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Engelbert Kaempfer.
Discovery of a
New Island
1727
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Ontdekking van een
niew Eyland.
Ontrent het jaar 1675. ontdekten de Japoneesers gevalliglyk een zeer groot Eyland, zynde een hunner barken door storm derwaards gedreven, van het Eyland Fatsisio, van 't welk zy het rekenen driehonderd mylen oostwaards afgelegen te zyn. Zy ontmoeteden geen Inwoonders, maar bevonden dat het een zeer vermakelyk en vruchtdragend land was, wel voorzien van versch water, en overvloedig van een menigte planten en boomen, inzonderheid, den Arrak Boom; 't welk evenwel reden geeft om te denken, dat dit Eyland eer ten zuyden van Japan dan ten oosten legt, om dat deze boomen alleen in heete landen groeyen. Zy noemden het Bunesima of het Eyland Bune, en om dat zy daar op geene Inwoonders vonden, tekenden zy het met het merk van het onbewoond Eyland. Aan 't strand vonden zy eene ongelooflyke menigte van visschen en krabben, van welke sommige van vier tot zes voeten lang waren.
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Discovery of a
New Island
About the year 1675, the Japanese accidentally discover'd a very large Island, one of their Barks having been forc'd there in a Storm from the Island Fatsisio, from which they computed it to be 300 Miles distant towards the East. They met with no Inhabitants, but found it to be a very pleasant and fruitful Country, well supplied with fresh water, and furnished with plenty of plants and trees, particularly the Arrack-Tree, which however might give room to conjecture, that the Island lay rather to the South of Japan, than to the East, these trees growing only in hot Countries. They call'd it Bunesima, or the Island Bune, and because they found no Inhabitants upon it, they mark'd it with the character of an uninhabited Island. On the shores they found an incredible quantity of Fish and Crabs, some of which were from four to six foot long.
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Engelbert Kaempfer, 1651 1716.
Engelbert Kaempfer (September 16, 1651 November 2, 1716) was a German naturalist, physician, and writer known for his tour of Russia, Persia, India, South-East Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693.
He wrote two books about his travels. Amoenitatum Exoticarum, published in 1712, is important for its medical observations and the first extensive description of Japanese plants (Flora Japonica). His History of Japan, published posthumously in 1727, was the chief source of Western knowledge about the country throughout the 18th and mid-19th centuries when it was closed to foreigners.
-- Wikipedia
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BIBLIOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
| Author: | Kaempfer, Engelbert. |
| Title: | De beschryving van Japan, behelsende een verhaal van den ouden en tegenwoordigen staat en regeering van dat ryk ... en van hunnen koophandel met de Nederlanders en de Chineesen. Benevens eene beschryving van het koningryk Siam |
| Publisher: | Gravenhage / Amsterdam, P. Gosse en J. Neaulme / Balthasar Lakeman, 1729. |
and
| Author: | Kaempfer, Engelbert. |
| Title: | The History of Japan, giving an Account of the ancient and present State and Government of that Empire; ... and of their Trade and Commerce with the Dutch and Chinese. Together with a Description of the Kingdom of Siam ... Written in High-Dutch by Engelbertus Kaempfer, M.D., ... by J. G. Scheuchzer .... |
| Publisher: | London, Printed for the Translator, 1727. |
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