A classic work of 19th century travel literature in which Burton turns his hand to describing the charms of the century spice island. Burton's trip to Zanzibar was soon after the death of the great Sayyid Said, the first Sultan of Zanzibar, during whose reign many Omani Arabs came to live in the region, bringing great prosperity. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) dropped out of Oxford to join the Indian army and travel the world. Later, serving as a consul for the British government, Burton was the first European adventurer to search for the source of the Nile; to enter, disguised, the forbidden cities of Mecca and Medina; and to travel through remote stretches of India, the Near East, and Africa. From his spying exploits to his startling literary accomplishments (the discovery and translation of the Kama Sutra and his seventeen-volume translation of Arabian Nights), and was said to be fluent in over twenty languages.