Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/24

8 fortune having vanished so suddenly and so cruelly.

But crushing as the disappointment was, it enabled me to cast about for some equally powerful distraction. I had long cherished the hope of visiting Gujarát and Káttywár with some definite business views. And having at this juncture received an offer from a friend, I accepted it thankfully.

This personal explanation has been given, reader, to warn you against expecting too much from my book. Now that you know me, I know you will not be too exacting. If you are curious to revel in the luxury of deep and learned research, I must frankly refer you to Oriental Memoirs, Forbes, Briggs, Ferishta, and such others, with whom my acquaintance is slightest of slight, barely sufficient to make me know my place. If you want to refresh, and at the same time to enlighten your mind, you had better turn to the picturesque details of the gifted padre Heber. Should you wish to have correct statistics and authenticated accounts, I could safely recommend