Vlll PREFACE 



its surroundings are as yet unfamiliar, and at the same time with a view to interesting 

 Indian sportsmen generally. In this connection the following extract from the original preface 

 might be quoted with advantage : 



It is not merely to the Sportsman, that this Work is addressed It is offered to the Public as depicting 

 the Manners, Customs, Scenery, and Cojtume of a territory, now intimately blended with the British Empire, 

 and of such importance to its welfare, as to annex a certain degree of consequence to every publication, that 

 either exhibits, or professes to impart, a knowledge of whatever may hitherto have been concealed, or that 

 remains unfolded to our view. 



Herein the British Nimrod may view, with no small satisfaction, a new and arduous species of the Chase. 

 The curious observer of Nature will feel equal transport, in contemplating that part of her works, which she 

 has appropriated to other soils. The Artist may reap a rich harvest of information, enabling him, not only to 

 comprehend more fully the scenery of the torrid zone, but to adorn his own compositions with a greater variety 

 of those beauties, which the climate and narrow limits of his own country cannot furnish. The Philosopher 

 and the Historian may either confirm or correct their conceptions of former details ; and, to say the least, even 

 those who, devoid of care for the past or for the future, seek for present recreation only, may in these pages 

 find that which, either from its novelty or its attraction, may help them to pass with pleasure through many ;i 

 lingering hour. 



In addition to Oriental Field Sports, a second edition of which was issued on a reduced 

 scale soon after the publication of the first edition, Captain Williamson was the author of The 

 East India Vadc-Mccnm, or complete guide to Gentlemen intended for the Civil, J\Iilitary or 

 Naval Service of the Hon. East India Company. 8vo. Lond : 1810, of which a second edition 

 appeared in 1825 after his death, remodelled by Dr. }. B. Gilchrist ; and various other works, 

 on British Field Sports, Mathematics and Angling. He also supplied the letterpress to The 

 European in India, from a collection of drawings by Charles Doyley, Esqrc. 4to. Lond : 1813. 



A. C. 



