Beschreibung:

A collection of items relating to Richard Cuninghame and his exploration of Africa and British East Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, containing a journal, a quantity of photographs, letters, sketches and manuscript reports, the archive comprising: i. A Journal kept by Richard John Cuninghame on his Expedition with his friend Douglas McDouall "From Mombassa to Cairo, via, British East Africa – Lake Victoria Nyanza – Uganda – and The Nile, 1901-1902", illustrated with photographs and some diagrams, an appendix detailing their camps, arrival, the terrain, food and water availability, and a brief health report, further printed appendices on "The Okapi", the "Uganda Protectorate Game Regulations","Convention for the Preservation of Wild Animals and Fish in Africa", 3 printed maps: "The Game Reserves of Uganda"; "Map showing the Course of the Bahr el Abyad and the Bahr el Gebel [White Nile]"; folding map, " Central Map of the Nile Valley from Berber to Victoria Nyanza... War Office, 1898", marked with their route from Lake Victoria to Khartoum (in rear pocket), 404 hand written pages, quarter reverse calf, folio Dick Cuninghame with his friend and travelling companion Douglas McDouall, brother of Helen McDouall later Helen Cuninghame [Wee], had carefully planned their expedition. The main aim being to journey from the equator to Cairo in order that they could collect zoological specimens, hunt for game and make geological, climatic, geographical and meteorological studies On the 11th December 1901 a German steamer dropped Cuninghame and McDouall in Kilindi, Mombasa, British East Africa. From this starting point they followed their main aim, to journey from the equator to Cairo, their caravan utilising every means of transport available to them. The newly constructed Uganda railway, saved weeks on the first stage of their travel, canoes cut a large corner on Lake Victoria, load-bearing porters humped baggage over the Ugandan bush country where they met the Nile, here they eventually boarded a paddle-steamer to cruise them down the river. Finally a railway carried them over the harsh desert land to Cairo Cuninghame dutifully wrote up his diary daily until regrettably temporary blindness halfway through their long march prevented him from completing this daily routine. He had by then, however, managed to gather enough material for use at a later date to compose a compelling account of his expedition. The 27th February 1902 entry reads "I had had little sleep before the caravan arrived and on wakening noticed a peculiar gumminess around my right eye... the following day matters became serious and I lost vision in the right eye", the expedition was only half complete and they were on the border of undiscovered elephant country, but they were forced to make a decision. "After spending hundreds of pounds, and marched hundreds of miles, though gameless, badly watered, and pestilential country, and to have just and only just arrived at the commencement of a really good game country, in a land too but imperfectly explored, a combination of circumstances we had eagerly looked forward to for months past. Sitting, however, in the middle of a mountain range and pondering over regrets, in the dark, for by now I had lost the vision in both of my eyes, was of little practical use, so on the abating of the acute pain we decided to endeavour to reach the Nile again." The expedition continued and although without sight Cuninghame still managed to chart Africa, as he skippered a craft up the Nile "we made a chart of the river as far as possible giving all depths... not less than three times every five minutes, and numerous bearings on all curves and hills". Meanwhile McDouall managed to hunt for some fine game and in the latter reaches of the Congo, whilst travelling by gunboat, Cuninghame's eyesight recovering slowly, he managed his first elephant hunt, "from the first to the last this was my only real sport I had on this tr