King Solomon's Mines is the narrative of Allan Quatermain, elephant hunter and explorer, and his adventures in the company of Danish man of action Sir Henry Curtis and Royal Navy officer Captain Good. Sir Henry Curtis hires Quatermain to use his knowledge of Africa and his skills as a hunter to lead an expedition in search of Sir Henry's lost brother, George Neville. George vanished while seeking the long-lost diamond mines of King Solomon in an unexplored part of Africa. The possibility of riches, along with a stipulation that Sir Henry will provide for Quatermain's medical student son should he meet his end, persuades Quatermain to take the job.Quatermain gathers a group of reliable helpers, both Zulu pack bearers and hunters and the Hottentot Ventvogel, renowned for his tracking skills. A hunter named Umbopa, claiming to be a Zulu, offers his services to the party. Quatermain distrusts him at first, thinking his attitude too proud for a Zulu hired by white men, but Sir Henry agrees to take him on. Properly supplied, the party heads into the African wilderness following an ancient map which Quatermain had received from a descendant of Jose da Silvestra, a Portugese explorer who claims to have found King Solomon's Mines. En route, the Englishmen are astounded by the profusion of game and stop for a brief elephant hunt. The hunt proves more dangerous than Sir Henry and Captain Good expected, with Captain Henry nearly being trampled by a bull elephant and one of the Zulu bearers killed in the stampede.The men arrive at the vast desert and leave much of their heavier supplies behind. They nearly die of thirst in the wasteland, but barely manage to find a dirty pool indicated on Silvestra's map. Somewhat refreshed, they carry on toward the mountains known as Sheba's Breasts. As they approach the mountains, the landscape turns into a volcanic plain with very little food or water available. Umbopa locates some ripe melons which provide the men enough sustenance to climb the left-hand mountain in search of the cave indicated on the map. As their ascent becomes impeded by the snowfall, they manage to find the cave before becoming hopelessly lost. They spend the night in the cold cave, only to discover the next morning that Ventvogel has frozen to death in his sleep. They mourn the loss of their companion, but are soon frightened out of the cave when they discover another dead body further back in the cavern.Regaining their nerves, the men re-enter the cave to see if the corpse is that of Sir Henry's brother. It turns out to be Jose da Silvestra, dead and preserved for three hundred years. The men set Ventvogel's body next to da Silvestra's and carry on following his map past the mountains into the land beyond. The other side of Sheba's Breasts turns out to be a lush land overrun with game. The men hunt and refresh themselves at a nearby stream, where they also make camp. The next morning, a half-shaven and half-clothed Captain Good is accosted by a group of native hunters, whom Quatermain notices bear a striking resemblance to their Zulu hunter, Umbopa.The hunters identify themselves as Kukuanas. Their leader is Infadoos, and with him is Scragga, son of King Twala. The Kukuanas are amazed at Captain Good's eye-glass, half-shaven face, and bright white legs, necessitating Good's maintaining this state of half-dress for the remainder of his stay with the Kukuanas. Through Quatermain's contrivances, the white men convince the Kukuanas that they are visitors from the stars who seek to sojourn for a time with the Kukuanas. Good's false teeth play a part in convincing the natives of the white men's otherworldly nature.Infadoos leads the men to an outlying garrison, where the explorers see the great power of the Kukuana people firsthand. On the way, Infadoos recounts the recent history of Kukuanaland, how the King Imefu was treacherously murdered by his twin brother Twala as part of the machinations of Gagool...