| Authorship Notes |
The apodemic essay 'The Art of Travel' is not an original part of Las Casas's account and was probably added to the English translation of 1699 by either the translator or publisher. Its author remains anonymous.
'The Art of Travelling' is a fairly conventional late seventeenth century reworking of the apodemic tradition. The piece begins by favorably contrasting experiential learning to knowledge from books, comparing travelling to 'the Experiment of a Chymist'. It goes on to say that through travel a suitable and prepared individual can learn invaluable knowledge under three headings: religion, morality, and policy. The author then gives a lengthy account of the kind of individual who will gain these boons from travel. This person will be old enough to be prepared but not too old to take on new knowledge (aged 25 to 35), with the knowledge and natural capacity to learn and thrive in various environs, the temper of mind to be void of prejudice and yet serious, observant yet discreet, and possessed of appropriate linguistic skills. The essay also gives advice on what to observe, and how best to write an account of a foreign land. The author illustrates these points with many anecdotes of travellers.
This essay appears after the main text of 'An account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards in America' (1699), pagination starts over (though not the signatures), pp. 1-40. |
