PREFACE \ii 



I mav venture to explain lliat :m effort has been 

 made to render all trade statistics on the standards of 



ulMi weights and measures, and while giving the 

 values to state now and again the equivalents in 

 pounds sterling (Is. 4>d. to the rupee). Unfortunately, 

 by the time the press order had to be given, official 

 returns later than 1905-6 were not as a rule available 

 for all aspects of trade, so that while incidentally 

 quoting such returns as were to hand of a later date, 

 the main contentions of the work turn on the positions 

 attained in 1905-6. 



I cannot close these explanatory remarks without 

 stating that the bulk of the work has been written 

 from the material sent to me from India by Mr. I. H. 

 Eurkill, M.A., Reporter on Economic Products. In 

 connection with the preparation of the Dictionary there 

 had been established in that office what have come to be 

 officially known as the "Ledgers." These consist of 

 books of blank paper assorted within boxes according 

 to the names of the products of India. Into the books 

 had been pasted cuttings from numerous publications, 

 official and otherwise, in sequence of date, passing on- 

 ward to the Dictionary and subsequently to the present 

 day. It thus became comparatively easy to ascertain all 

 new particulars, and to verify the data and corr ct the 

 mistakes of the older work. In a similar manner, 

 though perhaps not on so elaborate a scale, cuttings 

 had been preserved for many years past both in the 

 Revenue and Statistical Department of the India Office 

 and in the Office of the Director of Kew. In addition, 

 therefore, to the material amassed in India, I had placed 

 at my disposal the papers brought together in England 

 in the manner indicated, and the work as issued may, 

 I trust, be found a useful digest, within the previously 

 assigned limits, of all available information. Lastly, I 



