To theſe his Summer expeditions, and retirement from Gamron, are owing: His account of the mountain Benna in the Province Laar, on the Gulph of Perſia, of its plants and animals, of the precious Bezoar, and the animal in whoſe ſtomach it is found, of the ſingular hot baths, a native balſam, and other curioſities obſerved on that mountain, and in the neighbourhood thereof: His deſcription of the Native Mummy, that moſt precious balſam, which ſweats out of a rock, in the Province Daar, and is gathered once a year with great pomp and ceremony, for the ſole uſe of the Perſian King: His obſervations on the Aſa Fœtida, of the Plant yielding that ſubſtance, which grows only in Perſia, and on the manner of gathering and preparing it: His obſervations of the Vena Medinenſis of Arabian writers, or Dracunculus, as he calls it, a ſingular worm bred between the interſtices of the muſcles, in ſeveral parts of the human body: His account of the Sanguis Draconis, I mean the true Eaſtern one, which he aſcertains to be obtain’d from the fruit of a Coniferous Palm: His curious and accurate Hiſtory of the Palma Dactylifera, growing in Perſia, its differing ſpecies, male and female, its culture, growth, preparation and uſes, far beyond whatever was known of this ſingular Tree: With many other obſervations, equally curious and uſeful, which may perhaps one time or other be communicated to the publick.
He did not leave Gamron till the latter end of June 1688. The Fleet, on board which he went, having orders to touch at moſt Dutch ſettlements in Arabia the Happy, the Great Mogul’s Country, upon the Coaſts of Malabar, in the iſland Ceylon, in the Gulph of Bengale, and the iſland of Sumatra, he had an opportunity of ſeeing all theſe ſeveral Countries, every where with the ſame ſpirit of induſtry, and the ſame thirſt, of knowledge. Had his ſtay there been greater, his obſervations alſo would have been more numerous.
He arrived at Batavia in September 1689, and ſtaid there ſome months. This wealthy and populous town, the chief ſeat of the Dutch power in the Indies, was then already ſo well known, and had been ſo particularly deſcribed by preceding
writers,
