In the following story of the remarkable adventures and sufferings endured by François Leguat, events are narrated which belong to a period considerably later than that of any other travels or voyages treated of in former publications undertaken by the Hakluyt Society; nevertheless, the date of the personal record follows somewhat closely upon the time of the latter portion of William Hedges’ diary, to which, indeed, it forms a not altogether unfitting sequel, by affording information regarding the system of Dutch administration and colonisation in the East Indies, and at the Cape, towards the end of the seventeenth century, and by giving a graphic sketch of the circumstances of French Huguenot emigration from Europe to South Africa at that epoch. The chief modern scientific interest, however, in Leguat's description undoubtedly hinges upon the circumstantial delineation which he gives of the curious bird-fauna then extant in the Mascarene Islands, the subsequent destruction of which has rendered the personal observations of the philosophic Huguenot invaluable to naturalists, marked as they are by such evident simplicity and veracity.

It is now the pleasurable duty of the Editor to acknowledge and place on record, in the commencement of this volume, the kindness and ready assistance which he has met with in every branch of his inquiries from numerous literary and scientific friends during its preparation. First and foremost, it is to M. James Jackson, the well-known librarian of the Société de Géographie, that the Editor owes his acquaintance with the early French editions of the Huguenot author.