[*Early life* -- *First voyage* -- *Second voyage* -- *Third voyage* -- *Fourth voyage* -- *Fifth voyage* -- *Sixth voyage* -- *Publications* -- *Last voyage*]

Not very much is known of the family of his father Gabriel, of whom, however, it is recorded that he fled from Antwerp to Paris in 1575, together with his brothers Melchior and Nicolas, in order to avoid religious persecution, they being Protestants. They readily accepted French nationality, and it is suggested by M. Joret that their ancestors may have originally migrated from France to Belgium. Melchior became famous as an engraver and printer to the King; he was born in 1544, and died in 1641, at the age of ninety-seven years. Of Nicolas the record is more scanty, it being only known that he was married to Claudine Ie Bert, by whom he had a son named Jacques. Of Gabriel it is known that like Melchior he was a geographer, but he appears to have been rather a merchant than an artist. He married Suzanne Tonnelier, by whom he had three sons -- Melchior, baptized in 1594; Jean-Baptiste, who, as already stated, was born in 1605; and Gabriel, born in 1618. As will be seen hereafter, Tavernier mentions a brother Daniel who died at Batavia in the year 1648, and there also appears to have been a brother named Maurice, whose son accompanied Tavernier on his sixth voyage. The possibility of Gabriel being identical with either Daniel or Maurice has been discussed, but there would be no advantage in retailing the various opinions here, as none of them are conclusive. Melchior, like his uncle, became distinguished as a cartographer; he died in 1665, during the last of Jean-Baptiste's voyages to the East.

The geographical surroundings of Jean-Baptiste, and the discussions which learned men held with his father, and to which he listened with avidity, served to inflame in his mind from his earliest years a strong desire to see foreign countries; but minute as are his descriptions of his travels, he, so far as his own autobiographical account is concerned, ignores the events of his early youth; and indeed it may be said that throughout he sinks his personality to such an extent that the actual period at which some of his adventures took place can only be arrived at by the casual mention of incidents and dates which are scattered about through his works, while with regard to others there are no indications whatever, and in reference to some periods of his life we are left in complete darkness as to where and how they were spent.

By the age of twenty-two he had, he states in his 'Design', seen the best parts of France, England, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Poland,' Hungary, and Italy, and had acquired a fair knowledge of the most useful European languages. It would appear from M. Joret's estimate that these rambles must have commenced when he was only fifteen years old. It is not necessary to follow the details of these European travels here, as they are fully set forth on following pages in 'The Design of the Author'.

FIRST VOYAGE.--  Contrary to those writers who have stated that Tavernier started on his first voyage to the East in 1686, M. Joret has, I think, very clearly proved, by reference to the easily ascertained dates of historical events which took place while he was in Constantinople, that his departure cannot have been later than January or February 1631; and that in 1683, after visiting Persia, he returned to Europe by Aleppo and Alexandretta to Malta, from whence he made his way to Italy, bringing with him some Persian turquoises as articles of trade. During the next five years his occupation is unknown, the record being almost blank.

SECOND VOYAGE.--  On the 18th of September 1688 we find him again starting from Paris for the East, taking ship at Marseilles for Alexandretta, with a following consisting of a young artist, a surgeon, and his brother Daniel. He was, moreover, on this occasion well equipped as a merchant. After spending six weeks at Aleppo he left it on the 27th December with a caravan, and passing through Mashhad, Basra, and Shiriiz, reached Ispahan at the end of April or beginning of May 1689. Here he visited the King, Shah Safavi, grandson of Shah 'Abbas. Our next record of him shows him to have been in Hindustiin early in 1641, but as to the route which he followed, whether by sea or by land, and at what date he traversed it, there is no direct evidence. M. Joret suggests that he left Ispahan at the end of 1689, that he paid his first visit to Dacca in 1640, and that he remained in Agra during the winter of 1640-1. In 1641 he tells us ihat he was at Burhanpur on the journey from Agra to Surat, and elsewhere that he was at Goa at the .close of the same year. His journey up from Surat to Agra in 1640, unlike the journey back via Burhanpur, was probably made by the Ahmadabad route which is described on pp. 40-78. At Agra he found Shahjahan enjoying a peaceable reign. From Goa he appears to have visited GoIkonda and made full inquiries and perhaps visited the diamond mines -- returning to Surat by the land journey throughout, in the spring of 1642. How he occupied himself during the remainder of this year is uncertain; but he states that he paid a visit to Ahmadabad, probably while awaiting the season for sailing, towards the end of the year 1642 or the beginning of 1648, when he states he was in Bandar 'Abbas.

