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its trade, riches, power, or government; but the natural history of the
country, a subject more within the scope of his taste and studies, as
well as more superficially treated by others, commanded much of his
attention. The curious and extensive garden of Cornelius Van
Outhoorn, director-general of the Dutch East India Company, the
garden of M. Moller, and the little island of Eidam, lying but a few
leagues off Batavia, afforded a number of rare and singular plants,
indigenous and exotic, many of which he was the first to observe and
describe.
It was at that period the policy of the Dutch to send an annual
embassy to the court of Japan, the object of which was to extend
and give stability to their commercial connexion with that country.
Kæmpfer, who had now been eight months in Batavia, and appears
during that period to have made many powerful and useful friends,
obtained the signal favour of being appointed physician to the
embassy; and one of the ships receiving orders to touch at Siam, the
authorities, to enhance the obligation, permitted him to perform the
voyage in this vessel, that an opportunity might be afforded him of
beholding the curiosities of that country.
He sailed from Batavia on the 7th of May, 1690; and steering
through the Thousand Islands, having the lofty mountains of Java
and Sumatra in sight during two days, arrived in thirteen days at Puli
Timon, a small island on the eastern coast of Malacca. The natives,
whom he denominates banditti, were a dark, sickly-looking race,
who, owing to their habit of plucking out their beard, a custom
likewise prevalent in Sumatra and the Malay peninsula, had all the
appearance of ugly old women. Their dress consisted of a coarse
cummerbund, or girdle, and a hat manufactured from the leaves of
the sago-palm. They understood nothing of the use of money; but
willingly exchanged their incomparable mangoes, figs, pineapples,
and fowls for linen shirts, rice, or iron. On the 6th of June they
arrived safely in the mouth of the Meinam, and cast anchor before
Siam, where our traveller’s passion for botany immediately led him
into the woods in search of plants; but as tigers and other wild
beasts were here the natural lords of the soil, it was fortunate that his
herborizing did not cost him dearer than he intended.
In this country, which has recently been so ably described by Mr.
Crawfurd, the historian of the Indian Archipelago, Kæmpfer made but
a short stay. In the capital, which formed the extreme limit of his
knowledge, he observed a great number of temples and schools,
adorned with pyramids and columns of various forms, covered with
gilding. Though smaller than European churches in dimension, they
were, he thought, greatly superior in beauty, on account of their
numerous bending and projecting roofs, gilded architraves,
porticoes, pillars, and other ornaments. In the interior, the great
number of gilded images of Buddha, seated in long rows upon raised
terraces, whence they seemed to overlook the worshippers,
increased the picturesque character of the building. Some of these
statues were of enormous size, exceeding not only that Phidian
Jupiter, represented in a sitting posture, which, had it risen, must
have lifted up the roof of the temple, but even those prodigious
statues of Osymandyas, on the plains of Upper Egypt, which look
like petrifactions of Typhæus and Enceladus, the Titans who cast
Pelion upon Ossa. One of these gigantic images, one hundred and
twenty feet long, represents Buddha reclining in a meditative
posture, and has set the fashion in Siam for the attitude in which
wisdom may be most successfully wooed.
In sailing down the Meinam he was greatly amused with the
extraordinary number of black and gray monkeys, which walked like
pigmy armies along the shore, or perched themselves upon the tops
of the loftiest trees, like crows. The glowworms, he observes,
afforded another curious spectacle; for, setting upon trees, like a
fiery cloud, the whole swarm would spread themselves over its
branches, sometimes hiding their light all at once, and a moment
after shining forth again with the utmost regularity and exactness, as
if they were in a perpetual systole and diastole. The innumerable
swarms of mosquitoes which inhabited the same banks were no less
constant and active, though less agreeable companions, which, from
the complaints of our traveller, appear to have taken a peculiar
pleasure in stinging Dutchmen.
