INTRODUCTION.

I think it would be advisable for me to state at the outset that these
reminiscences are entirely devoid of sensational elements, in order to
prevent any possible disappointment and remove from the minds of
those, and I know several, who have conceived the idea that I am about
to disclose matters that, as far as I am concerned, must for ever lie
buried in the past. There are certain startling incidents still fresh
in my memory that I could relate, but they would be out of place in a
work of this nature. A considerable amount of the subject-matter
contained herein is devoted to a descriptive account of the wonderful
transformation that has overtaken the city since my first arrival in
the sixties, and to the many and varied structural improvements and
additions that have been, and are still being, made in streets and
buildings, both public and private. The origin and conception of this
little work is due to the inspiration of my friend Walter Exley of the
_Statesman_ staff. I had often before been approached by friends and
others on the subject of writing and publishing what I could tell of
Calcutta of the olden days, but I had always felt some diffidence in
doing so partly because I thought it might not prove sufficiently
interesting. But when Mr. Exley appeared on the scene last July,
introduced to me by a mutual friend, matters seemed somehow to assume
a different aspect. In the first place I felt that I was talking to a
man of considerable knowledge and experience in journalistic affairs,
and one whose opinion was worth listening to, and it was in
consequence of what he told me that for the first time I seriously
contemplated putting into effect what I had so frequently hesitated to