THIRD VOYAGE.--  We do not know when he reached Paris nor what route he followed; but we find him towards the close of 1648, namely on the 6th of December, starting thence on his third voyage to the East, arriving as before at Alexandretta. On the 6th of March 1644 he started from Aleppo in the company of two Capuchin monks, arriving at Ispahan on the 8rd of May, where M. Joret considers he must have remained for some months, reaching Surat in January 1645, most probably by the Bandar 'Abbas route. On the 19th of January he started via Daulatiibad and Nander for GoIkonda, whence he visited the diamond mines, regarding which he had ascertained particulars, if he had not actually seen them, on the occasion of his previous journey. After visiting the mine of Raolconda, i.e. the modern Ramalakota, eighteen miles south of Karnfil, he appears to have returned to GoIkonda and afterwards proceeded to the mine which he called Gani or CouIour; this, it will be seen, stands for Kan-i-Kollur on the Kistna, at seven days' journey eastwards, or more correctly south-east­wards, from GoIkonda. (See vol. i, 189.) How the remainder of this year and the whole of 1646 were employed we cannot say. In connexion with the descriptions of the above-named mines he also describes one at Soumelpour (see vol. ii, 65 If.), which was situated on the Koel river, an affluent of the Son, in the District of Lohardaga in Western Bengal, but as to when he visited it, if ever, he gives no certain indication.

There are some grounds for supposing that in 1647 he visited Persia, indeed he actually states (Book I, chap. viii) that he was in Ispahan towards the end of that year. Be this as it may, we find him on the 11th of January 1648 at Mingrela, that is to say Vengurla, on the west coast of India, where he had arrived from Surat in a Dutch vessel called the Maestricht. After nine days spent there, during which time he enjoyed the hospitality of the Dutch, who had a factory there, he embarked on an armed vessel for Goa, where he ar!ived on the following day, and was much struck with its decadence since his previous visit in 1641. During the two months which he spent in Goa he was on the most friendly terms with the Viceroy -- the wealthy Dom Filippe de Mascarenhas, -- the Archbishop, and the Inquisitor-General, by all of whom he was treated with much kindness, the latter having first satisfied himself that he had left his Bible behind him at Vengurla. On the 11th of March he returned to Vengurla, where he remained for more than a month, or till the 14th of April, when he embarked Batavia, for the ostensible reasons of seeing so famous a place and of rendering a service to the Dutch by conveying to them information about a new port in Africa which had been discovered by the Portuguese. M. Toret probably rightly concludes that he was anxious to seek for and meet with his brother Daniel, whom he had not seen for ten years.

His stay at Batavia was interrupted by two short visits to Bantam, where he was well received by the King, of whom his brother was a boon companion; and he also experienced much kindness from the English Resident, who offered him a free passage to England, which he at first accepted, but subsequently declined in favour of a similar offer made by the Dutch. Thereupon followed a serious contention about certain Dutch pay-bills which he had purchased at a considerable discount, intending to sell them at par in Holland, and so employ his capital during the voyage. This traffic having been prohibited, those who had bought bills were all, with the exception of Tavernier, both compelled to give up what they had purchased, and otherwise severely mulcted and punished. Tavernier held out to the last monient, but finally handed up the bills on promise of an order for payment of his outlay in Holland. Ultimately he sailed without this promise being fulfilled, and it was only after several years and the institution of an action against the Company in Holland that he, or rather his brother for him. received part of the sum due. From all these circumstances he, perhaps naturally enough, became a bitter enemy of the Dutch, and availed himself of every opportunity for manifesting his hostility.

After his second return to Batavia from Bantam he was about to visit certain Kings in Sumatra, when his brother Daniel arrived in a dying state from Bantam; and shortly afterwards died, in spite of all that could be done to cure him.

