Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)

Details
Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)

The Dyke (V-shaped) separating Victoria and Albert Peaks, viewed from the South

inscribed as title and further inscribed
pencil, pen and ink
6¼ x 10in. (15.8 x 25.4cm.)

Lot Essay

'In half an hour after leaving Half-way Rocks I sat down upon the terrepleine to await the arrival of the Krumen.
The Regione Deserta had a wild and weird aspect. Due north of the boulder upon which I reposed rose a V-shaped dyke of close-textured grey stone, apparently a jaspidified or altered schist, piled in cyclopedean blocks, as large as the Titanic stones in the unfinished quarries of Baalbak, to the height of about twenty-five feet above the ground. It separated like a wall Victoria from Albert Crater; the longer or western arm descended from the high rim of the latter, and the shorter bordered the margin of the former.' (Abeokuta, II, pp. 198-9)

More from Topographical Pictures

View All
View All