Details
SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER (1821-1893)
A fine autograph letter signed to 'My dear Sir Roderick' [Murchison], Alexandria 2 July 1869, thanking him for paying his entrance fee and subscription to the Royal Society, commenting on the preparations for his expedition.'Everything is going on well here - the numerous articles... are arriving from England and all neccessary arrangements are completed for forwarding them to the interior', giving news of the 'murder of Mr & Mrs Powell and their servants by the Baré tribe not far from the spot in which I was exploring the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia' in 1862 and reporting that 'Should Livingstone have determined Northwards from the Tanganika Lake and have succeded in reaching Gondokoro, we should shortly hear of him as the telegraph is completed from near Khartoum to Alexandria - As the boats leave Gondokoro about 20 April and arrive in Khartoum about 28 May we shall know in a few days whether he has come to the North - If we receive no tidings - God only knows where he is', 4 pages, 8vo (208 x 136mm).
On 1 April 1869 Baker had been appointed governor general of the Equatorial Nile basin for a period of four years through the efforts of the Khedive Ismail, on behalf of the Egyptian government. His letter to Murchison proved over optimistic on two counts. The government failed to provide the promised boats in time to catch the period of the high floods and he was unable to procede until 1 December 1870. Secondly, news of Livingstone was not be forthcoming: at the time of Baker's letter (2 July 1869) he was far to the south trying to recover his health at Ujiji. At the time of the present letter Sir Roderick Murchison (1792-1871) was president of the Geographical Society, but would also have had a personal interest in receiving favorable news of Livingstone. Four years earlier he had suggested that Livingstone should mount an expedition to try and solve the mystery of the source of the Nile. Baker had earlier paid tribute to his correspondant's friendship by the naming of the Murchison Falls during his expedition to Lake Albert Nyanza.
A fine autograph letter signed to 'My dear Sir Roderick' [Murchison], Alexandria 2 July 1869, thanking him for paying his entrance fee and subscription to the Royal Society, commenting on the preparations for his expedition.'Everything is going on well here - the numerous articles... are arriving from England and all neccessary arrangements are completed for forwarding them to the interior', giving news of the 'murder of Mr & Mrs Powell and their servants by the Baré tribe not far from the spot in which I was exploring the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia' in 1862 and reporting that 'Should Livingstone have determined Northwards from the Tanganika Lake and have succeded in reaching Gondokoro, we should shortly hear of him as the telegraph is completed from near Khartoum to Alexandria - As the boats leave Gondokoro about 20 April and arrive in Khartoum about 28 May we shall know in a few days whether he has come to the North - If we receive no tidings - God only knows where he is', 4 pages, 8vo (208 x 136mm).
On 1 April 1869 Baker had been appointed governor general of the Equatorial Nile basin for a period of four years through the efforts of the Khedive Ismail, on behalf of the Egyptian government. His letter to Murchison proved over optimistic on two counts. The government failed to provide the promised boats in time to catch the period of the high floods and he was unable to procede until 1 December 1870. Secondly, news of Livingstone was not be forthcoming: at the time of Baker's letter (2 July 1869) he was far to the south trying to recover his health at Ujiji. At the time of the present letter Sir Roderick Murchison (1792-1871) was president of the Geographical Society, but would also have had a personal interest in receiving favorable news of Livingstone. Four years earlier he had suggested that Livingstone should mount an expedition to try and solve the mystery of the source of the Nile. Baker had earlier paid tribute to his correspondant's friendship by the naming of the Murchison Falls during his expedition to Lake Albert Nyanza.