Somewhere about the month of October, according to M. Joret's estimate, Tavernier sailed for Holland in a ship called the Provinces, which having passed the Sunda Straits, and failing to make the Cocos Islands, steered for the Cape of Good Hope, where it arrived in fifty-five days; and the fleet, after remaining there twenty-two days for the recovery of the sick, &c., proceeded to St. Helena, which was reached in eighteen days; and then halted for a further twenty-two days, when the crews and passengers of the several vessels in the port entertained one another. Ultimately, after some delays on account of contrary winds, the fleet reached Holland, where the Directors treated Tavernier with much politeness and hospitality; as regards his claim against them, they denied all knowledge of it at first, but finally offered to give him a free passage back to Batavia in order that he might get it paid there: this offer he declined to accept.

There is no precise intimation in the text as to when he arrived in Holland. M. Joret concludes that the voyage must have taken six months, and that, allowing for delays in Holland, he could not have reached Paris till the spring of 1649.

FOURTH VOYAGE.--  Two years having been spent in Europe which were occupied in the sale of the precious stones brought by Tavernier from India, and in repeated efforts to recover his debt from the Dutch Company, he again started for the East, leaving Paris on the 18th June 1651. It was not till the 25th of August, however, that he sailed in the St. Crispine from Marseilles; and after touching at Malta and Larnaca in Cyprus. reached Alexandretta on the 4th of October, and Aleppo on the 7th. Owing to disturbances in the country, he was unable to resume his journey eastwards till the last day of the year. It is needless here to detail his adventures in Persia from this time forwards till the lIth of May, when he embarked at Bandar 'Abbas on a ship belonging to the King of Go]konda, which was bound for the port of Masulipatam, on the east coast of India. After narrowly escaping shipwreck he reached Masulipatam on the 2nd of July -- or perhaps for 2nd we should read 12th, and on the 21st of July, together with M. du Jardin, he set out to march to Gandikot via Madras, which latter place he reached on the 18th of August. The description of this march will be found in Book I, chap. xviii. Here it need only be pointed out that, conformably to his custom, he made friends with the English who were residing in Fort St. George, and visited the Portuguese Governor and Catholic brotherhoods at St. Thome.

On the 22nd of the same month he started by the valley of the Penner River for Gandikot, which he might have reached from Masulipatam by a more direct and shorter route had he not desired to visit Madras. On the 1st of September he reached Gandikot, which Mir Jumla, on behalf of the King of Golkonda, had just captured. As Mir Jumla was not only the Genera] of the troops but also Prime Minister, Tavernier had gone to him in order to show him -- as he was bound to do, not merely as an act of courtesy but because it was the custom -- the pearls and precious stones which he proposed to sell to the King. Several interviews which he had with Mir Jumla served to impress him with a high opinion of that General's abilities. On the 15th Tavernier took leave after receiving his assurance that he had recommended him to his son at the Golkonda court. His march northwards lasted till the 2nd of October, when he reached Golkonda. After some delay negotiations were opened with reference to the sa1e of the precious stones, but in consequence of a remark by a eunuch that the prices asked by Tavernier were too high, he took offence, and, together with M. du Jardin, left at once for Surat, following the same route as he had come by to Golkonda in 1648.

In some of the editions the date of his showing the precious stones is given as the 25th (of October), but in the 1676 edition the 15th is mentioned; and as he started on the following day, and the distance was twenty-one days' journey, or five days less than by the Aurangabad route which was twenty-six days, he reached Surat either on the 5th or the 15th of November. Shortly afterwards his companion, M. du Jardin, died, and Tavernier then set out for Ahmadabad, where he had been invited to bring his jewels by Shaista Khan, who was then Governor of Gujarat. Thence he returned to Surat, and set out for Golkonda on the 6th of March 1658 by the Aurangabad route, arriving at Golkonda on the 1st of April. He then paid another visit to the mines, regarding which, as he gives no details, we must only conclude that any observations of importance made by him on this occasion are incorporated in the account of his previous visit in 1645, which has been above alluded to. He appears to have returned to Surat during the same year, as in Book III, chap. xiii, he refers to having, in the year 1658, when on the return journey from Golkonda to Surat, encountered a troop of pilgrims. He says M. d'Ardiliere was with him, to which M. Joret objects that he had died in 1652. But had he? We know his father, M. du Jardin, had, but of himself there is, so far as I know, no such record. 

