The Voyage of François Pyrard of Laval to the East Indies, the Maldives, the Moluccas and Brazil

A seventeenth-century description of the East Indies, published in English in three volumes (1887–1890) by the Hakluyt Society.

François Pyrard (Author), Albert Gray (Edited and translated by), H. C. P. Bell (Edited by)

9781108013451, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2010

524 pages, 11 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.66 kg

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Shipwrecked on the Maldives in 1602–1607, Pyrard de Laval learnt the local language and studied the culture, flora and fauna of the islands. On his escape to Goa he continued his cultural investigations in Portuguese India, before returning to France by way of Saint Helena and Brazil in 1611. His book, which included practical advice for French traders travelling to Asia and a phrase book for visitors to the Maldives, was an immediate success. This three-volume translation of the 1619 edition appeared in 1887–1890.

Introduction
Chronology of Pyrard's voyage
Addenda et corrigenda
Title page of the third French edition
Dedicatory epistle
1. Narrative of the voyage from the embarking at St. Malo to the Cape of Good Hope
2. Of the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape of the Needles
3. We anchor in St. Augustine's bay, at the island of St. Lawrence
4. We touch at the Comorro Islands
5. Pitiable wreck of the ship Corbin on the reefs of the Maldives
6. What happened to the men who were saved from the Corbin
7. Arrival of a lord bearing the king's commission at the island of Paindoüé
8. Arrival of the author at the island of Málé
9. Grievous sickness of the author
10. Description of the Maldive Island
11. Of the religion of the inhabitants of the Maldives
12. More of their ceremonies at betrothals and weddings, at obsequies and funerals
13. Of the form of their apparel, of their manner of living
14. Form of the government of the State
15. Orders of the people and of the nobility
16. Of the king's palace
17. Of the revenues of the king, of the money, traffic, and commerce of the Maldives
18. Curiosity of the Maldive king
19. The Maldives, when peopled
20. Accidents and casualties to ships at the Maldives
21. Of a captured Portuguese vessel that was wrecked
22. Divers judgments passed for adultery, lewdness, and other crimes
23. Of the expedition of the king of Bengal to the Maldives
24. The kingdom of Bengal, and some observations thereon
25. Voyage to Calecut by way of Montingué, Badara, and Marquaire
26. Arrival of the author at Calecut, and a description of that kingdom
27. More of Calecut
28. Of the kingdoms of Chaly, Tananor, and Cochin
29. Voyage from Cochin to Goa.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]