Page:A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts.djvu/14

v to 20 years, leaves me no room to doubt but some will adhere to my fortune; but it is to be confessed it is at some hazard in again exchanging a state of moderate comfort with their families for a state of dependance in a distant country; and this uncertainty of an adequate provision for these useful people renders my situation at present more uncomfortable than I wish to say.

"For these thirteen years, therefore, there is little to shew besides the Journal and Notes of an Officer employed in all the Campaigns of the time; first towards the close of the War of 1783 in the provinces of Coimbatoor and Dindigul, and afterwards in professional duties in the provinces of Madras, Nellore and Guntoor, throughout the whole of the war from 1790 to 1792 in Mysore, and in the Countries ceded to the Nizam by the Peace of 1792, and from that period engaged in the first attempts to methodize and embody the Geography of the Deckan, attempts that were unfortunately thwarted or impeded by measures not necessary here to detail ; the Voyage and Campaign in Ceylon may be noticed as introductory to part of what followed, on my return to resumes the Geography of Deckan.

"Some voluntary efforts for these purposes, had at last excited the notice of a few Friends in the field