A STEAMER TRIP UP AND DOWN THE GANGES

Clarke's Hotel, at Secrole, received the tourists, and everything was in readiness for them when they arrived. Lord Tremlyn had announced the coming of himself and his large party, and a person of his distinction and influence could command anything he desired. The rest of the day was given to rest, though in the evening Sir Modava talked to the tourists about the city.

Early the next morning the party were conveyed to the river, where they embarked in a steam-yacht which had been provided for their use. It was more than a launch; for its standing-room would seat the whole company, while an awning was spread over a portion of the upper deck, from which a full view of the shore could be obtained. The city is on the north shore of the river, which has an easterly course in this portion of India, and the houses are packed in about as thickly as they can be.

"This is the Dasasvamedh Ghat," said Sir Modava, with a smile. "I thought you might wish to recall it after you get home to America. I think it is rather pleasant to know the names of places one has visited."

"We could not speak the word now without an hour's practice, and I am sure not one of us will know it when we get to the other side of the Atlantic," said Mrs. Belgrave.

"You can write it down in your diaries."

"We might as well attempt to copy the top of a tea-chest," added Louis.

The ladies were assisted on board of the steamer. The captain was a very gentlemanly Englishman; and he was all devotion to the wants of his passengers, who seated themselves on the promenade deck. The steamer belonged to the government; and she was fitted up in the most comfortable manner, though it was not so gaudy as the craft of a maharajah would have been. The ghat was at the western extremity of the crescent to which Sir Modava had alluded, and from this point the town looked like an amphitheatre.

The river is ordinarily about half a mile wide, but in the season of high water it is double that width. The captain called the attention of the party to the ghat as they receded from it, the broad flight of stairs being a rather wonderful sight to the strangers, though they had seen something of the kind before in Delhi and Cawnpore.

The steps are adorned with small temples with plenty of spires. Near the top of the flight was the Man Munder, the great observatory. Though the building is plain, as a whole, Captain Carlisle pointed out a highly ornamental window, with a profusion of handsome brackets. The stairs on the city side of the river were unlimited as far as the eye could see. Behind them was a forest of spires, domes, and cupolas.

"You ought to have left the ghat before sunrise," said the captain, who was walking up and down the deck, with an eye on the Hindu pilot. "Then you would have been in time to see the sight of the day, for the appearance of the sun is the holy moment for the natives to plunge into the holy river. For miles along the shore the ghats are thronged at the first appearance of the orb of day, and there is a continuous murmur of voices. No matter how cold the water is, they dive in and swim like fishes. You can see a thousand heads in the water along the shore at any moment. Then they support themselves on the surface, and gaze motionless at the sun as it mounts in the sky."

"Are you a sailor, Captain Carlisle?" asked Louis, who thought he was rather poetic for an uneducated man.

"Not as the commander of your ship would understand it, though I was in command of a Thames steamer, and fell into the same business when I came to India," replied the captain, laughing at the question. "My father was a good Baptist; he wanted to make a minister of me, and I was educated far enough to enter the university; but I concluded that I did not like the business, and took to steamboating."

"But aren't the women as religious as the men?" inquired Captain Ringgold.

"More so, if anything. But they come down to the river before sunrise and take their swim. If you had been here this morning you would have seen them coming out of the water just as the men are ready to go in, and you would have observed them in their white garments, dripping like drowned rats. That pagoda you see ahead of us with the bell tower and shining in gilt is the only temple the Buddhists have in Benares."

"We are coming now to the Munikurnika Ghat. It is a five-syllable word, but you can easily pronounce it," said Sir Modava, who thought he would "spell" the captain for a time; and he was quite as familiar with the banks of the Ganges.

"And it is quite musical," added the captain.

"Pronounce u like double o, and the rest of the letters as in English, and you can speak it without choking," said the Hindu gentleman. "But there are some letters in Hindu that have no equivalents in English."

"Moo-ui-koor-ni-ka Ghat," added Louis, pronouncing the word. "But what is it all about?"

"It is the place for burning the dead, such as you saw in Bombay, but on a much larger scale," replied Sir Modava. "You see that it extends a considerable distance. Please keep to the leeward of the smoke, Captain Carlisle."

"That is what I am doing, Sir Modava."

