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Tag Archives: travel narrative

Book of the Week — A Journey Over Land: from the Gulf of Honduras to the Great South-Sea…

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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1735, animals, berries, Central America, chocolate, corn, eggs, Englishman, fowl, gold, Honduras, honey, India, insects, Isthumus of Panama, Jamaica, John Cockburn, lizards, London, map, Mayans, milk, Nicholas Withington, Panama, Pedor Poleas, pirates, plantains, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Spaniards, tobacco, travel narrative, vegetation


There needs no Apology in Behalf of Books of this Nature; they have, at all times, been favourably received, and never rejected, but upon plain and undeniable Conviction of Insincerity. They agreeably amuse, and usefully instruct; and are consequently relished by Readers of every sort. They are pleasing to those, who, at every turn, would be surprised with extraordinary Events, unexpected Accidents, and miraculous Deliverances; and acceptable to those, who, moving in a loftier Sphere, are desirous of converting all they know to public Use; and these, regardless of what the former most admire, are particularly sollicitous after Descriptions and Accounts of Persons, Places and things. — from the preface, A Journey Over Land

A Journey Over Land: From the Gulf of Honduras to the Great South-Sea…
John Cockburn
London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul’s Church-yard, M.DCC.XXXV (1735)
First edition
F1431 C66 1735

This narrative, so fantastic, was long considered to be a work of fiction pretending to be fact. John Cockburn tells a tale of extraordinary and harrowing adventure, beginning when he and his crew were overtaken off the coast of Jamaica by another ship, “…mostly Spaniards, and commanded by Captain Johnson the Pirate, an Englishman, and Pedor Poleas a Spaniard” in 1730. The surviving crew escaped from jail in San Pedro Sula in Honduras, crossed the Isthmus to San Salvador and traveled to Panama overland.

“This was the first setting out of a Journey, as we computed, through an unknown Tract of Land, (at least to us) which took us up ten Months, and I may say some times proved insupportable; for we were all the while exposed to many Dangers, and underwent many Hardships, as was possible for human Nature to sustain.” In his book, Cockburn described vegetation; animals; insects; and wrote short but vivid stories about the governments, dress, characteristics and customs of the descendants of the great Mayan empire and other native peoples (many of whom were at war with each other).

Cockburn mentions food, because it was so scare, continually, writing about corn (“Turtillias,” “Tamawlas”), plantains, fowl, berries, lizards, milk, honey, eggs, and “At last, we spy’d a Lady, in one House, very well dressed, to whom we went and begg’d her Charity. She presently made Chocolate, giving us plentifully of it, which was more acceptable to us at that Time, than Gold…”

Tobacco was second only to chocolate in its desirability: “These Gentlemen gave us some Seegars to smoke, which they supposed would be very acceptable. These are Leaves of Tobacco rolled up in such Manner, that they serve both for the Pipe and Tobacco itself. These the Ladies, as well as Gentlemen, are very fond of Smoking.”

The book was re-printed many times. A folding map depicts Central America and the Isthmus of Panama.

The edition is appended with A Briefe Discoverye of Some Things best worth Noteing in the Travells of… a popular travel narrative by Nicholas Withington, who arrived in India in 1612.

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A donation helps lift the fog — Thank you, Dr. Rubin!

03 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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American Indian, Arctic, aurora borealis, Back River, Canada, canoe, Dr. Ronald Rubin, England, expedition, Fort Resolution, geology, George Back, Great Fish River, Great Slave Lake, John Franklin, John Murray, John Ross, London, Maufelly, Montreal, Northwest Passage, Royal Geographical Society, Royal Navy, Spottiswoode, travel, travel narrative

Title Spread

“When the mind has been made up to encounter disasters and reverses, and has fixed a point as the zero of its scale, however for the time it may be depressed by doubts and difficulties, it will mount up again with the first gleam of hope for the future; but, in this instance, there was no expedient by which we could overcome the obstacles before us: every resource was exhausted, and it was vain to expect that any efforts, however strenuous, could avail against the close-wedged ice, and the constant fogs which enveloped every thing in impenetrable obscurity.”

Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition…
George Back (1796-1878)
London: A. Spottiswoode for John Murray, 1836
First edition, octavo

In 1833, George Back set out to find John Ross, who had departed in the summer of 1829 on an expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Ross had not been heard from since. Back, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, had sailed to the Arctic under John Franklin in 1819-22 and again in 1824-26. Back volunteered to lead his own expedition to find Ross.

While the Back expedition was en route, the Ross expedition arrived home in 1834. Back continued his expedition, traveling overland through central Canada from Montreal to Fort Resolution on the Great Slave Lake. The group of five, including an American Indian guide named Maufelly, used canoes to explore the Great Fish River, seeking and finding its source.

Back mapped the Arctic coast westwards, as they portaged around lakes, negotiated rapids, and made their way through dense forests. Upon his return, Back was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. The Great Fish River was renamed the Back River in his honor. In all, the expedition traveled nearly 7,500 miles, eventually making its way to the Arctic Coast before returning home to England.

Back documented his observations on geology, plant and animal life, the weather, (noting the aurora borealis in an appendix to this publication), and indigenous peoples; and added his own illustrations. In the year of its publication, Back traveled to the Arctic again. While Back was accused by some of being an ineffective leader, his writing was clear, detailed, even lyrical. His story is considered one of the finest travel narratives of the nineteenth century.

University of Utah copy gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

Camp
Falls
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