LONDON :
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
PREFACE.
I t was my first intention to publish a second edition of a work
which I gave to the public six-and-thirty years ago, but, on mature
consideration, I have come to the conclusion that a subject so multifarious
as a general description of the Indian and Philippine Archipelagos
would be most conveniently and compendiously treated by an alphabetic
arrangement. The result is the present work; the fruit of seven years’
additional local experience of India, and of a study of the subject con-
tinued with little interruption from the publication of the History of the
Indian Archipelago, in 1820. Some of the articles are meagre from want
of materials, and others, without doubt, imperfect and unsatisfactory
from defective knowledge or skill in the writer; but, upon the whole, the
book will probably be found the most comprehensive and accessible which
has yet been published on the extensive region of which it treats, while it
will, at all events, lay the foundation for a more perfect superstructure by
those who may follow the Author in the same direction.