.It is hardly necessary to state that the work should long ere this have been done, but it is only fair to say that the delay was such as could not be avoided. Effort of this sort, in addition to the claims of a busy missionary life, becomes no slight burden, though in the author s case it was one in which he has had sincere satisfaction. The book aims to give its historical information from first sources, and from the personal experience of over a decade in the field. All foreign terms have as far as possible been avoided, and the spelling of all proper names has not been loaded down with the diacritical points of the scholar, as it is pretty fully recognized that only a residence in the land will enable one to acquire a correct pronunciation of Indian names. - from Amzon