Mapping the journey of an explorer
Burchell’s extraordinary contribution to science finally recognised in new book
Ndlambe FM’s Sunshine Classics programme presenter Sue Gordon facilitated a conversation between Marion Whitehead and Roger Stewart at the launch of their book, Burchell’s African Odyssey: Revealing the Return Journey at the Don Powis Hall at Settlers Park on Thursday, September 22.
This was the Eastern Cape segment of the book launch and the authors highlighted some of the historic routes English naturalist William Burchell took trekking across the Southern African veld in an oxwagon, from 1811-1815.
When Gordon asked the authors how they had been drawn into Burchell’s travels, Stewart explained that he was collecting antique maps of early travellers of the Cape up to the year 1820. As an antique maps collector, however, he just couldn’t find Burchell’s maps because only 700 copies of the first volume of his book had been printed.
“When I couldn’t find the map, I started to look for images of the map and then tried to get hold of a copy of a reprint of the book. Once I had done that I really became fascinated and came to realise that Burchell, who had travelled from Cape Town in an ox wagon, went all the way up towards the north east of Kuruman,” he said.
Stewart explained that although Burchell wrote about his outbound trek from Cape Town to Litakun in his famous book Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, he collected most of his specimens on his return journey, which has remained undocumented for the past 200 years.
Stewart then saw a gap to further write about Burchell’s unknown return journey, which took about three years. This is what the authors tackle in this book, highlighting some of the most noteworthy events and finds from the Eastern Cape.
“This book is about trying to understand the unknown three-quarters of his journey and three-quarters of his specimens. He collected 63,000 of them and nobody had ever written about them,” Stewart said.
When Gordon inquired why the lengthy stretch of the three-year return journey had gone undocumented,
Stewart said only a limited number of copies could be printed of the naturalist’s book and he was told that a third volume wouldn’t be published, which upset him.
“After his five-year stint in Brazil which he never wrote about, he became a recluse and actually ended up with severe depression.
“After returning from Brazil, he used to rearrange and sort out his collections but he never wrote anything ever again. And sadly in 1863, when he was 83 years old, he committed suicide,” Stewart said.
Burchell was highly regarded by fellow scientists — a profession referred to as “naturalist” at the time — although he was never officially recognised by the British authorities for his contributions. Co-author Whitehead said the naturalist seemed to have been neglected by the British.
“It’s like he’s a forgotten hero of British naturalists of that era and yet he collected far more than other people who got more recognition,” she said.
The book, Whitehead explained, is in a sense a way to correct that, by giving Burchell that recognition, highlighting his collections from astronomy to zoology.
The writers then noted Burchell’s contribution to science and horticulture in that period of time through his vast collection of plant and animal specimens which he was the first to describe for science.
What was interesting to note is how Burchell orchestrated his journey.
The authors described how he paved his routes without using rudimentary maps. They explained that Burchelldidn’t take maps with him, but rather pioneered and mapped his entire route using a sextant, as an intuitive explorer.
At the launch, the authors also revealed that Burchell took half a year to plan and prepare for his journey before he embarked. On his journey, Burchell collected 63,000 specimen of plants which he stored on his ox wagon using the pressing method.
“He would collect the plants and then in the evening put them between pages of paper. He had a very large press built into the wagon and would stack the plants one on top of the other, then he would press them until they were dry. Then he would take them out of that firm paper and put them into flimsies, then just put them into sacks and that is how he travelled with so many of them,” Stewart explained.
For the mammals however, Burchel had to dump them because of the weight they carried.
Readers can purchase the book online on the website