River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

Burton grew restless and bored while waiting for the Berbera Fair to conclude. He once again donned his Arab merchant disguise and tried to enter the Ethiopian city of Harar, which was a holy city like Mecca. Burton’s trip was successful. Unfortunately, upon his return to Aden several months later, he learned that his mother had passed away from heart disease.

While on his adventure, Burton tasked Herne and Stroyan with gathering information about the region and buying pack animals they could use for the expedition. Burton did not initially assign Speke any tasks, which Speke found intolerable. Burton relented and gave Speke what he considered an easy task: to travel to Wady Nogal, a trade route through northeastern Somaliland. The people in this region were known to be peaceful. Burton wanted Speke to take copious notes on the region’s watershed and weather patterns, gather dirt samples, purchase pack animals, and map the route. Burton hired two men to travel with Speke. The first was an interpreter named Ahmed and the second was an abban, or protector, named Sumunter. Both men were from the same clan.

Despite traveling for several months, Speke never reached Wady Nogal—a fact that he blamed on his abban Sumunter.