writers, that Dr. Kempfer thought it altogether needleſs to make any enquiries concerning its riſe and flouriſhing condition, its commodious and agreeable ſituation, its trade and riches, its power and government, and the like, any farther than it was requiſite to ſatisfy his own curioſity. For this reaſon he turned his thoughts chiefly to the Natural Hiſtory of that Country, a far nobler ſubject, and more ſuitable to his taſte and capacity. The rich and curious garden of Cornelius van Outhoorn, who was then Director General of the Dutch Eaſt India Company, the garden of M. Moller, and the Iſland Eidam, which lies but a few leagues off Batavia, offer’d to his obſervation great numbers of rare and ſingular plants, native and foreign, many of them not known before, the deſcription and figures whereof he intended to publiſh, together with many others obſerv’d by him in the courſe of his Travels, particularly in Perſia, in the Iſland Ceylon, the Kingdom of Siam, and the Empire of Japan, all which are now in the hands of Sir Hans Sloane. He had moſt certainly many qualifications neceſſary to make a good Botaniſt, a competent knowledge of that ſcience, ſo far as it was improved in his time, a body enured to hardſhips, a great ſtock of induſtry and application, and which in my opinion is no leſs material, an excellent hand at drawing. With all theſe advantages he did not barely confine himſelf to the curious part of this ſcience, an accurate deſcription of the Plants and their parts, which though never ſo neceſſary, is yet thought too dry a ſubject by moſt readers. He endeavour’d to make his obſervations uſeful to mankind, and took a great deal of pains to enquire into the manifold uſes of the Plants he deſcribes, whether relating to Phyſick, Agriculture, Manufactures, and the like, as alſo into the way of cultivating and preparing them to make them ſerve for theſe ſeveral purpoſes. How happily he ſucceeded therein, the deſcription of the Tea and Paper-Tree, which I have inſerted into the Appendix to this Hiſtory, to inſtance in no more, will ſufficiently evince.
He ſet out from Batavia, on his voyage to Japan, in May 1690, in quality of Phyſician to the Embaſſy, which the Dutch Eat-India Company ſends, once a year, to the Japaneſe Emperor’s
Court:
