CHAPTER I The ship—The crew—A hurricane—Cape Verde Islands—Frio—A pampeiro. To get underweigh: It was on the 28th of February 1886, that the bark Aquidneck, laden with case-oil' sailed from New York for Montevideo, the capital o' Uruguay, the strip of land bounding the River Plate on the east, and called by the natives "Banda Oriental." The Aquidneck was a trim and tidy craft of 326 tons' register, hailing from... more...

Travel and Adventure SIR SAMUEL BAKER The Albert N'yanza I.—Explorations of the Nile Source Sir Samuel White Baker was born in London, on June 8, 1821. From early manhood he devoted himself to a life of adventure. After a year in Mauritius he founded a colony in the mountains of Ceylon at Newera Eliya, and later constructed the railway across the Dobrudsha. His discovery of the Albert N'yanza completed the labours of Speke and Grant,... more...

To the Reader   ALMOST ten years have passed since the country followed, in scanty telegram from port to port, the Oregon speeding down one side of a continent and up the other to Bahia; then came two anxious, silent weeks when apprehension and fear pictured four Spanish cruisers with a pack of torpedo boats sailing out into the west athwart the lone ship's course, the suspense ending only when tidings came of her arrival at Jupiter Inlet;... more...

The Priuiledges graunted by the Emperour of Russia to the English merchants of that company: obteined the 22. of September, Anno 1567. by M. Anthony Ienkinson. One onely strengthener of all things, and God without beginning, which was before the world, the Father, the Sonne, and the holy Ghost, our onely God in Trinitie, and maker of all things whom we worship in all things, and in all places, the doer and fulfiller of all things, which is the... more...

A briefe Treatise of the great Duke of Moscouia his genealogie, being taken  out of the Moscouites manuscript Chronicles written by a Polacke. It hath almost euer bene the custome of nations, in searching out the infancie and first beginnings of their estate, to ascribe the same vnto such authors as liued among men in great honour and endued mankinde with some one or other excellent benefite. Nowe, this inbred desire of all nations to... more...

"This elaborate and excellent Collection, which redounds as much to the glory of the English Nation as any book that ever was published, has already had sufficient complaints made in its behalf against our suffering it to become so scarce and obscure, by neglecting to republish it in a fair impression, with proper illustrations and especially an Index. But there may still be room left for a favourable construction of such neglect, and the hope... more...

ART OF TRAVEL. PREPARATORY INQUIRIES. To those who meditate Travel.--Qualifications for a Traveller.--If you have health, a great craving for adventure, at least a moderate fortune, and can set your heart on a definite object, which old travellers do not think impracticable, then--travel by all means. If, in addition to these qualifications, you have scientific taste and knowledge, I believe that no career, in time of peace, can offer to you... more...

The 15th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1577, Master Francis Drake, with a fleet of five ships and barks, and to the number of 164 men, gentlemen and sailors, departed from Plymouth, giving out his pretended voyage for Alexandria. But the wind falling contrary, he was forced the next morning to put into Falmouth Haven, in Cornwall, where such and so terrible a tempest took us, as few men have seen the like, and was indeed so vehement... more...

The Monk of Seville Act I. Scene I. Enter Don Felix and Don Perez. Felix. You say his name's Don Gaspar? Perez. So he styles himself; but of what house, parentage, or country, cannot be gained. He keeps aloof from all, bears himself gallantly; and 'tis manifest that any question discourteously put he'd answer with his sword. Felix. He's skill'd in fence, then? Perez. There's none to match him. I, who have foiled half Seville, am but a... more...

Chapter One. April 3, 1835. Reader, did you ever feel in that peculiarly distressing state of mind in which one oppressing idea displaces or colours every other, absorbing, intermingling with, empoisoning, and, like the filth of the harpy, turning every thing into disgust—when a certain incubus rides upon the brain, as the Old Man of the Mountain did upon the shoulders of Sinbad, burdening, irritating, and rendering existence a... more...