They left the mouth of the river on the 7th of July, and on the 11th
of August discovered the mountains of Fokien in China. Continuing
their course along the southern coast of this empire, they observed,
about the twenty-seventh degree of north latitude, a yellowish-green
substance floating on the surface of the sea, which appeared for two
days. Exactly at the same time they were visited by a number of
strange black birds, which perched on several parts of the ship, and
suffered themselves to be taken by the hand. These visits, which
were made during a dead calm, and when the weather was
insufferably hot, was succeeded by tremendous storms,
accompanied by thunder and lightning, and a darkness terrible as
that of Egypt. The rain, which was now added to the other menaces
of the heavens, and was hurled, mingled with brine and spray, over
the howling waves, appeared to threaten a second deluge; and both
Kæmpfer and the crew seem to have anticipated becoming a prey to
the sharks. However, though storm after storm beat upon them in
their course, the “audax genus Japeti” boldly pursued their way, and
on the 24th of September cast anchor in the harbour of Nangasaki,
in Japan, which is enclosed with lofty mountains, islands, and rocks,
and thus guarded by nature against the rage of the sea and the fury
of the tempest.
The appearance of this harbour, which on the arrival of Kæmpfer
was enlivened by a small fleet of pleasure-boats, was singularly
picturesque. In the evening all the vessels and boats put up their
lights, which twinkled like so many stars, over the dark waves; and
when the warm light of the morning appeared, the pleasure-boats,
with their alternate black and white sails, standing out of the port,
and gilded by the bright sunshine, constituted an agreeable
spectacle. The next sight was equally striking. This consisted of a
number of Japanese officers, with pencil and paper in hand, who
came on board for the purpose of reviewing the newly-arrived
foreigners, of whom, after narrowly scrutinizing every individual, they
made an exact list and description of their persons, in the same
manner as we describe thieves and suspicious characters in Europe.
All their arms and ammunition, together with their boat and skiff,
were demanded and delivered up. Their prayer-books and European
money they concealed in a cask, which was carefully stowed away
out of the reach of the Japanese.
Kæmpfer quitted the ship as soon as possible, and took up his
residence at Desima, a small island adjoining Nangasaki, or only
separated from it by an artificial channel. Here he forthwith
commenced the study of the language, and the contrivance of the
means of acquiring from a people bound by a solemn oath to impart
nothing to foreigners such information respecting the country, its
institutions, religion, and manners as might satisfy the curiosity of the
rest of mankind respecting so singular a nation. The difficulties, he
observes, with which he had to contend were great, but not
altogether insuperable; and might be overcome by proper
management, notwithstanding all the precautions which the
Japanese government had taken to the contrary. The Japanese, a
prudent and valiant nation, were not so easily to be bound by an
oath taken to such gods or spirits as were not worshipped by many,
and were unknown to most; or if they did comply, it was chiefly from
fear of the punishment which would inevitably overtake them if
betrayed. Besides, though proud and warlike, they were as curious
and polite a nation as any in the world, naturally inclined to
commerce and familiarity with foreigners, and desirous to excess of
acquiring a knowledge of their histories, arts, and sciences. But the
Dutch being merchants, a class of men which they ranked among
the lowest of the human race, and viewed with jealousy and mistrust
even for the very slavish and suspicious condition in which they were
held, our traveller could discover no mode of insinuating himself into
their friendship, and winning them over to his interest, but by
evincing a readiness to comply with their desires, a liberality which
subdued their avarice, and an humble and submissive manner which
flattered their vanity.
By these means, as he ingenuously confesses, he contrived, like
another Ulysses, to subdue the spells of religion and government;
and having gained the friendship and good opinion of the interpreters
and the officers who commanded in Desima, to a degree never
before possessed by any European, the road to the knowledge he
desired lay open and level before him. It would, indeed, have been
no easy task to resist the methods he put in practice for effecting his
purpose. He liberally imparted to them both medicine and medical
advice, and whatever knowledge he possessed in astronomy and
mathematics; he likewise furnished them with a liberal supply of
European spirituous liquors; and these, joined with the force of
captivating manners, were arguments irresistible. He was therefore
permitted by degrees to put whatever questions he pleased to them
respecting their government, civil and ecclesiastical, the political and
natural history of the country, the manners and customs of the
natives, or any other point upon which he required information; even
in those matters on which the most inviolable secrecy was enjoined
by their oaths. The materials thus collected, however, though highly
important and serviceable, were far from being altogether
satisfactory, or sufficient foundation whereon to erect a history of the
country; which, therefore, he must have left unattempted had not his
good genius presented him with other still more ample means of
knowledge.
