Storia do Mogor 3.3

3.3

In his first preface of 1705 Catrou tells us, more truthfully, that he obtained Manucci's manuscript from M. Deslandes, a Pondicherry official, who had brought it to Europe in 1701 or 1702. As to the truth of the earlier historical events, Catrou (Preface, p. 2) relies for proof of authenticity on Manucci's assertion (Text, I. 55) that his facts were taken direct from official chronicles. But in reality, for the period preceding Shahjahan—that is, up to the year 1627—Manucci's history is no more than a tissue of popular stories of no historical value whatever. Thus Catrou, in his volume of 1705, reproduced for the most part what are perhaps the least valuable chapters of Manucci's text. The volume of 1705 ends with the struggle in 1658 between Aurangzeb and his brothers for the imperial throne.