Preface The great and increasing favour experienced by the EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY has induced the Publishers to employ the utmost exertion to make the present work, as it is more extensive than any of its predecessors, still more deserving of public approbation. To embody in a popular form and moderate compass a full view of the History, the Natural Features, the Political and Social State of BRITISH INDIA, was, they were sensible, a task which could be better accomplished by a combination of varied talents than by any one individual. Under this impression they engaged the co-operation of a number of gentlemen whose abilities and acquirements have raised them to the first eminence in their respective departments of literature and science. These distinguished per- sons embarked in the undertaking with a full sense of its importance, and each with an ardent zeal to contribute his share in rendering this work more complete than any yet given to the world respecting British India. The Pub- Lishers trust they may confidently assert that information, derived from the most authentic sources, has been in instance employed with judicious care.
**Contents and Sample Pages** 
