2017 Forgotten Books
Facsimele of 1898 Methuen & Co edition
Hardcover with dustcover, 408 pages plus Methuen Catalogue. Very good condition - as new
Parcel over 1kg.
“An interesting story…one of the most important records of African travel in recent years." -World Review, 1904
"A plain, straightforward account of hardships undergone, difficulties overcome, of indomitable pluck and indefatigable perseverance, and the inevitable ultimate success of sheer doggedness." - Academy Review, 1904
“ A permanent and valuable addition to the literature of African travel." -Morning Post
In Captain Gibbons’ 1898 book “Exploration and Hunting in Central Africa” we have the story of a man of action, led partly by the desire for big game hunting and adventure, and partly by a laudable desire to make a map, to visit a country which was included in the British Empire, but which had not yet been occupied save by missionaries and occasional big game hunters and explorers such as Livingstone and Selous.
In 1896, Alfred St. Hill Gibbons (1858–1916), best known as the explorer of the Upper Zamboni who completed the work which Livingstone had begun, went exploring and hunting among the head waters of the Zambesi and the northern tributaries of that mighty river.
His narrative is full of hunting stories, some of thrilling interest. The writer does not claim to be a very good shot, but in two instances he establishes a reputation for steadiness of nerve under the most trying circumstances—namely, when charged on two separate occasions by a wounded lioness and by a wounded buffalo.
Captain Gibbons had excellent sport with all sorts, from elephants downward, on the upper reaches of the Zambesi, within a few days' boating of the potentate's chief kraal. The buffaloes swarmed; they ran in herds of from three hundred to four hundred, and they found safe refuges in the reedy swamps which were also sanctuaries of the sea-cows. There and elsewhere there were lions in superabundance.
The book contains an excellent essay on the country— its character, climate, and prospects, as well as a description of various tribes in the Barotse Empire.
