With an African landscape full of lost and often decaying civilizations, epic histories of Zululand and its court intrigues that match the Tudors in their lust for revenge and power, teeming hordes of wildlife, and, always, mysteries within mysteries, H. Rider Haggard's universe is varied and unlimited in its scope. And so he could imagine such things even less than a century ago. All long disappeared into dust, now, along with Haggard, Quatermain, and tableaux that obsessed the author.

Treasure of the Lake is yet another episodic adventure through the hidden heart of Africa. It follows Haggard's usual formula for the Quatermain series--a skeptical Allan seeking to rationally explain what cannot be explained fully without recourse to spiritualism and the occult. Yet, as with all the rest, it never grows old, seeming vital and quest worthy until the very end. Once more, Allan brings along Hans, his Hottentot companion and friend, who throughout the series has continued to grow into a sustained voice of wisdom, even while he mocks, chides, and even ridicules Allan at times. This pairing of kinsmen of the spirit is one of the strengths of this novel and the series.

One more volume in the series remains. Would that Haggard have lived to write many more, this being one of three, I believe, of his posthumously published novels. ( )