WHILE translating the first part of this work, I was fully conscious of the extremely erroneous nature of the text, and before this translation went to the press, I had done all that lay in my power to secure a correct copy of the same, Unfortunately, however, no trace could be found of any such correct copy, and not feeling myself bold enough to make my own corrections, I translated the text as I found it. But soon after the first part was out, I received a letter from Syed Siraj-ud-din Moulvi Esq. B.A., Professor of Persian and Arabic at the Deccan College, Poona, shortly criticizing my work, and, from further correspondence, I learnt that he had in his possession a manuscript copy of the the text written in Bombay in 1245 A. H. by Mirza Mahomed Husain Khan for his uncle Mirza Mahomed Khan, son of Nawab Mirza Mahdi Ali Khan Khorasani, and what delighted me more was that the professor volunteered to help me in my work by putting this manuscript copy at my disposal, if I went to him at Poona. The result has been that not only is the second part quite free from the blemishes attaching to the first and arising from the misprints in the text, but the first part also has undergone a most scrupulous revision under his care. I have to express my best thanks to Mr. Moulvi, whose readiness to aid those, who work in the field of Persian Literature, and whose systematic efforts to subscribe something substantial to the scanty funds of that literature, are in glaring contrast with the timidity and diffidence of those, who pose as Persian scholars, but venture to do nothing lest they should endanger their reputation thereby.
S. F. M.
MARINE LINES, BOMBAY.
25th June, 1900.