Upon his arrival in Desima young man of about four-and-twenty,
prudent, sagacious, indefatigable, thoroughly acquainted with the
languages of China and Japan, and ardently desirous of improving
himself in knowledge, was appointed to attend upon him, in the
double capacity of servant and pupil. This young man had the good
fortune, while under the direction of Kæmpfer, to cure the governor
of the island of some complaint under which he laboured; for which
important service he was permitted, apparently contrary to rule, to
remain in the service of our traveller during the whole of his stay in
Japan, and even to accompany him on his two journeys to the
capital. In order to derive all possible advantage from the friendship
of his pupil, Kæmpfer taught him Dutch, as well as anatomy and
surgery; and moreover allowed him a handsome salary. The
Japanese was not ungrateful. He collected with the utmost assiduity
from every accessible source such information as his master
required; and there was not a book which Kæmpfer desired to
consult that he did not contrive to procure for him, and explain
whenever his explanation was necessary.
About the middle of February, 1691, the customary presents
having been got ready, and the necessary preparations made, the
Dutch embassy set out from Nangasaki for the court of the emperor,
with Kæmpfer and his pupil in its train. Having got fairly out of the
city they proceeded on their journey, passing through the small
village of Mangome, wholly inhabited by leather-tanners, who
perform the office of public executioners in Japan; and in about two
hours passed a stone pillar marking the boundaries of the territory of
Nangasaki. Here and there upon the wayside they beheld the statue
of Zisos, the god of travellers, hewn out of the solid rock, with a lamp
burning before it, and wreaths of flowers adorning its brows. At a
little distance from the image of the god stood a basin full of water, in
which such travellers performed their ablutions as designed to light
the sacred lamps, or make any other offering in honour of the
divinity.
Towards the afternoon of the first day’s journey they arrived at the
harbour of Omura, on the shore of which they observed the smoke of
a small volcano. Pearl oysters were found in this bay; and the sands
upon the coast had once been strewn with gold, but the
encroachment of the sea had inundated this El Doradian beach.
Next morning they passed within sight of a prodigious camphor-tree,
not less than thirty-six feet in circumference, standing upon the
summit of a craggy and pointed hill; and soon afterward arrived at a
village famous for its hot-baths. After passing through another
village, they reached a celebrated porcelain manufactory, where the
clay used was of a fat-coloured white, requiring much kneading,
washing, and cleansing, before it could be employed in the formation
of the finer and more transparent vessels. The vast labour required
in this manufacture gave rise to the old saying, that porcelain was
formed of human bones.
 The country through which they now travelled was agreeably
diversified with hill and dale, cultivated like a garden, and sprinkled
with beautiful fields of rice, enclosed by rows of the tea-shrub,
planted at a short distance from the road. On the next day they
entered a plain country, watered by numerous rivers, and laid out in
rice-fields like the former. In passing through this district they had for
the first time an opportunity of observing the form and features of the
women of the province of Fisen. Though already mothers, and
attended by a numerous progeny, they were so diminutive in stature
that they appeared to be so many girls, while the paint which
covered their faces gave them the air of great babies or dolls. They
were handsome, however, notwithstanding that, in their quality of
married women, they had plucked out the hair of both eyebrows; and
their behaviour was agreeable and genteel. At Sanga, the capital of
the province, he remarked the same outrageous passion for painting
the face in all the sex, though they were naturally the most beautiful
women in Asia; and, as might be conjectured from the rosy colour of
their lips, possessed a fine healthy complexion.
Upon quitting the province of Fisen, and entering that of Toussima,
a mountainous and rugged country, they travelled in a rude species
of palanquin called a cango, being nothing more than a small square
basket, open on all sides, though covered at top, and carried upon a
pole by two bearers. In ascending the mountain of Fiamitz they
passed through a village, the inhabitants of which, they were told,
were all the descendants of one man, who was then living. Whether
this was true or not, Kæmpfer found them so handsome and well
formed, and at the same time so polished and humane in their
conversation and manners, that they seemed to be a race of
noblemen. The scenery in this district resembled some of the woody
and mountainous parts of Germany, consisting of a rapid succession
of hills and valleys, covered with copses or woods; and though in
some few places too barren to admit of cultivation, yet, where fertile,
so highly valued, that even the tea-shrub was only allowed to occupy
the space usually allotted to enclosures.
