XI 
Note explanatory of the Index. 
The Index has been prepared under a conviction that the permanent va- 
fue of a work like this depends greatly upon the facility with which the in¬ 
formation which it contains can be referred to. Although the table of con¬ 
tents is unusually full, it is, from its nature, insofar defective that the rea¬ 
der cannot ascertain, at a glance, what information the volume contains on 
any particular subject. This defect is remedied by the Index, which will 
also he found of great utility for purposes of comparison. The ethnogra¬ 
phical enquirer, for instance, desirous of comparing the customs of the dif¬ 
ferent nations and tribes described as to marriage, burial, &c., is enabled 
by the Index to do so by reference to those heads. While our knowledge of 
the Archipelago remains, as at present, in its infancy, and we possess nei- 
iher a general gazetteer, nor even the geography of any one island, and have 
no complete vocabulary of a single language, it appears expedient to intro¬ 
duce into the Index the names of places, plants, animals <£'c., occuringirt 
the volume, and also those of men, offices, human arts $c., The Malayan 
names of Malayan objects are more familiar to local writers than any equi¬ 
valents which could he found for them in their own language, and they are 
hence sometimes mentioned without any explanation. In such cases the 
Index will supply the omission. 
For easier reference the matter of the Index has been divided into two 
parts. The first, under the title General Index, contains 1st. an alpha¬ 
betically arranged summary of the volume more minute than the table of 
contents, but refering to it when practicable, as under the heads Cochin. 
China, Bimta &c., where it seemed inexpediant to repeat the full analysis 
of the paperson those subjects given in the Contents, 2nd. areference under 
the general titles, Ethnology, Geology, Geography, Arts, Customs 
<!tfc., to all the notices appertaining to each of these divisions of knowledge. 
The title of the second part, Index of names and glossary, explains it¬ 
self. In itself it will be found to possess considerable ethnological value 
by bringing together names of “ persons, places and things ” used by dif¬ 
ferent tribes, and thus facilitating comparison. 
