Goa and the Blue Mountains, or, Six Months of Sick Leave is a travelogue written by Sir Richard Francis Burton, a British explorer and writer. The book details Burton's journey through the Portuguese colony of Goa and the surrounding Blue Mountains in India. Burton writes about his experiences and observations of the local people, culture, and landscape. The book also includes descriptions of various historical and cultural sites, as well as Burton's reflections on the state of British imperialism in India. Overall, the book is a blend of travel writing and cultural commentary, offering a glimpse into 19th-century colonial India.
Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke twenty-nine languages. Burton's best-known achievements include: a well-documented journey to Mecca in disguise, at a time when non-Muslims were forbidden access on pain of death; an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (commonly called The Arabian Nights in English after early translations of Antoine Galland's French version); the publication of the Kama Sutra in English; a translation of The Perfumed Garden, the "Arab Kama Sutra"; and a journey with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile.