JOSEPH FROM CRANGANORE (KODUNGALLUR). - Sonderlinge reysen van Joseph, den geboornen Indiaan, bevattende een aanmerklijke beschrijvingh der landen, steeden, en inwooners van Caranganor, Calicuth, Cambaja, Narsinga, enz. Door de Portugeezen uyt sijnen mond opgetekend, anno 1501. Nu aldereerst uyt ' t Portugeesch vertaald.

Leyden, Pieter van der Aa, 1706. Sm.8vo. Old marbled wrappers. With engraved title-vignette and double-page engraving. 23, (4) pp. Issued in Pieter van der Aa's collection of voyages. - When Pedro Alvares Cabral called at Cochin in the winter of 1500 to 1501, he was approached by two Syro-Malabar priests, Joseph and Mathias, who requested to be taken on board for the voyage to Europe so that they could visit Rome and Jerusalem. Mathias, however, died en route. In the cities of Europe, Joseph was apparently interrogated at great length about his homeland, and was regarded as a man of the highest integrity. His description of Cranganore, although bigoted and biased in favour of the Christian community, was widely accepted at face value. In Rome he presented a report on the Malabar Christians and answered numerous questions, some of them directed from the pope himself (Howgego p.557). An early account of a visitor from India to Europe. - Fine. Tiele 5; Cat. NHSM I, p.107.

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