A travelogue written by Mohan Lal (d. 1877), an Indian intelligence agent who worked for the British in Central Asia, presented by the author to William IV.

Mohan Lal was one of the first students to receive an education in English language and literature at Delhi College after the East India Company reorganised its curriculum in 1828. He graduated fluent in English, Urdu, Persian, and Kashmiri, after which Sir Alexander Burnes hired him as one of three assistants on his intelligence-gathering expedition from India to Central Asia in 1832‒33. This volume is Mohal Lal’s personal account of the mission. 

The author later acted as Commercial Agent for the British on the Indus and Political Assistant to Burnes during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42), during which time he played a significant role in developing the British intelligence network in Afghanistan. Mohal Lal travelled to Europe in 1844 and received an audience with Queen Victoria in March 1846, after which she invited him to a ball at Buckingham Palace. He dedicated his biography of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan of Kabul, published in 1846, to the Queen (see RCIN 1026358).