A

JOURNEY

THROUGH THE

KINGDOM OF OUDE,

IN 1849—1850;

BY DIRECTION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE,
GOVERNOR-GENERAL.

WITH PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ANNEXATION
OF OUDE TO BRITISH INDIA, &c.

BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.

Resident at the Court of Lucknow

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

RICHARD BENTLEY,

Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

1858.

[Transcriber's note: The author's spelling of the names of places and people vary considerably, even within a single paragraph. The spelling of place names in the text varies from that shown on the map. The author's spelling is reproduced as in the printed text.]

PREFACE

My object in writing this DIARY OF A TOUR THROUGH OUDE was to prepare, for submission to the Government of India, as fair and full a picture of the real state of the country, condition, and feeling of the people of all classes, and character of the Government under which they at present live, as the opportunities which the tour afforded me might enable me to draw.

The DIARY must, for the present, be considered as an official document, which may be perused, but cannot be published, wholly or in part, without the sanction of Government previously obtained.*

Lucknow, 1852.   

* This permission was accorded by the Honourable Court of Directors in December last.

[Transcriber's note: Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official by W. H. Sleeman 2nd Ed. 1915, p.xxxvi notes that the date of the permission was not December 1851, but December 1852.]

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Biographical Sketch of Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman, K.C.B.
Introduction
Private correspondence preceding the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude

CHAPTER I.

Departure from Lucknow—Gholam Hazrut—Attack on the late Prime Minister, Ameen-od-Dowla—A similar attack on the sons of a former Prime Minister, Agar Meer—Gunga Sing and Kulunder Buksh—Gorbuksh Sing, of Bhitolee—Gonda Bahraetch district—Rughbur Sing—Prethee Put, of Paska—King of Oude and King of the Fairies—Surafraz mahal

CHAPTER II.

Bahraetch—Shrine of Syud Salar—King of the Fairies and the Fiddlers—Management of Bahraetch district for forty-three years—Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem Mehndee—Nefarious transfer of khalsa lands to Tallookdars, by local officers—Rajah Dursun Sing—His aggression on the Nepaul Territory—Consequences—Intelligence Department—How formed, managed, and abused—Rughbur Sing's management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47—Its fiscal effects—A gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin villagers—Murder of Syampooree Gosaen—Ramdut Pandee—Fairies and Fiddlers—Ramdut Pandee, the Banker—the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor—Murder of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in 1823.

CHAPTER III.

Legendary tale of breach of Faith—Kulhuns tribe of Rajpoots—Murder of the Banker, Ramdut Pandee, by the Nazim of Bahraetch—Recrossing the Ghagra river—Sultanpoor district, State of Commandants of troops become sureties for the payment of land revenue—Estate of Muneearpoor and the Lady Sogura—Murder of Hurpaul Sing, Gurgbunsee, of Kupragow—Family of Rajahs Bukhtawar and Dursun Sing—Their bynama Lands—Law of Primogeniture—Its object and effect—Rajah Ghalib Jung—Good effects of protection to Tenantry—Disputes about Boundaries—Our army a safety-valve for Oude—Rapid decay of Landed Aristocracy in our Territories—Local ties in groves, wells, &c.

CHAPTER IV.

Recross the Goomtee river—Sultanpoor Cantonments—Number of persons begging redress of wrongs, and difficulty of obtaining it in Oude—Apathy of the Sovereign—Incompetence and unfitness of his Officers—Sultanpoor, healthy and well suited for Troops—Chandour, twelve miles distant, no less so—lands of their weaker neighbours absorbed by the family of Rajah Dursun Sing, by fraud, violence, and collusion; but greatly improved—Difficulty attending attempt to restore old Proprietors—Same absorptions have been going on in all parts of Oude—and the same difficulty to be everywhere encountered—Soils in the district, mutteear, doomutteea, bhoor, oosur—Risk at which lands are tilled under Landlords opposed to their Government—Climate of Oude more invigorating than that of Malwa—Captain Magness's Regiment—Repair of artillery guns—Supply of grain to its bullocks—Civil establishment of the Nazim—Wolves—Dread of killing them among Hindoos—Children preserved by them in their dens, and nurtured.

CHAPTER V.

Salone district—Rajah Lal Hunmunt Sing of Dharoopoor—Soil of Oude—Relative fertility of the mutteear and doomutteea—Either may become oosur, or barren, from neglect, and is reclaimed, when it does so, with difficulty—Shah Puna Ata, a holy man in charge of an eleemosynary endowment at Salone—Effects of his curses—Invasion of British Boundary—Military Force with the Nazim—State and character of this Force—Rae Bareilly in the Byswara district—Bandha, or Misletoe—Rana Benee Madhoo, of Shunkerpoor—Law of Primogeniture—Title of Rana contested between Benee Madhoo and Rogonath Sing—Bridge and avenue at Rae Bareilly—Eligible place for cantonment and civil establishments—State of the Artillery—Sobha Sing's regiment—Foraging System—Peasantry follow the fortunes of their refractory Landlords—No provision for the king's soldiers, disabled in action, or for the families of those who are killed—Our sipahees, a privileged class, very troublesome in the Byswara and Banoda districts—Goorbukshgunge—Man destroyed by an Elephant—Danger to which keepers of such animals are exposed—Bys Rajpoots composed of two great families, Sybunsies and Nyhassas—Their continual contests for landed possessions—Futteh Bahader—Rogonath Sing—Mahibollah the robber and