PDF Books in History of Expeditions & Discoveries
My Arctic journal - a year among ice-fields and Eskimos
by Josephine Diebitsch PearyThis plain and simple narrative of a year spent by a refined woman in the realm of the dreaded Frost King has been written only after persistent and urgent pressure from friends, by one who shrank from publicity, and who reluctantly yielded to the idea that her experiences might be of interest to others besides her immediate friends.I have been req..
Thoughts on South Africa
by Olive SchreinerThese articles were written four years ago; the first, a description of South African scenery, appeared in The Fortnightly Review at that time. The rest did not follow. This was owing to the fact that there were at the Cape at that time certain parties and persons who, using the Boers of South Africa for their own purpose, yet pandered to them that..
Joutel's Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage, 1684-7
by Henri JoutelThis volume is the concluding one of a series projected by the late John Gilmary Shea, LL. D., on the “Discovery and Explorations of the Mississippi Valley.” The initial volume, issued in 1852, comprises the Narratives of Marquette, Allouez, Membré, Hennepin and Anastase Douay. The second, issued in 1861, contains those of Cavelier, St. Cosme, Le S..
Gold Hunting in Alaska
by Joseph GrinnellThe following story was originally written in pencil on any sort of paper at hand, and intended merely for "the folks at home." It is only by a prior claim to the manuscript that the young gold-hunter's mother has obtained his consent to publish it. The diary has been changed but little, nor has much been added to make it as it stands. The narrativ..
Two Years Among New Guinea Cannibals
by A. E. PrattThis record of two years’ scientific work in the only country of the globe that has still escaped exploration purposely avoids the dry detail of a Natural History Report, such as might properly be submitted to a learned society, and is intended rather to set forth to the general reader the vicissitudes of the traveller’s daily life in unknown New G..
The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California
by Richard F. BurtonUnaccustomed, of late years at least, to deal with tales of twice-told travel, I can not but feel, especially when, as in the present case, so much detail has been expended upon the trivialities of a Diary, the want of that freshness and originality which would have helped the reader over a little lengthiness. My best excuse is the following extrac..
The Lake Regions of Central Africa - A Picture of Exploration, Vol. 1
by Richard F. BurtonModern “hinters to travellers” direct the explorer and the missionary to eschew theory and opinion. We are told somewhat peremptorily that it is our duty to gather actualities not inferences—to see and not to think, in fact, to confine ourselves to transmitting the rough material collected by us, that it may be worked into shape by the professional..
The Lake Regions of Central Africa - A Picture of Exploration, Vol. 2
by Richard F. BurtonThere is the evidence of barbarous tradition for a belief in the existence of Unyamwezi as a great empire, united under a single despot. The elders declare that their patriarchal ancestor became after death the first tree, and afforded shade to his children and descendants. According to the Arabs the people still perform pilgrimage to a holy tree, ..