to Sana'a, in Arabia. I knew
the murderous rascal too well to trust him. Maria wrote to me about poor
Stisted's death. [297] A great loss for Maria and the chicks. I suppose
you never see Bagshaw. [298] What news are there of him? Is Sarah
(What's her name? Harrison?) [299] still to the fore. It is, I fear,
useless to write anything about poor Edward [300] except to thank you
most heartily for your disinterested kindness to him. I will not bother
you about our journey, which was very pleasant and successful. You will
see it all, including my proposals for renewed diamond digging, written
in a book or books."

"United best love to my cousin and the cousinkins."

Burton made frequent enquiries after Edward, "Many thanks," he writes
on a post card, "for the news of my dear brother," and all his letters
contain tender and warm-hearted references to him.

87. Colonel Gordon 1877.

In July 1875, Burton heard from Colonel (afterwards General) Gordon, who
wanted some information about the country south of the Victoria Nyanza;
and the friendship which then commenced between these brilliant men was
terminated only by death. In every letter Gordon quoted Burton's motto,
"Honour, not honours," and in one he congratulated his friend on its
happy choice. For several years Gordon had been occupied under the
auspices of the Khedive, in continuing the work of administering the
Soudan, which had been begun by Sir Samuel Baker. He had established
posts along the Nile, placed steamers on the Albert Nyanza, and he
nursed the hope of being able to put an end to the horrid slave trade.
In January 1877, he was appointed by the Khedive Governor of the entire
Soudan. There were to be three governors under him, and he wrote to
Burton offering him the governor-generalship of Darfur, with L1,600 a
year. Said Gordon, "You will soon have the telegraph in your capital, El
Fasher.... You will do a mint of good, and benefit those poor people....
Now is the time for you to make your indelible mark in the world and in
these countries." [301]

Had such an offer arrived eight years earlier, Burton might have
accepted it, but he was fifty-seven, and his post at Trieste, though not
an agreeable one, was a "lasting thing," which the governor-generalship
of Darfur seemed unlikely to be. So the offer was declined. Gordon's
next letter (27th June 1877) contains a passage that brings the man
before us in very vivid colours. "I dare say," he observed,