Tavernier next refers to being back at Surat, where he heard that war had been declared between the English and Dutch. On the 8th of January 1654 he sailed in one of a fleet of five Dutch vessels of war which were dispatched from Surat to intercept the English fleet, which was then expected to be on its way back from Hormuz. After a naval engagement in which the English were beaten, and various delays, the Dutch fleet proceeded to Bandar 'Abbas, arriving there on the 7th of March. Tavernier then started for Ispahan, visiting Kerman en route, where he purchased a large quantity of the beautiful wool of that country for transport to France. After a protracted stay in Persia, where he visited many places which he had not previously seen, he returned to Paris apparently in the autumn of the year 1655, but the information he gives on this point is very vague.

FIFTH VOYAGE.--  In February 1657 Tavernier started from Paris on his fifth voyage. Shortly after leaving Marseilles, the vessel in which he had embarked was chased by pirates, and was compelled to take refuge in a port near Toulon, from whence he returned by land, carrying on his person the jewels which he was taking with him to sell in the East, but allowing his heavier merchandise to proceed in the same vessel. At Marseilles he again took ship in an English vessel for Italy. In Italy he spent a short time, and visited Ferdinand II of Tuscany, who treated him with kindness and distinction. He then sailed for Smyrna in a Dutch ship, and while awaiting the departure of the caravan, sent one of his servants to buy in Constantinople some pearls which he heard that a Jew residing there had for sale, because, he remarks, pearls were the best articles of trade which could be taken to India. At this time, according to him, Smyrna was the principal entrepot for all kinds of goods which passed from Europe to Asia and from Asia to Europe. From the vague indications given by Tavernier Prof. Joret concludes that he started with the caravan trom Smyrna in June 1657. The journey was made by Erivan and Tabriz to Ispahan, without any event happening worthy of particular record. 

Owing to the accounts which reached him of the disturbed condition of India, in connexion with the usurpation by Aurangzeb of his father's throne, Tavernier appears to have prolonged his stay in Ispahan till the beginning of 1659; but before starting for Surat, which his letter addressed to Shaista Khan proves him to have reached in May of that year, he dispatched to Masulipatam, in charge of one of his servants for safety, and perhaps to evade dues, the bulk of the beautiful objects and rare curiosities which he had collected for Shaista Khan in Europe. Shaista Khan's reply to his letter was an invitation to visit him at Jahanabad, sending him a passport to enable him to do so with ease and safety. Delayed by the rains, Tavernier had not started before he received other letters, first asking him to come to Burhanpur, and then to Aurangabad. When he went to take leave of the Governor of Surat, named Mirza Arab, he was informed by him that until instructions came from Aurangzeb, who had been informed of his arrival, he would not be allowed to depart. He then wrote to Shaista Khan, asking him to send an order to the Governor to let him go; this was done, and at length, after six months' delay at Surat, he set out and found Shaista Khan laying siege to Chakan (Choupar) in the Deccan. As has been seen on pp. 27 and 825, vol. i, there are some discrepancies in Tavernier's two accounts of the sale of and payment for his goods.

It is inferred from.a casual statement that, having concluded this transaction, he pursued his course farther southwards in order to visit the diamond mines at Golkonda again, from whence probably he returned to Surat about the end of 1660 or beginning of 1661. In his Persian Travels he says (Book V, chap. ii) that he was in Persia in 1662, and during the same year he returned to Paris, his age being then fifty-six years. It was thought that, as he had by this time amassed a considerable fortune, and was married in the same year for the first time in his life, he would settle down and rest from his travels, which, as we have seen, commenced when he was only fifteen years of age. His wife waa named Madeleine Goisse, a daughter of Jean Goisse, a jeweller, with whom he had had some business transactions, and who was a connexion by marriage of his brother Melchior.

