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What illnesses affected Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke during their expedition to Lake Tanganyika?
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Sir Richard Burton
Richard Burton, c. 1880.
During their 1857–1858 expedition to Lake Tanganyika, Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke endured severe hardships. Upon their arrival at the lake, Burton was so incapacitated by malaria that he was unable to walk, while Speke was suffering from a condition that left him virtually blind.1