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Quote by Mary Kingsley

“One immense old lady has a family of lively young crocodiles running over her, evidently playing like a lot of kittens. The heavy musky smell they give off is most repulsive, but we do not rise up and make a row about this, because we feel hopelessly in the wrong in intruding into these family scenes uninvited.”

Quote by Mary Kingsley

Book:Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons

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Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons

This book offers an in-depth exploration of the author's experiences and observations during his travels across West Africa, providing a rich tapestry of cultural, historical, and geographical insights into the regions visited. more

Author

Mary Kingsley, a British explorer and writer, was born on October 13, 1862, and died on June 3, 1900. She is renowned for her explorations in Africa and her in-depth studies of local cultures. more

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“the African leopard is an audacious animal, although it is ungrateful of me to say a word against him, after the way he has let me off personally ... taken as a whole, he is the most lovely animal I have ever seen; only seeing him, in the one way you can gain a full idea of his beauty, namely in his native forest, is not an unmixed joy to a person, like myself, of a nervous disposition.”

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“There is one distinctive charm about fishing - its fascinations will stand any climate. You may sit crouching on ice over a hole inside the arctic circle, or on a Windsor chair by the side of the River Lea in the so-called temperate zone, or you may squat in a canoe on an equatorial river, with the surrounding atmosphere forty-five percent mosquito, and if you are fishing you will enjoy yourself.”

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“Ambas and Bobia Islands are perfect gems of beauty. Mondoleh I cannot say I admire. It always looks to me exactly like one of those flower-stands full of ferns and plants - the sort you come across in drawing rooms at home, with wire-work legs. I do not mean that Mondoleh has wire-work legs under water, but it looks as if it might have.”

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“It is my melancholy fate to like so many people I profoundly disagree with and often heartily dislike people who agree with me.”

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“[Responding to repeated questions about traveling in Africa without a husband:] I am looking for him.”

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“Having watched herself in the speckled mirror ... she was already shocked beyond surprise at what the flat hand of age could do.”

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“the first time you are reconciled to the terrible unfairness of disappointment, you are getting old.”

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