the spring of 1608 John Jourdain sailed for the East in the good ship Ascension, and it was not until the summer of 1617 that he once more set foot o~ English soil. During the nine intervening years he had travelled many thousands of miles, had visited several places previously unknown to his fellow countrymen, and had had many exciting adventures, both by sea and by land, with more than one narrow escape from a violent death. Of these experiences he kept a careful diary, commenced, no doubt, in obedience to the instructions given by the East India Company to all their servants, and afterwards continued for his own satisfaction and as a repository of information that he might find useful on some future occasion ; and it is this journal which in the ensuing pages is printed for the first time.

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