Through the Dark Continent

Thomas W. Knox built a long career turning real exploration into books that boys would actually finish, and this entry in his Boy Travellers series sends Frank and Fred to Africa on the trail of Henry M. Stanley’s journey through the Congo basin. The story opens with a steamer out of New York, and from there the two youths gather what was then known of the great river and the peoples along it and follow Stanley’s route across the continent, with geography, wildlife, and trade folded into the adventure as they go. It is half yarn and half classroom, written while the Congo was still being drawn onto European maps and before the cost of that drawing had been counted. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.