Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official | Page 4

familiar words, such as
Nerbudda and Hindoo, which are spelled in the traditional manner,
vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian, or as in the following English
examples, namely: â, as in 'call'; e, or ê, as the medial vowel in 'cake'; i,
as in 'kill'; î, as the medial vowels in 'keel'; u, as in 'full'; û, as the
medial vowels in 'fool'; o, or ô, as in 'bone'; ai, or âi, as 'eye' or 'aye',
respectively; and au, as the medial sound in 'fowl'. Short a, with stress,
is pronounced like the u in 'but'; and if without stress, as an indistinct

vowel, like the A in 'America'.
The Editor's notes, being designed merely to explain and illustrate the
text, so as to render the book fully intelligible and helpful to readers of
the present day, have been compressed into the narrowest possible
limits. Even India changes, and observations and criticisms which were
perfectly true when recorded can no longer be safely applied without
explanation to the India of to-day. The Author's few notes are
distinguished by his initials.
A copious analytical index has been compiled. The bibliography is as
complete as careful inquiry could make it, but it is possible that some
anonymous papers by the Author, published in periodicals, may have
escaped notice.
The memoir of Sir William Sleeman is based on the slight sketch
prefixed to the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, supplemented
by much additional matter derived from his published works and
correspondence, as well as from his unpublished letters and other
papers generously communicated by his only son, Captain Henry
Sleeman. Ample materials exist for a full account of Sir William
Sleeman's noble and interesting life, which well deserves to be
recorded in detail; but the necessary limitations of these volumes
preclude the Editor from making free use of the biographical matter at
his command.
The reproduction of the twenty-four coloured plates of varying merit
which enrich the original edition has not been considered desirable. The
map shows clearly the route taken by the Author in the journey the
description of which is the leading theme of the book.

EDITOR'S PREFACE (1915)
My edition published by Archibald Constable and Company in 1893
being out of print but still in demand, Mr. Humphrey Milford, the
present owner of the copyright, has requested me to revise the book and

bring it up to date.
This new edition is issued uniform with Mr. Beauchamp's third edition
of _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_ by the Abbé J. A.
Dubois (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1906), a work bearing a strong
resemblance in substance to the Rambles and Recollections, and, also
like Sleeman's book in that it 'is as valuable to-day as ever it was--even
more valuable in some respects'.
The labour of revision has proved to be far more onerous than was
expected. In the course of twenty-one years the numerous changes
which have occurred in India, not only in administrative arrangements,
but of various other kinds, necessitate the emendation of notes which,
although accurate when written, no longer agree with existing facts.
The appearance of many new books and improved editions involves
changes in a multitude of references. Such alterations are most
considerable in the annotations dealing with the buildings at Agra,
Sikandara, Fathpur-Sîkrî, and Delhi, and the connected political history,
concerning which much new information is now available. Certain
small misstatements of fact in my old notes have been put right. Some
of those errors which escaped the notice of critics have been detected
by me, and some have been rectified by the aid of criticisms received
from Sir George Grierson, C.I.E., Mr. William Crooke, sometime
President of the Folklore Society, and other kind correspondents, to all
of whom I am grateful. Naturally, the opportunity has been taken to
revise the wording throughout and to eliminate misprints and
typographical defects. The Index has been recast so as to suit the
changed paging and to include the new matter.
Captain James Lewis Sleeman of the Royal Sussex Regiment has been
good enough to permit the reproduction of his grandfather's portrait,
and has communicated papers which have enabled me to make
corrections in and additions to the Memoir, largely enhancing the
interest and value of that section of the book.
Notes:
1. Certain small changes have been made.

MEMOIR OF MAJ.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM HENRY SLEEMAN,
K.C.B.
The Sleemans, an ancient Cornish family, for several generations
owned the estate of Pool Park in the parish of Saint Judy, in the county
of Cornwall. Captain Philip Sleeman, who married Mary Spry, a
member of a distinguished family in the same county, was stationed at
Stratton, in Cornwall, on August 8, 1788, when his son William Henry
was born.
In 1809, at the age of twenty-one, William Henry Sleeman was