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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Travel and Exploration in Asia

This collection of travel narratives, mainly from the nineteenth century, records the impressions of Europeans who visited China, Japan, South and South-East Asia. Some came as missionaries, others as members of trade or diplomatic missions or as colonial administrators. Some were straightforward tourists and one or two arrived as prisoners or shipwrecked sailors. Such accounts of travellers' experiences in exotic locations were eagerly received by European readers.

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96 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Travel and Exploration in Asia

Page 2 of 5

A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries
  • John Crawfurd
  • Published online:
    05 July 2013
    Print publication:
    13 December 2012
    First published in:
    1856
  • Orientalist and colonial administrator John Crawfurd (1783–1868) published this work in 1856. He went to Calcutta as an assistant surgeon in the East India Company, then moved into administration, accompanying political missions to Java, Bali and Celebes, and heading missions to Siam, Vietnam and Burma. Retiring to England in 1828, Crawfurd became a Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the Ethnological Society. Having studied ancient Kawi, contemporary Javanese and the Malay language, he published extensively on Asia in his lifetime, including his History of the Indian Archipelago, a Malay-language dictionary, and accounts of missions to the courts of Siam, Cochin-China and Ava. This work focuses primarily on Java, Malay, Siam and the Philippines. A monumental account of the culture, politics, language and geography of the region, organised as encyclopedic entries, it remains an invaluable source of information on the Victorian presentation and understanding of South-East Asia.

Yedo and Peking
  • A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China
  • Robert Fortune
  • Published online:
    05 July 2013
    Print publication:
    11 October 2012
    First published in:
    1863
  • When Scottish botanist Robert Fortune (1812–80) travelled to Japan in 1860, shortly after it had reopened to foreign visitors for the first time in centuries, he found the islands to be both mysterious and dangerous. This work, first published in 1863, is Fortune's spirited account of his travels, from Nagasaki to Yedo (modern-day Tokyo) and then on to Peking (Beijing). Fortune had previously spent several years in China researching tea plants and tea-growing technology, which he later introduced to the plantations of India. (His books on his experiences in China are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) An engaging raconteur, Fortune includes here not only detailed horticultural information, but also his observations and opinions on Japan's 'strange people and their very beautiful land'. This remains for scholars and general readers an illuminating piece of travel writing, enhanced by the illustrations throughout.

The History of Sumatra
  • Containing an Account of the Government, Laws, Customs, and Manners of the Native Inhabitants
  • William Marsden
  • Published online:
    05 June 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1811
  • William Marsden (1754–1836) spent his youth working for the East India Company in Sumatra, arriving at sixteen and returning to seek new opportunities in England at twenty-five. Through his acquaintance with Sir Joseph Banks, and his interest in oriental studies, which later led to his admittance to the Royal Society, Marsden was inspired to write an account of the island. His history was first published in 1783. Throughout his subsequent life he combined research and writing, especially on oriental languages and numismatics, and he was also First Secretary to the Admiralty at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar. Displaying a profound understanding of the local flora, fauna, history and people, Marsden provides an important account of a little-known part of Indonesia. Illustrated with botanical drawings, maps and local scenes, the third edition of 1811 is reissued here.

Travels in Peru and India
  • While Superintending the Collection of Chinchona Plants and Seeds in South America, and their Introduction into India
  • Clements R. Markham
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1862
  • Sir Clements Robert Markham (1830–1916) had a lifelong interest in Peru. Having already travelled there in his early twenties, he was commissioned to return ten years later to supervise the collection of sufficient specimens of the cinchona tree for its introduction to India. The bark of the tree yielded quinine, by then a well-known febrifuge and one of the few effective treatments for malaria. This book, originally published in 1862, is Markham's personal account of his travels. His story moves from the misty heights of the Peruvian mountains, where he suffered from altitude sickness, to the Malabar coastline and its complex, remarkable caste system. Markham also includes a detailed history of the use of cinchona bark, both by Europeans and aboriginal Peruvians, and a discussion of Incan culture since the arrival of the Spanish. His work is still a valuable resource for students of scientific and colonial history.

An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, and of its Inhabitants
  • With Travels in that Island
  • John Davy
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1821
  • John Davy (1790–1868), the younger brother of the chemist Sir Humphry Davy, published this account of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) in 1821. An army surgeon and later Fellow of the Royal Society, he also wrote books on the Ionian Islands and the West Indies (also reissued in this series) and edited his brother's collected works. This book is a detailed study based on interviews with the islanders and Davy's own observations during his four-year visit. Part I is an overview of the natural history of the island - including its geography, geology, zoology and climate - as well as its people, demography, political system and culture, including architecture, craftwork and languages. Part II details Davy's travels within the country. With a number of beautiful reproductions of native drawings, as well as Davy's own, the work remains a rich resource for the insights of a Victorian polymath into early nineteenth-century Ceylon.