SIXTH VOYAGE.-- Tavernier's original intention, expressed shortly after his marriage in 1662, was, however, to make a short journey to the East in order to close his affairs there. As months passed in preparation, this intention expanded, and on the 27th of November 1668 he started from Paris, and did not return again for five years. On this occasion he took with him a young nephew, son of Maurice Tavernier, and four attendants of. different professions, including a surgeon. His stock of precious stones, goldsmith's work, &c., was valued at 400,000 livres, which at Is. 6d. would be equal to £80,000. On the 10th of January 1664 he embarked at Marseilles for Leghorn, and after passing through many misadventures, including a narrow escape of [=from] being drowned, he ultimately reached Smyrna on the 25th of April, where he remained till the 9th of June, whim he left with the caravan for Tabriz. After three months' marching the caravan reached Erivan on the 14th of September, and Tabriz on the 9th of November, where two of his followers, one a watchmaker and the other a goldsmith, died of sickness brought on by the fatigues of the journey. Here also Tavernier left his nephew Pierre in the charge of the Superior of the Capuchin Convent. 

On the 22nd of November, having before-hand dispatched his principal goods, he left with a small party for Ispahan, and arrived there on the 14th of December. Three days afterwards the King, Shah 'Abbas II, who in 1657 had bought a quantity of jewels from him, summoned him to his palace, where he went In state accompanied by all the Franks, and bearing with him his most precious treasures, Father Raphael acting as interpreter. The Shah first inquired to whom he had sold the jewels which he had with him on the occasion of his last voyage, and he informed him that it was to Shaista Khan, and that the price he received was 120,000 rupees, though he mentions no sum in the account of the transaction itself.

His present to the Shah consisted of a large metallic mirror, which distorted the face of anyone looking into it. All the jewels, with the exception of the pearls, were bought, after prolonged negotiation, at the high prices which Tavernier demanded. The Shah being, however, well pleased, Tavernier besought his protection for his nephew, and requested that he himself should be allowed to sell his goods in Persia, free of duty, both of which requests were granted, and he was further complimented by the bestowal of a robe of honour, and by being appointed jeweller in ordinary. Further, out of regard for him a good reception was promised to all Franks arriving in Persia. A portrait of Tavernier prefixed to the Receueil, published in 1679, and reproduced as a frontispiece to this volume, represents him clothed in this robe, with the addition of the mantle which was further conferred upon him by the express order of the Shah. The total value of the saIes made on this occasion was 8,900 tomans, or £18,455, allowing £8 9s. for the toman. The Shih gave him several designs for ornaments, made by himself, which he desired to have executed in gold, enamel, and precious stones. Curiously enough, Chardin relates that a similar order was given to himself in 1666.

At length Tavernier left Ispahan for India on the 24th of February 1665, and reached Bandar 'Abbas about the end of the first week of April, having made several halts on the road. On the 5th of May we find him once more at Surat. On the occasion of this voyage an injury happened to him at the hands of the Dutch, which, added to what had previously been done to him in Batavia, served to perpetuate his enmity and contempt. Having been entrusted by the English Resident with an important packet of letters for Surat, which it was believed contained information of the outbreak of war in Europe, it was stolen by the Dutch, a parcel of blanks being put in its place. The English in Surat were naturally indignant when, instead of their letters, they received these blanks, and it is said that Tavernier was threatened with assassination, in consequence of which all the plans he had made for his Indian tour were thrown into confusion. He sent a strong protest against this scandalous treachery to the General at Batavia, and stated that if satisfaction were not rendered, he would, on his return to France, carry the matter further, and would also inform the Saih of Persia. He does not appear to have received any direct satisfaction, and this probably led him to write his exposures contained in The History of the Conduct of the Dutch in Asia.

On arrival at Surat, the Governor told him that Aurangzeb wished to be the first to see his jewels; and he further learnt that Shaista Khan was in Bengal, so that although, in pursuance of his promise given on the last occasion, he desired to visit him first, he was compelled to go to Jahanabad, travelling probably by Burhanpur, Sironj, Gwalior, and Agra, and arriving at Jahanabad in September. On the 12th of the same month he went to salute the Great Mogul, to whom, as well as to the nobles of the Court and others, he made presents amounting in all to the value of 28,187 livres. He then sold to the Great Mogul, Aurangzeb, a number of his most precious. stones; and Ja'far Khan, the Mogul's uncle, bought several, but disputed the price of a large pearl, which he sought to buy at 10,000 rupees less than Tavernier demanded. Subsequently, it was bought by Shaista Khan, who was then in Dacca, but with him too it became the subject of a serious dispute.

