Mr.Watters had to judge of the comparative merits of the versions of Beal and Giles, and pronounce on the many points of contention between them.

I have endeavoured to eschew those matters, and have seldom made remarks of a critical nature in defence of renderings of my own.
The Chinese narrative runs on without any break.

It was Klaproth who divided Remusat's translation into forty chapters.

The division is helpful to the reader, and I have followed it excepting in three or four instances.

In the reprinted Chinese text the chapters are separated by a circle in the column.
In transliterating the names of Chinese characters I have generally followed the spelling of Morrison rather than the Pekinese, which is now in vogue.