Speke was back in England before Burton. Although Speke had promised Burton not to publish anything about their discoveries until the latter had arrived as well, Roderick Murchison, the chairman of the Royal Geographical Society, gave out a press conference immediately after Speke's arrival, and when Burton reached England, Speke had already made their voyage famous, and had been appointed the leader of a new expedition to the area. Burton was bittered, especially because Speke proclaiming that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile, while Burton himself believed that there was a whole series of lakes which all were sources of the Nile.
The new expedition was prepared carefully. Speke chose James Augustus Grant, a friend from his army days, as his companion, while John Petherick, the British consul in Khartoum, was ordered to send ships upstream the Nile to Gondokoro to aid the explorers in their voyage back home. Speke and Grant left England in April 1860, and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to Zanzibar, where they arrived in August. On October 2 they started their voyage to the inlands of Africa.
From Zanzibar they travelled inland to Kazeh, then northwest to the west coast of Lake Victoria. The region was in chaos through ever-lasting wars among the local tribes, encouraged by the Arab traders who wanted more slaves. Most of the kings regarded them as a source of money, asking hongo (toll) of the travellers, sometimes for their kingdom, sometimes even for each village they passed. However, king Rumanika of Karagwe proved to be very cordial, ordering his people to let them pass free and even offer them free food. Obese women were considered most beautiful here, and to get this desirable quality, the women were made to drink milk all day.
Messagers had been sent forward to the next Mtesi, the king of Uganda, who called on them to visit him. When Speke arrived at the king's palace in the province of Bandawarogo, he wanted to immediately visit the king, but was told that he could not. He had to fire his guns to announce his presence, then wait one night in the guest hut. The next day, he refused to sit on the ground as the king ordered, he travelled as a prince rather than a trader, and wanted to be treated as such. The king, believing that Speke must have magic powers to dare act like this, finally gave in, and a chair was brought in for Speke to sit upon. This way the two men sat opposite each other silently for one hour. Mtesa wanted Speke's umbrella to be opened, his had to be lifted and so forth. Then finally an interpreter arrived, and Mtesa asked "Have you seen me?" When Speke answered affirmatively, the king, who had promised not to eat until Speke had seen him, stood up to have his meal. Speke noticed that the king governed with great cruelty - almost every day one or more of his concubines was executed, often for very minor offences. Once Speke offered a gun to the king, and to test it, the king gave it to a young servant with the order to kill someone. The boy did, and remarked that the gun worked well.
It took several months before Mtesi allowed them to travel on. Grant had fallen ill again, so Speke was alone when he finally reached the Nile, the goal of his travels, on July 21, 1862. Here is Speke's description of this glorious moment:
Here at last I stood on the brink of the Nile! Most beautiful was the scene, nothing could surpass it. It was the very perfection of the effect aimed at in a highly kept park; with a magnificent stream from six hundred to seven hundred yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks, the former occupied by fishermen's huts, the latter by sterns and crocodiles basking in the sun, flowing between fine high grassy banks, with rich trees and plantains in the background, where herds of the n'sunnu and the hartebeest could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikan and guinea-fowl rising at our feet.
Six days later, Speke reached and named the Rippon Falls, where the Nile actually flows out of Lake Victoria. Next, he travelled north to Unyoro, the land of king Kamrasi. The king greeted them rather unfriendly at first, later he forced them to give most of their possessions as presents. A long journey back to Gondokoro was still ahead of the explorers, but when they arrived there they met Samuel and Florence Baker (see Sir Samuel White Baker), who helped them to the rest of the voyage. The Bakers themselves got information from Speke about a further lake that could be found in Central Africa, Luta Nzige. The Bakers went on to discover this lake, and named it Lake Albert.
On 16 September 1864, a discussion about the source of the Nile was to be held between Speke and Burton, who still was unconvinced that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile (Speke had not seen the Nile between Lake Victoria and Gondokoro, so he had no proof that this was actually the same river). However, the day before, Speke died during a huntin party. The official explanation was that it was an accident, but Burton and several others believed that Speke had committed suicide, afraid to stand up against Burton, who was a better speaker.
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