Abstract
Not long before he died Galton wrote to a nephew: ‘My version of the saying “Whom the Gods love, die young”, is that they still feel young however old in years they may be. I think, from that point of view, that the Gods must have some tendresse to me, because although I am 87½ years old, I hardly feel myself to be even matured’. It was this perpetual spring of youth, stimulating and sustaining an insatiable curiosity in the world about him, that made Galton such a splendid traveller and his experiences so entertaining to read about. It does not matter that his African safari of 1850–2 is not in itself of great importance in the history of African exploration; what matters is Galton’s description of it all.
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References
Galton, F. (1854) ‘List of astronomical Instruments, etc.’, in ‘Hints to travellers’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 24, pp. 1–13.
Galton, F. (1872) Art of Travel; or, Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries. 5th edn (London: John Murray); first ed. 1855; eighth ed. 1893.
Galton, F. (1889) Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa (London: Ward, Lock and Co.) Second edition of Tropical South Africa (1853) (London: John Murray).
Galton, F. (1908) Memories of my Life (London: Methuen).
Galton, F. (1911) Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development, 3rd edn, 2nd printing (London: Dent).
Pearson, Karl (1930) The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton, Vol. III B, pp. 446–9 (Cambridge at the University Press).
Royal Geographical Society (1854) ‘Hints to travellers’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 24, pp. 1–13.
Royal Geographical Society: correspondence files, 3 March 1896. University College London Library: Galton Papers 92–103.
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© 1993 The Galton Institute
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Middleton, D. (1993). Francis Galton: Travel and Geography. In: Keynes, M. (eds) Sir Francis Galton, FRS. Studies in Biology, Economy and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12206-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12206-6_3
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