ABSTRACT
Through the constant relations of commerce, settlement, and conquest, which Europe has maintained with the East Indies, the voyages to that country, and journeys through it, have been exceedingly numerous. It thus becomes necessary to exclude many whom their merit would otherwise entitle to notice, and to make such a selection as may appear most likely to prove edifying to the reader. A considerable mass of miscellaneous evidence with regard to Bengal is available in the records of some of these less important writers. By far, however, the most interesting and valuable narrative of travel in Bengal, from the pen of one of these less important writers, is that of Graaf. Graaf was a doctor in the service of the Dutch East India Company, and, in addition to his Bengal expedition, travelled widely in the Archipelago and visited most of the ports of India proper.
