iv

PREFACE.

in carrying it on , and, consulting with carsthe authors of antiquity , some facts , hithertounobserved, and many which had not beenexamined with proper attention, occurred; newviews opened; my ideas gradually extended andbecame more interesting ; until , ' at length, Iimagined that‘the result of my researches mightprove amusing and instructive to others , byexhibiting such a view of the various modes inwhich intercourse with India had been carried onfrom the earliest times, as might show how muchthat great branch of commerce has contributed,in every age, to increase the wealth and powerof the nations which possessed it.

Thus the Historical Disquisition which I nowlay before the Reader was begun and completed.What degree of merit it possesses , the Publicmust determine. My grateful recollection of thefavorable manner in which my other works havebeen received, naturally increases the solicitudewith which I wait for its decision concerning thiswhich I now publish.

When I first turned my thoughts to this subject,I was so fully aware of the disadvantage underwhich I labored in undertaking to describecountries of which I had not any local knowledge,