From Peking to Mandalay
  • A Journey from North China to Burma through Tibetan Ssuch'uan and Yunnan
  • Reginald Fleming Johnston
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1908
  • Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874–1938) was a colonial administrator and oriental scholar. He travelled extensively in the Far East and developed a deep interest in Chinese culture and religion. His fourteen-year posting to Weihaiwei, a quiet naval base, allowed him to travel to places not usually visited by Europeans, and to begin writing. In 1906 he spent six months travelling across China to Burma, publishing this illustrated account of his arduous journey in 1908. In it he comments on the economic and political state of China, but the book's main theme is the beauty of the country and the character of its people. His understanding of the language, religion and culture make this a valuable description of Chinese society at the beginning of the twentieth century. Johnston's Lion and Dragon in Northern China (1910) and Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934) are also reprinted in this series.

Journeys in North China, Manchuria, and Eastern Mongolia
  • With Some Account of Corea
  • Volume 1
  • Alexander Williamson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1870
  • Scottish missionary Alexander Williamson (1829–90) spent several years preaching in northern China. From 1863 to 1866, he was there as the first overseas agent of the National Bible Society of Scotland. During this time, he travelled as far as Mongolia and Manchuria, a considerable undertaking in those days. He later became secretary of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese, and formed the Chinese Book and Tract Society in 1884. In this illustrated two-volume work, first published in 1870, he records the observations he made during extensive travels that took him via the home of Confucius while propagating the Bible in Chinese script. Volume 1 offers introductory remarks on China's physical geography, people, culture, government and foreign influences. It also provides descriptions of the northern Chinese provinces and accounts of travels starting from Shandong province.

Western Himalaya and Tibet
  • A Narrative of a Journey through the Mountains of Northern India, during the Years 1847–8
  • Thomas Thomson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1852
  • Explorer and naturalist Thomas Thomson (1817–78) led an intrepid life. He started his career as an assistant surgeon with the East India Company and soon became a curator of the Asiatic Society's museum in Bengal. He was sent to Afghanistan in 1840 during the First Anglo-Afghan War, and was captured but managed to escape as he was about to be sold as a slave. Undaunted by this misfortune, he accepted a perilous mission to define the boundary between Kashmir and Chinese Tibet in 1847. During his eighteen-month journey, Thomson explored the Kashmir territories and went as far north as the barren Karakoram Pass. He collected valuable geographical and geological information as well as a wealth of botanical specimens. He describes his findings in minute detail in this account, first published in 1852. Thomson later became a Fellow of the Linnean Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society.

A Personal Narrative of a Visit to Ghuzni, Kabul, and Afghanistan, and of a Residence at the Court of Dost Mohamed
  • With Notices of Runjit Sing, Khiva, and the Russian Expedition
  • Godfrey Thomas Vigne
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    16 August 2012
    First published in:
    1840
  • Published in 1840, this is an important early description of travels in Afghanistan. Leaving behind a career at the Bar and a talent for first-class cricket, Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1801–63) turned to travel and spent seven years (1832–9) in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent. His Personal Narrative is a compelling account of local life, scenery and customs, enhanced by his own accomplished drawings. Perhaps the first Englishman to reach Kabul, he had several interviews with the emir, Dost Mohammad Khan (1793–1863). Vigne's account, with its insights into the resources and influential people in the region, was read keenly by players of the Great Game, as Russia and Britain vied for influence in this remote yet strategically significant area.

Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China
  • Including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries
  • Robert Fortune
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    16 August 2012
    First published in:
    1847
  • First published in 1847, this is an important description of what were then little-known parts of China by the botanist Robert Fortune (1812–80). Son of a hedger, Fortune rose to be one of the most famous gardeners, botanists and plant hunters of his day, making several visits to China to bring out commercially important plants, especially tea for introduction to British India, and ornamental plants (many now bearing the name fortunei) which were enthusiastically taken up by Victorian gardeners. His three years in China took him to areas newly open to Europeans after Chinese defeat in the First Opium War (1839–42). His sometimes trenchant criticisms of the Chinese - like his contemporaries, he was fully persuaded of the superiority of the West - are balanced by his knowledgeable comments on local flora and plant cultivation, and the book remains an insightful early description of inland regions of China.

