King Solomon's Mines (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
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Katz, Wendy Roberta. Rider Haggard and the Fiction of Empire: A Critical Study of British Imperial Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. A well-researched view of Haggard as racist and imperialist.
Leibfried, Philip. Rudyard Kipling and Sir Henry Rider Haggard on Screen, Stage, Radio, and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. A reliable study of Haggard’s impact on the mass media.
Low, Gail Ching-Liang. White SkinslBlack Masks: Representation and Colonialism. London: Routledge, 1995. A general study that includes discussion of Haggard’s work.
Siemens, Lloyd, with Roger Neufeld. The Critical Reception of Sir Henry Rider Haggard: An Annotated Bibliography, 1882-1991. Greensboro: University of North Carolina at Greensboro Press, 1991. How journalists and others have reacted to Haggard.
Stiebel, Lindy. Imagining Africa: Landscape in H. Rider Haggard’s African Romances. Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood Press, 2001. An in-depth look at Africa as Haggard understood it.
Whatmore, D. E. H. Rider Haggard: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler Publishing, 1987. A good starting point for any student of Haggard’s work.
a I discovered eight varieties of antelope, with which I was previously totally unacquainted, and many new species of plants, for the most part of the bulbous tribe.—A.Q. [Haggard’s note]
b Or suetjies; softly, gently, slowly (Afrikaans).
c Also spelled kaffir, derogatory South African term for a black person.
d Mr. Quatermain’s ideas about ancient Danes seem to be rather confused; we have always understood that they were dark-haired people. Probably he was thinking of Saxons.—Editor. [Haggard’s note]
e A chronometer, a device invented by British scientist John Harrison (1693-1776) to measure longitude when ships are at sea.
f Unyoked or disengaged oxen from a wagon.
g Boy who leads the front oxen of a herd (Afrikaans).
h Large African antelope with a brown coat and vertical white stripes; variant of kudu, from koedoe (Afrikaans) and i-qudu (Xhosa, the local language).
i Suliman is the Arabic form of Solomon.—Editor. [Haggard’s note]
j Native village surrounded by a mud wall or other fence; refers as well to the community living within (Afrikaans).
k Eu José de Silvestra que estou morrendo de fome ná pequena cova onde não ha neve ao lado norte do bico mais ao sul das duas montanhas que chamei seio de Sheba; escrevo isto no anno 1590; escrevo isto com um pedaço d ôsso n’ um farrapo de minha roupa e com sangue meu por tinta; se o meu escravo dér com isto quando venha ao levar para Lourenzo Marquez, que o meu amigo (————) leve a cousa ao conhecimento d’ El Rei, para que possa mandar um exercito que, se desfiler pelo deserto e pelas montanhas e mesmo sobrepujar os bravos Kukuanes e suas artes diabolicas, pelo que se deviam trazer muitos padres Fara o Rei mais rico depois de Salomão. Com meus proprios olhos vé os di amantes sem conto guardados nas camaras do thesouro de Salomão a traz da morte branca, mas pela traição de Gagoal a feiticeira achadora, nada poderia levar, e apenas a minha vida. Quem vier siga o mappa e trepe pela neve de Sheba peito à esquerda até chegar ao bico, do lado norte do qual está a grande estrada do Salomão por elle feita, donde ha tres dias de jornada até ao Palacio do Rei. Mate Gagaol. Reze por minha alma. Adeos. José da Silvestra. [Haggard’s note]
l Central shaft on a wagon or cart (Afrikaans).
m Boss; form of address used by nonwhites to show respect to white males.
n Breaker. large white-capped wave that breaks against a shoreline; bar. ridge of sand formed by the action of the tide against the shore.
o Ravines (Afrikaans).
p Afrikaans term for an ear of maize (American corn).
q Also spelled loquat. Small, large-leaved evergreen tree (Eriobotrya japonica) that yields golden, pear-shaped fruit with a sweet but acidic taste; native to China, it was transported to Japan and later grown in Africa.
r South African evergreen (Ocotea bullata); also called stinkhout, cape walnut, cape laurel, and laurel wood; its dark-colored wood is as strong and durable as teak and has a very fine grain; when freshly cut, it emits a strong odor.
