Ma Huan accompanied Zheng
He on three of his seven voyages. Proficient in Arabic, he
served as a translator. We do not know many details of Ma Huan’s
life: he was born in about 1380 and probably died about 1460. His
book on his travels Yingyai sheng-lan (The Overall
Survey of the Ocean’s Shores) was published in about 1451, and is a
rich source of observations about south and southeast Asia. Ma Huan
did not accompany Zheng He on any of the voyages which reached East
Africa.
One of the stories Ma Huan brought
back from his travels in the west was the story of
Moses.
Ma Huan’s works are available in
an English translation by J.G.V. Mills, which the Wilson library
has.
