— 35 — 



to that useful periodical a short exti'act from one of these 

 letters, which, however, was very inacctirately pointed. (1) 

 On reading this I at once wrote to Dr Wilmot, who has 

 most kindly done all in his power to gratify my wishes on 

 the subject. 



The writer of the letters was Emmanual Altham, young- 

 est brother of Sir Edward Althan?, Kt , of Marke Hall, in 

 Essex, to whom they are addressed. Emmanuel sailed from 

 England in the spring of 1626, to the East Indies, on board 

 the ' Hopewell,' in company with five other ships, one or 

 more of which undoubtedly bore the ambassadors, Sir Dod- 

 more Cotton and Sir Robert Sherley whom Charles I. was 

 sending to the " Pot-shaugh " of Persia, and in their retinue 

 Sir Thomas Herbert, whose figure and descriptions of the 

 Dodo are well known. (2) The fleet anchored in Swalley 

 road, oS Surat, on the 30th November in that year ; and soon 

 after, the voyagers separated — Herbert going in the ship 

 'j William,' to Gombroon in the Persian Gulf. (3) It is no 

 easy matter to glean the dates of the various incidents re- 

 corded in his book ; but it is almost certain that he could 

 not have reached until 1629, (4) while Altham, as the letters 

 show, was there in 1628. For the time that the two travel- 

 lers were in company however their tales tally very v/ell. Both 

 mention the mortality which the expedition suffered in the 

 Mozambique Channel, losing the Vice-Admiral Goodall, " and 

 many a brave gentleman beside , " both were equally struck 



(1) ' Field,' XLHi. p. 177, No. 1104, Feb. 21, 1874. 



(2) See Strickland ' The Dodo ' &c., pp, 19, 20. 



(3) Herbert's Travels' &c„ 2nd ed. 1638, p. 110 ; 3rd ed. 1665, p. 

 107 ; 4th ed, 1676 p. 102. 



(4) Strickland, ho-^vcvcr, says (/. c.)] " 1627." 



