Mss Eur Orme India

The INDIA volumes, containing almost entirely copies of manuscripts, the originals of most of which are to be found in the ORME VARIOUS, though some [e.g. the Eyre Coote Journals (VII. 3, 4; VIII. 2), the originals of which, I fear, are hopelessly lost.], and these not the least important, are copies of manuscripts which Orme returned to their owners.

The fact that Orme caused fair copies to be made of so many of his manuscripts suggests that he had in mind the preparation of a set of volumes of important papers which, though unprinted, might serve as a kind of Appendix to his History, of the same nature as the Pieces Justificatives attached to French Memoires. Had this been done with care the results would have been very valuable, but Orme's copyists were hopelessly incompetent, and he himself did not take the trouble either to arrange the papers to be copied in any proper order, or to compare the copies, when made, with the originals. Consequently the value of the INDIA volumes consists almost wholly in the copies of manuscripts of which the originals have been lost.