PREFACE. 



In one of the elaborate volumes of the United States 

 Exploring Expedition it is said : "In its wild state the pea- 

 cock is peculiar to Hindustan ;" while they are roving 

 wild all over these Provinces, Arracan, and the Burman 

 Empire. Webster. defines dammer as " a resinous sub- 

 stance, obtained from a species of agathis or dammara, a 

 tree allied to the pines," while here it is obtained from 

 the wood-oil tree family ;* and a considerable proportion 

 of what Europeans often call dammer, is a hard kind of 

 bees' wax, produced by a bee that builds in hollow trees. t 



With teachers like these Europeans and Americans 

 come to India, and find themselves in the midst of a fau- 

 na and flora with which they are utterly unacquainted. 

 In sections where there are lexicons that define correctly 

 the vernacular names, the difficulty is scarcely felt. In 

 Wilson's Sanscrit Dictionary, for instance, the systematic 

 name of nearly every plant and animal known to the lan- 

 guage, can be found at once ; but if, as in Farther India, 

 the lexicographers are as much in the dark as the inqui- 

 rer who consults them, he has no alternative but to re- 

 main in darkness, or sit down to the patient study of the 

 objects themselves. And to this toil the translator of the 

 Scriptures must address himself, for it is not optional with 

 him, but is a part of his professional duty to render, if 

 possible, every word of the original by its corresponding 

 word in the vernacular, and he is so far wanting in the 

 trust committed to him by the churches or societies whose 

 ambassador he is, ii he shrinks from any study requisite to 

 qualify him for the accurate performance of his work. 



In ordinary circumstances, the professional duties of 

 most men preclude them from bestowing the time and at- 

 tention to the natural sciences, necessary to enable them to 

 determine accurately the character of the objects of nature 

 with which they are unacquainted. It is not remarkable 

 then that our Chin-Indian literature abounds in errors. 

 Throughout India, wherever there is European society, 

 there is found a numerous class of English names incor- 

 rectly applied to Indian productions, which almost unavoid- 



