on. Still, in some things he has erred. His partiality for his own country, his comparative ignorance of the rest of the world, and the power of an oriental imagination, have sometimes led him to exaggerate both his estimates and his facts. The book is also interspersed with fables. Such traces of superstition, though a blemish, are not to be wondered at, as the author had not the advantages of a Christian education.
The author describes thing in the present tense. To avoid misapprehension, therefore, it must be borne in mind, that several years have elapsed since the work was written, while the changes, which have taken place in the interim, have been considerable.
It may be thought by some, that Editorial Notes should have been given, to correct such statements as did not tally with the strictest truth, and with the present state of things. This, doubtless, would have been a good service rendered to the Public; but the information of the Editors did not enable them to decide, in all cases, what was true, and what not. Under these circumstances, it was deemed best not to attempt the work of correction; and this the rather, because the design of the publication was not so much to teach the geography of the Panjáb, as to aid Europeans in studying its language.
The names, given to the different Duabas, are taken from the Regulations of the old Muhammadan kings, and are not generally known to the Panjábis of the present day. The term Duaba is now applied distinctively and almost exclusively to the country lying between the Satluj and the Biáh.
Although the insertion of a map of the Panjab was no part of the original plan of this work, the advantages of it are so obvious, that it has been thought best to embrace the opportunity of purchasing a supply from the Lahaur Chronicle Press, where an edition has just been lithographed. This map having been drafted with no reference to the book which it now accompanies, it will not be surprising, if occasional discrepancies are discovered; yet their general agreement will justify their being bound together.
The scheme of Romanizing proper names, is substantially that of Sir W. Jones, being the one now most approved by oriental scholars; because the most philosophical, the most accurate, and te most simple.
