PREFACE AND DEDICATION.

TO MY FATHER.

I FEAR that in attempting to give a value to the letters which I wrote to you from India, by illustrating them with notes on the subjects they referred to, I have produced but a hybrid narrative, combining neither the freshness of the originals nor the importance of the works from which I have too liberally drawn. But it is now too late to alter or re-arrange them; and I shall only add that I hope they may serve the object of their re-compilation—namely, to help you to wile away an hour or two.

LONDON, 13th December, 1873.