"These funeral pyres are burning all the time, night and day. The people whose bodies are consumed in these fires, and their friends, believe that the souls of the deceased will pass from this spot into paradise, where, if they have not been very great sinners they will be transplanted into the bodies of future Brahmins. Many deceased persons are brought even hundreds of miles to be burned on the Munikurnika by the Ganges, as their sure passport to the realms of bliss."

The obliging captain took the steamer near enough to the ghat to enable the tourists to see the process of burning. An occasional puff of the horribly offensive odor came to the nostrils of the sightseers; but the captain sheered off, and they got very little of it.

"It smells just like assafoedita. It is awful-smelling stuff; and I wonder if they don't make it out of this smoke, for it hits my nose in just the same way," said Mrs. Blossom. "I took care of old Jotham Beeling when he had the apoplexy, and gave the stuff to him. The room smelt then just the same as it does here."

"You are quite right, madam," said Dr. Hawkes, laughing. "It gets part of its name from its bad odor; but it is not made out of smoke. Asa is the gum of a tree that grows here. It has a very offensive odor, which gives it the rest of the name, from foeditas, meaning foul, filthy."

The workmen who were operating the burning were nearly naked, begrimed by the sooty smoke, and looked like so many imps. They were stirring up the fires with long iron pokers, and throwing vessels of oil upon them. The boat passed beyond the fumes of the pyres, and came up to the ghat, at the request of Lord Tremlyn. A multitude of hideous-looking cripples, humpbacks, and beggars made an onslaught on the steamer; and the boys and gentlemen pelted them with coppers, with which they had been forewarned to supply themselves. It was fun to them, and the mendicants enjoyed it quite as much.

"There is a procession of pilgrims just arrived," said Captain Carlisle, pointing to the high ground beyond the ghat. "They are coming here all the time. The Hindus under the umbrellas are Brahmins, who collect the fees for bathing from the steps; and they sell certificates of purification, indulgences, and amulets."

The boat continued on her course, and they did not wait to see the bathing, though the heads of the swimmers were soon in view. A staircase is reserved for women, who are watched over by the elders of their sex. But they could be seen in the distance, frolicking in the water; and they were so hilarious that their shouts could be heard on board of the Sylph, as the boat was called.

The steamer next came to a long row of palaces on the high ground, whose fronts were profusely ornamented with staircases that exceeded in extent and beauty anything they had before seen. Every rajah has a residence here, not permanent, but where he comes to celebrate the religious festivals. The king of Nagpore has the finest one, with one hundred stairs of white sandstone reaching down to the water.

"Now we come to a building worth looking at," said Sir Modava, as they passed beyond the assemblage of palaces. "This is the mosque of Aurungzeb. Those two lofty minarets are one hundred and forty-seven feet high. They are very slender, and look like a couple of needles; but, though they are only eight and a quarter feet in diameter on the ground, they have spiral staircases reaching to the top. If you wish to land and go to the cupola you can do so."

"I pray thee have me excused," interposed Uncle Moses; and Dr. Hawkes said "Me too!" And no one cared to ascend to such a height.

"This mosque was built by the Emperor Aurungzeb, on the site of a Hindu temple of Siva, which he caused to be pulled down, to the scandal of the worshippers of that deity, for it marked the spot where Vishnu himself first appeared to man. A flight of one hundred stairs leads to the mosque, which the Hindus formerly ascended on their knees when they went to the worship of Vishnu. But we have gone as far in this direction as we need go."

The Sylph came about, and went back up the river, landing above the funeral pyres. From the ghat, they walked into one of the crowded streets. They were conducted by Sir Modava to a square, which was thronged with natives. In the middle of it was a small round temple, the spire of which was overlaid with plates of gold. At the present day this is the holy of holies of the Hindus. Its principal object of adoration is a plain stone post, which is believed to form a part of the very body of the deity, Siva in this instance.

The narrow streets, through which the party made their way with difficulty were very clean. They were thronged with pilgrims from all parts of India, dressed in their best garments, loaded with gold and silver ornaments. The men were carrying great brass trays, piled up with flowers, as offerings for the various deities. The little stalls, which were the stores, made the thoroughfares look like bazaars. They passed no end of temples; and all of them were small, though they were very pretty, what there were of them.