Tavernier remained two months at Jahanabad, and on the 1st of November, when he went to take leave, Aurangzeb pressed him. to remain in order to witness his annual festival which was then close at hand, promising him, if he would do so, that he would allow him to see all his jewels after it was over. So tempting an offer was at once accepted by Tavernier, and to this we owe some of the most interesting chapters in the whole of his travels.

The fete having concluded on the 9th of November, he was on the following day shown the jewels, including the great Mogul diamond. Shortly afterwards he left for Agra, and on the 25th (not the 15th, as an obvious though frequently repeated misprint has it in various editions) he started for Bengal, being accompanied by the celebrated French physician named Bernier and another friend named Rachepot. They reached Allahabad on the 7th of December, where they found Claude Maillé of Bourges instaIIed as physician and surgeon to the Governor, but no hint is given as to whether he was the same person or not whom Tavernier mentions under the same name in the capacity of gun-founder at Gandikot for Mir JumIa. Having obtained permission to cross the Ganges, they followed its left bank and arrived at Benares on the 11th, where they remained for two days, and then proceeded along the right bank to Patna, which they reached on the 20th. It is clear that on this occasion Tavernier did not turn down the valley ot the Son to Rohtas and the diamond mine at Soumelpur, and it is uncertain whether he ever went there; but he may have done so on his return and prolonged visit to Patna and its neighbourhood, which is mentioned below, or during his first journey to Dacca in 1640.

After eight days spent at Patna he embarked on the 29th December (not January, as by an obvious misprint it is given in several ofthe editions), and passed down the Ganges; reaching Rajmahal on the 4th of January 1666. On the 6th M. Bernier left him to go to Kasimbazar, while he proceeded to Dacca,which he reached on the 18th, and on the following day went to visit the Nawab, Shaista Khan, to whom he made a valuable present. After selling him the goods which he had brought for him, and having received an order for payment on Kasimbazar, he started for that place on the 29th, and reached it on the 12th of February, being well received by Van Wachtendonk, the Director of all the Dutch factories in Bengal. On presenting his order for payment to the Mogul's Treasurer, he was informed by him that three days previously he had received an order not to pay it. Subsequently this Treasurer, acting under Shaista Khan's instructions, offered to pay him the debt less by 20,000 rupees. Tavernier enlarges on the causes which led to this treatment, attributing it to the machinations of Aurangzeb's officers to spite him for not having sold the jewels to them, in order that they might resell them to their master at an enhanced rate. There is no direct record of his subsequent movements, but he appears to have spent June and July in Patna, where, on the second day of the last-named month, he witnessed an eclipse of the sun. In August he probably reached Agra, where he seems to have met the representatives of the French company 'for establishing commerce in Persia and India'.

He ultimately reached Surat on the 1st of November, and met there M. Thévenot, who was returning from Madras and Golkonda, and of whose travels the published account serves to elucidate some points in Tavernier's narratives. Early in the year 1667 Tavernier left Surat -- probably, as ingeniously calculated by M. Joret, in the month of February -- for Bandar 'Abbis, where he met, among other Europeans, the famous traveller Chardin. At Ispahan he remained for some months, probably till the end of 1667. In the early part of the year 1668 he reached Constantinople, and made a prolonged stay there, finally reaching Paris on the 6th of December; and being then sixty-three years old, he resolved to enjoy the riches he had acquired and rest from his labours. His first care, he tells us, was to render thanks to God, who had protected him through all perils by sea and land during the. space of forty years. His life after this period for sixteen years cannot be
followed out in detail here from want of space. Those who desire details are referred to M. Joret's excellent volume. It is only possible to mention here a few of the principal events.

Soon after his arrival in France he had an interview with Louis XIV, who was anxious to see so famous a traveller; and the distinguished traveller did not forget .his business as a merchant, for he sold the King a large number of diamonds and other precious stones, and in February 1669, in consideration of his eminent services to France, he was granted letters which conferred upon him a title of nobility; this was the full complement of his success. In April 1670 he purchased the barony of Aubonne, near Geneva, and in the following month he took the oaths, and was received by their Excellencies of Berne as 'Seigneur Baron d'Aubonne'. He restored the Castle and orientalized !ts decoration; and it was here he prepared his notes for publication. It is commonly said that the Voyages were written from Tavernier's dictation by a French Protestant named Samuel Chappuzeau; but it is evident from many remarks scattered through the volumes, and, indeed, is sufficiently proved from the nature of the facts recorded, that many pages must have been written at or shortly after the time when the events took place, and by Tavernier himself.

