Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/329

 PRELIMINARY REMARKS, &C. S85 The first, alone, has an immediate relation to the nature of the work which I have undertaken to write ; but, as the dominion which European na- tions have, for more than three centuries, establish- ed in the Archipelago, has produced a most im- portant influence on the fortune and character of the native races, a sketch of its history could not be dispensed with. To the native history, I have devoted six short chapters ; and to the European narrative three. Both are too obviously defective in interest and dignity to demand the solemn and continuous narrative of regular history, and I have, therefore, treated the first chiefly with the view of illustrating the character of the people, and the progress of social order in a condition of society in many respects novel and peculiar ; and the second, principally in its bearings on the first, avoiding, as unnecessary to my purpose, and probably as of lit^ tie interest to the general reader, the details of co- lonial intrigue and depravity. With the view of superseding any objections which might be urged against this plan, — of giving some degree of unity to the present book, — and of supplying useful or necessary information to the more practical reader, a chapter is subjoined, which embraces, in the form of a chronological table, a detail of the whole events of the history of the Ar, chipelago, whether native or European. Among the innumerable tribes of the Archipe-^