Travel Books

Introduction. In the following pages I have endeavoured to describe all that appeared to me most important and interesting among the events and the scenes that came under my notice during my sojourn in the interior of Africa. If my account should not entirely harmonise with preconceived notions as to primitive races, I cannot help it. I profess accurately to describe native Africa—Africa in those... more...

INTRODUCTION It is curious to follow anything right back to its inception, and to discover from what extraordinary causes results are due. It is strange, for instance, to find that the luck of the thirteen began right back at the time when Jan, motoring back from Uzhitze down the valley of the Morava, coming fastish round a corner, plumped right up to the axle in a slough of clinging wet sandy mud. The... more...

PREFACE. The following work contains a Narrative of the Voyage to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-choo Island; an Appendix, containing Nautical details; and a Vocabulary of the Language spoken at Loo-choo. In drawing up the Narrative from journals written at the time, I have derived great assistance from notes made by Lieutenant H.J. Clifford, of the Navy. This officer obtained permission... more...

PREFACE. It has been my object in this work to give as clear an account as I was able of tracts of country previously unexplored, with their river systems, natural productions, and capabilities; and to bring before my countrymen, and all others interested in the cause of humanity, the misery entailed by the slave-trade in its inland phases; a subject on which I and my companions are the first who have... more...

A WATCH-NIGHT SERVICE IN SAN FRANCISCO How much bitter experience a man keeps to himself, let the experienced say, for they only know. For my own part I am conscious that it rarely occurs to me to mention some things which happened either in England or out of it, and that if I do, it is only to pass them over casually as mere facts that had no profound effect upon me. But the importance of any hardship... more...

LETTER I. VOYAGE.— ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK.— BURNING OF QUARANTINE BUILDINGS.— CABLE REJOICINGS.— DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN. New York, September 3, 1858. We landed here yesterday afternoon, at about six o'clock, after a very prosperous voyage; and, as the Southampton mail goes to-morrow, I must begin this letter to you to-night. I had fully intended writing to you daily during the voyage, but I... more...

CHAPTER I—THE BRIGADIER AND THE LOTTERY One wet Saturday evening in May I found myself at Castelvetrano consulting Angelo, the guide, about the weather.  His opinion was that it would clear up during the night; I said that if it did we would go to Selinunte, and this confirmed his view; so, on the understanding that there was to be no rain, I appointed him padrone of the expedition and promised to... more...

CHAPTER IV. CONTINUED. CONTINUATION OF THE PORTUGUESE TRANSACTIONS IN INDIA, AFTER THE RETURN OF DON STEPHANO DE GAMA FROM SUEZ IN 1541, TO THE REDUCTION OF PORTUGAL UNDER THE DOMINION OF SPAIN IN 1581. SECTION XIII. Account of an Expedition of the Portuguese from India to Madagascar in 1613. Being anxious to find out a considerable number of Portuguese who were reported to exist in the island of St.... more...

Foreword In California's imaginary Hall of Fame, Bret Harte must be accorded a prominent, if not first place. His short stories and dialect poems published fifty years ago made California well known the world over and gave it a romantic interest conceded no other community. He saw the picturesque and he made the world see it. His power is unaccountable if we deny him genius. He was essentially an... more...

KENSINGTON When people speak of Kensington they generally mean a very small area lying north and south of the High Street; to this some might add South Kensington, the district bordering on the Cromwell and Brompton Roads, and possibly a few would remember to mention West Kensington as a far-away place, where there is an entrance to the Earl's Court Exhibition. But Kensington as a borough is both... more...