Excerpt
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Captain Mayne Reid was born at Ballyroney, County Down, on the 4th April, 1818, and was the son of the Rev. Thomas Mayne Reid. Mayne Reid was educated with a view to the Church, but finding his inclinations opposed to this calling, he emigrated to America and arrived in New Orleans on January, 1840. After a varied career as plantation over-seer, school-master, and actor, with a number of expeditions in connection with hunting and Indian warfare, he settled down in 1843 as a journalist in Philadelphia, where he made the acquaintance of Edgar Allan Poe.
Leaving Philadelphia in 1846, he spent the summer at Newport, Rhode Island, as the correspondent of the New York Herald, and in December of the same year, having obtained a commission as second lieutenant in the 1st New York Volunteers, he sailed for Vera Cruz to take part in the Mexican war. He behaved with conspicuous gallantry in many engagements, and was severely wounded and disabled at the storming of Chapultepec on the 13th September, 1847.
Returning to the United States in the spring of 1848, he resumed literary work. But in June, 1849, he sailed for Europe in order to take part in the revolutionary movements going on in Hungary and Bavaria, arriving however too late, he turned his attention again to literature, and in London in 1850, published his first novel “The Rifle Rangers,” in two volumes. Between this date and his death, he produced a large number of volumes, which indeed no one else was capable of writing, for in them are avowedly embodied the observations and experiences of his own extraordinary career.
Unfortunate building and journalistic speculation and enterprises involved him in financial failure, so he returned to New York in October, 1867. There he founded and conducted The Onward Magazine, but owing to recurring bad effects of his old Mexican wound, he had to abandon work for sometime and go into the hospital, on leaving which he returned to England in 1870. During the later years of his life he resided at Ross in Herefordshire where he died on the 22nd October, 1883, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
Mayne Reid wrote in all thirty-five works, chiefly books of adventure and travel. As in the case of all authors, the books vary much in merit, but most of them are of a high order in their own department of literature. Many of them have been extraordinary popular and have become standard works. Reid has not been surpassed by any other writer in combining at one and the same time, the features of thrilling adventure and great instruction in the fields of natural history. Many of the works have been translated into Continental languages and are as highly esteemed among the French and Germans as at home.
