Notorious for his scandalously unexpurgated translations of The Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, British adventurer and author CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON (1821-1890) was also a soldier and explorer of fantastic renown in his day. The journals of his globetrotting exploits remain some of the most entertaining travel writing ever written.

From 1856 through 1859, for instance, Burton roamed equatorial Africa-funded by Great Britain's Royal Geographic Society-exploring the "inland seas" and scouting out the potential for trade with the native tribes. In this 1860 book, he lays it all out for us, from run-ins with "petty chiefs" to wild bouts of drinking ("Kannena had not been sober for a fortnight"). Burton's "record of personal adventure" is a classic piece of Victorian geography and ethnology, but it's a plain old rip-roaring read, too.