 On the 17th of February they reached the city of Kokura, in the
province of Busen. Though considerably fallen from its ancient
opulence and splendour, Kokura was still a large city, fortified by
towers and bastions, adorned with many curious gardens and public
buildings, and inhabited by a numerous population. Here they moved
through two long lines of people, who lined both sides of the way,
and knelt in profound silence while they passed. They then
embarked in barges; and, sailing across the narrow strait which
divides the island of Kiersu from Nisson, landed at Simonoseki in the
latter island, the name of which signified the prop of the sun. Next
day being Sunday, they remained at Simonoseki; and Kæmpfer
strolled out to view the city and its neighbourhood. He found it filled
with shops of all kinds, among which were those of certain
stonecutters, who, from a black and gray species of serpentine
stone, dug from the quarries in the vicinity, manufactured inkstands,
plates, boxes, and several other articles, with great neatness and
ingenuity. He likewise visited a temple erected to the manes of a
young prince who had prematurely perished. This he found hung,
like their theatres, with black crape, while the pavement was partly
covered with carpets inwrought with silver. The statue of the royal
youth stood upon an altar; and the Japanese who accompanied our
traveller bowed before it, while the attendant priest lit up a lamp, and
pronounced a kind of funeral oration in honour of the illustrious dead.
From the temple they were conducted into the adjoining monastery,
where they found the prior, a thin, grave-looking old man, clothed in
a robe of black crape, who sat upon the floor; and making a small
present to the establishment, they departed.
Next morning, February 19th, they embarked for Osaki, preferring
the voyage by water to a toilsome journey over a rude and
mountainous region; and, after sailing through a sea thickly studded
with small islands, the greater number of which were fertile and
covered with population, arrived in five days at their point of
destination. Osaki, one of the five imperial cities of Japan, was a
place of considerable extent and great opulence. The streets were
broad, and in the centre of the principal ones ran a canal, navigable
for small unmasted vessels, which conveyed all kinds of
merchandise to the doors of the merchants; while upwards of a
hundred bridges, many of which were extremely beautiful, spanned
these canals, and communicated a picturesque and lively air to the
whole city. The sides of the river were lined with freestone, which
descended in steps from the streets to the water, and enabled
persons to land or embark wherever they pleased. The bridges
thrown over the main stream were constructed with cedar, elegantly
railed on both sides, and ornamented from space to space with little
globes of brass. The population of the city was immense; and, like
those of most seaport towns, remarkably addicted to luxury and
voluptuousness.
From Osaki they proceeded through a plain country, planted with
rice, and adorned with plantations of Tsadanil trees, to Miako, the
ancient capital of Japan. It being the first day of the month, which the
Japanese keep as a holyday, they met great multitudes of people
walking out of the city, as the Londoners do on Sunday, to enjoy the
sweets of cessation from labour,

With pleasaunce of the breathing fields yfed,

to visit the temples, and give themselves up to all kinds of rural

diversions. Nothing could be more grotesque than the appearance of
these crowds. The women were richly dressed in various-coloured
robes, with a purple-coloured silk about their foreheads, and wearing
large straw hats, to defend their beauty from the sun. Here and there
among the multitude were small groups of beggars, some dressed in
fantastic garbs, with strange masks upon their faces, others walking
upon high iron stilts, while a third party walked along bearing large
pots with green trees upon their heads. The more merry among them
sung, whistled, played upon the flute, or beat little bells which they
carried in their hands. In the streets were numbers of open shops,
jugglers, and players, who were exercising their skill and ingenuity
for the amusement of the crowd. The temples, which were erected
on the slope of the neighbouring green hills, were illuminated with
numerous lamps, and the priests, no less merry or active than their
neighbours, employed themselves in striking with iron hammers
upon some bells or gongs, which sent forth a thundering sound over
the country. Through this enlivening scene they pushed on to their
inn, where they were ushered into apartments, which, being like all
other apartments in the empire, destitute of chimneys, resembled
those Westphalian smoking-rooms in which they smoke their beef
and hams.
Having visited the governor, and the lord chief justice of Miako,
and delivered the customary presents, the embassy proceeded
towards Jeddo. Short, however, as was their stay, Kæmpfer found
leisure for observing and describing the city, which was extensive,
well-built, and immensely populous. Being the chief mercantile and
manufacturing town in the empire, almost every house was a shop,
and every man an artisan. Here, he observes, they refined copper,
coined money, printed books, wove the richest stuffs, flowered with
gold and silver, manufactured musical instruments, the best-
tempered sword-blades, pictures, jewels, toys, and every species of
dress and ornaments.