CONTENTS The Young Voyageurs OR BOY HUNTERS IN THE NORTH. CHAPTER I PAGE THE FUR COUNTRIES CHAPTER II THE YOUNG VOYAGEURS CHAPTER III THE TRUMPETER SWAN AND THE BALD EAGLE CHAPTER IV A SWAN-HUNT BY TORCHLIGHT CHAPTER V “CAST AWAY” CHAPTER VI A BRIDGE OF BUCKSKIN CHAPTER VII DECOYING THE ANTELOPES CHAPTER VIII “A PARTRIDGE DANCE” CHAPTER IX BASIL AND THE BISON-BULL CHAPTER X THREE CURIOUS TREES CHAPTER XI HOW TO BUILD A BARK CANOE CHAPTER XII THE CHAIN OF LAKES CHAPTER XIII WAPITI, WOLVES, AND WOLVERENE CHAPTER XIV A PAIR OF DEEP DIVERS CHAPTER XV A GRAND SUNDAY DINNER CHAPTER XVI THE MARMOTS OF AMERICA CHAPTER XVII THE BLAIREAU, THE “TAWNIES,” AND THE “LEOPARDS” CHAPTER XVIII AN ODD SORT OF DECOY-DUCK CHAPTER XIX THE SHRIKE AND THE HUMMING-BIRDS CHAPTER XX THE FISH-HAWK CHAPTER XXI THE OSPREY AND HIS TYRANT CHAPTER XXII THE VOYAGE INTERRUPTED CHAPTER XXIII FISHING UNDER THE ICE CHAPTER XXIV AN ODD ALARM CHAPTER XXV ENCOUNTER WITH A MOOSE CHAPTER XXVI LIFE IN A LOG-HUT CHAPTER XXVII TRAVELLING ON SNOW-SHOES CHAPTER XXVIII THE BARREN GROUNDS CHAPTER XXIX THE ROCK-TRIPE CHAPTER XXX THE POLAR HARE AND THE GREAT SNOWY OWL CHAPTER XXXI THE JUMPING MOUSE AND THE ERMINE CHAPTER XXXII THE ARCTIC FOX AND WHITE WOLF CHAPTER XXXIII THE JERFALCON AND THE WHITE GROUSE CHAPTER XXXIV THE HARE, THE LYNX, AND THE GOLDEN EAGLE CHAPTER XXXV THE “ALARM BIRD” AND THE CARIBOU CHAPTER XXXVI A BATTLE WITH WOLVES CHAPTER XXXVII END OF THE “VOYAGE”
The Forest Exiles, OR ADVENTURES AMID THE WILDS OF THE AMAZON CHAPTER I THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD CHAPTER II THE REFUGEES CHAPTER III THE POISON-TREES CHAPTER IV THE SUPPER OF GUAPO CHAPTER V THE PUNA CHAPTER VI THE WILD BULL OF THE PUNA CHAPTER VII THE “VAQUERO” CHAPTER VIII LLAMAS, ALPACOS, VICUÑAS, AND GUANACOS CHAPTER IX A VICUÑA HUNT CHAPTER X CAPTURING A CONDOR CHAPTER XI THE PERILS OF A PERUVIAN ROAD CHAPTER XII ENCOUNTER UPON A CLIFF CHAPTER XIII THE LONE CROSS IN THE FOREST CHAPTER XIV THE DESERTED MISSION CHAPTER XV THE GUACO AND THE CORAL SNAKE CHAPTER XVI THE PALM-WOODS CHAPTER XVII A HOUSE OF PALMS CHAPTER XVIII TRACKING THE TAPIR CHAPTER XIX THE POISONED ARROWS CHAPTER XX THE MILK-TREE CHAPTER XXI THE CANNIBAL FISH AND THE GYMNOTUS CHAPTER XXII THE CINCHONA-TREES CHAPTER XXIII A PAIR OF SLOW GOERS CHAPTER XXIV THE BARK-HUNTERS CHAPTER XXV THE PUMA AND THE GREAT ANT-BEAR CHAPTER XXVI ATTACK OF THE WHITE ANTS CHAPTER XXVII THE ANT-LION CHAPTER XXVIII THE TATOU-POYOU AND THE DEER CARCASS CHAPTER XXIX AN ARMADILLO HUNT CHAPTER XXX THE OCELOT CHAPTER XXXI A FAMILY OF JAGUARS CHAPTER XXXII THE RAFT CHAPTER XXXIII THE GUARDIAN BROTHER CHAPTER XXXIV THE VAMPIRE CHAPTER XXXV THE MARIMONDAS CHAPTER XXXVI THE MONKEY MOTHER CHAPTER XXXVII AN UNEXPECTED GUEST CHAPTER XXXVIII THE CROCODILE AND CAPIVARAS CHAPTER XXXIX FIGHT OF THE JAGUAR AND CROCODILE CHAPTER XL ADVENTURE WITH AN ANACONDA CHAPTER XLI A BATCH OF CURIOUS TREES CHAPTER XLII THE FOREST FESTIVAL CHAPTER XLIII ACRES OF EGGS CHAPTER XLIV A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO VERY SCALY CREATURES CHAPTER XLV A PAIR OF VALIANT VULTURES CHAPTER XLVI THE “GAPO” CHAPTER XLVII THE ARAGUATOES CHAPTER XLVIII BRIDGING AN IGARIPÉ CHAPTER XLIX THE MANATI CHAPTER L THE CLOSING CHAPTER
The Bush-Boys, OR ADVENTURES IN THE WILDS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA....