Part 9 (1/2)
”No,” replied Miss Arundell, ”that will not do,” nor could any argument turn her
”You and your mother have certainly one characteristic in common,” was the comment ”You are as obstinate as mules”
Burton was not without means, for on the death of his father he inherited some 16,000, but he threw his money about with the recklessness of an Aladdin, and 16 one the same way
It was all, however, or nearly all spent in the service of the public Every expedition he made, and every book he published left hier for exploration was he that before the public had the opportunity to read about one expedition, he had started on another So swiftly did he write, that before one book had left the binders, another was on its way to the printers Systole, diastole, never ceasing--never even pausing Miss Arundell being inflexible, Burton resolved to let thedeath to him, he then shot off like a rocket to America One day in April (1860) Miss Arundell received a brief letter the tenor of which was as follows:--”I am off to Salt Lake City, and shall be back in December Think well over our affair, and if yourthe first intiood-bye--the ave her a terrible shock Hope fled, and a prostrating illness followed The belief that he would be killed pressed itself upon her and returned with inexplicable insistence She picked up a newspaper, and the first thing that raph headed ”Murder of Captain Burton” The shock was terrible, but anxious enquiry revealed the murdered man to be another Captain Burton, not her Richard
40 Brigha April 1860 to Nove the Mecca of the Mohammedans, Burton should turn to the Mecca of the Mormons, for he was always attracted by the centres of the various faiths, ion that had previously been described only by the biassed One writer, for instance--a lady--had vilified Mormonism because ”soe before her” It was scarcely the most propitious moment to start on such a journey The country was torn with intestine contentions The United States Govern the Indians, and the Mor one another with revolvers Trifles of this kind, however, did not weigh with Burton After an uneventful voyage across the Atlantic, and a conventional journey overland, he arrived at St Joseph, popularly St Jo, on the Missouri Here he clothed hi this luggage a silk hat and a frock coat in order to ust 7th and at Alcali Lake saw the curious spectacle of an Indian re, and used verht to have put soap; the squaws and papooses coe, languishi+ng eyes, and sleek black hair like the ears of a King Charles Spaniel” The Indians followed Burton's waggon for”Ho!” the nor canons, rushi+ng streaed with pines
Arrived at his destination, he had no difficulty, thanks to the good offices of a fellow traveller, inin the best Mormon Society He found himself in a Garden City Every householder had from five to ten acres in the suburbs, and one and a half close at home; and the people seemed happy He looked in vain, however, for the spires of the Morlittering in the sunlight All he could find was ”a great hole in the ground,” said to be the beginning of a baptis, the Tabernacle, at a little distance After a service at the ”Tabernacle” he was introduced to Brigha, a faranyika journey and discussed stock, agriculture and religion; but when Burton asked to be ad replied, with a s once before, Captain” So Burton was unable to add Morions Burton then told with twinkling eyes a pitiful tale of how he, an un a wife, but had found no wives to be had, all the ladies having been snapped up by the Saints A little later the two ether, found themselves on an eminence which commanded a view both of the Salt Lake city and the Great Salt Lake
Brigha pointed out the various spots of interest, ”That's Brother Dash's house, that block just over there is occupied by Brother X's wives Elder Y's wives reside in the next block and Brother Z's wives in that beyond it My oives live in that ht hand towards the vastness of the great Salt Lake, Burton exclairavity:
”Water, water, everywhere”
and then waving his left towards the city, he added, pathetically:
”But not a drop to drink”
Brigha, who loved a joke as dearly as he loved his seventeen wives, burst out into hearty laughter In his book, ”The City of the Saints,” Burton assures us that polygaives the religious, physiological and social ed by that people Economy, he tells us, was one of them ”Servants are rare and costly; it is cheaper and more comfortable to marry the wives, especially from places like Clifton, near Bristol, where there are 64 feht to be, an unknown entity” [178]
Burton hie there; and the lady, being refused, spread the rumour that it was the other way about
”Why,” said Burton, ”it's like
A certain Miss Baxter, Who refused a ards the country itself nothing struck hiy to Palestine A s to Lebanon, and flows into Lake Utah, which represents Lake Tiberias, whence a river called the Jordan flows past Salt Lake City into the Great Salt Lake, just as the Palestine Jordan flows into the Dead Sea
From Salt Lake City, Burton journeyed by coach and rail to San Francisco, whence he returned hoe 22nd January 1861
He arrived in England at Christh her e She was 30 years old, she said, and could no longer be treated as a child Ten years had elapsed since Burton, as now 40, had first become acquainted with her, and few courtshi+ps could have beenyou no money,” observed Miss Arundell
”That is not a disadvantage as far as I am concerned,” replied Burton, ”for heiresses always expect to lord it over their lords”--”We will have no show,” he continued, ”for a grand e ceremony is a barbarous and an indelicate exhibition” So the wedding, which took place at the Bavarian Catholic Church, Warwick Street, London, on 22nd January 1861, was all simplicity As they left the church Mrs Burton called to ar, her couched eyes and her reiterated prophecy The luncheon was spread at the house of a medical friend, Dr
Bird, 49, Welbeck Street, and in the risly tales of his adventures in the Nedj and Soht at Berbera
”Now, Burton,” interrupted Dr Bird, ”tell me how you feel when you have killed a man” To which Burton replied promptly and with a sly look, ”Quite jolly, doctor! how do you?” After the luncheon Burton and his alked down to their lodgings in Bury Street, St James's, where Mrs Burton's boxes had been despatched in a four-wheeler; and from Bury Street, Burton, as soon as he could pick up a pen, wrote in his fine, delicate hand as follows to Mr Arundell:
”January 23 1861, [180]
”Bury Street, ”St Jahway robbery by hter Isabel, at Warwick Street Church, and before the Registrar--the details she is writing to her mother ”It only remains to me to say that I have no ties or liaisons of any sort, that the al and respectable I want no money with Isabel: I can work, and it will be ret