3
" Speke was far from the first to espouse the Hamitic Myth, which had been used for decades to justify slavery. His popularity in Victorian England, however, as well as his fervent belief in the myth and his eagerness to discuss it, led to its increased acceptance. The stunning achievements of the ancient Egyptians, which the British Empire had been so eager to study and appropriate, were explained away by yet another distinction, this time between the sons of Ham. Only the youngest, Canaan, had carried the curse of his father, the argument went, but Mizraim, the ancestor of the Egyptians, did not. By 1994, the Hamitic Myth would not only feed "
― Candice Millard , River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
5
" ..the charm of the scenery was perhaps enhanced by the reflection that my eyes might never look upon it again....Masses of brown-purple clouds covered the quarter of the heavens where the sun was about to rise. Presently the mists, ruffled like ocean billow and luminously fringed with Tyrian purple, were cut by filmy rays, while, from behind their core, the internal living fire shot forth its broad beams, like the spokes of a huge aerial wheel, rolling a flood of gold over the light blue waters of the lake.
[RICHARD BURTON, The Lake Regions of Central Africa] "
― Candice Millard , River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
