Kali, is now ruined; but, from the spot where it once stood, many an infatuated votary still devotes himself to destruction.* "To these Sunderbunds," says Lord Valentia, "the Hindoos resort at this season (January) in immense numbers, to perform their ablutions to the Ganges; and many, to sacrifice themselves to the alligators, which they effect by walking into the river, and waiting till the ferocious animals approach and draw them under. Others perish by the tigers every season; yet, the powerful influence of superstition still draws them to this spot." + "One of the first specimens of the manners of the country, which has fallen under our notice," says Bishop Heber, "has been a human corpse, slowly floating past, ac cording to the well-known custom of the Hindoos."

The river itself is grand, from its vast body of water; but the quantity of mud which it rolls down, considerably lessens its beauty. The general character of the western shore and the "coffee-coloured " stream, reminded Bishop Heber, at first, of the Don, between Tcherkask and Asof; but, on approaching the Saugor side, all resemblance to the Don disappeared. "Nothing met the eye but a dismal and unbroken line of thick, black wood and thicket, apparently impenetrable and interminable, which one might easily imagine to be the habitation of every thing monstrous, disgusting, and dangerous, from the tiger and the cobra de capello, down to the scorpion and moskito; from the thunder-storm to the fever. The seamen and officers spoke of this shore with

* The sacrifice of children at Saugor was abolished in 1802, by an order of the Governor-General (Marquis Wellesley) in Council, by which the practice was declared to be murder, punishable with death. This law, however, does not restrain from suicide.

† Valentia, v. i. p, 35.

horror, as the grave of all who were so unfortunate as to remain many days in its neighbourhood. As we drew nearer to the Sunderbunds, their appearance improved. The woods assumed a greater variety of green and of shade; several round-topped trees and some low palms were seen among them, and a fresh vegetable fragrance was wafted from the shore. The stream is here intense, and its struggle with the spring-tide raises waves of a dark-coloured water. The forms of the coco-palms are extremely graceful, but their verdure is black and funereal, and they have something of the appearance of the plumes carried before a hearse. Their presence, however, announced a more open and habitable country. The jungle receded from the shore, and its place was supplied by extremely green fields of rice, interspersed with small woods of round-headed trees, and villages of huts, thatched, and with their mud walls so low, that they look like hay-stacks." *

Vessels that draw more than seventeen feet water, cannot be taken higher than Diamond Harbour without danger, except at spring tide; here, therefore, the Company's ships usually unload. This place (about 34 miles below Calcutta, in a straight line, but much more by the windings of the river) is interesting only as being the first possession of the East India Company in Bengal. From July to September, it is particularly unhealthy, owing to the low, swampy shores; where, during the rains, a number of rivulets, charged with decayed vegetable matter, open into the Hooghly. Some ruinous warehouses and an ugly, dingy brick building with a flag-staff, are all that are to be seen, except a few native huts, which hold

* Heber, v. i. (8vo.) r. 7.

out to the seamen the temptation of a wholesome toddy."

"hot un

After leaving Diamond Harbour, the river scenery gradually assumes a richer and more pleasing aspect. The banks abound with villages, interspersed with rice-fields, plantations of the coco-palm, and groves of trees resembling in colour and foliage the elm.* Here and there is seen a pagoda,—“ dingy buildings, with one or more high towers, like glass-houses." The Hooghly is still of vast width and rapidity; and, when the wind is contrary, it is necessary to tack, as at sea, in order to stem the current. Large vessels of strange and novel forms are seen. The usual panchway, or passage-boat, is large and broad, "shaped like a snuffer-dish; a deck fore and aft, and the middle covered with a roof of palm-branches, over which is lashed a coarse cloth, as a shelter from the burning sun. The serang (master) stands on the little after-deck, steering with a long oar; six rowers, sitting cross-legged on the deck, ply their short paddles as oars; and a large, long sail of transparent sack-cloth completes the equipment. The Maldivian vessels have a very singular appearance, being raised

Bishop Heber landed at two of these villages, which he describes as highly picturesque. The houses stood literally in a thicket of fruit-trees, plantains, and flowering shrubs; the muddy ponds were covered with the broad-leaved lotus; and the adjacent paddy-fields were terminated by a wood of tall coco-nut trees, between whose stems the light was visible." But most of the people looked unhealthy, the excessive humidity to which the exuberance of the vegetation is owing, being unfriendly to animal life. Most of the huts were surrounded with stagnant water; and in the time of inundation, the greater part of the country is liable to be covered. Besides tamarinds, cocos, palmiras, plantains, and banian-trees, the Bishop noticed the neem,-" a tree not very unlike the acacia, the leaves of which are used to keep moths from books and clothes; " and a tree resembling a large rhododendron, which he supposed to be manchineel, yielding a milky juice when punctured.

量

to an immense height above the water, by upperworks of split-bamboo, with very lofty heads and sterns, immense sails, and crowded with a wild and energetic-looking race of mariners. They sail very fast and near the wind. Bengalee and Chittagong vessels also, with high heads and sterns, and immense rudders, are numerous; and three-masted Arab vessels of completely European build, but with the stern overloaded with open galleries and verandahs. The old clumsy Arab dow is now seldom seen, and the general construction of the brigs and sloops, though clumsily rigged, indicate a gradual adoption of European habits. The navigation from Saugor to Calcutta is very difficult, owing to the intricacy of the passages between the sand-banks. At length, the river becomes clearer, and the scenery is enlivened by the country-seats of the Europeans on each bank,— "white staring houses," with extensive porticoes to the south, the windows closed with green Venetian blinds, and surrounded with plantations of mangoes, jacks, and other oriental forest and shrubbery trees. The increasing signs of cultivation and populousness now give notice of an approach to a great capital.

Europeans generally land, on their arrival, at Chandpal Ghaut; on approaching which, Calcutta appears to great advantage. The view comprises "a large, regular and handsome fortress, a palace-looking government-house, a wide and grand esplanade, many magnificent houses on one side of it, and a range of stately edifices beyond it; a little above this ghaut, an anchorage crowded with shipping, and a close-built city, containing upwards of 80,000 houses." * Calcutta now extends along the eastern bank of the Hooghly, from Kidderpore to Cossipore, a distance of

Sketches of India, p. 99.