A New Account of the East Indies: Being the Observations and Remarks of Capt. Alexander Hamilton

by Alexander Hamilton

Overview

Little is known of Captain Alexander Hamilton other than what he tells us in this work, first published in 1727. Written during his retirement, it is both an invaluable source of information on south-east Asia at the time and a lively travelogue of Hamilton's adventurous seafaring life in the service of the East India Company and independently between 1688 and 1723. An engaging storyteller, Hamilton writes of encounters with pirates, the Portuguese, and of a poisoning in Malacca, as well as providing vivid descriptions of the countries he visited - from Africa to Japan via India, Sumatra and China - and their social customs, religions, trade and commerce. His idiosyncratic maps and illustrations enhance his narrative despite his admission that he makes 'but little use of the pencil'. Volume 2 takes the reader up the east coast of India, thence to Burma, Sumatra, Java, Thailand, Cambodia, China, and finally Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108055192
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/18/2013
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Perspectives from the Royal Asiatic Society
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.79(d)

Table of Contents

33. Treats of the towns, cities, country, and customs of Bengal; 34. Is a continuation of the description of Bengal; 35. Gives an account of Xatigam; 36. Gives an account of the famous kingdom of Pegu; 37. Gives an account of the Pegu clergy; 38. Treats of Merjee and Tanacerin; 39. Give an account of Malacca; 40. Treats of the dominion of Johore; 41. Gives an account of the island of Sumatra; 42. Gives an account of the islands and trading ports on the west coast of Sumatra; 43. Treats of the east side of Sumatra; 44. Treats of Java and the islands near it; 45. Gives an account of Borneo; 46. A continuation of the dominions of Johore; 47. Gives an account of the dominions and city of Siam; 48. Gives an account of Cambodia; 49. Treats of Couchin-China; 50. Gives some account of China; 51. Some observations and remarks on the province and city of Canton; 52. Is a continuation of the history of Fokien; 53. A continuation of observations on the gods, clergy, and devotion of the Chinese; 54. Gives some account of the islands of Mindanoa, Luconia, Formosa, and Japon.