;" and I ran up to see who he was. He was labelled, "King Arthur of England." All that day we were crossing the Brenner Pass. The scenery is splendid, with snowy peaks, wooded mountains, waterfalls, and rivers (the Eisach and Adige), torrents and boulders, porphyry rocks, villages, fortresses, convents and castles, churches and chapels with slender red or green steeples. I arrived at Trent, where I found nothing to stay for; so went on to Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Venice, and landed at the Hôtel Europa—which I had inhabited long ago, in 1858, when I was a girl,—in time for table d'hôte. It was fourteen years since I had seen Venice, and it was like a dream to come back again. It was all to a hair as I left it, even, I believe, to the artificial flowers on the table d'hôte table. It was just the same, only less gay and brilliant—it had lost the Austrians and Henri V.'s Court; and I was older, and all the friends I knew were dispersed.