A Voyage to Cochinchina in the Years 1792 and 1793

A staunch supporter of exploration Sir John Barrow (17641848) backed expeditions to Africa Australia the Arctic and the Antarctic during his forty-year tenure as Second Secretary to the Admiralty. In his early career he served as an aide to the diplomat Lord Macartney joining him on his 17924 embassy to China and during his later governorship of the Cape of Good Hope. Barrow was a prolific author setting new standards of detail and accuracy for travel writing. In this 1806 account he recounts the embassy''s journey to Cochinchina (now Vietnam) via Brazil and Java. In one of the first illustrated accounts of the country in English Barrow applies his boundless curiosity and elegant style to history politics local customs and the flora and fauna. His autobiography and several other volumes of his travel writing are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.