Somaliland had been explored in 1854 by Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke. Burton was an officer in the Indian army, and had previously made a remarkable journey to the holy places of the Hedjaz. In 1856 the Royal Geographical Society (which had developed from out of the African Association in 1830) despatched an expedition under the command of Burton, who chose Speke for his lieutenant, to search for the great lakes which the Württemberg missionaries reported to exist. As the result of this epoch-making exploration Burton discovered Tanganyika (though he only mapped out the northern half), and Speke discovered the south shore of the Victoria Nyanza. Hurrying home before Burton, Speke got the ear of the Geographical Society, and was at once sent back (with Captain J. A. Grant as his companion) to discover the sources of the Nile. Burton was rather hardly treated in the matter, but he was a man too clever for his times, and one who made many enemies amongst those who directed geographical exploration in the middle of the 19th century. Speke and Grant reached the northern end of the Victoria Nyanza and the outlet of the Victoria Nile at the Ripon Falls, journeyed northwards and missed the Albert Nyanza; then, met and relieved by Sir Samuel Baker, travelled down the Nile to Egypt. It was a most remarkable journey, but in some senses a blundering one, remarkable as much for what was missed as for what was gained in exploration. Through not having made any survey of the vast lake they had undoubtedly discovered and often seen, and not being able to give much idea of its shape or area, its very existence came afterwards to be doubted until it was conclusively established by Stanley in 1875. Speke and Grant had left England in April 1860, and reached Khartum on the 30th of March, 1864, and England soon afterwards. Speke died from a gun-accident in September 1864. Grant, afterwards made a Colonel and a C.B., accompanied the British expedition to Abyssinia, and lived till 1892.