influencing Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe as well as sparking a friendship with Robert Hooke of the Royal Society. It is one of the earliest and most detailed European accounts of life on Ceylon and is today seen as an invaluable record of the island in the 17th century. Knox became a close friend and collaborator of Robert Hooke, for whom he frequently brought back gifts from his travels. In return, Hooke took Knox to the local coffeehouses for chocolate and tobacco, then considered luxuries. On one occasion, Knox presented Hooke with samples of "a strange intoxicating herb like hemp" which he dubbed "Indian hemp" or "Bangue"; it is better known today as cannabis indica, a plant which was unknown at the time in Europe. Hooke gave an address to the Society in December 1689 in which he provided what was the first detailed description of cannabis in English, commending its possible curative properties and noting that Knox "has so often experimented it himself, that there is no Cause of Fear, tho' possibly there may be of Laughter." Knox also described termites, bees and ants in Ceylon. Knox was present when Hooke died on 3 March 1703 after a long illness and took on the responsibility of arranging his friend's burial. Knox continued to work for the East India Company for thirteen years after his return from the East, captaining the ship Tonqueen Merchant for four further voyages to the East. He enjoyed only mixed success and quarrelled with the company, which eventually dismissed him in 1694. Four years later he set himself up on his own trading vessel, the Mary, but the venture was not a success. He returned permanently to England in 1701 and spent his retirement writing about Ceylon and his life. He died, prosperous but unmarried, at St Peter le Poer in the City of London in June 1720 and was buried at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon. References Book of the Month – An historical relation of the Island of Ceylon – March 2004. King's College London. Harry Williams (1964), With Robert Knox in Ceylon, Frederick Muller Limited. I. B. Watson, 'Knox, Robert (1641–1720)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2005 External links Robert Knox's 1681 account of the Veddas Other sites in Sri Lanka. Sailors from London English explorers English explorers of the Pacific 1641 births 1720 deaths Sri Lankan people of English