...during a long European stay, he mixes memory and invention, history and outlandish exaggeration. Presented here with Twain's original sketches, A Tramp Abroad is full of surprising discourses on everything from the language of blue jays to the maddening intricacies of German grammar. In Following the Equator (1897) Twain visits a succession of British imperial outposts--Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa among them--and, while offering vivid descriptions of his journey, gives vigorous expression to his outrage in the face of many varieties of injustice and inequality. Also included are 13 shorter pieces on everything from Wagnerian opera to Queen Victoria's jubilee.