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JAMES BAILLIE FRASER (1783--1856)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 39 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:BAILLIE See also:FRASER (1783--1856)  , Scottish traveller and author, was See also:born at Reelick in the See also:county of See also:Inverness on the 11th of See also:June 1783 . He was the eldest of the four sons of See also:Edward Satchell See also:Fraser of Reelick, all of whom found their way to the See also:East, and gave See also:proof of their ability . In See also:early See also:life he went to the Wiest Indies and thence to See also:India . In 1815 he made a tour of exploration in the Himalayas, accompanied by his See also:brother See also:William (d . 1835) . When Reza Kuli Mirza and Nejeff Kuli Mirza, the exiled See also:Persian princes, visited See also:England, he was appointed to look after them during their stay, and on their return he accompanied them as far as See also:Constantinople . He was afterwards sent to See also:Persia on a See also:diplomatic See also:mission by See also:Lord See also:Glenelg, and effected a most remarkable See also:journey on horseback through See also:Asia See also:Minor to See also:Teheran . His See also:health, however, was impaired by the exposure . In 1823 he married a daughter of See also:Alexander Fraser See also:Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, a See also:sister of the historian See also:Patrick Fraser Tytler . He died at Reelick in See also:January 1856 . Fraser is said to have displayed See also:great skill in See also:water-See also:colours, and several of his drawings have been engraved; and the astronomical observations which he took during some of his journeys did considerable service to the cartography of Asia . The See also:works by which ha attained his See also:literary reputation were accounts of his travels and fictitious tales illustrative of Eastern life .

In both he employed a vigorous and impassioned See also:

style, which was on the whole wonderfully effective in spite of minor faults in See also:taste and flaws in structure . Fraser's earliest writings are: See also:Journal of a Tour through See also:Part of the Himdi¢ Mountains and to the See also:Sources of the See also:Jumna and the See also:Ganges (1820); A Narrative of a Journey into See also:Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822, including some See also:Account of the Countries to the See also:North-East of Persia (1825) ; and Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the See also:Southern See also:Banks of the See also:Caspian See also:Sea (1826) . His romances include The Kuzzilbash, a See also:Tale of Khorasan (1828), and its sequel, The Persian Adventurer (1830) ; Allee Neemroo (1842) ; and The Dark See also:Falcon (1844) . He also wrote An See also:Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia (1834) ; A See also:Winter's Journey (Tatar) from Constantinople to Teheran (1838); Travels in Koordistan, See also:Mesopotamia, &c . (1840); Mesopotamia and See also:Assyria (1842); and Military See also:Memoirs of See also:Col . See also:James See also:Skinner (1851) .

End of Article: JAMES BAILLIE FRASER (1783--1856)
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