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)

9781108055192, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 April 2013

354 pages, 5 b/w illus. 4 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.45 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 2 takes the reader up the east coast of India, thence to Burma, Sumatra, Java, Thailand, Cambodia, China, and finally Japan.

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.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]