An Historical Relation of Ceylon

'the unhappy Occasion of our going to this Countrey, May 26, 2014

Downloaded this just prior to a trip to Sri Lanka and wasn't sure I'd find a 17th century account on the island of much interest - couldn't have been more wrong!
Robert Knox was detained in Ceylon from the ages of 19 to 38, after the ship which his father captained for the E India Company was forced to pull in here, and they were captured. The first two thirds of the book however do not mention the author's personal story but are rather an exposition on the country itself and its inhabitants.
I was particularly interested in his account of the king - contemporary of England's Charles II - 'an absolute Tyrant, and Rules the most arbitrarily of any king in the World' who would show more despatch malefactors by elephant: 'the king makes use of them for Executioners; they will run their teeth through the body and then tear it in pieces'. Being summoned into his court was a thing to be feared, for one's final discharge 'is always either by Execution or by being given to somebody for perpetual Bondmen'.
The last third of the book follows Knox and his companions and their long period stuck on Ceylon under a kind of increasingly relaxed house-arrest, until he makes a final (and quite exciting) break for freedom... show less

One of the great travelogues and adventure stories of literature. After describing the manners and attributes of the locals from his decades living in 1670s Ceylon in the mountains, Robert Knox recounts his escape and journey north. The reader can imagine this journey, sleeping in the open where wild predators roamed, and making his way forward down river beds and along river banks and through rainforests. A glimpse of a truly lost world.