Emerging from these narrow streets, the company came to a section where the avenues were broad, with handsome houses built upon them. This portion was practicable for carriages, and half a dozen culèches were drummed together after some delay; and the ladies were glad to be seated again, for they had had a long and tiresome walk through the narrow and crowded streets. Sir Modava directed the drivers, and when he said Dourga Khound no one knew what he was to see next. The word means the Fountain of Dourga; and when they came to it they agreed that it was one of the most beautiful buildings in Benares, though it was painted all over with red, which made it look rather fantastic.

Sir Modava said nothing about the use of the building, and led the way into the enclosure. The moment they entered the grounds they realized that the Hindu gentleman had worked a surprise upon them; for the yard was filled with monkeys, and the walls were covered with them. The chattering creatures immediately surrounded them, holding out their paws for something. Sir Modava gave the most dignified one a rupee, and Lord Tremlyn made a similar gift to another.

"They can't eat silver," suggested Morris.

"The money is for the Brahmin who has charge here. You see they have gone to give it to him," replied Sir Modava, as he opened a large paper package he had bought at a store, and proceeded to distribute its contents, consisting of nuts and parched corn, to the members of the monkey community.

For half an hour they fed the animals, which were very tame, and made friends with them. The live boys were more pleased with this occupation than in looking at temples and mosques. They all visited the sanctuary of the temple, which was said to date back a thousand years. The party greatly enjoyed the ride back to Secrole, which is the English town of Benares. After dinner Sir Modava told them about the Feast of Ganesa.

"He is one of the most popular deities of India," said the Hindu gentleman. "He is the embodiment of wisdom, prudence, and commerce; his presence wards off all perils. You will find him over the door of places of business; and contracts open with an invocation to Ganesa, sometimes given by a picture of the god. He was the son of Siva and Parvati. His picture is that of a short, fat man, with four arms and an elephant's head.

"Though he was Siva's son, the father was jealous of him, and struck off his head. Siva was sorry for what he had done, and wanted to bring Ganesa back to life; but his head was gone."

"Couldn't he put a head on him?" asked Scott very seriously; and the other boys laughed.

"That was just what he did," replied Sir Modava, wondering what the boys and some of the others were laughing at. "Siva selected a young elephant, cut off his head, and affixed it to his son's shoulders; and that is how he happens to have such a head. This head sometimes takes the place of the whole figure on contracts. His festival is celebrated the last of April, with the greatest magnificence. Effigies of the god are made of terra-cotta, painted and gilded, and borne by processions through the streets. Priests and musicians surround the idol; and young girls, widowed before they are wives, dancing and waving their scarfs in solemn cadence, lead the way.

"When the processions reach the river, they embark in fairy-like boats propelled by sails or oars, forming a grand aquatic spectacle. At sunset the idols are thrown into the river, and the festival terminates with a grand frolic on shore, with fireworks, in which many Europeans take part; and the river is thronged with boats decorated with many-colored lanterns."

The party spent two days more at Benares, and visited temples, mosques, and many places of interest. They were visited by British civil and military officers, who were extremely kind to them, and offered them every facility for seeing the city. After dinner on the last day, Captain Ringgold asked Lord Tremlyn to tell them something about Patna; and he evidently did so with a purpose.

"Patna is the fifteenth city in India in population, one hundred and forty miles from Benares," replied the viscount. "It extends nine miles along the Ganges, and an average of two back from it. The streets are narrow and crooked. The houses are mostly of mean appearance, and there are but very few buildings there of any importance. You laid out your list of cities to be visited yourself, Captain, and generally very judiciously; but if I had made it out I should have omitted Patna. It has a population of about one hundred and sixty-five thousand."

"I asked the question with a view to omit it from the list if there are no sights of importance, and, after what you have said, I shall do so; and tomorrow we will take the train for Calcutta," added the captain.

ALL OVER THE CITY OF CALCUTTA

"I shall be glad to be on board of the Guardian-Mother again," said Scott, after the four live boys had taken a place by themselves in the conference carriage. "I have seen enough of India."

"But you have not seen one-half of India," replied Louis.

"I read a story in an old schoolbook Uncle Moses had used when he didn't weigh as much as I do now, which was called 'The Half is Better than the Whole;' and it proved the proposition with which it started out. That is just what is the matter now."

"But you have been seeing new things all the time, and learning something," added Louis.

"That's very true; but we have seen all the big mosques and things, and enough is as good as a feast," suggested Scott. "I suppose if we stayed here a couple of years more we should not see the whole of the country. We have got a specimen brick of the principal cities; and a dozen specimens of the same thing don't amount to much."

