1 X PREFACE.
2 follow, to the date of the decease of the promi-
3 nent character of the work, to be added here-
4 after, in case at any future period the public
5 should take sufficient interest in the affairs of
6 the Punjab, to call for a renewed publication.
7 It may be proper to add, that whilethe first part
8 of this work was already in the Printer's hands,
9 a Persian account of the affairs of the Sikhs
10 in the Punjab, was obligingly communicated to
11 the Compiler by Sir Charles Metcalfe. The
12 manuscript had been delivered to Sir Charles
13 by its author, Khooshwuqt Raee, who was for
14 many years the Agent and Intelligencer of the
15 British Government at Umritsur. The narra-
16 tive comes down to 1812 only, but is very full
17 in respect to the early history of the Sikh Sir-
18 dars, and contains much information and useful
19 matter, not to be found elsewhere. The oppor-
20 tunity which was thus presented of comparing
21 an original work of this kind with the Memoir
22 of Captain Murray, has not been lost. The
23 result has afibrded a satisfactory corroboration
24 of the accuracy of this officer : indeed, the corres-
25 pondence of date and circumstance in many
26 important particulars leads almost to the con-
27 clusion, that Khooshwuqt Raee's narrative must
28 have been amongst the materials from which
29 the Memoir was prepared. Some occasional