*

Doorga. The grosser excesses, however, would seem to be for the most part veiled from the eyes of Europeans; and hence a degree of incredulity has prevailed with regard to their existence, although the facts are established by the most unquestionable testimony. We gladly turn from this revolting subject to scenes of a far more pleasing character.

A morning may be delightfully spent in a visit to the Botanic Garden. Here, without wandering through the pestilential forests and swampy jungles of a country lavishly adorned with profuse and brilliant vegetation, you may see, in one short ramble, all the varieties of vegetable form known throughout India, together with a vast collection of exotics, chiefly collected by Dr. Wallich himself, in Nepal, Pulo Penang, Sumatra, and Java, and increased by contributions from the Cape, Brazil, and different parts of Africa and America, as well as Australasia and the South Seas. "It is not only a curious," says Bishop Heber, "but a picturesque and most beautiful scene, and more perfectly answers to Milton's idea of Paradise, except that it is on a dead flat instead of a hill, than any thing which I ever saw. Among the exotics, I noticed the nutmeg, a pretty tree something like a myrtle, with a peach-like blossom, but too delicate even for the winter of Bengal, and therefore placed in

* The Abbé Dubois, in his "Letters on the State of Christianity in India," written in vindication of the Hindoos, represents them as "given over (by God) for ever to a reprobate mind, on account of the peculiar wickedness of their worship, which supposes, in those among whom it prevails, a degree of perversity far beyond that of all the old pagan nations." p. 112. And in his previous and more authentic work, he says: "There are some practices so enormously wicked, that every thing recorded in history, of the debauchery and obscenities that were practised among the Greeks in the temple of Venus, sinks to nothing in comparison."-Manners and Customs, &c. p. 412. see also pp. 424; 190-194.

the most sheltered situation and carefully matted round. The sago-palm is a tree of great singularity and beauty, and, in a grove or avenue, produces an effect of striking solemnity, not unlike that of Gothic architecture. There were some splendid South American creepers; some plantains from the Malayan Archipelago, of vast size and beauty; and what excited a melancholy kind of interest, a little wretched oak, kept alive with difficulty under a sky and in a tempe. rature so perpetually stimulating, which allows it no repose or time to shed its leaves and recruit its powers by hybernation...Dr. Wallich has the manage. ment of another extensive public establishment at Tittyghur, near Barrackpoor, of the same nature with this, but appropriated more to the introduction of useful plants into Bengal. These public establishments used to be all cultivated by the convicts in chains. In the Botanic Garden, their place is now supplied by peasants hired by the day or week, and the exchange is found cheap as well as otherwise advantageous; the labour of freemen, here, as well as elsewhere, being infinitely cheaper than that of slaves."*

To the north of the Botanic Garden, and separated from it by an extensive plantation of teak-trees, stands the new College, founded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, at the suggestion of Bishop Middleton. It stands in a prominent situation, commanding a fine expanse of the river, and is a marked object in approaching the capital. From a little distance, it appears a beautiful building, in the Gothic style of Queen Elizabeth's time. The centre is 150 feet in length, and the wings being of the same extent, it occupies three sides of a quadrangle. Fort William stands about a quarter of a mile below

* Heber, vol. i. pp. 52—4.

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the town. It is of an octagonal form, and is superior in strength and regularity to any fortress in India. Its foundation was laid by Lord Clive, soon after the battle of Plassy in 1758, the old fort of Calcutta having been found unfit to sustain a siege.* The works are scarcely raised above the level of the country; a circumstance which excites surprise in natives coming from the interior, as they connect the idea of strength with elevation, and they generally mistake the barracks for the fort. "The barracks are superb, and the remarkable state of cleanliness in which their shady walks and fine parades are kept, together with the attraction of a military band, draws all the fashion of the city to promenade there, and causes it to be a continual scene of gayety, except during the monsoon. In this fortress, the Honourable Company have an excellent arsenal and a gun-foundry, with a large establishment for the preparation of the material of an army." The garrison is usually composed of two or three European regiments and one of artillery. The native corps, amounting to about 4000 men, are generally cantoned at Barrackpoor, fifteen miles higher up the river. The wells in the different out-works, some of which are 500 yards from the river, during the hot season become so brackish as to be unfit either for culi nary purposes or for washing. Government has, conse

"It has since been discovered, that it is erected on too extensive a scale to answer the purpose for which it was intended, that of a tenable post in case of extremity; as the number of troops required to garrison it properly, would be able to keep the field. It is capable of containing 15,000 men; and the works are so extensive, that 10,000 would be required to defend them efficiently. From first to last, they have cost the East India Company two millions sterling." Hamilton, vol. i. p. 53.

Fifteen Years, p. 67.

Up to 1814, it had been a received opinion, that the soil in the vicinity of Calcutta was full of springs; but, after boring to the