Chappuzeau, who had obtained considerable reputation as an historian and writer of theatrical plays, was prevailed on to edit Tavernier's notes, or, as he afterwards described it, to give form to the chaos, as the confused memoirs of the six voyages might be called. The statement made by Chappuzeau and quoted by Bayle, that the only written portions were by Father Gabriel de Chinon, Capuchin, seems to be somewhat inconsistent with this. Chappuzeau states that it was with the greatest repugnance he undertook the work, and then only in consequence of Tavernier's having used his interest to get the King to prevail upon him to do so. His friendship for Tavernier was completely broken under the 'mortification if not martyrdom' which he suffered, as he says, for the space of a year, while exposed to the rough humour of Tavernier and the ridicule of his wife. I agree completely with M. Joret in the opinion that the internal evidence is too strong to admit of the supposition that Tavernier was not personally the author of the larger part of the memoirs, and that from their very nature they could not have been written from mere verbal dictation. Chappuzeau doubtless edited them, and did his work very badly, as the numerous omissions and contradictions prove.

In the year 1675 Tavernier's first publication appeared under the title, Nouvelle Relation du Serrail du Grand Signior. His magnum opus, the Six Voyages, appeared in the following year; and the 'Design of the Author' which is prefixed conveys the idea that the whole was his own handiwork. The interest aroused in these works was considerable, and the number of editions (see Bibliography) which appeared in rapid succession amply attest the popularity of the work. In 1679 he published another volume, the Recueil de plusieurs Relations. In the preparation of this work he received the assistance of M. de la Chapelle, Secretary to M. de Lamoignon, M. Chappuzeau having refused to aid him further; but to what extent this assistance went it is impossible to say. This latter volume contains two portraits of Tavernier, one a bust, which is a work of high art (frontispiece to vol. ii), as also are the dedicatory verses by Boileau printed underneath it. The other is a full figure representing Tavernier in the robe of honour given him by the Shah of Persia, to which reference has aIready been made on a previous page. Translations of these works soon appeared in English, German, and Italian, as will be seen in the Bibliography.

Some who were jealous of Tavernier's success did not hesitate to contrast his works with those of Thévenot, Bernier, and Chardin -- who were perhaps better educated men and of a more philosophical turn of mind than he was, but it cannot be maintained that their works met with equal success; and it is apparent that the reading public preferred his facts and personaI observations to the philosophic speculations which were added to the facts recorded by.his rivals. Voltaire and others, though they wrote somewhat contemptuously of the value of Tavernier's work, did not influence the tide of opinion which had set strongly in his favour. It is noteworthy, however, that Tavernier, in his references to the above-named travellers, speaks of them all with the utmost courtesy, when referring to his having met them, while they are either silent about him, or, like Chardin, mention him only to abuse him.

In the footnotes to the present work it will be seen that while obscurity and contradiction are not absent from the text, and the effects of careless editing of the original are much to be deplored, the general accuracy ot the recorded facts, when submitted to critical examination in the light of our modem knowledge of India, is much greater than it was ever believed to be, even by his greatest admirers, who supposed them to be beyond the reach of elucidation or confirmation....

In a certain sense, to a limited degree, Tavernier may have been a plagiarist, but he openly avowed his endeavours to obtain information wherever he could. His historical chapters for instance, may have been derived from Bernier's writings, or, what is more probable, from conversations with him when they travelled together down the Ganges; while the cbapters on places he had not himself visited were, of course, founded on information collected from various sources, but principally from persons who gave him their own personal experiences. Thus, probably, is to be explained the resemblance noted by Dr. Hyde between a passage by Tavernier and one by Louis Morera in a work published at Lyons in 1671, which was founded on papers by Father Gabriel de Chinon. We know that Tavernier saw much of Father Gabriel in Persia, and he may' have learned the facts from him if he did not himself observe them....

