17 



specting the Hindoos; nor were the English then settled in In- 

 dia likely, from their pursuits, to obtain much knowledge of their 

 religion, morality, and manners. In the circumscribed island of 

 Bombay, where society was confined to the European circles, 

 little information of that kind was to be expected; the same cause 

 operated at the principal subordinate settlements: but at Dhuboy 

 I was in a peculiar situation of seclusion and solitude; and, will- 

 ing to profit by the opportunity, I endeavoured to acquire all the 

 particulars I could respecting these extraordinary people. The 

 observations I made enable me to confirm what I have since met 

 with in the writings of Sir William Jones, and other celebrated 

 orientalists. But the code of laws translated from the Sanscreet 

 of Menu, affords the best and most authentic system of Hindoo 

 policy and manners. Although their chronology and history ex- 

 tend far beyond our computation of time, we must allow this 

 book to be one of the most ancient records any where extant. 

 The preliminary discourse affixed to it, composed by modern 

 pundits and brahmins, is a liberal and manly essay; and although 

 the Hindoo literati of the present day are very inferior to their 

 ancestors in science and wisdom, many of them are taught the lan- 

 guage in which those valuable treatises were written, and have the 

 same fountain to apply to for information. In this preliminary 

 discourse several eminent brahmins, with great elevation of mind, 

 and liberality of sentiment, thus address themselves. 



" From men of enlightened understandings, and sound judg- 

 ment, who in their researches after truth, have swept from their 

 hearts the dust of malice and opposition, it is not concealed that 

 the contrarieties of religion, and diversities of belief, which are 



VOL. III. D 



