This is one of the few works which would well repay the labour of translation; but it would require a person to bring to the task a greater degree of knowledge of the Persian language than most Indian histories demand, as well as a thorough ac­quaintance with contemporary historians; for the author not only uses some uncommon words, but indulges in religious con­troversies, invectives, eulogiums, dreams, biographies, and details of personal and family history, which interrupt the unity of the narrative, and often render it a difficult matter to restore the broken links of connexion. Nevertheless, it must be confessed, that these digressions are the most interesting portion of his work; for rarely do the other obsequious annalists dare to utter their own sentiments, especially such as would be ungrateful to a royal ear, or to confess their own errors and foibles, as 'Abdu-l Kádir does with so much complacency and indifference. His own extensive knowledge of contemporary history also induces him very often to presume that his reader cannot be ignorant of that with which he himself is so intimately acquainted. He con­sequently slurs over many facts, or indicates them so obscurely, as frequently to compel a translator to supply the omissions from his own resources and conjectures.

The abstract of Indian history, from the Ghaznivide Emperors to Akbar—Akbar's history—and the Biographies of holy and wise men, physicians, and poets—each occupy about one-third of the volume, as will be seen from the subjoined abstract.* Almost all the headings have been added on the margin by a copyist, the author giving very few, except the names of kings and others whose lives he records; yet these must be of some antiquity, as many copies concur in giving them in the same language and form.