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

A lively 1727 travelogue offering an invaluable historical and geographical picture of south-east Asia, spiced with tales of piracy and poisoning.

Alexander Hamilton (Author)

9781108055185, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 April 2013

456 pages, 4 b/w illus. 3 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.6 cm, 0.58 kg

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 1 takes the reader up the east coast of Africa to the Middle East, and round the coast of India to Ceylon.

Preface
1. Gives a traditional account of the first settling of Europeans at the Cape of Good Hope
2. Gives a short description of the islands in the Ethiopian seas
3. Gives a description of Zeyla's sea-coast
4. Gives a short description of the coast of Arabia the Happy
5. Gives a description of the Immaum of Mocha's country
6. Contains a description of Aden
7. Treats of the kingdom and city of Muskat
8. Gives an account of Bassora city
9. Gives a description of the sea-coast of Persia
10. Is a continuation of observations on the empire of Persia
11. Treats of the Mogul's dominions on the river Indus
12. Gives an account of the ancient kingdom of Guzerat
13. Gives an account of the cities of Cambay, Baroach and Surat
14. Is a continuation of my observations of the religions and customs used in Surat
15. Gives an account of the famous Aurengzeb's birth
16. Treats of the cities and towns on the sea-coast belonging to the crown of Portugal
17. Gives a description of Bombay
18. Continues the observations on the affairs of Bombay
19. Gives an account of the war of Bombay
20. Gives an account of what is remarkable on some islands, and of the sea-coast, as far as Goa
21. Gives an account of Goa
22. Gives an account of Sundah Rajah's dominions
23. Gives a description of Canara
24. Treats of the Malabars
25. Observations of the Samorin and his country
26. Gives an acount of Couchin
27. Treats of the island of Ceylon
28. Treats of the countries of the sea-coast
29. Gives a short description of Fort St George
30. Gives an account of the coast of Chormondel
31. Treats of the sea-coast and some inland countries in the ancient kingdom of Orixa
32. Is an account of the maritime towns on the coast of Orixa.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]