The Lake Regions of Central Africa

Notorious for his scandalously unexpurgated translations of The Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra British adventurer and author CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON (1821-1890) was also a soldier and explorer of fantastic renown in his day. The journals of his globetrotting exploits remain some of the most entertaining travel writing ever written. From 1856 through 1859 for instance Burton roamed equatorial Africa-funded by Great Britains Royal Geographic Society-exploring the inland seas and scouting out the potential for trade with the native tribes. In this 1860 book he lays it all out for us from run-ins with petty chiefs to wild bouts of drinking (Kannena had not been sober for a fortnight). Burtons record of personal adventure is a classic piece of Victorian geography and ethnology but its a plain old rip-roaring read too.