My goodness, but the above review for this book is dry! It says nothing about Burton's great Victorian style, his eye for detail and the unique view, from one who truly loves to travel and see the world in all its variety. "I would willingly have lingered in these homely haunts, these pleasant scenes, these sylvan shades, for hours and hours." Moreover, his descriptions of the cruelty of African slavery and comparisons with that in America are an invaluable contemporary point of view, including his belief, shared by other intellectuals at that time, in the comparative gradation of ethnic intellectuality - ranking Europeans as superior! Very useful exposure to views of that time from a "liberal" thinker. Fascinating book! If you like tales from Victorian travellers, add this one to your list.

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