—th, and asked me to visit him if I ever came to the Punjaub. The horses, that night, deprived me of all sleep. Sometimes the garree was planted firmly for half an hour in one spot, and then with a sudden impulse it shot forward with flying speed, swerving from one side of the road to the other, until a collision of some kind seemed inevitable. Once, the horse ran away, and was only brought up by dashing against the abutment of a bridge; and at another time, being awakened by an unusual movement of the garree, I looked out and found it on the steep side of a hill, with three natives holding on to the uppermost wheels, to prevent it from overturning. Notwithstanding all these perils, we succeeded in reaching Burdwan, seventy-two miles from Calcutta, by daybreak.

This is a large town, and the residence of a Rajah. It is a beautiful place, about two miles in length, and has a large number of European residences. Here I was first struck with the difference between the vegetation of Bengal and the northwestern provinces. Instead of those level Egyptian plains, with their topes of mango and tamarind, here were the gorge ous growths of the West Indies, or the Mexican tierra caliente. In the gardens of the Europeans, the Poinsettia hung its long azure streamers from the trees, and the Bougainvillia raised its mounds of fiery purple bloom; the streets were shaded with lofty peepul trees, mixed with feathery groups of the cocoa palm; the native huts were embowered in thickets of bamboo, over which towered the cotton tree, with its bare boughs and clusters of scarlet, lily-shaped blossoms. I arrived at Burdwan at such an early hour, and the new garree and horse were gotten ready for me with so little delay, that there was no time to procure breakfast, before leaving the town. I

A WRATHFUL DELAY.

259

set out with the expectation of arriving at Calcutta the same. evening, but had not proceeded more than five miles, when the horse began to plunge, struck his hind feet through the front of the garree, snapped the axle, and left me stranded on the road.

My wrath was too great affected him, the driver

I dispatched the driver with the horse, back to Burdwan, to bring another vehicle, and took my seat on the ruins to watch over my baggage. Two hours thus passed away; three hours; the sun stood high and hot in the heavens, and at last my pipe, to which I invariably turn for patience, failed of its effect. Twenty-four hours had elapsed since I had eaten, and the pangs of fasting were superadded to the wrath of deceived hopes. Another hour elapsed and it was now high noon; I hailed the natives who passed, and tried to bribe them to drag my carriage back to the town, but they either could not understand, or would not heed me. Still another hour, and with it, finally, the new conveyance came. for words, but if looks could have would have crumbled to ashes on the spot. Now, thought I, the Fates are satisfied, and I shall be allowed to pursue my journey in peace. But, after making a mile or so of the second stage, the horse, perceiving two empty wagons by the road-side, dashed up against them with the garree, and there remained. Neither blows nor entreaties would induce him to budge a step, and the driver finally unharnessed him and went back for another. This time I only waited two hours, and I neither smoked nor spoke, for I was fast approaching the apathy of despair. Toward sunset I reached a bungalow and achiev ed a meal, after which, somewhat comforted, I continued my journey.

As the road approached the Hoogly River, the country became more thickly settled, and the native villages were fre quent. The large mansions, gleaming white in the moonlight, the gardens, the avenues of superb peepul trees and groves of palm, spoke of the wealth and luxury of the inhabitants. The road was shaded with large trees, between whose trunks the moonshine poured in broad streaks, alternating with darknesses balmy with the odor of unseen flowers. I became tranquil and cheerful again, deeming that my trials were over. Vain expectation! While passing through the very next vil lage, the horse ran madly against a high garden wall on the right hand, and there stuck. He was unharnessed, the garree dragged into the middle of the road, harnessed again, and we started. The same thing happened as before; he gave two frantic leaps, and dashed us against the wall. If ever there was an insane animal, that was one. Six times, as I am a Christian, he dashed me against that wall. The driver's whip was soon exhausted, and I, beside myself with anger, having nothing else at hand, took my long cherry-wood pipe, and shivered it to pieces over his flanks. But he was inspired by the Fiend, and I was obliged to send him away and hire coolies to drag the vehicle as far as the Hoogly, six miles distant, where I arrived shortly after midnight.

I was ferried across the river, took another horse, and having only two stages to Calcutta, confidently lay down and went to sleep. I was awakened in half an hour by the stopping of the garree. Will it be believed that that horse, too, had come to a stand? Yet such was the plain Truth-Fiction would never venture on such an accumulation of disasters-and once more the driver went back for another animal, leaving the gar

ree, with myself inside, in the middle of the road. I slept, I knew not how long, until aroused by the sharp peal of volleys of musketry. The sun was up; I rubbed my eyes and looked out. There I was, in the midst of Barrackpore, in front of the parade-ground, where some four or five thousand Sepoys were going through their morning drill. I watched their evolutions, until the last company had defiled off the field, for the driver, probably surmising my fondness for military spectacles, did not make his appearance for another hour.

And now we sped down the grand avenue, which, straight as an arrow, and shaded by giant banyans and peepuls, leads from Barrackpore to Calcutta. Gradually palace-like residences, surrounded with gardens, made their appearance on either side of the road. These, in turn, gave place to bamboo huts, with thatched roofs. Presently, a muddy moat appeared, felt that I was at last inside of the Mahratta Ditch, and that my perils were over. In half an

and having crossed it, I

hour afterwards I was quartered at Spence's Hotel; my journey of 2,200 miles in the interior of India was finished, and I bade adieu-for ever I trust,-to "garree-dawk."

CHAPTER XXI.

CALCUTTA-THE

BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA.

Impressions of Calcutta-The Houses of the Residents-Public Buildings and Institutions-Colleges-Young Bengal-Museum of the Asiatic Society-The Botanic Garden-Calcutta at Sunset-Scene on the Esplanade-English Rule in India-Its Results-Its Disadvantages-Relation of the Government to the Population-Tenure of Land -Taxes-The Sepoys-Revenue of India-Public Works-Moral Changes Social Prejudices.

I REACHED Calcutta on the 21st of February, and embarked for Hong Kong, on the 28th. My stay was consequently too short to justify me in attempting more than a general description of the city, and the impression which it made upon me. After the glowing accounts I had heard in the Provinces, of its opulent social life and architectural magnificence, I confess to a feeling of disappointment. It is the London, or rather the Paris, of India, and the country magistrate, after years of lonely life in the jungles, or in some remote cantonment, looks forward to a taste of its unaccustomed gayeties, as one of the bright spots in his life of exile. But it by no means deserves to arrogate to itself the title of the "City of Palaces," so long as Venice and Florence, or even Cadiz and La Valletta, remain in existence. It is not a city of palaces, but-the European portion at least-a city of large houses; and the view of the long line of mansions on the Chowringhee Road, extend