This is a classic study of West African wildlife, culture, and native tribes as they existed in the mid-1800s, written by the first European explorer to confirm the existence of gorillas and African pygmies. The author spent more than five years living among the tribes of Africa, closely observing their customs, culture, and their interactions with the surrounding wildlife. His accounts of native cannibalism, witchcraft, torture, slavery-and the existence of gorillas, till then only hinted at in a fifth century BC Carthaginian script-led many Europeans and Americans to dispute Du Chaillu's veracity. All his observations were however proven correct, and this book went on to become highly regarded and inspired a whole new set of European explorers to penetrate the Dark Continent.