They both describe men entering an unknown and hostile country where they encounter a lost race. As this thesis is going to show, the novels differ in one important aspect: in each of them, the threat of the female is of a different nature. King Solomon's Mines show the characters' journey inside a female body and features a beautiful female character, while the journey in She takes place on the surface of the female body and the main female character is an ugly and malevolent figure.
"King Solomon's Mines" tells the story of a hunter named Quatermain who helps Captain Good and Sir Henry in search of Henry's lost brother. They set sail to Africa to find him and enjoy hunting which is a source of masculine identity for them. The land they have to cross to is feminized as the mountains resemble breasts and the desert reminds the men of a female stomach. They describe the land as if it was a female body. After a difficult journey over the desert and mountains, they reach a lost kingdom called Kukuanaland. Once there, they must fight natives and meet an immortal witch who attempts to kill them. The witch organizes annual hunts where men are killed if they are suspected of betrayal. At the end, she is forced to lead them to diamond mines where she imprisons them. They manage to escape from the mines after the witch is destroyed. The men return to England with diamonds and decide to write down their story. .
She centres on a Cambridge scholar, Holly, and his adoptive son Leo. Contrary to Holly, Leo is very interested in meeting women who are astonished by his beauty. .
One day, Leo is unexpectedly placed in Holly's custody along with a box with secret documents which concern tracing of his ancestors. Together they set out to search for a mysterious queen who killed her lover, a priest named Kallikrates. They, too, successfully fight natives who attempt to kill them ritually and manage to find the queen in the wild, surrounded by a nation of mutes who attend to her.