I Have thought it desirable, before beginning what I have to say on the Hindu religion, to give the reader a short notice on that subject, for he may be surprised that, so many books having appeared about it already, I should design to add my remarks. To this I reply that what ought to have made me refrain is the very thing that induces me to take up my pen. For, although I knew that several persons had written on this matter, I have been told that their accounts are defective; and I believe this short account could not be otherwise than agreeable to the public. In those hitherto laid before it, some have wished to suggest that these poor idolaters had received some slight knowledge of Christian mysteries, upon which they had built their show of a religion. Others have concerned themselves with nothing beyond some of the principal customs and ceremonies.<br><br><br>My account has nothing in common with all that. I have set myself to know the foundations of their belief, of their politics and their government, on which I have drawn up the memoirs here presented. It will be seen that their religion is nothing but a confused mixture of absurdities and coarse imaginings, unworthy even of the rational man; much less has it the least trace of Divinity as its author.