During the period which elapsed from the publication in 1619 of his last volume up to 1684, there is reason for believing that Tavernier lived an active, commercial, though somewhat retired life. In 1684 he started from Paris for Berlin, being called thither by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, to advise with him on his projects of colonization.and commercial enterprise in the East, and to undertake to open up negotiations on his behalf with the Great Mogul. M. Joret maintains that there is no foundation for the view that Tavernier had been ruined at this time by the misconduct of his nephew, to whom he entrusted a valuable cargo for the East. On the contrary, he went to Berlin, en véritable grand seigneur, at the age of seventy-nine years, attracted by the offer of becoming the Elector's ambassador to India, being still full of bodily energy and possessing an enterprising spirit.

M. Joret, by means of an unpublished manuscript, has been enabled to trace his circuitous journey through the principal countries of Europe. Many interviews took place with the Elector, at which the arrangements for the Embassy and the formation of the trading company were discussed. Three armed vessels were to convey it, and Tavernier, besides being nominated Ambassador, was appointed to the honorary offices of Chamberlain to the Elector and Counsellor of Marine. Soon afterwards he resolved to sell his estate at Aubonne, probably to obtain capital for his own speculations.

After six weeks spent in Berlin, he left on the 15th of August for Hamburg, and then paid a number of visits to different towns in Germany, Holland, &c., finally returning to Aubonne in November. In January 1685 he was again in Paris, when he sold the land and barony of Aubonne to the Marquis Henri du Quesne for 188,000 livres of French money, with 8,000 livres more for the horses and carriages, the actual transfer being made by his wife Madeline Goisse, as he himself was at the time still in Paris. This sale completed, he would have been free to go to Brandenburg, but was delayed, as M. Joret suggests, in order to realize the 46,000 écus provided for in the letters patent constituting the Company, and which were to cover the costs of equipment of the vessels required for the first voyage. The prejudice which existed against Protestants before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes accounts for some of the difficulties he experienced in settling his affairs. M. Joret is disposed to treat as unfounded the story that Tavernier was at this time imprisoned in the Bastille as one of those who suffered from the oppression practised on the Protestants. It is proved, however, by the manuscript archives of the Bastile, which M. Joret quotes, that some one of the name of Tavernier was incarcerated there on the 18th of January 1686.

If he was not there he was probably somewhere in Paris, for by that time the projected company of the Elector had come to naught, and Tavernier's home at Aubonne in Switzerland had been sold. At upwards of eighty years of age his commercial instincts had led him to entrust a valuable cargo for India, worth 222,000 francs, to his nephew, Pierre Tavernier, son of the goldsmith of Uzès, who, as we have seen, was left by him at Tabriz in the year 1664, in charge of the Superior of the Capuchin Convent, in order to learn the Persian language. It is commonly said that this nephew settled in Persia and defrauded him of his profits, which should have amounted to a million of livres.

On the 9th of July 1687 we hear of Tavernier again as obtaining a passport to Switzerland for three or four months, subject to a bail of 30,000 livres. At this time he set out on his seventh journey to the East in order to recover his losses, as it is believed by some; but be this as it may, to M. Joret belongs the honour of having effectively followed up the question as to where the famous traveller ended his days.

Traces of his having been in Copenhagen in 1689 (or more probably in 1688) were discovered by Prof. Steenstrup, to whom inquiries were addressed by M. Joret. In the Russian review, La Bibliographie, for the month of February 1885, M. T. Tokmakof has described how, in the year 1876, when visiting an old Protestant cemetery near Moscow, he discovered the tomb of Tavernier, as M. Guerrier described it in a letter to M. Joret, with the name still preserved in full, and a fragment of the obliterated date, 16-. Moreover, M. Tolonakof discovered documents proving that Tavernier, carrying with him the passport of the King of Sweden, arrived in Russia early in February 1689, and that instructions were sent to the frontier to facilitate the journey of the illustrious visitor to Moscow.

M. Joret concludes his sketch with a well merited panegyric on the subject of his biography... To the testimony thus given, and to that which is afforded by the popularity of Tavernier's worke in the last century, the present writer confidently expects that readers of the following pages will accord a liberal and hearty confirmation.