ii 



PREFACE. 



only by the abandonment of ordinary recreations. Some 

 allowances must also be made for the difficulties attendant on 

 conducting a work through the press at Madras, the annoy- 

 ing extent of which can only be fully understood by those 

 who have suffered under them. Brother Editors in Europe 

 must not estimate our labours here, by their own share of the 

 work in the publication of a volume. 



Having premised thus much on the editorial management 

 of the Journal, and entreating forgiveness for dwelling, even 

 thus briefly, on what may have the semblance of egotism, the 

 Editor would wish to draw the attention of the public to the 

 nature and use of the publication itself, and to the Society 

 under the auspices of which it is published. 



There can be no doubt that a vehicle for conveying to the 

 world notices of facts observed in the wide field of nature, 

 of discoveries in the antiquities of India, and observations or 

 treatises on the arts, literature, manners and customs of its 

 inhabitants, was much needed in Southern India. The 

 manner in which this Journal has been supplied with contri- 

 butions since its commencement bears ample witness to that 

 fact. At the same time it cannot be denied, that, though 

 the subscription list is considerable, yet the publication would 

 fall to the ground if it had been undertaken as a mercantile 

 speculation by a publisher. The circumstance of its being 

 published as the Journal of a Literary Society, prevents 

 such a discreditable termination to its career of usefulness, 

 as death from want of pecuniary sinews, when its intellec- 

 tual resources were abundant. It is expected that the cost 

 of publication will be nearly, if not quite, covered by the re- 

 ceipts, even if the sale of copies does not exceed the present 

 amount. 



Sir William Jones, in his preliminary discourse, delivered 

 on the occasion of the institution of the Asiatic Society in 

 Bengal, after defining the bounds within which the researches 

 of that body were to be carried on, proceeds to say : " If 

 i( now it be asked, what are the intended objects of our in- 

 " quiries within these spacious limits, we answer, Man and 