They departed from Miako in palanquins on the 2d of March, and
travelling through a picturesque country, dotted with groves, glittering
with temples and lakes, and admirably cultivated, arrived in three
days at the town of Mijah, where they saw a very curious edifice,
called the “Temple of the Three Scimitars,” where three miraculous
swords, once wielded by demigods, are honoured with a kind of
divine worship. On the 13th of March they arrived, by a fine road
running along the edge of the sea, at Jeddo, and entered the
principal street, where they encountered as they rode along
numerous trains of princes and great lords, with ladies magnificently
dressed, and carried in chairs or palanquins. This city, the largest
and most populous in the empire, stands at the bottom of a large bay
or gulf, and is at least twenty miles in circumference. Though fortified
by numerous ditches and ramparts, Jeddo is not surrounded by a
wall. A noble river, which divides itself into numerous branches,
intersects it in various directions, and thus creates a number of
islands which are connected by magnificent bridges. From the
principal of these bridges, which is called Niponbas, or the Bridge of
Japan, the great roads leading to all parts of the empire radiate as
lines from a common centre, and thence likewise all roads and
distances are measured. Though houses are not kept ready built, as
at Moscow, to be removed at a moment’s notice in case of
destruction by fire or any other accident, they are generally so slight,
consisting entirely of wood and wainscotting, that they may be
erected with extraordinary despatch. Owing to the combustible
materials of those edifices, the very roofs consisting of mere wood-
shavings, while all the floors are covered with mats, Jeddo is
exceedingly liable to fires, which sometimes lay waste whole streets
and quarters of the city. To check these conflagrations in their
beginnings every house has a small wooden cistern of water on the
house-top, with two mops for sprinkling the water; but these
precautions being frequently found inefficient, large companies of
firemen constantly patrol the streets, day and night, in order, by
pulling down some of the neighbouring houses, to put a stop to the
fires. The imperial palace, five Japanese miles in circumference,
consists of several castles united together by a wall, and surrounded
by a deep ditch. The various structures which compose this vast
residence are built with freestone, and from amid the wilderness of
roofs a square white tower rises aloft, and, consisting of many
stories, each of which has its leaded roof, ornamented at each
corner with gilded dragons, communicates to the whole scene an air
of singular grandeur and beauty. Behind the palace, which itself
stands upon an acclivity, the ground continues to rise, and this whole
slope is adorned, according to the taste of the country, with curious
and magnificent gardens, which are terminated by a pleasant wood
on the top of a hill, planted with two different species of plane-trees,
whose starry leaves, variegated with green, yellow, and red, are
exceedingly beautiful.
When their arrival at Jeddo was notified to the imperial
commissioners, to whom was intrusted the regulation of foreign
affairs, they were commanded to be kept confined in their
apartments, and strictly guarded. This, in all probability, was to
prevent their discovering the tremendous accident which had lately
occurred in the city, where forty streets, consisting of four thousand
houses, had been burned to the ground a few days before their
arrival. Several other fires, exceedingly destructive and terrific, and
an earthquake which shook the whole city to its foundations,
happened within a few days after their arrival. On the 29th of March
they were honoured with an audience. Passing through the
numerous gates and avenues to the palace between lines of
soldiers, armed with scimitars, and clothed in black silk, they were
conducted into an apartment adjoining the hall of audience, where
they were commanded to await the emperor’s pleasure. As nothing
could more forcibly paint the insolent pride of this barbarian despot,
or the degraded position which, for the sake of gain, the Dutch were
content to occupy in Japan, I shall describe this humiliating
ceremony in the words of the traveller himself. “Having waited
upwards of an hour,” says he, “and the emperor having in the mean
while seated himself in the hall of audience, Sino Comi (the governor
of Nangasaki) and the two commissioners came in and conducted
our resident into the emperor’s presence, leaving us behind. As soon
as he came thither, they cried out aloud ‘Hollanda Captain!’ which
was the signal for him to draw near, and make his obeisance.
