Page:Imperial India — An Artist's Journals.djvu/23

Rh which places were within a few miles of towns that I visited. Bejapore and Madura were not far from my line of route, while to examine the Caves of Ellora Sir Salar Jung offered me every facility. But to see all these places I must have turned aside, and my work, doing it as quickly as I could, occupied double the time I had originally assigned to it. I have, however, seen more of India than almost any one man, and, moreover, seen it under the most favourable circumstances, and it is with the hope of conveying some impression of what I have seen to the general reader that I submit my journals to the public.

I have thought it better to preserve the familiar and somewhat idiomatic language of my original manuscript, fearing to lose in freshness, if I gained in style, were I to improve and polish the somewhat abrupt utterances of a traveller. The narrative contained in a journal must necessarily be somewhat personal; and though I have as much as possible avoided personal description, I may unwittingly have given offence to some of my friends, either native or English. If I have done so, I humbly apologize, and beg to assure any that I may have offended that no offence is intended. I have received so much kindness and courtesy from both European and native, that my heart is full of kindly feeling for all things Indian; and although I have spoken out in some matters, I cannot think that anything in this book can irritate even the most thin-skinned.

Some stories of rajahs and their families I have inserted, as such stories are public property and matters of history. When a person is raised so much above others as is a rajah, he must expect the full blaze of the Eastern sun to shine upon him and his doings. In publishing such tales as I found current I may be doing wrong. The very fact of giving publicity to the doings of the great in India is a novelty; but to prove to a rajah that he and his doings are not above public criticism will perhaps cause some improvement in his goings on. If once native chiefs become convinced of this, and the light of publicity can be made to fall on the shades of the Zenana, a great public good will be achieved. I confess I have hesitated before I decided to print