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Greetings, my friends. Thank you for joining us here at the Explorers Podcast.

Today is Part 4 in our series on British Explorer Richard Francis Burton.

A reminder, check out our website, ExplorersPodcast.com to see maps, photos, and links of all sorts of stuff about our subject.

So last time we followed Burton as he made it daring march to the inland city of Arar in East Africa and returned.

It was an audacious feat, as no European had ever entered the city. So big kudos for Burton.

Burton and his team would next decide to make a go for the Nile and see if they could find the river's source.

However, an attack by Somali natives would shatter those plans.

One of Burton's officers had been killed in the fighting while Burton and John Hanney's speak had been severely injured.

Burton had taken a javelin to the face which had gone into one cheek and out the other.

The incident dimmed Burton's accomplishments as this is what people focused on instead of his daring journey to Arar.

So Burton would head back to England to recuperate. The javelin had torn out four teeth and ripped his palate,

but he had recovered quickly, although he would forever have scars on both cheeks which can be seen in later photos.

In England, Burton would get his book about the Somali land expedition ready and then go looking for a position in the British army in the Crimea.

England, France and the Ottoman Empire were at war with Russia and it had been a bloody conflict.

Burton would send out all sorts of letters of introduction offering his services to various units.

It would take some time, but in the summer of 1855 he would land a position as Chief of Staff with Beatson's horses,

a contingent of irregular Turkish cavalry commanded by General W. F. Beatson, they were stationed near Istanbul.

Burton's time in the Crimean War would be a disappointment. Beatson's unit was undisciplined and fights and quarrels were commonplace.

Burton worked to train the men but with mixed results. Also, he drew up plans to relieve the city of cars in western Turkey which was under siege by the Russians.

But nothing would ever come with any of it. Regarding his plan to rescue cars, it was rejected by the British higher ups.

Burton, by the way, became convinced that there was a secret deal giving cars to the Russians.

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