$68 Biographical shetch of Col Mackenzie. [July 



ance in the design, though but little elFectual assistance 

 was given ; and my removal from any share in the di- 

 rection of the Dekkan surveys in 1806, put a stop to the 

 further prosecution of this map. It has not, however, 

 been neglected, and it is hoped it may yet be resumed 

 by the revisal of the materials since collected, though 

 on a more circumscribed scale than was once intended. 



12. On my return to Haiderabad in 1798, for thQ 

 third time, to resume the investigations of Dekkan geO" 

 graphij, measures were proposed, and in part methodis- 

 ed, for describing the whole of that territory; and be- 

 fore 1799 considerable assistance was obtained from a 

 copy of the regular official dafter of the Dekkan, in its 

 provincial and even more minute divisions. This has 

 been since translated from the Persian, as well as cer- 

 tain MSS. of authority, which were proposed as the ba- 

 sis of the plan to be followed in the inquiry and de- 

 scription. The Dekkan was in fact then a terra incog- 

 nita, of which no authentic account existed, excepting 

 in some uncertain notices and mutilated sketches of the 

 marches of Bussy, and in the travels of Ta vernier, and 

 Thevenot, which by no means possess that philosophi- 

 cal accuracy demanded in modern times.* 



13. This plan w^as nearly overset at the commence- 

 ment by the new war with Tipu in the year 1799; it 

 may be satisfactory, however, to know, that the at- 

 tempts then made were not without their use both in 

 a military light (as described more fully in official re- 

 ports,) and in anticipating measures that have since 

 been, or may still be, advantageously followed in arrang- 

 ing the history, antiquities, and statistics of that inter- 

 esting country. 



14. After the reduction of Mysore in 1799, and in 

 the arrangements that follov/ed, I was employed in fur- 



See Gexxille's Opiiiiou on the Geography of India. Vuyagcs awx 



