Wall-street to Cashmere

"In this volume which I present to the public, I have given a very brief abstract (except as to those places seldom visited or written about) of wanderings in Europe, Asia Minor, and Africa, with a literal transcript of that during my travels in India, China, and Java, taken from a continuous journal in letters to my mother, during a period of five or six years in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and of course reliable from the very nature of the journal. And it is only now, when India and its affairs have assumed such a vast importance before the world, that I have been induced to yield to the repeated solicitations of friends, to give the public my mite of experience and knowledge of the country, its people, customs, government, army, etc., derived during eighteen months of pleasure travel in which I visited every part of India." - J.B.I., from 'A Word to the Reader'.