1^5.] Biographical sketch of Col. Mackenzie, 367 



Lieu tenant- Colonel Mackenzie's commission, we must 

 admit that his merits have not been merely confined to 

 the duty of a geographical surveyor; and finding that 

 his representations on the subject of the inadequacy of 

 iiis allowances are seconded by very strong recommenda- 

 tions from you, we direct that you present him with the 

 sum of 90G0 pagodas, as full remuneration for his past 

 labours, and as a mark of our approbation of his work. 



6. We next proceed to notice the statistical researches 

 In which also Lieut.-Colonel Mackenzie employed him- 

 self. These are nearly allied to inquiries of a geogra- 

 phical kind, and answer the same end in an improved 

 degree ; they have, too, the merit of being in India 

 much more uncommon ; and though they were adverted 

 to in the original instructions given to Lieuto-Colonel 

 Mackenzie, the ample and successful manner in which 

 he has pursued them, in the midst of other arduous la- 

 bours, proves the zeal by v/hich he has been actuated, 

 and adds to the value of his services and his discoveries. 



7. This observation applies with at least equal propri- 

 ety to his superadded inquiries into the history^ the re- 

 ligion, and the antiquities of the country; objects 

 pointed out indeed in our general instructions to India, 

 but to which, if he had not been prompted by his own 

 and public spirit, his other fatiguing avocations might 

 have been pleaded as an excuse for not attending. 



8. Real history and chronology have hitherto been 

 desiderata in the literature of India, and from the ge- 

 nius of the people and their past government, as well as 

 the little success of the inquiries hitherto made by Eu- 

 ropeans, there has been a disposition to believe that 

 the Hindus possess few authentic records. Lieut.-Co- 

 lonel Mackenzie has certainly taken the most effectual 

 way, though one of excessive labour, to explore any 

 evidences which may yet exist of remote eras and events, 

 by recurring to remaining m.onmnent-'i, inscrvpfions, and 