Accordingly he crawled on his hands and knees to a place shown
him, between the presents ranged in due order on one side, and the
place where the emperor sat, on the other, and then kneeling, he
bowed his forehead quite down to the ground, and so crawled
backwards, like a crab, without uttering one single word. So mean
and short a thing is the audience we have of this mighty monarch.”
After a second audience, to which they were invited chiefly for the
purpose of allowing the ladies of the harem, who viewed them from
behind screens, an opportunity of seeing what kind of animals
Dutchmen were, and having despatched the public business, which
was the sole object of the embassy, they returned to Nangasaki.
During this second visit to Jeddo, in the following year, nothing very
remarkable occurred, except that they were invited to dine in the
palace, and thus afforded an opportunity of observing the etiquette of
a Japanese feast. Each guest was placed at a small separate table,
and the repast commenced with hot white cakes as tough as glue,
and two hollow loaves of large dimension, composed of flour and
sugar, and sprinkled over with the seeds of the sesamum album.
Then followed a small quantity of pickled salmon; and the
magnificent entertainment was concluded with a few cups of tea,
which Kæmpfer assures us was little better than warm water! When
they had devoured this sumptuous feast, they were conducted
towards the hall of audience, where, after having been questioned
respecting their names and age by several Buddhist priests and
others, Kæmpfer was commanded to sing a song, for the
amusement of the emperor and his ladies, who were all present, but
concealed behind screens. He of course obeyed, and sung some
verses which he had formerly written in praise of a lady for whom he
says he had a very particular esteem. As he extolled the beauty of
this paragon to the highest degree, preferring it before millions of
money, the emperor, who appears to have partly understood what he
sung, inquired the exact meaning of those words; upon which, like a
true courtier, our traveller replied that they signified nothing but his
sincere wishes that Heaven might bestow “millions of portions of
health, fortune, and prosperity upon the emperor, his family, and
court.” The various members of the embassy were then
commanded, as they had been on the former audience, to throw off
their cloaks, to walk about the room, and to exhibit in pantomime in
what manner they paid compliments, took leave of their parents,
mistresses, or friends, quarrelled, scolded, and were reconciled
again. Another repast, somewhat more ample than the preceding,
followed this farce, and their audience was concluded.
Having now remained in Asia ten years, two of which were spent
in Japan, the desire of revisiting his native land was awakened in his
mind, and quitting Japan in the month of November, 1692, he sailed
for Batavia. Here, in February, 1693, he embarked for Europe. The
voyage lasted a whole year, during which they were constantly out at
sea, with the exception of a few weeks, which they spent upon the
solitudes of an African promontory, for so he denominates the Cape
of Good Hope. He arrived at Amsterdam in the October following;
and now, after having, as M. Eriès observes, pushed his researches
almost beyond the limits of the old world, began to think of taking his
doctor’s degree, a measure which most physicians are careful to
expedite before they commence their peregrinations. He was
honoured with the desired title at Leyden, in April, 1694, and custom
requiring an inaugural discourse, he selected for the purpose ten of
the most singular of those dissertations which he afterward
published in his “Amœnitates.”
This affair, which is still, I believe, considered important in
Germany, being concluded, he returned to his own country, where
his reputation and agreeable manners, together with the honour of
being appointed physician to his sovereign, the Count de Lippe,
overwhelmed him with so extreme a practice that he could command
no leisure for digesting and arranging the literary materials, the only
riches, as he observes, which he had amassed during his travels.
However, busy as he was, he found opportunities of conciliating the
favour of some fair Westphalian, who, he hoped, might deliver him
from a portion of his cares. In this natural expectation he was
disappointed. The lady, far from concurring with her lord in
smoothing the rugged path of human life, was a second Xantippe,
and, as one of Kæmpfer’s nephews relates, poured more fearful
storms upon his head than those which he had endured on the
ocean. His marriage, in fact, was altogether unfortunate; for his three
children, who might, perhaps, have made some amends for their
mother’s harshness, died in the cradle.
It was upwards of eighteen years after his return that he published
the first fruits of his travels and researches—the “Amœnitates
Exoticæ;” which, however, immediately diffused his reputation over
the whole of Europe. But his health had already begun to decline,
and before he could prepare for the press any further specimens of
his capacity and learning, death stepped in, and snatched him away
from the enjoyment of his fame and friends, on the 2d of November,
1716, in the 66th year of his age. He was interred in the cathedral
church of St. Nicholas, at Lemgow; and Berthold Haeck, minister of
the town, pronounced a funeral sermon, or panegyric, over his
grave, which was afterward printed.