Arabia, Egypt, India
  • A Narrative of Travel
  • Isabel Burton
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1879
  • Lady Isabel Burton (1831–96) was a distinguished nineteenth-century traveller, writer and critic. She and her husband Richard explored the Middle East, India, Africa and South America extensively during his diplomatic placements and for their own pleasure. Individually and collaboratively they produced several exquisitely detailed travelogues, recording custom, culture, politics and geography. This account of their travels, first published in 1879, details the Burtons' leisurely route to India through Europe before crossing the Mediterranean and continuing south through Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. This skilful and humorous narrative brings the places and people to life through personal anecdotes, observations and colourful description. Burton's political and historical comments on the lands she travels through are reasoned, well-researched and afford valuable insight into public opinion and world affairs at this time.

Journeys in North China, Manchuria, and Eastern Mongolia
  • With Some Account of Corea
  • Volume 2
  • Alexander Williamson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1870
  • Scottish missionary Alexander Williamson (1829–90) spent several years preaching in northern China. From 1863 to 1866, he was there as the first overseas agent of the National Bible Society of Scotland. During this time, he travelled as far as Mongolia and Manchuria, a considerable undertaking in those days. He later became secretary of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese, and formed the Chinese Book and Tract Society in 1884. In this illustrated two-volume work, first published in 1870, he records the observations he made during extensive travels that took him via the home of Confucius while propagating the Bible in Chinese script. In Volume 2 he shares his insights and knowledge of Mongolia and Manchuria, providing also some information on Korea, although he had not visited it himself.

Frozen Asia
  • A Sketch of Modern Siberia Together with an Account of the Native Tribes Inhabiting that Region
  • Charles H. Eden
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1879
  • Illustrated by a substantial map and recommended to nineteenth-century readers as a 'neat little volume', this account of Siberia by Charles H. Eden (1839–1900) combines the conventions of a topographical study with detailed descriptions of flora and fauna, 'native races', 'climate', 'trade and manufactures', and 'political divisions and government'. Published in 1879, it built upon Eden's previous success with Australian Heroes and The Fifth Continent to confirm his reputation as an accessible and instructive author. His clear narrative style combined with dramatic subject matter ensured his popularity with specialists and general readers alike. The inclusion of a collection of stories from Siberian folklore provides an unusual dimension and a valuable insight into nineteenth-century British attitudes towards indigenous cultures, including the Kirghis, Buriates, and Tungooses. Concluding with a detailed description of 'recent explorations', it should fascinate geologists, geographers, and historians of anthropology in equal measure.

Journal of a Tour through Part of the Snowy Range of the Himala Mountains, and to the Sources of the Rivers Jumna and Ganges
  • James Baillie Fraser
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1820
  • Scottish explorer and author James Baillie Fraser (1783–1856) published this account of his Himalayan journey through Nepal and India in 1820. (His 1826 book describing his travels in the lesser-known provinces of Persia is also reissued in this series.) Part I begins with a historical sketch of Nepal, the reasons for the outbreak of war between Nepal and British India in 1814 and the course and consequences of the war. The remainder of the book describes Fraser's travels through previously inaccessible mountainous areas to Jamunotri and Gangotri, the sources of the rivers Jumna and Ganges. Fraser admits in his preface that he is not an expert in any of the fields which would give his account scientific value, but he offers detailed descriptions of villages, temples and 'grand scenery', and of a people 'as they appeared before an intercourse with Europeans had in any degree changed them'.

Alone with the Hairy Ainu
  • Or, 3800 Miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo and a Cruise to the Kurile Islands
  • A. H. S. Landor
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    28 June 2012
    First published in:
    1893
  • A. H. Savage Landor (1867–1925), the grandson of the author Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), was born and educated in Florence. He abandoned his painting studies in Paris to travel around the world, and visited Asia, the Middle East and South America, supporting himself as he went by painting portraits of people he encountered. Landor became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1892, and a Member of the Royal Institution in 1897. This volume, first published in 1893, deals with his adventurous experiences among the indigenous Ainu, the 'hairy men' who lived in the northern 'home islands' of Japan and in Sakhalin, the island whose possession was disputed by Japan and Russia for two hundred years. Landor insisted on 'doing in Ainuland as the Ainu does'. He describes his journey through the Ainu territory and gives a detailed and ethnographically aware account of its people and their culture.

