The work is, however, much more than ' a reprint of these tables. I have not only verified the dates and pedigrees by reference to the Arabic sources and added a number of dynasties which were not represented in the Catalogue of Coins, but I have endeavoured to make the lists more intelligible by prefixing to each a brief historical introduction of Mohammadans Dynasties. These introductions do not attempt to relate the internal history of each dynasty: they merely show its place in relation to other dynasties, and trace -its origin, its principal extensions, and its downfall; they seek to define the boundaries of its dominions, and to describe the chief steps in its aggrandisement and in its decline. In the space at my command these facts could only be stated with the utmost brevity, but in the absence of any similar attempt to arrange, define, and explain the relative positions and successions of all the Mohammadan Dynasties in every part of the Muslim world,