DUBOIS ' CHIEF WORK xiii which my profession confines me amongst the natives of the country .' He remarks further , however :
'
During my long sojourn in India I never let slip any opportunity of collecting materials and particulars of all sorts . My information has been drawn partly from the books which are held in highest estimation amongst the people of India
and partly from such scattered records as fell by chance into my hands and contained facts upon which I could
thoroughly rely . But in regard to the majority of the materials which I now offer to the public I am chiefly dependent on my own researches , having lived in close and familiar intercourse with persons of every caste and
condition of life . Probably many Europeans settled in
India would have been more capable than myself of performing the same task ; but I may be permitted to doubt whether there has been any person more favourably situated for gleaning information or more zealous in his pursuit of knowledge .'
At the same time he disclaims for his work any general applicability to the whole of India . His observations extend , broadly speaking , to the India that lies south of the Vindyan Range
; and even within those limits he is careful to remark that local differences are so many and so marked that ' there is no class or sect or community of
Hindus that has not , in addition to the general rules of Hindu society , some domestic usages peculiar to itself .'
So that , as he says , it is impossible to generalize with complete accuracy on any subject connected with them .
But though the Abbe with characteristic modesty leaves
'
to the many learned Europeans ' residing in the country the task of compiling from authentic documents a more ' methodical and comprehensive history of the Hindus ,' his own work possesses special merits of its own and is far
superior to any that could be compiled from books of