William Crooke - A New Account of East India and Persia. Being Nine Years Travels, 1672-1681, by John Fryer

A New Account of East India and Persia. Being Nine Years Travels, 16721681, by John Fryer

Volume I

Edited by

WILLIAM CROOKE

First published by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge

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Founded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material. In partnership with Ashgate, and using print-on-demand and e-book technology, the Society has made re-available all 290 volumes comprised in Series I and Series II of its publications in both print and digital editions. For information about the Hakluyt Society visit www.hakluyt.com .

ISBN 13:978-1-4094-1386-8 (hbk)

WORKS ISSUED BY

The Backluyt Society.

JOHN FRYERS

EAST INDIA AND PERSIA.

VOL. I.

SECOND SERIES.

No. XIX.

ISSUED FOR 1909.

A

NEW ACCOUNT

OF

EAST INDIA AND PERSIA.

BEING

NINE YEARS TRAVELS,

16721681.

BY

JOHN FRYER.

Edited, width Dates and an Intoduction,

BY

WILLIAM CROOKE, B.A.,

FORMERLY OF THE BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE.

VOL. I.

COUNCIL

OF

THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.

SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S., Ex-Pres. R.G.S., President.

THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD PECKOVER OF WISBECH, Vice-President.

THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTON, Vice-President.

THOMAS B. BOWRING, Esq.

COLONEL GEORGE EARL CHURCH.

COLONEL CHARLES FREDERICK CLOSE, C. M.G., R.E.

SIR WILLIAM MARTIN CONWAY.

DR. BOLTON GLANVILL CORNEY, I S.O.

THE REV. CANON JOHN NEALE DALTON, C.M.G., C.V.O.

MAJOR LEONARD DARWIN, late R.E., Pres. R.G.S.

WILLIAM FOSTER, Esq.

THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE TAUBMAN GOLDIE, K.C.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.

ALBERT GRAY, K.C.

JOHN SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D.

EDWARD HEAWOOD, Esq., Treasurer.

ADMIRAL SIR ALBERT HASTINGS MARKHAM, K.C.B.

ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET SIR EDWARD HOBART SEYMOUR, G.C.B., O.M.

BASIL HARRINGTON SOULSBY, Esq.

LIEUT,-COLONEL SIR RICHARD CARNAC TEMPLE, BART., C.I.E.

BASIL HOME THOMSON, Esq.

ROLAND VENABLES VERNON, Esq.

J. A. J. DE VILLIERS, Esq., Hon. Secretary.

THE task of editing Dr. John Fryers New Account of East India and Persia for the Hakluyt Societys series was originally entrusted to Mr. Arthur T. Pringle, of the Madras Civil Service. He had edited a calendar of the early Madras records, and from his intimate knowledge of Southern India was specially qualified to undertake such a work. A copy of the folio edition of the book was forwarded to Mr. Pringle at Madras, and he probably collected some materials. But his untimely death occurred before he could have made much progress; and, with the usual fate which seems almost inevitable in literary work done by British officers in the East, his library was immediately dispersed. Enquiries, conducted with the kind assistance of the officials of the Secretariat at Madras, have failed to trace any of the notes or other materials which he may have collected.

My personal interest in the book was largely enhanced when I had occasion to study it with some care in the course of the preparation of a new edition of Hobson-Jobson, the Anglo-Indian Glossary of Sir H. Yule and Dr. A. C. Burnell, who had used it extensively as a source for quotations, Sir H. Yule in his Bibliography remarking: No work has been more serviceable in the compilation of the Glossary. As no one else was prepared to undertake the edition long contemplated by the Hakluyt Society, the Council were pleased to entrust the task to me.

This duty has proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. The ideal editor of Fryer should possess a singularly wide and varied knowledge of the geography, history, archaeology, natural productions, languages, religions, superstitions, and customs of India and Persia. It would have been quite impossible for me to prepare the notes to this edition if I had not received generous assistance from many scholars in various fields of knowledge. Mr. W. Foster and Miss E. B. Sainsbury have supplied me with much information from the MS. records in the India Office Library and Record Rooms; Mr. W. Irvine (whose notes on Manuccis Storia do Magor, covering this period, have been most useful), has helped me on various points of Muhammadan history and literature; Mr. V. A. Smith on the earlier period; Mr. D. Ferguson on the Portuguese; Sir G. Bird-wood, Sir G. Watt, Sir W. T. Thistleton Dyer, Colonel D. D. Cunningham, and Lt.-Colonel D. Prain on natural history; Professor E. G. Browne on Persia; Mr. F. C. Conybeare on the Armenians; Professor E. Bensly has traced many quotations from classical authors. Many other officers who have served, or are now serving, in the East, have taken much trouble in answering queries, among whom I may note Sir A. T. Arundel, Messrs. A. R. Becher, A. R. Bonus, E. Carmichael, Dr. A. Codrington, Messrs. H. Cousens, W. Francis, J. R. Henderson, J. A. Ismail Gracias, Jadunath Sarkar, P. B. Joshi, J. L. Rieu, W. W. Skeat, and Dr. C. M. Woodrow. I have also to thank Dr. H. M. Butler and Mr. W. Aldis Wright, of Trinity College, Cambridge, Mr. J. A. J. de Villiers, Secretary of the Hakluyt Society, Mr. R. Harrison, Secretary of the Royal Society, Mr. W. Wesley, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Mr. W. T. Lynn, for information on various points.

A book like this offers unlimited temptations for annotation; and I fear that in some cases I have extended my notes beyond reasonable limits. But, as we know little of the history of the work, it seemed advisable to quote the accounts of contemporary travellers in order to allow the reader to judge how far Fryer was indebted to other formation. In the case of terms explained in