ww A MANUAL OF SURVEYING FOR INDIA. DETAILING THE MODE OF OPERATIONS ON THE REVENUE SURVEYS IN BENGAL AND THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES. COMPILED BY CAPTAINS R. SMYTH AND H. L. THUILLIER, PREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE SURVEY DEPARTMENT, AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. Second Edition. London: W. THACKER & CO., No. 87, NEWGATE STREET; ALSO THACKER, SPINK & CO., CALCUTTA; AND THACKER & CO., BOMBAY. 1855. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Ir must have been apparent to the numerous Officers of the Army, as well as to the various other persons appointed to the Revenue Surveys in India, that scarcely any of the English works on Geodesy extant, touch on, or afford any practical insight into, the system of Survey, as carried on and as peculiarly applicable to this country. Valuable and of high order as many of these works are, and of great importance as fixing the leading and fundamental principles of the profession, they are destitute of the most essential parts of an Indian Surveyor's duty, and of the most useful details for adapting such principles to the nature of the country with which he has to contend. A Surveyor of even some experience, when placed in situations of difficulty and responsibility so common in the almost boundless fields still left unexplored in this vast country, with no competent adviser at hand, and far removed from all chances of assistance, may and often does feel greatly at a loss; some such work, therefore, as the present, forming a concise Manual, adapted to the peculiar requirements of this country, and condensing into a small space not only what alone can be found in a vast number of standard and expensive works, but embodying the precise modus operandi of the department, from unpublished and exclusive sources, appears now to be called for; and it is hoped, that in the absence of any other similar publication, which the editors have long most anxiously looked for from abler hands, the present attempt may not be altogether out of place. The great extension of Surveys in India of late years, and the annexure of another large province to the British Dominions, giving rise to the immediate necessity for a Survey and Assessment, has opened a wide field for the practical employment of Surveyors of all descriptions, both European and Native. In a department, therefore, which demands a certain amount of qualification (the test for which will be found in the Appendix) it is highly desirable that previous study and fitness should form the pretensions of persons enlisting in its service. The establishment, likewise, of a Civil Engineering College at Roorkee, in the North Western Provinces, by His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, for the training of youths of this country, as well as of European non-commissioned officers and privates of the army, in the several branches of practical science, has given an additional impetus |
