Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/15

Rh diligent study of the people during that time, with the aid of information drawn from books of known authority, will be found to have prevented the occurrence of many serious errors. The reader should be warned against the very common mistake of taking, as applicable to all India, statements true only of certain districts or provinces. India is an aggregate of nations having many things in common, but being in many things diverse. This should be borne in mind, and a distinction be made between local and general facts.

A scientific accuracy in the spelling of Eastern names and terms has not been sought. The mode most commonly used in Southern India has been usually adopted.

If this humble attempt to give life and reality to now vague and cold conceptions of the “heathen of far-off India” serves to create in any Christian heart a more enlightened and lively zeal for the