Old narratives of travel are now deservedly popular. Two unusually
interesting examples of this kind of literature will be found in Voyages to the East Indies : Christopher Fryke and Christopher Schweitzer, edited by Mr. C. Ernest Fayle (Cassell, 10s. 6d.). Frick, or Fryke, was an intelligent German surgeon who served the Dutch East India Company between 1680 and 1685: his compatriot Schweitzer was of a coarser type, and was employed partly as steward-secretary and partly as a soldier while his contract lasted (1675-82). Frick describe's with much spirit the Dutch campaigns against the kingdom of Bantam in Java, in the course of which the English mer- chants suffered heavily, so that relations between England and Holland were strained. He gives a graphic account of a visit to Japan, where traders were kept under close supervision : he admired the fine cabinet work, " inlaid with silver and gold and most admirably lacquered." It was a proverb among the Dutch, he says, that " though a Dutchman was cunning, he might go to school to a Japanese." Mr. Foyle's introductioh is useful. His notes might have been more numerous.
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