See _post_, Chapter 52, note 1.
EDITOR'S PREFACE (1893)[1] The _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official_, always a costly book, has been scarce and difficult to procure for many years past.

Among the crowd of books descriptive of Indian scenery, manners, and customs, the sterling merits of Sir William Sleeman's work have secured it pre-eminence, and kept it in constant demand, notwithstanding the lapse of nearly fifty years since its publication.

The high reputation of this work does not rest upon its strictly literary qualities.

The author was a busy man, immersed all his life in the practical affairs of administration, and too full of his subject to be careful of strict correctness of style or minute accuracy of expression.

Yet, so great is the intrinsic value of his observations, and so attractive are the sincerity and sympathy with which he discusses a vast range of topics, that the reader refuses to be offended by slight formal defects in expression or arrangement, and willingly yields to the charm of the author's genial and unstudied conversation.
It would be difficult to name any other book so full of instruction for the young Anglo-Indian administrator.