"But you haven't seen Calcutta yet, and that is the biggest toad in the puddle," said Felix. "The ship will be there, and if you are homesick you can go on board of her."

But the call for attention from Captain Ringgold interrupted the conversation, and Sir Modava had seated himself in front of the company to give one of his "talks."

"Our route will be along the Ganges till we come to Luckieserai Junction, where the loop-line falls into the main line," the Hindu gentleman began.

"Is it much of a fall, sir?" asked Felix.

"I don't understand you, Mr. McGavonty," replied the speaker blankly.

"The expression 'falls into the main line' is somewhat different from what we use at home; but the young man ought to have understood you," interposed the commander.

"What would you have said, Captain?"

"The loop-line we call a branch, and we say connects with instead of falls into," replied the captain. "But your meaning was plain enough, and our boys must fall into the methods of expression used here."

"Though you have seen the Ganges several times, not much has been said about it; and I will tell you a little more concerning it before we leave, not to see it again. It rises in Gahrwal, one of the Hill states, north-east of Delhi. It has its source in an ice-cave nearly fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is not called the Ganges till it has received the flow of two other rivers, a hundred and fifty miles or more from its lofty source. Just below Allahabad it takes in the Jumna, itself a mighty stream.

"As you have learned, it is the holy river of the Hindus; and it deserves their homage, for, aside from the religious character they give to it, three hundred thousand square miles are drained and fertilized by the Ganges and its tributaries. Of its sanctity, that it washes away sin, and that death in its waters or on its shores is the passport to eternal bliss, you have learned. But it renders a more immediate and practical service to the people; for it is navigable for small craft from the point where it enters the lowlands, seventy or eighty miles north of Delhi.

"The river is 1,509 miles long. Though it rises and falls at different seasons, it never fails, even in the hottest summer; and its inundations render, to some extent, the benefit which the Nile does to the soil of Egypt. Like the Mississippi, in your country, it has sometimes changed its course, as proved by the ruins of cities that were once on its banks.

"Now you have a view of the Ganges for quite a distance, and can see the kinds of boats that navigate it. It is one of the most frequented waterways in the world, though the building of railways and canals has somewhat diminished the amount of freight borne on its tide. About £6,000,000 is needed to complete the Ganges canal, which will reach all the cities through which you have passed. There is a very complicated mythology connected with the river, which it would take me all day to relate, and therefore I will not meddle with it."

For a couple of hours the passengers watched the boats and steamers on the river, and the scenes on the other side. While they were thus employed, Lord Tremlyn gave to each person a map of Calcutta, intimating that he should soon tell them something about the city; and they all began to study it, so as to form some idea of the place they were next to visit. Of course they could make out but little from the vast maze of streets, but some of them obtained a very good idea of the situation of the city and many of its important buildings.

"People coming from England or America generally arrive at Calcutta or Bombay, the larger portion at the former. From the sea the metropolis of India is reached by the Hoogly River, the most western outlet of the Ganges," his lordship began. "It is sometimes spelled Hugli. Under this name, the stream is known sixty-four miles above Calcutta and seventeen below. Vessels drawing twenty-six feet of water come up to the city; though the stream, like the Mississippi, is liable to be silted up."

"I see that some of you look at me as though I had used a strange word. Silt is the deposit of mud, sand, or earth of any kind carried up and down streams by the tide or other current. But the river engineers here are constantly removing it; the course is kept open, and the Hoogly pilots are very skilful. The river has also a bore, though not a great bore, like some people I know.

"We know the book-agent better than this one," said Scott.

"Some of our rivers in England have bores, though not book-agents; so have the Seine, the Amazon, and others with broad estuaries. High tides drive a vast body of water into the wide mouth; and, as the stream is not large enough to take it in, it piles it up into a ridge, which rolls up the river. It forms a wall of water in the Hoogly seven feet high, which is sometimes dangerous to small craft. Enough of the Hoogly.

"Calcutta, by the last census, 1891, had a population of 861,764; but it is not so large as New York, Philadelphia, or Chicago; and London is the only larger city in the United Kingdom. It became a town in 1686. After it had attained considerable importance, in 1756, it was attacked by the Nawab of Bengal, the king or rajah; and after a siege of two days the place yielded. The tragedy of the 'Black Hole' followed."

"I have heard of that, but I don't know what it means," said Mrs. Belgrave.

