460 



and blend a strange mixture of legendary lore with topographical 

 history. 



I had transcribed some hundred pages from those memoranda, 

 and other documents, to illustrate the countries bordering on the Dhu- 

 boy and Brodera purgunnas; especially in the dominions of Mha- 

 dajee Sindia, which I intended should follow the account of the 

 Guzerat districts entrusted to my care; but the papers of a de- 

 ceased friend having since come into my possession, afford such 

 ample scope for a more complete description of those interesting 

 tracts, that I shall suppress much of my own collection, to intro- 

 duce a journey from Surat to Calcutta, written in the year 1785, 

 when Mr. Cruso, in his medical capacity, accompanied Sir Charles 

 Malet to the camp of Mhadajee Sindia, through provinces little fre- 

 quented by Europeans, and some of them never yet described: 

 this route was purposely selected by Sir Charles, to improve 

 and extend our knowledge of so interesting a part of India. 



From my own materials, the rough journal of Mr. Cruso, and 

 the kind assistance of Sir Charles Malet in supervising, improve- 

 ing, and amplifying many passages from his own manuscripts, 

 I am enabled to produce a narrative of novelty and interest far 

 superior to the desultory observations contained in two or three 

 of my letters, descriptive of the Malwa scenery, and its inha- 

 bitants. As the whole is now formed into one connected detail, 

 it is unnecessary to particularise each respective source of infor- 

 mation. Mr. Cruso's journal has furnished the outline and prin- 

 cipal features of the picture, the more masterly touches are by the 

 hand just mentioned. 



Mr. Malet (now Sir Charles Warre Malet, Bart.) was appointed 



