1 PREFACE, XXVll
2 the compensation of such local knowledge as I
3 may have acquired in countries wholly new to
4 Europeans, and which will be found in my jour-
5 nals, deposited for transfer, in case of my death,
6 with Captain Murray ;" and, at a subsequent pe-
7 riod, in reply to a request from Dr. Abel to pos-
8 sess and publish some of his papers, he writes
9 from Kunduz : " My powers over the papers al-
10 luded to are more limited than they might appear
11 and, in explanation, it is to be remarked that the
12 official letters of public servants of the government
13 become, through the act of transmission, the ex-
14 clusive property of the latter, and it is only with
15 the permission of the supreme authorities that the
16 writers can publish their contents." At the same
17 time he communicated unreservedly, and at great
18 length, with a number of individuals, and addressed
19 several papers to different public bodies, as the
20 Asiatic and Agricultural Societies of Calcutta, and
21 the Board of Agriculture in England, forwarding
22 the latter communications, however, through the
23 government of Bengal and the Court of Directors,
24 and, consequently, with their implied sanction.
25 Certain it is, however, that the government of
26 India never recognised Mr. Moorcroft in any diplo-
27 matic capacity, and his supposed assumption of it
28 occasionally incurred their displeasure. Shortly
29 after the commencement of his route he applied to
30 the Governor General for a letter of introduction
31 Digitized by
32 Google