PKEFACE. 



In submitting the present Hand-book to the public, but 

 few observations are necessary. The compiler has simply- 

 reduced a mass of matter to a convenient form for perusal 

 and reference. The necessity for such a condensation wUl 

 he trusts, prove a sufficient apology to the many distinguished 

 writers, whose minutes, reports, and correspondence have 

 been thus abridged and arranged in a continuous narrative. 

 In the last Chapter, however, which exhibits the present 

 condition of the Cotton culture in the Madras Presidency, 

 it has been deemed expedient to present the reader with full 

 extracts from the letters of the Collectors of the several Dis- 

 tricts, rather than with abstracts ; as the subject matter ap- 

 pears to be of greater importance, inasmuch as it refers to 

 the present condition and prospects of the country. 



J. T. W. 



MADBAS, 



ll^A March, 1862. 



