Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/168

NUMBER TWENTY.

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Approach to India—The Hooghly—Garden Reach—Calcutta—The King of Onde—The Landing—Native Magpies and Blackbirds—The Great Eastern—“New Varmint”—Morning Races—A Gay Crowd—The Eurasians—Commerce of Calcutta—The “Black Hole”—The East India Company—Government of India—The Viceroy—A Perambulating Government—Palanquins—A Catastrophe—Good-bye to “New Varmint”—India Railways—Iron Replaces Wood—Delights of Summer Travel—Native Servants.

Up Country, India, February, 1871.

My first sight of India was from the deck of our steamer as at early dawn we entered the Hooghly River, whose strong current and shifting sand-bars render the navigation extremely difficult. The many mouths of the Ganges, of which the Hooghly is one, have formed an alluvial delta of several hundred square miles like that of the Mississippi, which is a wilderness of timber and brushwood, the tall grass forming a jungle where tigers and other beasts of prey have their favorite haunts. Advancing up the river the scenery gradually improves, the country seems more and more cultivated, the shipping and bustle on the river increase, and the many beautiful country seats on its banks indicate that we are approaching the capital. At length we enter “Garden Reach” which for two miles is lined on both sides with splendid Bungalows of the wealthy Europeans and native residents which are shaded with palms and other tropical vegetation, and surrounded with highly cultivated grounds. As we approach Calcutta, the metropolis of India, we are struck with the magnificence of the buildings, public and private, the forest of masts, and the many steamers anchored in the