Upon the death of Kæmpfer being made known in England, Sir
Hans Sloane, whose ardour for the improvement of science is well
known, commissioned the German physician of George I., who
happened to be at that time proceeding to Hanover, to make
inquiries respecting our traveller’s manuscripts, and to purchase
them, if they were to be disposed of. They were accordingly
purchased, together with all his drawings; and on their being brought
to England, Dr. Scheuchzer, a man of considerable ability, was
employed to translate the principal work, the “History of Japan,” into
English. From this version, which has since been proved to have
been executed with care and fidelity, it was translated into French by
Desmaigeneux, and retranslated into German in an imperfect and
slovenly manner. However, after the lapse of many years, the
original MS was faithfully copied, and the work, hitherto known to our
traveller’s own countrymen chiefly through foreign translations,
published in Germany. Many of Kæmpfer’s manuscripts still remain
unpublished in the British Museum.
Kæmpfer may very justly be ranked among the most distinguished
of modern travellers. To the most extensive learning he united an
enterprising character, singular rectitude of judgment, great warmth
of fancy, and a style of remarkable purity and elegance. His
“Amœnitates” and “History of Japan” may, in fact, be reckoned
among the most valuable and interesting works which have ever
been written on the manners, customs, or natural history of the East.
 HENRY MAUNDRELL.
Of the birth, education, and early life of this traveller little or
nothing appears to be known with certainty. His friends, who were of
genteel rank, since he calls Sir Charles Hodges, judge of the High
Court of Admiralty, his uncle, seem to have resided in the
neighbourhood of Richmond. Having completed his studies, and
taken the degree of master of arts at Oxford, he was appointed
chaplain to the English factory at Aleppo, and departed from England
in the year 1695. Part of this journey was performed by land; but
whether it passed off smoothly, or was diversified by incidents and
adventures, we are left to conjecture, our traveller not having thought
his movements of sufficient importance to be known to posterity. It is
simply recorded that he passed through Germany, and made some
short stay at Frankfort, where he conversed with the celebrated Job
Ludolphus, who, learning his design of residing in Syria, and visiting
the Holy Land, communicated to him several questions, the clearing
up of which upon the spot might, it was hoped, tend to illustrate
various passages in the Old and New Testaments.
Shortly after his arrival at Aleppo, he undertook, in company with a
considerable number of his flock, that journey to Jerusalem which,
short and unimportant as it was, has added his name to the list of
celebrated travellers; so pleasantly, ingenuously, and delightfully is it
described. The history of the short period of his life consumed in this
excursion is all that remains to us; and this is just sufficient to excite
our regret that we can know no more; for, from the moment of his
introduction into our company until he quits us to carry on his pious
and noiseless labours at Aleppo, diversified only by friendly dinners
and rural promenades or hunting, we view his character with
unmingled satisfaction. He was a learned, cheerful, able,
conscientious man, who viewed with a pleasure which he has not
sought either to exaggerate or disguise the spots rendered
venerable by the footsteps or sufferings of Christ, and of the
prophets, martyrs, and apostles.
Maundrell and his companions departed from Aleppo on the 26th
of February, 1696, and crossing the plains of Kefteen, which are
fruitful, well cultivated, and of immense extent, arriving in two days at
Shogr, a large but dirty town on the banks of the Orontes, where
there was a splendid khan erected by the celebrated Grand Vizier
Kuperli, on the next day they entered the pashalic of Tripoli;
travelling through a woody, mountainous country, beneath the shade
of overarching trees, amused by the roar of torrents, or by the sight
of valleys whose green turf was sprinkled with myrtles, oleanders,
tulips, anemonies, and various other aromatic plants and flowers. In
traversing a low valley they passed over a stream rolling through a
narrow rocky channel ninety feet deep, which was called the
Sheïkh’s Wife, an Arab princess having formerly perished in this
dismal chasm.
