annually collected with extraordinary pomp and ceremony for the sole use of the Persian king; and the curious account which he has given of the asafœtida plant, said to be produced only in Persia; the filaria medinensis, or worm which breeds between the interstices of the muscles in various parts of the human body; and the real oriental dragon's blood, which is obtained from a coniferous palm.
About the latter end of June, 1688, he sailed on board the Dutch fleet from Gombroon, which having orders to touch at Muscat and several other ports of Arabia, he enjoyed an opportunity of observing something of the climate and productions of that country, from whose spicy shore, to borrow the language of Milton, Sabæan odours are diffused by the north-east winds, when,—
Pleased with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles!
Proceeding eastward through the Indian Ocean, they successively visited the north-western coasts of the Deccan, the kingdoms of Malabar, the island of Ceylon, the Gulf of Bengal, and Sumatra; all which countries he viewed with the same curious eye, the same spirit of industry and thirst of knowledge.
Upwards of a year was spent in this delightful voyage, the fleet not arriving at Batavia, its ultimate point of destination, until the month of September, 1689. Kæmpfer regarded this chief seat of the Dutch power in the East as a hackneyed topic, and neglected to bestow any considerable research or pains upon its history or appearance, 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,
