India in the Government house in Fort William, in which they had succeeded us. Poor Puller was unfortunate in arriving at the worst season of the year, and a season which, every body says, has been peculiarly hot and unwholesome. Some days, indeed, during this month have been almost deserving the name of " terrible." By shutting all the windows close, by darkening the room to the lowest ebb of visibility, and sitting as lightly dressed as possible under the constant ventilation of a punkah, one got through the morning pretty well, and I found no want of disposition or ability either to write or study. But if a window or a door was opened, the stream of hot air came in, without the least exaggeration, like what you may have felt at the mouth of a blast furnace. Had our kind-hearted friend arrived in a more favourable season he might perhaps have been spared to us. But these thoughts are worse than idle.

The air has been within these few days greatly cooled by some pretty strong north-westers, with their usual accompaniments of thunder, (and such thunder!) lightning, and rain. One of these storms, I regret to say, has blown down a large range of brick stabling at Benares, and killed several men and many horses. But at Calcutta they have done no harm that I have heard of, while their reviving effects on man, beast, bird, and vegetable, have really been little less than magical. These showers are now, indeed, becoming more frequent and attended with less wind, and an early setting-in of the rain is predicted, of which I hope to take ad

vantage for my voyage up the country. My journey, alas! will not be so pleasant as I anticipated, since, on the concurrent representations of all our medical advisers, my wife and children remain behind, and we shall be separated for half a year at least.

Dacca will be the first place I shall visit; there is a Church to consecrate there; a good many candidates for confirmation, and some Greek Christians with whom I wish to get on the same amicable terms as I am with their countrymen at Calcutta. Nor am I insensible to the desire of seeing one of the most ancient and singular cities of India, and of obtaining a nearer view of the Sunderbunds, the main stream of the Ganges, and the yet mightier Megna.

I held my first visitation this morning at six o'clock, to avoid the heat of the day. We had the first fruits of the Gentile Church in India, in the person of Christian David, a black catechist in Ceylon, and a pupil of the celebrated Schwartz, whom, at the desire of Sir Edward Barnes, I admitted to Deacon's orders. The poor man, who had journeyed to Calcutta, via Madras, to obtain them, is really a very clever, and at the same time a most simple and artless creature. He knows no Latin, but speaks English, Tamul, Cingalese, and Portuguese fluently, and passed a good, though a very Indian and characteristic, examination. He is to dine with me to-day to meet the Company's Chaplains and Church of England Missionaries, as usual

on visitation days, and the business being in some degree the triumph of the episcopal cause in the east, I have also asked the Protopapas of the Greeks, the Archimandrite of the Armenians, with certain of their subordinate monks from mount Sinai and Nakitchavan. It will be an odd party, but the fact is that I have been sometimes tempted to flatter myself with the hopes of effectually "reconciling" them. At least I think it not impossible for the Church of England to acquire a sort of influence over their minds, separated as they are by a vast interval from their own ecclesiastical superiors, which may enable us to do them much good, and to convey much valueable instruction to them, which they otherwise would be very slow to receive from us.

Adieu, dear Wynn,

believe me ever

your obliged and affectionate friend,

REGINALD CALCUTTA.

God bless you once more! In proportion as friends drop off, those who are left become doubly dear. I have mourned for poor Puller sincerely, but what should I do for you?

MY DEAR LOVE,

TO MRS. R. HEBER.

On the Chundnah, June 28, 1824.

We are still in this labyrinth of rivers, and likely to be several days yet before we reach Dacca. Mr. Master, however, has kindly forwarded your packets to me, and I write back by his Dâk-boat, which, being small and light, will be there on Wednesday. Thank you for your interesting letter. I never recollect seeing your hand-writing with more or so much delight as now, since it arrived quite unexpectedly, and I had no hopes of hearing of you before the end of the week.

The stream of all these rivers, or nearly all, has been against us; and we had in one place a bar of sand to cut through, which has made our journey very tedious, though through a country, generally speaking, as beautiful as groves and meadows can make it. You will, I hope, ere this have received my second packet of Journal; and the third I will send from Dacca. We are both, I think, gaining health fast.

If

you

and my dear children were with me, I should enjoy this way of life much. Our weather has been, generally, good, and all has gone on well.

This course has, certainly, been a long one; but I am, on the whole, not sorry that I preferred it.

It has shewn me a part of Bengal not usually traversed by Europeans, and decidedly, I think, the most beautiful. We have had, indeed, no more adventures like our "audience" at Sibnibashi, but I have some things to send which I trust will amuse you, and I have had opportunities of making four large drawings.

Your affectionate husband,

REGINALD CALCUTTA.

TO MRS. R. HEBER.

Dacca, July 10, 1824.

Poor Stowe has had a very severe recurrence of dysentery. He complained of it in some degree on Saturday, so that I left him wind-bound in the pinnace, rather than expose him to the chance of a wetting by taking him on in the jollyboat to Dacca, an expedient to which I myself resorted on that day, in order to be in time for church on Sunday. On Sunday evening he arrived, but so ill that we had some difficulty in getting him out of his cabin to Mr. Master's house.

*

I am quite well, except that my shins, which I could not help exposing to the heat of the sun in the little boat, were both burnt in the same way as if I had been sitting before a great fire.