Excerpt from The Hand-Book of India: A Guide to the Stranger and the Traveller, and a Companion to the Resident The object of the present work is to combine, within the smallest possible Space, all the informa tion respecting British India, which an individual proceeding to any one of the presidencies might de sire, at first, to possess. Innumerable excellent pub lications are before the world, some of which treat of the history of India, the form of government, the topography, productions, and commerce of the country, while many are confined to sketches of habits, customs, and religions; the revenue and monetary systems; the manner of European life, laws, and institutions, &c. But there is not one single volume extant which presents, at one view, an outline of every thing relating to the country. To supply the desideratum has been the purpose of the author, or compiler, of the present hand-book. Although a long residence in India has afforded the writer many opportunities of collecting informa tion respecting several important sections of the country, and more especially the metropolis of British India, the magnificent city of Calcutta, he has necessarily consulted and quoted from the works of others who have traversed portions of the empire which it never was his fortune to visit. Among these authors, the late Miss Emma Roberts, Mrs. Postans, and Colonel Davidson stand in the fore ground. Much has also been derived from the Bengal and Agra Guide and Gazetteer, published in India, the Asiatic Journal (the articles from which were originally contributed by the author of the hand-book himself), Milburn's Oriental Com merce, Galloway's Law and Constitution, Thornton's History, the east-india United Service Journal, and some others. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.