"You observe the large open enclosure at the right of your map of the city, the esplanade. Within it is Fort William, which has existed nearly two hundred years. It had a military prison, which has since been called the 'Black Hole.' The nawab caused one hundred and forty-six prisoners, all he had taken, to be shut up in a room only eighteen feet square, with only two small windows, both of them obstructed by a veranda. This was but a little more than two square feet on the floor for each person, so that they could not stand up without crowding each other. They spent the night there, pressing together, the heat terrible, enduring the pangs of suffocation. In the morning all were dead but twenty-three.

"The nawab held the fort for seven months, when it was recaptured by Lord Clive. Calcutta extends about five miles on the bank of the river, being about two in breadth. I shall not follow out its history, for you will hear enough of that as you visit the various localities."

"I used to think Calicut and Calcutta were the same city," said Louis.

"Not at all, though the names of the two may have been derived from the same source. The name of the great city is from Kali, a Hindu goddess of whom you heard in Bombay, and cuttah, a temple; and doubtless there was such a building here. Calicut is on the south-west coast of India, and was a very rich and populous city when it was visited by Vasco da Gama, who was the first to double the Cape of Good Hope, in 1498. The cotton cloth, calico, generally called print, gets its name from this city."

Dinner was brought into the carriages; and the tourists slept in the afternoon, arriving at Calcutta in the evening. The Great Eastern, one of the two largest hotels in the city, was prepared to receive them. Here, as in Bombay and elsewhere, every guest is attended by his own servant. Half a dozen of them had been retained, but when the omnibuses set them down at the hotel a hundred more could have been readily procured.

The business of sight-seeing began early the next morning with a visit to the esplanade, which may be called a park, though it contains a variety of buildings besides Fort William, which is half a mile in diameter. The enclosure is a mile and three-quarters in length by about one mile in depth from the river. The Government House occupies a position next to it, and they passed it as they entered.

"Whose statue is that--the Duke of Wellington?" asked Louis, as he walked on one side of Sir Modava, with his mother on the other side.

"Not at all; most of our streets and buildings are named after persons noted in the history of India," replied the Indian gentleman, laughing. "That is the statue of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, the first governor-general of India; and many important events dated from his time, for he suppressed the suttee and thugging."

"Thugging?" repeated the lady interrogatively.

"You have not been told about it; but I will give you its history when we have time, for here are the Eden Gardens," replied Sir Modava.

"Not the Garden of Eden?" suggested Mrs. Belgrave.

"Only named for it; but it is a very beautiful garden in English style, though the trees and plants are, of course, different. It has water enough for variety; and there is no difficulty at all in getting it, for the city is hardly above the river at high tide. All there is of the fort you can see from here."

"But what are those things over the other side of the park?"

"They are all tanks; and, of course, they are to hold water. Each of them has its name, generally Indian. Now we will walk across to the Chowringhee Road, where the finest private residences of the city are situated. On our left is the Government House, which we passed when we came in. It is a fine building, and it has a large garden of its own."

"But what is it for?" asked the lady.

"It is the residence of the governor-general, generally called the viceroy; and he has his offices there. Now, if you look beyond Fort William, you will see the race-course."

"I don't care for that," replied Mrs. Belgrave, whose memories of the sport were anything but pleasant.

"Near it is the presidency jail, and there are two hospitals farther along."

The party walked along the road to view the residences of the nabobs, and returned to the hotel, where they seated themselves on the large veranda overlooking the street. The first thing Louis did was to look at a thermometer he discovered on a post.

"How hot is it, Louis?" asked his mother.

"It isn't hot at all; it is only 70°."

"The glass varies here from 52° to 100°; but we don't get the latter figure except in summer," added Sir Modava.

"But you have awful cyclones here, an English lady told me last night," said Mrs. Belgrave.

"We do; but we never have them at this season of the year; they come in May, September, and October, and sometimes in November the belated ones. In 1867 we had one in the latter month which destroyed thirty thousand native houses; but you know they are built of bamboos and such stuff, and it does not take much of a breeze to demolish them. Another in June, 1870, did nearly as much damage."

"I should think the bore would make mischief here," suggested Louis.

"The monsoons here begin in July, and during their time the bore is the most mischievous. The big wave comes up the river at the rate of twenty miles an hour. All boats run for the middle of the river, where the billow does not break against the shore. Ships often part their cables, and knock themselves to pieces against the walls. Sometimes the bore is twelve feet high, though not much more than half that generally."

