A brilliant account of Edmund Roberts’ second official mission to the Indian Ocean and Far East, written by the surgeon who accompanied the American legation. It includes several valuable chapters on Zanzibar and Muscat, and a description of the Omani ruler, Said bin Sultan (1791-1856), with whom Roberts exchanged ratified treaties, initially agreed on his previous mission.
The legation set out from New York aboard USS Peacock in April 1835 with the aim of securing trade agreements and peace treaties with various Eastern powers (many of which Roberts had previously visited in 1832-34). In the course of the voyage they visited not only China, Java and India, but also Hawaii, Zanzibar, Muscat and California.
The first volume contains “Sketches in the Dominions of the Sultan of Muscat” (page 11 to 156), which describe Zanzibar and Muscat in great detail; their geography, trade, street-life and personalities. Ruschenberger’s sketches of the latter are especially interesting, as in addition to describing important people, he records the spaces in which he met them. Of the impressive Hassan bin Ibrahim, Captain of the Sultan’s Navy, we learn not only of his education, his “eminently graceful” (p.28) costume and his many duties (such as transacting the American commerce at Zanzibar), but also of his home and his belongings. The rooms are memorable and perfectly encapsulate the mix of cultures at Zanzibar: “A cage full of small doves, and a glass lamp-shade, were suspended from the ceiling, and the wall was ornamented by several English prints of rural subjects.” (p.45).
Two meetings with Said bin Sultan are accounted for, the second of which centred on the exchange of ratified treaties — the first to be made between America and a country of the Arabian Peninsula. (The text following the second meeting prints the treaty in full.) Ruschenberger captures the amicable nature of the exchange, and the good relationship between Roberts and the Sultan, who had first met during one of Roberts’ early commercial voyages.
This edition is somewhat different to the American first (Philadelphia, 1838). As well as having attractive plates (the US edition was unillustrated) it predictably lacks several anti-British comments.
Sabin, 74186; Hill, 1498; Not in Macro.
