India: A man sawing wood (Pierre Sonnerat, 1782).

Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814) was a French naturalist and explorer who made several voyages to Southeast Asia between 1769 and 1781. He published this two-volume account of his voyage of 1774-81 in 1782. Volume 1 deals exclusively with India, whose culture Sonnerat very much admired, and is especially noteworthy for its extended discussion of religion in India, Hinduism in particular.<br/><br/><br/> Volume 1 deals exclusively with India, whose culture Sonnerat very much admired, and is especially noteworthy for its extended discussion of religion in religion in particular. Volume 2 covers Sonnerat窶冱 travels to China, Burma, Madagascar, the Maldives, Mauritius, Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), Indonesia, and the Philippines. The book is illustrated with engravings based on Sonnerat drawings. Sonnerat was also a dedicated ornithologist and bird collector, and the book describes and depicts a number of species that he was the first to identify. Sonnerat was also a dedicated ornithologist and bird collector, and the book describes and depicts a number of species that he the first to identify.