This book is a reissue of the travelogue of Adriaan van Berkel, first published in 1695 by Johan ten Hoorn in Amsterdam. The first part deals with Van Berkel's adventures in the Dutch colony located on the Berbice River in the Guianas; the second part is a description of Surinam, the adjacent colony the Dutch took over from the British in 1667.This reissue, edited by Martijn van den Bel, Lodewijk Hulsman and Lodewijk Wagenaar, contains a new annotated English translation as well as an integra...

Every society has an energy profile, that is, an array of energy sources, ranging in complexity from human power to nuclear fusion, that can be ranked according to their relative importance to that society. From about 4000 BE onward, animal muscle power becomes integrated into the energy profiles of many societies. The forms this integration takes include riding, carrying burdens, pulling wheeled vehicles and sleighs, operating mills and irrigation devices, and pulling plows, threshing sleds,...