P R E F A C E.

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In carrying it on , and confulting with carethe authors of antiquity , fome facts , hithertounobferved , and many which had not beenexamined with proper' attention, occurred; newviews opened; my ideas gradually extended andbecame more interefling ; until , at length, Iimagined that the refult of my refearches mightprove amufing and inflructive to others , byexhibiting fuch a view of the various modes inwhich intercourfe with India had been carried onfrom the earlieft times, as might show how muchthat great branch of commerce has contributed,in every age, to increafe the wealth and powerof the nations which polfelfed it.

Thus the Idil tori cal Difquifition which I nowlay before the Reader was begun and completed.What degree of merit it poffelfes , the Publicmull determine. My grateful recollection of thefavorable manner in which my other works havebeen received, naturally increafes the folicitudewith which I wait for its decifion concerning thiswhich I now publish.

When I firft turned my thoughts to this fubject,I was fo fully aware of the difadvantage underwhich I labored in undertaking to deferibecountries of which I had not any local knowledge,