Author Description

"When British diplomats McLeod and Richardson set out on their missions to the Tai states in December 1836, their aim was trade and friendship. Captain William Couperus McLeod and Dr. David Richardson, both of the East India Company Madras Army, travelled from Moulmein on elephants, horses, and in the caravans of traders, to the present-day regions of the Shan States in Burma, northern Thailand, and Sipsong Panna in China. As the first Europeans to officially visit the region, they experienced some extraordinary social and cultural encounters." "Their narratives, their records of scientific, social and cultural detail, their engaging insights, and some prejudices, make this engrossing reading for the enthusiast of travel and adventure literature. More than this, it is an essential new resource for scholars of many kinds - historians, anthropologists, geographers, and botanists, to name a few."--BOOK JACKET.