PREFACE. IX 



tioned author we are also indebted for a 

 Vade Mecum, a work of considerable 

 merit, comprising a perspicuous and de- 

 tailed description of the native servants 

 in India and their customs ; and is, in pro- 

 portion to the fund of information which 

 it contains, the cheapest publication of 

 the kind that I am acquainted with: yet 

 the price of this book is now one pound 

 and eight shillings. I have found it neces- 

 sary to refer frequently to that gentle- 

 man's publications, and I have done it with 

 much gratification, being truly sensible of 

 their great merit. 



Unaccustomed as I am to composition, 

 I readily admit that the critics may find 

 much to censure in the inelegancy of my 

 style, and perhaps in the inaccuracy of my 

 language. I have not the vanity to think 

 that I am capable of communicating my 

 observations and ideas with perfect cor- 

 rectness ; and while I endeavour to give 

 my narrative in as plain a manner as 

 possible, my only claim from the public 



