1 PREFACE. Til
2 much reading and research, and to be prepared
3 from materials collected during the whole period
4 of his residence amongst the Sikhs. He had
5 evidently consulted with care all the Persian
6 and other books, that afford any insight into
7 the history of the Sikhs, or of the Moghul and
8 Afghan officers who came into contact or colli-
9 sion with them ; while his account of the rise
10 and fortunes of Runjeet Singh appeared to
11 have been compiled from the reports and verbal
12 mformation of intelligent persons who had served
13 under him, corrected and tested by a laborious
14 examination of the Akhbars or native news-
15 papers, files of which Mere recorded in his
16 office : a valuable Appendix was added, contain-
17 ing the result of his personal observations and
18 enquiries into the habits, customs, rules, and
19 observances of the Sikhs. The report was
20 defective in arrangement, being put together
21 with no view to publication, but unfortunately
22 this highly esteemed and distinguished officer
23 died very soon after the Governor General
24 visited those parts, when it was his Lordships
25 intention to have requested him to prepare from
26 his expose, a volume calculated to diffuse the
27 information he had collected, and to give public
28 and general utility to the result of his labours.
29 There is no doubt, that, if this officer had
30 lived, the work would have been executed in a