MADRAS JOURNAL 



OF 



LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 



No. IS— January 1838. 



I. — Firsi Report of Progress made in the Examination o/Z/ie Mackenzie 

 MSS., with an Abstract Account of the W^orks examined. — By the Rev, 

 William Taylor, Member of the Madras Literary Society, 8fc. 



To the Secretary to the Asiatic Department, Madras Lit. Soc. 



a7id Auxiliary Royal Asiatic Society, 



Sir, — 1. I have nowbeen engaged for two months in the work of ex- 

 amining, collating, and (as far as needful) restoring the Mackenzie 

 Manuscripts confided to me by authority of Government, under date of 

 6th June last; and as, according to the tenor of the correspondence 

 with the Literary Society on the subject, a report, by way of general 

 abstract, is expected from me, 1 think it expedient, in place of one 

 general report at the close, to divide it into sections, forwarding these 

 from time to time, as may be found convenient. The effect will be to 

 render the whole more conveniently readable ; and to enable all who 

 feel any interest in the subject, whether near or remote, to know 

 how the work is proceeding; to form an estimate of probable results ; 

 and to judge as to the expediency, or otherwise, of full translations 

 of such portions of the extensive collection as may be found really 

 valuable. 



2. I beg leave here to state that the principle which guided me, at 

 the outset, was to select those books wdiich were in the worst state for 

 the earliest examination and restoration. Hence, the following abstract 

 will not offer the best, or (with a few exceptions) those selected on ac- 

 count of superior value ; but those requiring to be promptly rescued 

 from a rapid progress to wards illegibility, or destruction. I purpose 

 pointing out by the way, what I think to be of value; but the exact 

 merits of the whole collection must not be judged of until the abstract- 

 ing, or reporting, is completed. I have no doubt that matter will ap- 



