May, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. xxxix 



suit the purposes of the Society, you would be good enough to return it to me at 

 your earliest convenience." 



The thanks of the Society were ordered to be returned for the contri- 

 bution, and the paper was referred for publication in the Journal. 



The Secretary, with reference to the recent completion of the 

 Tareekh-i-Nadiree, read the following preface : — 



The text of this work has been prepared by careful collation with a number of 

 manuscripts of the Tareekh-i-Nadiree, procured from various quarters, the best of 

 which were two manuscripts brought by Major William Anderson, C. B. from Can- 

 dahar, and two kindly lent by Nawabs Busheer-ood-deen and Ruheem-ood-deen, 

 grandsons of Tippoo Sultan. I have likewise to express the acknowledgments 

 of the Society, for the loan of manuscripts, to Hajee Kurbelai Mahommed, of this 

 city, Hafiz Uhmud Kubeer (Principal of the Calcutta Madrussah), Molvee Abdool 

 Wahab, (Meer Moonshee to the Government of India), and other gentlemen. The 

 manuscripts were, even Major Anderson's, more or less defective, and it would have 

 been impossible to produce a good edition of the work without the examining and 

 collating at least twelve different copies, so incorrectly did the work seem to have 

 been generally preserved. Among the manuscripts was a translation of the work 

 into Oordoo by Moonshee Syud Hyder Bukhsh, belonging to the Library of the So- 

 ciety, which was to a certain degree useful, as respected the collation of the narra- 

 tive. 



The rough draft or first editing of a manuscript from all the copies of the work 

 available, was undertaken by Molvee Gholam Ukbur, Persian Librarian to the So- 

 ciety ; who aided by some literary friends, executed this task with great patience, and 

 much ability. The five best manuscripts were then taken, and the collated work 

 was gone through, and carefully compared by me with them in conjunction with our 

 Librarian for the purpose of selecting preferable readings, any question of doubt 

 being referred to Hafiz Uhmud Kubeer, and the professors of the Calcutta Mud- 

 russah. 



Molvee Gholam Ukbur then prepared a rough vocabulary of the Toorkee words 

 occurring in the manuscript, which, principally by the aid of a gentleman named 

 Shah Oolfut Hoossein, was finally put into its present shape. I have been careful 

 to record the names of those gentlemen , by whose gratuitous aid the difficult work 

 of preparing a good copy of the Tareekh-i-Nadiree has been principally accomplish- 

 ed, as feeling that this at least was due to them, the Asiatic Society of Bengal being 

 so mainly indebted to their labours for the production of a work long called for, and 

 much valued, in a complete and creditable shape. 



H. TORRENS, 



Vice President and Secretary, 



Asiatic Society of Bengal, 



