PREFACE.
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The history of the different races who form an integral portion of the British Empire, should be one of the most carefully cultivated studies of every member of that nation.

To be ignorant of our own history, is a disgrace; to be ignorant of the history of those whom we govern, is an injustice.

We can neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which may require restraint, and of peculiarities of temperament which may require development.

We must know that water can extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put out a fire by the use of water.

We must know that fire, when properly used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one which can be used to our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall attempt to avail ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit.