Burton said, "Take it away! I can't bear to look at it. I have
had to feel that myself; I know what it is." But upon reflection Burton
grew to disbelieve in Gordon's death, and he died believing that he had
escaped into the desert, but disgusted at his betrayal and abandonment
he would never let himself be discovered or show himself in England
again. In this conviction Burton was of course mistaken; but he had
formed it on his knowledge of Gordon's character.
I am aware that this chapter dealing with Gordon and his letters is
something of an interpolation, and has little to do with the main thread
of the story; but Lady Burton wished it to be so, and its irrelevance
may be pardoned for the sake of the light it throws upon the friendship
which existed between three very remarkable personages, each curiously
alike in some respects, and in others widely dissimilar.
NOTES:
1. Gondokoro was the seat of Government of the Province of the Equator.
2. Sir Samuel Baker, whom Gordon succeeded as Governor of the tribes
which inhabit the Nile Basin in 1874.
3. Romalus Gessi (Gessi Pasha), a member of Gordon's staff.
4. Mtesa, King of Uganda.
5. Mr. Rivers Wilson.
6. Nevertheless he permitted Dr. Birkbeck Hill to edit and publish
his letters in 1881, which give a good account of his work in
Central Africa.
7. Johannis, King of Abyssinia.
8. Colonel Prout, of the American army, for some time in command of
the Equatorial Provinces.
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