John Hanning Speke of the way. Once Speke and Burton were back on the coast they went by ship to Zanzibar and then traveled to Aden. When back at the coast Burton had written a letter to Norton Shaw of the Royal Geographical Society (which had partially sponsored the journey) in which Burton enclosed a map of Lake Victoria made by Speke and wrote "there are grave reasons for believing it (the map) to be the source of the principal feeder of the White Nile." Once in Aden, Burton was not granted a medical certificate to travel and thus Speke left on HMS
Burton and Speke (novel) Burton and Speke (novel) Burton and Speke is a 1982 historical novel by William Harrison recounting the 1857 expedition of the search for the source of the Nile by the famous Victorian explorer, linguist and anthropologist Sir Richard Burton and English aristocrat and amateur hunter John Hanning Speke. The book was adapted for film in 1990 by Harrison and director Bob Rafelson. Although both Burton and Speke were former military officers the expedition they agreed to undertake together was, according to the author, fated to be disastrous for them both, despite their ultimate success. They had no common bond, apart