The People of the Mist

The People of the Mist is an exemplary lost race fantasy novel written by H. Rider Haggard. It was first distributed sequentially in the weekly magazine Tit-Bits, between December 1893 and August 1894. The first edition of the book was published in London by Longman in October 1894. It was reproduced in December 1973 by Ballantine Books as the sixty-third softcover volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.The People of the Mist is the story of an English explorer looking for wealth in the wilds of Africa, searching for romance, and finding a lost race and its enormous god.The poverty-stricken Leonard Outram endeavors to review the unmerited loss of his family homes by looking for his fortune in Africa. Over his undertakings, he and his Zulu friend Otter save a youthful English lady, Juanna Rodd, along with her nursemaid Soa, from slavery. Leonard and Juanna are clearly drawn to one another, however, inclined to quibble, and their romance is impeded by the watchful and jealous Soa. The protagonists look for the incredible People of the Mist, said to possess a fabulous hoard of jewels. On finding them, they quickly become entangled in the turbulent political affairs of the lost race, which is driven by a battle for control between its king and the priests of its giant crocodile god. The brave Outram can do minimal more than respond to occasions. The activity peaks in a hair-raising departure by sledding a huge level stone down a steep glacier.