INTRODUCTION. 1 5 



with credit." I was then sent out into the districts 

 with an estabHshment of about twenty-one surveyors, 

 eighteen of whom worked with cross staff and chain 

 and three with theodolite. The duties of the cross 

 staff men were to survey all holdings of the ryots or 

 village leaseholders — the size of their fields being 

 regulated according to the quality of the soil — to 

 make village maps showing all the boundaries of 

 these holdings, together with all details — such as 

 rivers, streams, trees, wells, roads, paths, etc. The 

 theodolite men traversed the boundaries of the 

 villages, the whole being made into district maps in 

 the rains and embodied in the Topographical Survey 

 maps. 



My duties were to allot them their several villages, 

 place my camp as nearly as possible in the centre, 

 ride out every morning anything from five to ten 

 miles, and test about ten per cent, of each man's work 

 once every month with a theodolite. It was hard 

 work — especially in the hot weather — as measure- 

 ments in the field had to be plotted out to scale, 

 areas computed, and any discrepancies investigated ; 

 in addition to this, boundary disputes with foreign 

 territories had to be inquired into, evidence being 

 taken in writing, old maps consulted, etc., before 

 any settlement could be effected. 



Whilst in this Survey I got my first tiger 

 shooting. In September, 1866, I became seriously 

 ill with fever, contracted, I suppose, in the jungles 

 where I had been "big game shooting." I was laid up 

 at Surat, and very nearly "pegged out." Eventually, 



