[Gutenberg 42749] • Some Heroes of Travel / or, Chapters from the History of Geographical Discovery and Enterprise

Some Heroes of Travel or, Chapters from the History of Geographical Discovery and Enterprise by W. H. Davenport Adams : (full image Illustrated)

SOME HEROES OF TRAVEL

OR, CHAPTERS FROM THE HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY AND ENTERPRISE.

WITH MAPS.

COMPILED AND REWRITTEN BY THE LATE W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.

“Have you been a traveller?” SHAKESPEARE.

PREFACE.

The present age is sometimes described as an Age of Commonplace; but it has its romance if we care to look for it. Assuredly, the adventures of its travellers and explorers do not lose in importance or interest, even when compared with those of their predecessors in days when a great part of the world was still “virgin ground.” In the following pages, this thesis is illustrated by a summary of the narratives of certain “Heroes of Travel” belonging to our own time; and I believe it will be found that for “stirring scenes” and “hair-breadth escapes” they vie with any which the industrious Hakluyt, the quaint Purchas, or, coming down to a later date, the multifarious Pinkerton has collected. However, on this point the reader has an opportunity of satisfying himself, as, by way of contrast, I have prefixed to these Episodes of Recent Travel a succinct account of the enterprise of Messer Marco Polo, the Pioneer of Mediæval Travellers.

There is no pleasanter mode of learning geography than by studying the works of distinguished travellers; and therefore this little book may claim to possess some slight educational value, while primarily intended to supply the young with attractive but not unwholesome reading. The narratives which it contains have been selected with a view to variety or interest. They range over Mexico, Western Australia, Central Africa, and Central Asia. They include the experiences of the hunter, the war correspondent, and the geographical explorer; and, in recognition of the graceful influence of women, of a lady traveller, who showed herself as resolute and courageous as any of the so-called hardier sex. And, finally, they have the merit, it is believed, of not having appeared in previous compilations.

As a companion for the fireside corner, this little book will, I hope, be welcome to all English-speaking lads and lasses, who will learn from its pages how much may be accomplished by patience, perseverance, and energy.

CONTENTS.

Sir Marco Polo, the Venetian, and his Travels in Asia

Mr. George F. Buxton, and his Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains

Doctor Barth, and Central Africa

Mr. Thomas Witlam Atkinson, and his Adventures in Siberia and Central Asia

Alexina Tinné, and her Wanderings in the Sudan

Mr. J. A. Macgahan, and Campaigning on the Oxus

Colonel Egerton Warburton, and Exploration in West Australia

Major Burnaby, and a Ride to Khiva

Sir Samuel Baker, and the Sources of the Nile