An Aide-de-Camp's Recollections of Service in China
  • A Residence in Hong-Kong, and Visits to Other Islands in the Chinese Seas
  • Volume 2
  • Arthur Cunynghame
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1844
  • This two-volume work, published in 1844, is a memoir of time spent in China by Captain Arthur Cunynghame (1812–84), aide-de-camp to Major-General Lord Saltoun, Commander of the East India Company's troops in China. In Volume 2, the author is invited to visit Ning-po, recently given the status of a 'treaty port', and he subsequently travels to both Hong Kong and Canton (Guangzhou), both now open to international trade. Cunynghame next accompanied Saltoun to the Philippines, and gives a fascinating account of life in Manila. Ordered home in 1844, he travelled via Hong Kong and Malaya to Calcutta, then south to Madras (Chennai) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and eventually home to England, via the Red Sea, the Sinai Desert, Egypt and the Mediterranean, noting the curiosities among both people and places with undiminished zest.

An Aide-de-Camp's Recollections of Service in China
  • A Residence in Hong-Kong, and Visits to Other Islands in the Chinese Seas
  • Volume 1
  • Arthur Cunynghame
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1844
  • This two-volume work, published in 1844, is a memoir of time spent in China by Captain Arthur Cunynghame (1812–84), aide-de-camp to Major-General Lord Saltoun, Commander of the East India Company's troops in China. Cunynghame set off from Plymouth Sound on board HMS Belle-Isle in late 1841 to take up his post, and the first half of Volume 1 consists of a description of the long journey out to China (they touched at Rio de Janeiro before re-crossing the Atlantic to South Africa, and later visited Singapore and Hong Kong). Once in China, Cunynghame travelled widely in the course of his duties, and recorded his experiences in detail, from the wonders of the Yangtse River to the walls of Nankin: as he observes in his dedication, 'events and anecdotes occurring in a country that is so strange and new to all Europe may be worth recording'.

Through Central Borneo
  • An Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of the Head-Hunters between the Years 1913 and 1917
  • Volume 2
  • Carl Lumholtz
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1920
  • The Norwegian explorer and ethnographer Carl Lumholtz (1851–1922) wrote the influential ethnographic studies Among Cannibals and Unknown Mexico (both reissued in this series) after his journeys through Australia and Mexico respectively. In 1913, Lumholtz went on his final expedition, which aimed to explore the large parts of Borneo unknown to the rest of the world. Interested by tales of head-hunting, he wanted to spend time with the indigenous people and conduct research. Originally published in 1920, this two-volume work is Lumholtz's account of his expedition. Many of the illustrations in the work are from photographs taken by the author, including pictures of members of the different tribes he stayed with. Volume 2 begins with the expedition's stay with the Penihing people. Throughout the volume, the folklore of the different tribes is discussed, and a chapter on head-hunting and its purposes is included.

A Journey to the Tea Countries of China
  • Including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills; with a Short Notice of the East India Company's Tea Plantations in the Himalaya Mountains
  • Robert Fortune
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1852
  • 'My object is to give a peep into the Celestial Empire, to show its strange hills and romantic valleys, its rivers and canals … and its strange and interesting people.' Robert Fortune (1813–80), the author of several books on China, was a keen botanist. He first went to China for the Royal Horticultural Society, but soon returned on behalf of the East India Company in order to collect tea specimens for the British government's plantations in the Himalayas. In this entertaining account, first published in 1852, Fortune includes stories of how he disguised himself in Chinese clothes to gain access to districts barred to Europeans, of watching farmers sail in what seemed to be wash-tubs, and the bizarre dyeing process that saw large quantities of Prussian Blue and gypsum poured into green tea. Full of panoramic descriptions and engaging anecdotes, this book is ideal for historians and modern-day travellers alike.

Through Central Borneo
  • An Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of the Head-Hunters between the Years 1913 and 1917
  • Volume 1
  • Carl Lumholtz
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    10 May 2012
    First published in:
    1920
  • The Norwegian explorer and ethnographer Carl Lumholtz (1851–1922) wrote the influential ethnographic studies Among Cannibals and Unknown Mexico (both reissued in this series) after his journeys through Australia and Mexico respectively. In 1913, Lumholtz went on his final expedition, which aimed to explore the large parts of Borneo unknown to the rest of the world. Interested by tales of head-hunting, he wanted to spend time with the indigenous people and conduct research. Originally published in 1920, this two-volume work is Lumholtz's account of his expedition. Many of the illustrations in the work are from photographs taken by the author, including pictures of members of the different tribes he stayed with. Volume 1 begins with an overview of Borneo and goes on to describe the expedition's journey into the jungle, and the various ceremonies experienced during the journey, which provide interesting insights into tribal life and belief systems.

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