CHAPTER 1.
Sundeela–The large landholders of the district–Forces with the Amil–Tallookdars, of the district–Ground suited for cantonments and civil offices–Places consecrated to worship–Kutteea Huron–Neem Sarang, traditions regarding–Landholders and peasantry of Sundeela– Banger and Sandee Palee, strong against the Government authorities from their union–Nankar and Seer. Nature and character of– Jungle–Leaves of the peepul, bur, &c., used as fodder–Want of good houses and all kinds of public edifices–Infanticide–Sandee district–Security of tenure in groves–River Gurra–Hafiz Abdulla, the governor–Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee–Thieves in the Banger district–Infanticide–How to put down the crime–Palee–Richness of the foliage, and carpeting of spring-crops–Kunojee Brahmins–Success of the robber’s trade in Oude–Shahabad–Timber taken down the little river Gurra to the Ganges, from the Tarae forest–Fanaticism of the Moosulman population of Shahabad; and insolence and impunity with which they oppress the Hindoos of the town.
CHAPTER II.
Infanticide–Nekomee Rajpoots–Fallows in Oude created by disorders– Their cause and effect–Tillage goes on in the midst of sanguinary conflicts–Runjeet Sing, of Kutteearee–Mahomdee district–White Ants–Traditional decrease in the fertility of the Oude soil–Risks to which cultivators are exposed–Obligations which these risks impose upon them–Infanticide–The Amil of Mahomdee’s narrow escape– An infant disinterred and preserved by the father after having been buried alive–Insecurity of life and property–Beauty of the surface of the country, and richness of its foliage–Mahomdee district–State and recent history of–Relative fertility of British and Oude soil– Native notions of our laws and their administration–Of the value of evidence in our Courts–Infanticide–Boys only saved–Girls destroyed in Oude–The priests who give absolution for the crime abhorred by the people of all other classes–Lands in our districts becoming more and more exhausted from over-cropping–Probable consequences to the Government and people of India–Political and social error of considering land private property–Hakeem Mehndee and subsequent managers of Mahomdee–Frauds on the King in charges for the keep of animals–Kunojee Brahmins–Unsuccessful attempt to appropriate the lands of weaker neighbours–Gokurnath, on the border of the Tarae– The sakhoo or saul trees of the forest.
CHAPTER III.
Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe–Dispute between Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives–Cultivation along the border of the Tarae forest–Subdivision of land among the Ahbun families–Rapacity of the king’s troops, and establishments of all kinds–Climate near the Tarae–Goitres–Not one-tenth of the cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled– Criterion of good tillage–Ratoon crops–Manure available–Khyrabad district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the soil over-cropped–Blight–Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of Khymara–Ousted by collusion and bribery–Anrod Sing of Oel, and Lonee Sing–State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present state–The Nazim of the Khyrabad district–Trespasses of his followers–Oel Dhukooa–Khalsa lands absorbed by the Rajpoot barons–Salarpoor–Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura–Bhulmunsee, or property-tax–Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor–Residence of the Nazim– Wretched state of the force with the Nazim–Gratuities paid by officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust–Rajah Arjun Sing’s estate of Dhorehra–Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude Tarae suppressed–Mutiny of two of the King’s regiments at Bhitolee– Their rapacity and oppression–Singers and fiddlers who govern the King–Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move– Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local Infantry–Sipahees not equal to those in Magness’s, Barlow’s, and Bunbury’s, or in our native regiments of the line–Why–The prince Momtaz-od Dowlah–Evil effects of shooting monkeys–Doolaree, alias Mulika Zumanee–Her history, and that of her son and daughter.
CHAPTER IV.
Nuseer-od Deen Hyder’s death–His repudiation of his son, Moona Jan, leads to the succession of his uncle, Nuseer-od Dowlah–Contest for the succession between these two persons–The Resident supports the uncle, and the Padshah Begum supports the son–The ministers supposed to have poisoned the King–Made to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth by his successor–Obligations of the treaty of 1801, by which Oude was divided into two equal shares–One transferred to the British Government, one reserved by Oude–Estimated value of each at the time of treaty–Present value of each–The sovereign often warned that unless he governs as he ought, the British Government cannot support him, but must interpose and take the administration upon itself–All such warnings have been utterly disregarded–No security to life or property in any part of Oude–Fifty years of experience has proved, that we cannot make the government of Oude fulfil its duties to its people–The alternative left appears to be to take the management upon ourselves, and give the surplus revenue to the sovereign and royal family of Oude–Probable effects of such a change on the feelings and interests of the people of Oude.
CHAPTER V.
Baree-Biswa district–Force with the Nazim, Lal Bahader–Town of Peernuggur–Dacoitee by Lal and Dhokul Partuks–Gangs of robbers easily formed out of the loose characters which abound in Oude–The lands tilled in spite of all disorders–Delta between the Chouka and Ghagra rivers–Seed sown and produce yielded on land–Rent and stock –Nawab Allee, the holder of the Mahmoodabad estate–Mode of augmenting his estate–Insecurity of marriage processions–Belt of jungle, fourteen miles west from the Lucknow cantonments–Gungabuksh Rawat–His attack on Dewa–The family inveterate robbers–Bhurs, once a civilized and ruling people in Oude–Extirpated systematically in the fourteenth century–Depredations of Passees–Infanticide–How maintained–Want of influential middle class of merchants and manufacturers–Suttee–Troops with the Amil–Seizure of a marriage procession by Imambuksh, a gang leader–Perquisites and allowances of Passee watchmen over corn-fields–Their fidelity to trusts–Ahbun Sing, of Kyampoor, murders his father–Rajah Singjoo of Soorujpoor– Seodeen, another leader of the same tribe–Principal gang-leaders of the Dureeabad Rodowlee district–Jugurnath Chuprassie–Bhooree Khan– How these gangs escape punishment–Twenty-four belts of jungle preserved by landholders always, or occasionally, refractory in Oude –Cover eight hundred and eighty-six square miles of good land–How such atrocious characters find followers, and landholders of high degree to screen, shelter, and aid them.
CHAPTER VI.
Adventures of Maheput Sing of Bhowaneepoor–Advantages of a good road from Lucknow to Fyzabad–Excellent condition of the artillery bullocks with the Frontier Police–Get all that Government allows for them–Bred in the Tarae–Dacoits of Soorujpoor Bareyla–The Amil connives at all their depredations, and thrives in consequence–The Amil of the adjoining districts does not, and ruined in consequence– His weakness–Seetaram, a capitalist–His account of a singular Suttee–Bukhtawar Sing’s notions of Suttee, and of the reason why Rajpoot widows seldom become Suttees–Why local authorities carry about prisoners with them–Condition of prisoners–No taxes on mangoe-trees–Cow-dung cheaper than wood for fuel–Shrine of “Shaikh Salar” at Sutrik–Bridge over the small river Rete–Recollection of the ascent of a balloon at Lucknow–End of the pilgrimage.
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Private Correspondence subsequent to the Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, and relating to the Annexation of Oude to British India.