Lawrence Dritsas is a Fellow with the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. He has a long-standing interest in the history of scientific expeditions and especially in the exploration of Africa TAURIS HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY SERIES Series Editor: Robert Mayhew, University of Bristol Though long established as a field of inquiry, historical geography has changed dramatically in recent years becoming a driving force in the development of many of the new agendas of contemporary geography. Dialogues with histori- ans of science, art historians and literary scholars have revitalised the history of geographical thought, and a new, vibrant, pluralistic culture of scholarship has emerged. The Tauris Historical Geography series provides an international forum for the publication of scholarly work that encapsulates and furthers these new developments. Editorial Board: David Armitage, Harvard University. Jeremy Black, Exeter University. Laura Cameron, Queen’s University, Ontario. Felix Driver, Royal Holloway, University of London. Michael Heffernan, Nottingham University. Nuala Johnson, Queen’s University, Belfast. David Livingstone, Queen’s University, Belfast. David Matless, Nottingham University. Miles Ogborn, Queen Mary, University of London. David Robinson, Syracuse University. Charles Withers, Edinburgh University. Brenda Yeoh, National University of Singapore. Published and forthcoming in the Series: 1. Zambesi: David Livingstone and Expeditionary Science in Africa by Lawrence Dritsas 2. New Spaces of Exploration: Geographies of Discovery in the Twentieth Century by Simon Naylor and James Ryan (eds) 3. Scriptural Geography: Portraying the Holy Land by Edwin James Aiken 4. Bringing Geography to Book: Ellen Semple and the Reception of Geographical Knowledge by Innes Keighren 5. Enlightenment, Modernity and Science: Geographies of Scientific Culture in Georgian England by Paul A. Elliot 6. Dead Sea Level: Science, Exploration and Imperial Interests in the Near East by Haim Goren FM.indd II 11/11/09 5:13:16 PM TAURIS HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY SERIES Series Editor: Robert Mayhew, University of Bristol Though long established as a field of inquiry, historical geography has changed dramatically in recent years becoming a driving force in the development of many of the new agendas of contemporary geography. Dialogues with histori- ans of science, art historians and literary scholars have revitalised the history ZAMBESI of geographical thought, and a new, vibrant, pluralistic culture of scholarship has emerged. The Tauris Historical Geography series provides an international forum for the publication of scholarly work that encapsulates and furthers these new developments. David Livingstone and Editorial Board: Expeditionary Science in Africa David Armitage, Harvard University. Jeremy Black, Exeter University. Laura Cameron, Queen’s University, Ontario. Felix Driver, Royal Holloway, University of London. Michael Heffernan, Nottingham University. LAWRENCE DRITSAS Nuala Johnson, Queen’s University, Belfast. David Livingstone, Queen’s University, Belfast. David Matless, Nottingham University. Miles Ogborn, Queen Mary, University of London. David Robinson, Syracuse University. Charles Withers, Edinburgh University. Brenda Yeoh, National University of Singapore. Published and forthcoming in the Series: 1. Zambesi: David Livingstone and Expeditionary Science in Africa by Lawrence Dritsas 2. New Spaces of Exploration: Geographies of Discovery in the Twentieth Century by Simon Naylor and James Ryan (eds) 3. Scriptural Geography: Portraying the Holy Land by Edwin James Aiken 4. Bringing Geography to Book: Ellen Semple and the Reception of Geographical Knowledge by Innes Keighren 5. Enlightenment, Modernity and Science: Geographies of Scientific Culture in Georgian England by Paul Elliot 6. Dead Sea Level: Science, Exploration and Imperial Interests in the Near East by Haim Goren FM.indd II Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2010 Lawrence Dritsas The right of Lawrence Dritsas to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Tauris Historical Geography: 1 ISBN: 978 1 84511 705 4 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham from camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author For Andrew James Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi 1 People and Places 1 2 ‘Dr Livingstone I Presume?’: Writing