Page:Letters from India Vol 2.pdf/201

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FROM THE HON. EMILY EDEN TO ——.

Thursday, August 20, 1840.

Sir John Grant brought his Parsee friend Rustomjee Cowargee to my room this morning, to ask me to christen a ship which Rustomjee has just built; it is the largest which has ever been built in Calcutta. I am sure I shall not break the bottle properly; I never saw the operation performed, and now the Parsees have adopted this fashion of christening they are very particular about it. It is not to be till September 10, so I fancy there will be a considerable degree of crashing heard about Government House in the interim. I think of having all the old soda-water bottles piled in my balcony, and of passing all my spare time in throwing them at the pillars of the verandah, and if I can kill a crow or an owl in passing so much the better. Think of the horrible crows [the crows at Calcutta are notoriously ill-conditioned and spiteful] taking up my poor little squirrel, who was disporting himself on the balcony, and dashing him down to the ground from the third storey! Some of the servants saw it and ran to