part in it. It is to be hoped that he will not be again released, and permitted to reestablish such a nest of nameless vices as was his mansion in Garden Reach. In truth, a life spent in confinement would not be an inappropriate termination to the career of one who, in his own person, degraded human nature below the level of the lowest brute.

CHAPTER IX.

CALCUTTA.

Palkees-Buggies-The City of Calcutta-Government House-Tanks-Bazárs-The largest Mint in the World-Supreme Court-Conflict of Laws-Missions and Schools -Spence's Hotel-Servants-Expenses of Living in India-Civil Servants-Their Salaries-The Language of the Camp-A People without a Country, and a Country without a Name.

ON landing in Calcutta I was at once surrounded by a crowd of nearly naked "niggers," painted all over the face and breast with red and white streaks, the sign of their having made poojah, i. e., done worship to some idol that morning. These gentlemen crowded me so much with their black, oily bodies, that I found a vigourous beating with my umbrella necessary to keep them at a respectful distance. They offered to convey my luggage to the hotel, and I accepted the services of one fellow, who at once distributed the various articles to about twenty others, one carrying a carpet-bag, another an umbrella, &c. I then inserted myself in a palanquin, or, as they are commonly called in Bengal, palkee. This is a black box, seven feet long, three feet high, closed all around, with a sliding door in the side, and furnished inside with a mattrass and bolster. At each end of the palkee, near the top, there is a pole, three feet long, projecting at right angles, which the bearers rest on their shoulders. Four bearers are under the palkee at any one time, and two more run alongside as a relief. To enter the palkee you turn your back toward it and sit down on the mattrass in its bottom, and then, by a dexterous "slew," bring your legs and head inside. You then lie down and are carried along reclining at full length. The palkee-bearers have a peculiar lock-step which prevents the least jolt, and nothing can be more luxurious than this mode of conveyance, at least for short distances.

Palkees were formerly universally used by foreigners in going about the city, but they are now supplanted by garrhees and buggies; the former, a vehicle which I have described when speaking of Singapore; the latter, a two-wheeled gig, with a top descending very low in front to keep off the sun. Everybody in Calcutta keeps or hires a buggy; even the captains of ships, and some of the mates, have their buggies waiting for them all day on the quay. The necessity of some conveyance arises from the impossibility of walking out exposed to the sun. In the palmy days of palkees, they were richly ornamented, and a single one would often cost as much as 3,000 rupees, or $1,500; and a certain number of palkee-bearers were a necessary part of every gentleman's household.

Calcutta is situated on the eastern branch of the Hoogly, and was the first concession to the British in this part of India. It was, when they obtained it, only a miserable village, known as Kalee-Ghât, of which its present name is a corruption. It is now supposed to have 600,000 inhabitants at least. Below the city of Calcutta, and between it and "Garden Reach," is a broad open plain, of from 100 to 150 acres, running along the water's edge. This is called the "Esplanade," or, as frequently by its Hindoostanee name, Maidan. It is the great drive of Calcutta, being divided by fine broad macadamized roads bordered with trees. The space between the roads is plain turf. Along the river's bank runs the largest of these roads, called the "Strand," where is seen in the evening the greatest show of carriages and equipages. Fort William, the principal defence of Calcutta, and one of the strongest fortresses in the world, is on the river's bank, wholly contained within the Maidan. Around the Maidan is built the European portion of Calcutta-fine houses of stuccoed brick, covering much ground, but commonly not over two stories high, and generally without compounds. At the lower extremity of the Maidan, surrounded by fine trees, is the cathedral, a large decorated Gothic building, of no particular merit. The finest building in Calcutta is Government House-the residence of the Governor General. It fronts on the Esplanade, but is surrounded by an open square of its own. It consists of two

semicircular galleries, placed back to back, and meeting in a central hall. Rows of columns decorate the exterior, a dome surmounts the central pavilion, the entrance is by a broad and massive flight of stone steps, and the whole is of sufficient size to be imposing, and even majestic. Between Government House and the river is the Town Hall, and Spence's Hotel, where I stopped. The whole vicinity of Government House Square is built up with fine private residences, and streets of shops, which are here on a large scale.

The side of the town toward the river is separated from the water by a broad quay, fronting on which are the stores of the merchants, similar to the private houses in architecture and extent, but much higher. They were formerly occupied by the merchants as residences-a custom which still obtains in China. Behind this line of princely counting-houses, behind that mass of noble residences which surrounds the Maidan and Government House Square, and which have given Calcutta its name, "The City of Palaces," shut out from all view, and light, and air, are the narrow, filthy streets with open sewers, the dark and winding lanes, the low and squalid huts, which form the vast native town, or, as it is commonly called, the "Black Town" of Calcutta.

Calcutta being altogether a modern place, contains no native buildings of interest-the Hindoo temples and Mahommedan mosques being all small and insignificant. The latter are without minarets, which compel the Muezzin to stand at the door when calling the faithful to prayer—a call to which, in Calcutta, they rarely attend, as they are altogether a very spurious and inferior variety of Moosulmans.

The city is supplied with drinking water from wells, but there are beside large tanks, or open reservoirs excavated from the earth. These tanks are commonly 150 or 200 yards long by 100 wide, and thirty or forty feet deep. These become filled in the rainy season, and their water is used for washing, bathing, sprinkling the roads, &c. One of the tanks, much larger than the others, is filled from the Hoogly by a steam pump. These tanks are quite universal in Lower Bengal, about country houses, each house having several.

The bazárs, of which the city is full, are nasty, narrow, native streets, of little low shops. In them you can buy almost anything at ridiculously low rates, by wasting time and patience in chaffering with the natives, who almost stun you as you walk through, with their clamorous entreaties to enter their shops, and the enumeration of their stock, and its excel lence. Here, as throughout the East, it is always customary to ask many times as much for a thing as the seller expects to

obtain.

The Calcutta mint is the largest establishment of the kind in the world, the next in size being the mints at Bombay and Madras. It is situated in the upper part of the city on the quay. The machinery is of the best kind, and on a much larger scale than at either London or Paris. The coin struck is the Company's rupee, of the value of two shillings sterling, and copper pieces. No gold coin is now struck, gold not being in India a legal tender, or even a recognized currency.

During my stay at Calcutta, I attended the sessions of the Supreme Court, which are held in the Town Hall. The jurisdiction of this tribunal extends to all cases in Calcutta, and over all the inhabitants of the United Kingdom residing in the Mofussil-a native term used to designate all parts of India, except the three Presidency towns. There is another Supreme Court, the Suddur Dewan-ee-Adawlut, a Company's Court, which hears appeals from the Courts in the Mofussil. No Englishman can be tried except in the Presidency town, and before the Supreme Court, with all the privileges of the common law of England. On the other hand, no native can be tried in the Presidency town, for an offence committed in the Mofussil, but must be conveyed up country to undergo trial. These regulations are the means of preventing many vexatious prosecutions, as a native possesses to a large extent the common failing of a fondness for law. In the Mofussil the criminal proceedings are very simple, the delay short, and the punishment, though mild, certain, except in the case of capital sentences, which must all come before the Suddur Court for approval. In all British India, with its 100,000,000 of inhabitants, there is but one Court in each

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