INTRODUCTORY LETTER.
Actuated by a sense of duty to the people
with whom twelve years of my life were passed
on terms of intimacy and kindness, I was in-
duced to write the principal number of the fol-
lowing Letters as faithful sketches of the Man-
ners, Customs, and Habits of a people but little
known to the European reader. They were at
first designed merely for the perusal of private
friends; who, viewing them with interest,
recommended my bringing them before the
public, considering that the information they
contained would be acceptable from its origi-
nality, as presenting a more familiar view of
the opinions and the domestic habits of the
Mussulmaun community of Hindoostaun than
any hitherto presented through other channels.
Actuated by a sense of duty to the people
with whom twelve years of my life were passed
on terms of intimacy and kindness, I was in-
duced to write the principal number of the fol-
lowing Letters as faithful sketches of the Man-
ners, Customs, and Habits of a people but little
known to the European reader. They were at
first designed merely for the perusal of private
friends; who, viewing them with interest,
recommended my bringing them before the
public, considering that the information they
contained would be acceptable from its origi-
nality, as presenting a more familiar view of
the opinions and the domestic habits of the
Mussulmaun community of Hindoostaun than
any hitherto presented through other channels.