s Highly fatal disease (bacillary hemoglobinuria) in cattle or sheep; caused by the bacteria Clostridium haemolyticum, found in soil. The scientific name derives from the red urine afflicted animals excrete as a result of ruptured red blood cells.
t Also spelled dram; a drachm was a British imperial unit of measurement equivalent to 60 minims or 3.5516 cubic centimeters.
u Offensive Afrikaans term for a Khoikhoi, a member of a pastoral people of southern Africa.
v See endnote 8, chapter 3.
w Haggard’s spelling of wag ’n bietjie, the Afrikaans name for a species of acacia tree (Acacia caffra); also called common hook-thorn or cat thorn. It is distinguished by bright green, feathery leaves; its wood, resistant to fire, is used for fence posts and tobacco pipes.
x Shield or screen (Afrikaans).
y Natural latex from the sap or resin of the Isonandra gutta, Palaquium gutta, and other evergreen trees; has a texture similar to that of rubber, though is not as elastic; since 1845, used to insulate marine and underground cables.
z Spear or lance with a long blade used by Bantu fighters.
aa Water filter. Thomas Cook (1808-1892), inventor of the guided tour and founder of a major British travel agency, advised travelers in his Cook’s Tourist’s Handbook for Palestine and Syria (1911) to carry “a leather drinking cup and a pocket filter.”
ab Also spelled kopje; small hill (South African).
ac Coarse, irregular surface layer of lava.
ad The heaviest bird in Africa, the great paauw or kori bustard (Ardeotis kori) can weigh more than 40 pounds; an omnivore, it sometimes eats carrion or hares found on shortgrass plains.
ae This fern (Adiantum pedatum) has dainty, feathery fronds and often grows on limestone soil in rich woodlands.
af Hoofed mammal (Oreotragus oreotragus) that thrives in African mountains and gorges, and whose coarse yellow and gray coat serves as camouflage. Its name derives from the Afrikaans for “rock leaper.”
ag Wrung my neck or strangled me (slang).
ah Cobs of maize or, in American terms, corn (Afrikaans). During Nelson Mandela’s impoverished childhood he stole mealie cobs from maize fields to stave off hunger.
ai Peace (Arabic); respectful ceremonial Islamic greeting or blessing.
aj Literally, the Germanic language of the Saxon people, but Haggard seems to be referring to English.
ak This cruel custom is not confined to the Kukuanas, but is by no means uncommon amongst African tribes on the occasion of the outbreak of war or any other important public event. [Haggard’s note]
al Unfit for battle (French).
am Bantu-speaking people of modern Swaziland and other areas of southeastern Africa; they live by farming and herding.
an Usually spelled berserker, Old Norse warriors famed for their savagery.
ao It is a law amongst the Kukuanas that no man of the royal blood can be put to death unless by his own consent, which is, however, never refused. He is allowed to choose a succession of antagonists, to be approved by the king, with whom he fights, till one of them kills him. [Haggard’s note]
ap Elders first (Latin).
aq “Now haste ye, my handmaidens, haste and see / How he sits there and glowers with his head on his knee.” [Haggard’s note]. The lines are from The Ingoldsby Legends.
ar Literal translation of the Greek hippopotamus.
as This extraordinary and negative way of showing intense respect is by no means unknown among African people, and the result is that, as is usual, the name in question has a significance, the meaning has to be expressed by an idiom or another word. In this way a memory is preserved for generations, or until the new word supplants the old one. [Haggard’s note]
at It often puzzled all of us to understand how it was possible that Ignosi’s mother, bearing the child with her, should have s
urvived the dangers of the journey across the mountains and the desert, dangers which so nearly proved fatal to ourselves. It has since occurred to me, and I give the idea to the reader for what it is worth, that she must have taken this second route, and wandered out like Hagar into the desert.2 If she did so, there is no longer anything inexplicable about the story, since she may well, as Ignosi himself related, have been picked up by some ostrich hunters before she or the child were exhausted, and led by them to the oasis, and thence by stages to the fertile country, and so on by slow degrees southwards to Zululand.—A. Q. [Haggard’s note]