New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-22
ASIA THREE CENTURIES AGO.
THE TRAVELS OF MENDEz PINTO WHEN
PORTUGAL, WAS A POWER IN THE EAST.

THE VOYAGES AND ADVENTURES OF FERDINAND
MENDEz PINTO Done into Ensnsn Vam ns%sy
An abridged and illustrated edition Up. xSHi' 4os'
Macmillan Co.
This volume is the seventh In the "AoVeh'"o
sereso and BIZ no means the least valuable in view OF
ths ..nanaton which Il affords OF some troublesome
things in the early geography Of both Arabiahs ana
Europeans The Indian ocean and the seas tha'
washed the eastern coast of China have been tne "a
OF liable from the earliest time The narrative Vi 'ie
Portuguese anventurer became classic In lts osna
sorm and ID Loot nothing in Colgans naive English
More views than one can be taken OF Mendez fmlo'
Ono NAV suppose him to have been an exceedingly
resourceful romancer less complimentary epthe. HAS
been applied 10 him over and over again Tic oei
tainly does seem to have formed his literary sosD
upon the long winded romancee OF his Day Inc
speeches which he was so fond Of putting into the
.onts Of people road like those formed large
q part Of the romanccs So enamored was ne OF these
srstorical embellishments that he thrust 'them III
without reference to person or fitness IN such nav
ters however, HIS taste was probably that OF Ills
age and the popularity, unpleasant as IL is 70 moOern
readers cannot be said vtate the truthfuness OF
his narratives as a whole Apparently he aimed to
tell the TRUTH the whole truth, and occasionally some
thing eIse for the sake Of good measure II Is not
10 be supposed that his travels have lost by ms failure
to mention anything that really occurred.
One trouble is that his names of persons and places
his titles for officials, and the like, were spelled as
both before and after his time also INDUCED their IN
diytdual eccentricties In the same way; indeed the
vicious practice has not been given up even al the
present day, as anyone may discover by comparing
few records Of journeyng, say In Egypt The name Oh
the boats used the Nile has been spelled so many
ways that seems almost point of honor to ornament
q new book with unexpected twist In its othograpny
Judged by this popular standard Mendez Pnto's prac
tice was not bad. "Adem" is an easy equivalent TOT
"Aden.' When he speaks Of an Arabian 1ailer as
~mocadan there is great difficulty in finding that
he aims to represent the word which Lane has trans
liberated as "nuRsddam.' His "xabandar" is not
far from "shah bandar' and "Care,' as he writes 1t
sometimes Is nearer the Arabic pronunciation than the
modern "Cairo." "Cantan' was q near approach to
GCanton.p The old English translation could hardly
Improve the matter Mendez Pinto did not call the SUI
tan OF "Achem" by two names, Larodin and Aaradin'
That this drror has been reproduced In the present re-
print Is an indirect testimony TO its literal faithfuncss
q matter of Importance in the reproduction OF old
books From these examples will be seen that those
who need TO DO so can with little trouble find the
modern equivalent for the names used by the old
traveller.
Az q narrative Of adventure few works have greater
interest. To put the whole volume In nutshell 1t
tells "what strange fortunes have seen," says me-
"for the space of and twenty years during the
which was thirteen times a captive and seventeen
times times sold in the Indies, In Aethopa, in Arabia,
In CHina In Tartara, In Madagascar in Sumatra, and
in divers other Kingdoms and provinces OF the Oriental
Archipelago upon the confines Of Asia, which the
Chineses Sian1es Gueos and Lccquios NAME and that
with reason In their geography, the ey-lids OF the
world"
Professor vamberry's introduction defends Mendez
Pinto on the score OF truthulness and explains the
difficulties that beset traveller in the Orient three
centuries ago as utterly different from those met in
the Same region at the present day. The volume is
Illustrated with map and doublepage pictures copied
from the second Dutch edition of The Voyage of John
Huyghen Won Lnschoten to the East Indies"