Crossing Gebel Occaby, or the “Mountain of Difficulty,” which,
according to our traveller, fully deserves its name, they arrived
towards evening at Belulca, a village famous for its wretchedness,
and for the extremely humble condition to which Christianity is there
reduced,—Christ being, to use his own expressive words, once more
laid in a manger in that place. The poorness of their entertainment
urged them to quit Belulca as quickly as possible, though the
weather, which during the preceding day had been extremely bad,
was still far from being settled; and they had not proceeded far
before they began to regret this miserable resting-place, the rains
bursting out again with redoubled violence, breaking up the roads,
and swelling the mountain torrents to overflowing. At length,
however, they arrived opposite a small village, to reach which they
had only to cross a little rivulet, dry in summer, but now increased by
the rains to a considerable volume, and found upon trial to be
impassable. In this dilemma, they had merely the choice of returning
to the miserable, inhospitable den where they had passed the
preceding night, or of pitching their tent where they were, and
awaiting the falling of the stream. The latter appeared the preferable
course, though the weather seemed to menace a second deluge, the
most terrible thunder and lightning now mingling with and increasing
the horrors of the storm; while their servants and horses, whom their
single tent was too small to shelter, stood dripping, exposed to all the
fury of the heavens. At length a small sheïkh’s house, or burying-
place, was discovered in the distance, where they hoped to be
allowed to take shelter along with the saints’ bones; but the difficulty
was how to gain admittance, it being probable that the people of the
village would regard the approach of so many infidels to the tomb of
their holy men as a profanation not to be endured. To negotiate this
matter, a Turk, whom they had brought along with them for such
occasions, was despatched towards the villagers, to obtain
permission peaceably, if possible; if not, to inform them that they
would enter the edifice by force. It is possible that the Ottoman
exceeded his instructions in his menaces; for the indignation of the
villagers was roused, and declaring that it was their creed to detest
and renounce Omar and Abubeer, while they honoured Ahmed and
Ali, they informed the janizary that they would die upon the infidels’
swords rather than submit to have their faith defiled. The travellers
on their part assured them that the opinion they entertained of Omar
and Abubeer was in no respect better than their own; that they had
no intention whatever to defile their holy places; and that their only
object at present was to obtain somewhere or another a shelter from
the inclemency of the weather. This apparent participation in their
sectarian feelings somewhat mollified their disposition, and they at
length consented to unlock the doors of the tomb, and allow the
infidels to deposite their baggage in it; but with respect to
themselves, it was decreed by the remorseless villagers that they
were to pass the night sub Jove. When our travellers saw the door
opened, however, they began secretly to laugh at the beards of the
honest zealots, being resolved, as soon as sleep should have
wrapped itself round these poor people like a cloak, as Sancho
words it, to steal quietly into the tomb, and dream for once upon a
holy grave. They did so; but either the anger of the sheïkh or their
wet garments caused them to pass but a melancholy night.
Next morning, the waters of the river, which rose and fell with
equal rapidity, having sunk to their ordinary level, they issued forth
from their sacred apartments, and proceeding westward for some
time, they at length ascended a lofty eminence, from whence, across
a wide and fertile plain, they discovered the city of Latichen, founded
by Seleucus Nicator on the margin of the sea. Leaving this city and
the Mediterranean on the right-hand, and a high ridge of mountains
on the left, they proceeded through the plain towards Gibili, the
ancient Gabala, where they arrived in the evening, and remained
one day to recruit themselves. In the hills near this city were found
the extraordinary sect of the Nessariah, which still subsists, and are
supposed to be a remnant of the ancient pagan population,
worshippers of Venus-Mylitta and the sun.
Proceeding southward along the seacoast they crossed the
Nahrel-Melek, or King’s River, passed through Baneas, the ancient
Balanea, and arrived towards sunset at Tortosa, the Orthosia of
antiquity, erected on the edge of a fertile plain so close to the sea
that the spray still dashes among its crumbling monuments.
Continuing their journey towards Tripoli, they beheld on their right, at
about three miles’ distance from the shore, the little island of Ruad,
the Arvad or Alphad of the Scriptures, and the Andus of the Greeks
and Romans, a place which, though not above two or three furlongs
in length, was once renowned for its distant naval expeditions and
immense commerce, in which it maintained for a time a rivalry even
with Tyre and Sidon themselves. Having travelled thus far by forced
marches, as it were, they determined to remain a whole week at
Tripoli, to repose their “wearied virtue,” and by eating good dinners
and making merry with their friends, prepare themselves for the
enduring of those “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” which
all flesh, but especially travelling flesh, is heir to. But the more