about the Zambesi Expedition 23 3 ‘No Longer Unaided and Alone’: the Formation of the Zambesi Expedition 45 4 Technologies of Expedition 82 5 Fieldwork as Practice: Informants, Collection and Moving Knowledge 110 6 The Expedition at Home: African Nature in the Scientific Metropolis 143 7 Conclusion 183 Appendix A 193 Appendix B 199 Glossary of Abbreviations 203 Notes 205 Bibliography 225 Index 239 Illustrations 1 Elephant Marsh, Shire River Photograph by Kirk. By kind permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland 5 2 Map: Field of the Zambesi Expedition Reproduced from R. Coupland Kirk on the Zambesi. Oxford, 1928. By kind permission of Oxford University Press 7 3 The Expedition’s House at Tete Photograph by Kirk. By kind permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland 9 4 The Lady Nyassa under construction on the banks of the Zambesi,with HMS Pioneer to the right. Photograph by Kirk. By kind permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland 84 5 Mary Livingstone’s Grave near Sena Photograph by Kirk. By kind permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland 99 6 Creepers in the Bush, near Lupata Gorge Photograph by Kirk. By kind permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland 100 7 The Ma Robert on the Zambesi, near Lupata Gorge Photograph by Kirk. By kind permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland 101 8 Cassia occidentalis. Fedigosa Seeds ‘Fedigosa seeds make best substitute for coffee’. By kind per- mission of the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 123 ZAMBESI 9 Gossypium sp. ‘Sea Isle’ cotton sample from the Expedition’s experimental plots; arranged for display at Kew’s Museum of Economic Botany. By kind permission of the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 123 10 Gossypium sp. ‘Cotton, Tonje Manga, no.135, Grown opposite to Shibisa’s Lat 16.2, River Shire, October 1859, J. Kirk’ By kind permission of the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 125 11 Strychnos sp. ‘Drinking Vessel, made of fruit of Mohulu-hulu Dr Livingstone’s Exped. 1860. Sir J. Kirk’. Labelled for display at Kew’s Museum of Economic Botany. By kind permission of the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 125 12 Unionid Mussels collected by Kirk . This plate appears in Lea, Isaac. ‘New Unionidae, Melanidae, Etc., Chiefly of the United States.’Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 6, New Series, no. 1 (1866): plate 12 129 13 Table of Scientific Publications 151 14 Kirk’s Map of Lake Nyassa Based upon the manuscript map produced by Kirk and published in connection to Kirk’s article, ‘Notes on the Gradient of the Zambesi, on the Level of Lake Nyassa, on the Murchison Rapids, and on Lake Shirwa.’ Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 35 (1865): 167-69. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society. 169 15 Kirk’s Map of Lake Nyassa (detail) 170 x Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Professors Charles Withers, Paul Nugent, and Kenneth King for all their help and guidance with this project. They allowed me the space in the beginning to find my way to this topic, trusted me throughout and encouraged me to the finish. I would also like to thank my examiners, Professor Felix Driver and Dr Steve Sturdy, whose comments and critique improved my work. All authors should have such careful and thorough readers. It is no exaggeration to aver that this book would not exist without the support of a studentship in the History and Philosophy of Science from the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh. The support granted by Professor Sir Kenneth Murray and the Trust was crucial and I extend my sincere gratitude to them for allowing me this opportunity. I also extend my thanks to Dr Mark Nesbitt and Julia Steele at the Centre for Economic Botany in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Their provision of the Sir Joseph Banks Scholarship provided the means for me to spend an extremely fruitful residence at Kew performing research in the collections and archives there. As the list of abbreviations shows, the staff of many institutions contributed to this book I would like to thank them all and in particular: Dr Colin McCarthy and Carol Gökçe at the Natural History Museum and Michèle Losse at the Kew Gardens archives. I would also like to acknowledge the postdoctoral support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the