1836.] 



Miscellanea. 



■435 



to fill much room with little matter, as would have merited from a dis- 

 criminating eye any thing rather than approval and reward. It is 

 much to be regretted that the Colonel did not, or could not, secure the 

 assistance of some person, not being a native, who could have read 

 over, or have had read over to him, the various documents as brought 

 in by native agents, reporting imposition, and (under reference to the 

 Colonel- himself) rejecting the worthless, and marking the valuable at 

 once for careful copying (at the least) on good record paper, with du- 

 rable ink ; putting the whole into uniform and respectable binding. 

 In such a case the assorted matter would have been so much the more 

 valuable, and the whole might have longer defied the tooth of time. 

 As the case is, however, the only resource is to make the best of what 

 is in good preservation ; and the doing so ought not to be very long 

 delayed. 



In afterwards going through the palm-leaf manuscripts, some things 

 more serious were discovered. It appeared that in the various opera- 

 tions of untying and tying up again, to which they had been subject, 

 and specially (1 believe) during an examination at the College itself, 

 the different leaves had become intermixed, changed to different books.j 

 and, in some cases, abstracted or lost. For example I was peculiarly 

 disappointed when on untying a book with a promising title on the 

 Libel, expecting it to clear up some obscurities in a great change of 

 dynasty at Yizianagarum, the book, which promised to be a history of 

 the life and actions of Narasinga-rayer, was found to be composed of 

 some fragments only of that work ; and, for the rest, unconnected 

 leaves of other manuscripts, written at very different periods, and on 

 multifarious matters. Though to an equal degree no other case simi- 

 lar has been met with, yet few of the palm-leaf manuscripts are accu- 

 rately complete : many of them here and there wanting a leaf, or 

 more than one. This is a circumstance quite grievous; and I know 

 not how it could be remedied, except by a careful collation of the 

 whole, in a room set apart for the purpose; whereby perhaps the 

 integrity of the manuscripts might to a great degree, if not wholly, 

 be restored. 



These difficulties and disadvantages being set aside, I have notwith- 

 standing found an extensive mass of information brought before me, 

 in wading through which, I have been slowly, but systematically, en- 

 gaged ; not looking upon my personal information as an ultimate end ; 

 but yet without any very distinct perception of more extensive result. 

 Since the time when the second volume of my quarto work was issued 

 from the press, that is, since December of last year, I have regularly 

 given a portion of time every week to an investigation of the various 

 documents, aided by a nalive assistant. I select, mark, and get 

 copied (in the way above indicated) whatever appears to be valu- 

 able. A considerable mass of papers has thus accumulated, toge- 



