The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Journey to Katmandu, by Laurence Oliphant

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Title: A Journey to Katmandu
(the Capital of Napaul), with The Camp of Jung Bahadoor;
including A Sketch of the Nepaulese Ambassador at Home

Author: Laurence Oliphant

Release Date: July 6, 2005 [eBook #16226]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A JOURNEY TO KATMANDU***

Transcribed from the 1852 John Murray edition by Les Bowler.

A JOURNEY TO KATMANDU
(THE CAPITAL OF NEPAUL),
WITH
THE CAMP OF JUNG BAHADOOR;
INCLUDING
A SKETCH OF THE NEPAULESE AMBASSADOR AT HOME.

BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1852.

TO
SIR ANTHONY OLIPHANT, C.B.,
CHIEF JUSTICE OF CEYLON,
THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED BY
HIS AFFECTIONATE SON,
THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

The interest which was manifested in the Nepaulese Embassy during the
short residence of Jung Bahadoor in England leads me to hope that a
description of the romantic country and independent Court which he came
to represent, as well as some account of his own previous eventful
career, may not be unacceptable to the English public--more especially as
no work upon Nepaul has been published in this country, that I am aware
of, since Dr. Hamilton's, which appeared about the year 1819.

Through the kindness and friendship of the Nepaulese Ambassador, I was
enabled to visit Katmandu under most favourable circumstances; and during
the journey thither in his company I had abundant opportunity of
obtaining much interesting information, and of gaining an insight into
the character of the people, and their mode of every-day life, for which
a residence in camp was peculiarly favourable.

In the Terai I was fortunate enough to witness the Nepaulese mode of
elephant-catching, so totally unlike that of any other country, while the
grand scale on which our hunting party was organised was equally novel.

I therefore venture to submit this volume to the public, in the hope that
the novelty of a portion of the matter contained in it will in some
degree compensate for its manifold defects.

C