PREFACE.

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that I have been at the utmoft pains to guardagainft any errors which this might occafion. Ihave confulted , with perfevering induftry, theworks of all the authors I could procure, whohave given any account of India ; I have neverformed any decided opinion , which was notfupported by refpectable authority; and as I havethe good fortune to reckon amon® the number

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of my friends fome Gentlemen who have filledimportant Rations, civil and military, in India ,and who have vifited many different parts of it,I had recourfe frequently to them, and from theirconverfation learned things which I could nothave found in books. Were it proper to mentiontheir names, the Public would allow that by theirdifcernment and abilities they are fully entitledto the confidence which I have placed in them.

In the progrefs of the work, I became fenfibleof my own deficiency with refpect to anotherpoint. In order to give an accurate idea of theimperfection both of the theory and practice ofnavigation among the Ancients , and to explainwith fcientific precifion, the manner in which theyafcertained the pofition of places, and calculatedtheir longitude and latitude, a greater portion ofmathematical knowledge was requifite , than my