Alan Quatermain

 

Alan Quatermain is an African hunter of English birth, though from the time he ‘came to years of discretion’ until after the adventures of King Solomon’s Mines he never visited England. He is an hunter and explorer, and moderate and thoughtful in his practice.

 

Sir Henry Curtis introduces Quatermain at a social gathering as ‘one of the oldest hunters and the very best shot in Africa, who has killed more elephants and lions than any man alive.”

 

On his hunting expeditions he is usually accompanied by his local African acolytes, whom he holds in high regard and with whom he has shared his adventures. Quatermain’s reticent nature makes him amused at the dramatic vocabulary of his Zulu friends.

 

His native African name is ‘Macumazahn’ which means the man who gets up by night or the man who is always awake.

 

In the short story ‘Hunter Quatermain’s Story’ by H. Rider Haggard, which takes place after the adventures of King Solomon’s Mines, Quatermain narrates a story about a pair of buffalo horns that decorated Sir Henry Curtis’ wall. It tells a hunting expedition gone bad, and how Quatermain’s Zulu friend gave his life to save Quatermain.

 

Quatermain’s weapon of choice is an 8-bore rifle but he also uses Martini-Henrys.

 

Alan Quatermain is one of the lead characters in Alan Moore’s ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ graphic novel.

 

 

 

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