Travels in West Africa

On the death of her parents, Mary Kingsley set out to study native religion and law in West Africa, and to complete the work done by her father in the study of comparative sacrificial rites and fetishes. Her story is remarkable because she had, till then, led the sheltered, middle-class life of a Vi [...]
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On the death of her parents, Mary Kingsley set out to study native religion and law in West Africa, and to complete the work done by her father in the study of comparative sacrificial rites and fetishes. Her story is remarkable because she had, till then, led the sheltered, middle-class life of a Victorian spinster. Her book is a testament to understatement and humour - few explorers made less of the hardships and dangers experienced while travelling. "Travels in West Africa" (1897) was written after her second journey. She had made preparations for a third but was diverted by the Boer War in South Africa, where she died of enteric fever while tending Boer prisoners.