Hi Ted,
As I said, it's a backburner project at the moment. Part of the reason is that my Latin, Greek (for the Byzantine stuff) and Arabic just isn't up to the task of translating most of what I need . The memoires, diaries, travelogues, etc. are really interesting. I've always been partial to both the popular ones and the organized ones like the Jesuit Relations.
For me, one of the more interesting things about them is the insights on how people built their taxonomies of the world in terms of perception (what do I see that makes a difference), understanding (verstehen) and explanation (erklaren). Sort of taking Bateson's definition of information ("a difference that makes a difference") and inverting it to analyze the cultural mindset of the producers of the document. If I can get a similar thing from the "other side(s)", that's when it gets really interesting, although so far I have only found one (the meeting between the leaders of the First Crusade and the Byzantine Emperor recorded by Fulcher of Chartres and Anna Comnenus).
At any rate, I'll stop side-tracking the discussion .
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