The only work Kaempfer lived to publish was _Amoenitatum exoticarum
politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi_ V. (Lemgo, 1712), a selection
from his papers giving results of his invaluable observations in
Georgia, Persia and Japan. At his death the unpublished manuscripts
were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane, and conveyed to England. Among them
was a _History of Japan_, translated from the manuscript into English
by J. G. Scheuchzer and published at London, in 2 vols., in 1727. The
original German has never been published, the extant German version
being taken from the English. Besides Japanese history, this book
contains a description of the political, social and physical state of
the country in the 17th century. For upwards of a hundred years it
remained the chief source of information for the general reader, and
is still not wholly obsolete. A life of the author is prefixed to the
_History_.
KAFFA, a country of N.E. Africa, part of the Abyssinian empire. Kaffa
proper (formerly known also as Gomara) has an area of little more than
5000 sq. m., but the name is used in a general sense to include the
neighbouring territories of Gimirra, Jimma, Ennarea, &c. In this larger
acceptation Kaffa extends roughly from 6 deg. to 9 deg. N. and from 35
deg. to 37(1/2) deg. E. It forms the S.W. part of the great Abyssinian
plateau and consists of broken table-land deeply scored by mountain
torrents and densely wooded. The general elevation is about 8000 ft.,
while several peaks are over 10,000 ft. From the western slopes of the
plateau descend headstreams of the Sobat. The principal river however is
the Omo, the chief feeder of Lake Rudolf. Kaffa proper is believed to be
the native home of the coffee plant (whence the name), which grows in
profusion on the mountain sides. The principal town was Bonga, 7(1/2)
deg. N., 36 deg. 12' E., a great trading centre, but the Abyssinian
headquarters are at Anderacha, about 12 m. S.S.W. of Bonga. Jiren, the
capital of Jimma, 60 m. N.E. of Bonga, is a still more important town,
its weekly market being attended by some 20,000 persons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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