Introduction. 



ON returning to England after a prolonged 

 residence in India, one is struck and I 

 am sure all Anglo-Indians will bear me out in 

 this with the abysmal ignorance of the average 

 Englishman upon everything concerning our vast 

 Indian Possessions and Dependencies. 



Our Indian Empire is unique ; no other Euro- 

 pean power can boast of anything at all com- 

 parable with it. Yet so far from being a subject 

 for enthusiastic pride, and for careful study, it is 

 almost ignored. The British people, to take 

 them in the bulk, are not only ignorant, but 

 apathetic. This cold indifference was even more 

 noticeable some twenty years ago than now. The 

 modern Englishman has fallen into the rather 

 lazy habit of extracting most of his information 

 from novels. A brilliant romance will attract 

 attention where works of great labour and research 

 fail to achieve a remunerative sale. The modern 



