King Solomon's Mines
From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)
King Solomon's Mines, first published in 1885, was a best-selling novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist, H. Rider Haggard. It relates a journey into the heart of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain in search of the missing brother of one of the party, Sir Henry. It is significant as the first fictional adventure novel set in Africa, and is considered the genesis of the Lost World literary genre.
Contents |
Background
The book was first published in September 1885 with billboards and posters around London announcing "The Most Amazing Book Ever Written". It became an immediate best seller. By the late 19th century explorers were uncovering lost civilizations around the world, such as Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the city of Troy, the empire of Assyria. Africa was still largely unexplored and King Solomon's Mine was the first novel of African adventure published in English, capturing public imagination.
The "King Solomon" of the book's title was of course the Biblical king renowned both for his wisdom and for his wealth. A number of sites have been identified as being the location of the mines of Solomon, including the workings at Timna near Eilat, and many fictional locations.
Haggard knew Africa well having penetrated deep within the continent as a 19 year old becoming involved in the Zulu War and the First Boer War which provided his background and inspiration for this and many later stories.
Analysis
The novel is said to have been written as a result of a wager with Haggard's brother, namely that he could not write a novel half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883).
Like Treasure Island, the novel was written largely from the first person subjective perspective as a journal account of the adventure. This was in contrast with most Victorian fiction which had adopted the position of the third-person omniscient perspective favored by influential writers such as Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Anthony Trollope.
King Solomon's Mines was highly influential as the genesis of the Lost World genre, such as would be followed by Edgar Rice Burroughs The Land That Time Forgot, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, Edgar Wallace's King Kong and Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King.
Kukuanaland is said in the book to be forty leagues north of the Lukanga river in modern Zambia which would place it in the extreme south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The culture of the Kukuanas shares many attributes with other South African tribes, such as IsiZulu being spoken, and the Kraal system.
The novel has been adapted to film at least four times, see King Solomon's Mines (film).
Plot summary
Allan Quatermain, an English adventurer and hunter based in Durban, South Africa, is approached by an English aristocrat Sir Henry and his friend Captain Good, seeking Quatermain's help to find Sir Henry's lost brother, who was last seen traveling north in to the interior, on a quest for the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Quatermain obtained a map leading to the mines years ago but had never taken it seriously, but agrees to lead an expedition in return for part of the treasure, or a stipend for his son if he is killed along the way. He has little hope they will return alive. They also bring a mysterious native, Umbopa, who seems more regal, handsome and well spoken than most porters of his class, but who is very anxious to join the party.
Traveling by oxen and cart they reach the edge of a desert. Quatermain's map shows an oasis 60 miles or halfway across, and they continue by foot, almost dying of thirst before reaching the oasis. They complete the second half of the desert without incident and reach the edge of a mountain chain. They climb to the top and enter a cave where they find the dried and frozen corpse of José Silvestre, the 16th century Portuguese explorer who had originally drawn Quatermain's map. They cross the mountain chain into a raised valley lush and green known as Kukuanaland, whose native inhabitants are well organized militarily and socially and speak an ancient dialect of IsiZulu. Kukuanaland's biggest city is Loo, which is also the capital. It is dominated by a Royal Kraal in the center of the city, and a magnificent road from ancient times.
They are taken to see King Twala, who rules over his people with ruthless violence. He came to power years ago when he murdered his brother who had been King, and exiled his brother's wife and infant son, who they assumed died in the desert. King Twala is King in name only as the real brains are an old scheming evil withered hag named Gagool.
It is secretly revealed that the regal servant who had come with the Englishman is actually the exiled son of the former murdered king. A rebellion is begun and although outnumbered, the rebels succeed in overthrowing Twala and, in accordance with Kukuana tradition; Sir Henry kills Twala in a duel. The Englishmen capture the evil Gagool and she promises to lead them to the mountains where King Solomon's Mine is located. On finding the treasure, Gagool tricks the Englishmen and a giant boulder seals them inside the mountain tomb. With no light and little water they prepare to die. With luck they find an escape route, bringing with them only a few pocketfuls of diamonds from the immense hoard, but still enough to make them rich.
The party leaves the valley and returns to the desert taking a different route, where they find Sir Henry's brother stranded in an oasis with a broken leg, unable to go forward or back. They all return to Durban and eventually they all return to England, wealthy enough to live out comfortable lives.
External link
- King Solomon's Mines, available freely at Project Gutenberg
