250 AN ESSAY ON THE 



wrapliy. This was absolutely necessary, as a clue 

 to j>ui(le him through so immense an undertaking, 

 and I had full confidence in him. His manners 

 were blunt and rough, and his arguing with me on 

 several religious points with coolness and steadi- 

 ness, a thing very uncommon among natives, (who 

 on occasions of this kind, are apt to recede, or 

 seem to coincide in opinion,) raised him in my es- 

 teem. I affected to consider him as my Guru, or 

 spiritual teacher ; and at ceitain festivals, in return 

 for his discoveries and communications, handsome 

 presents were made to him and his family. 



The extracts which I thus received from him, I 

 continued to translate, by way of exercise, till, in 

 a few years, this collection became veiy volumi- 

 nous. At our commencement, I enjoined him to 

 be particularly cautious in his extracts and quota- 

 tions; and informed him, that if I should, at a 

 future period, determine to publisli any thing, the 

 strictest scrutiny would take place in the collation. 

 He seemed to acquiesce fully in this ; and we went 

 on, without any suspicion on my part, until Sir 

 William Jonks strongly recommended to me to 

 publish some of my discoveries, particularly re- 

 specting Egypt. I collected immediately all my 

 vouchers relating to that country, carefully revised 

 my translations, selected the best passages, com- 

 pared them with all the fragments I could find 

 among our ancient authors, and framed the whole 

 into an essay. I then informed my pandit that, 

 previously to my sending it to Sir W. Jones, a 

 most scrupulous collation of the vouchers, with 

 the original manuscripts from which they were 

 extracted, would take place. 



To this, without the least alteration in his 

 countenance, nay, with the greatest cheerfulness, 

 he assented ; and as several months intervened, he 



