Narrating in detail grand events and quotidian anecdotes, and observing religious practices and customs, François Bernier provides a Eurocentric perspective on northern India, its people, and its places. Brock's interventions as translator affirm that perspective while drawing attention to Britain's presence in India and adding explanatory details to Bernier's account.

The first modern English translation of a book on travel in seventeenth-century India reasserts its interest for imperial Britain.