"What are the prices at a hotel like this one, Lord Tremlyn?" asked Dr. Hawkes.

"Here is the list of prices," replied his lordship, handing him a card taken from the wall.

"Coffee at six in the morning, breakfast à la fourchette at nine, tiffin at one, and dinner at seven. Price, Rs. six per day," the doctor read. "I suppose Rs. means rupees; and that makes it about twelve English shillings, or three dollars a day, which is not high."

"There are no extras except for wines, liquors, and beer, which none of your people use," added the viscount. "But you have to pay for your own attendance; and your servant's pay is from eight to ten rupees a month, or about a pound."

"Cheap enough!" exclaimed the surgeon. "I have to pay my waiter at home six pounds a month."

"Now, what is there to be seen in Calcutta?" asked the commander after breakfast.

"If you wish to see mosques, temples, pagodas"--the viscount began.

"We do not," interposed the captain. "At first those were very interesting; but we have seen enough of them."

"I supposed so," added Lord Tremlyn. "I have ordered carriages, and to-day we will take a general view of the city."

This plan was agreeable to the party, and it was carried out. From the hotel they proceeded to the river. There was a crowd of shipping at anchor, and at the landing-stages and jetties. Among them Louis was the first to discover the Guardian-Mother. She was in the middle of the river, off Fort William. Half a mile below her they saw the Blanche. At the request of the commander, the carriages went down to the fort, where the passengers all alighted, and gathered together on the shore. The gentlemen cheered, and the ladies waved their handkerchiefs.

"I see that Mr. Boulong has painted the ship, and she looks as taut and snug as a man-of-war," said the commander, who was evidently glad to see his vessel.

"They are lowering the boats," added Louis; and in a few minutes the barge and first cutter came up to the shore.

There was a general handshaking with the first officer, in command, and the boys extended this courtesy to all the crews of the boats, going on board of them for a few minutes. It was a happy meeting; but it could not be long continued, and the carriages drove off again.

As he was about to take his place in the landau, Mr. Boulong informed the commander that he had received a visit from Captain Mazagan. He wanted to see Captain Ringgold, but did not state his business. The first officer could not tell whether the visitor knew the Blanche was in the river, for he had not mentioned her. With the statement that the party would go on board in two or three days, they parted, and the boats returned to the ship. The commander had something to think of now; but he came to the conclusion that the reprobate was not aware of the presence of the Blanche or her owner.

The carriages followed the shore road till they came to the upper end of the city, and then turned into the first of the long streets with several names in different parts, which extends entirely through the town. Near the esplanade they found the finest shops, and the ladies went into some of them to see the goods. Then they struck the Circular Road, and drove entirely around the city.

"This reminds me of Moscow, in some parts, where palaces and shanties are side by side in the same street," said Captain Ringgold. "There does not seem to be any aristocratic section, unless that by the esplanade is such."

A SUCCESSFUL HUNT IN THE SUNDERBUNDS

A breakfast at six o'clock was provided the following morning for the tourists, and they came down from their chambers prepared for the aquatic excursion, which was to include something more than sight-seeing, for the gentlemen and the boys were directed to take their rifles along. Mr. Boulong had called upon the commander the evening before, and he had been invited to join the party; but he had excused himself, and suggested that Mr. Gaskette would enjoy it more than he should, and he was asked to go.

By half-past six the party were on The Strand, as the road in the esplanade bordering the river is called. The second officer of the ship was there; and he was not only a sailor and an artist, but he had the reputation of being a dead shot. The company embarked on the steam-yacht, which was large enough to make voyages to Madras and Ceylon. The excursion was not intended as a mere shooting-party, Lord Tremlyn explained, but to enable the company to obtain a better view of Calcutta than they could get in any other manner.

From the river a full view was obtained of the multitude of columns, belfries, and cupolas, as well as of the Government House, the Town Hall, and the line of magnificent houses beyond the esplanade. Along the shore The Strand, as it is called the whole length of the city, the jetties, and the landing-stages were crowded with men; for, where labor is so cheap, work is not done by small forces of men. There are several lines of steamers running between London, Southampton, and Liverpool to this port; and they were constantly arriving and departing.

"You don't see such a variety of races here as you did in Bombay," said Lord Tremlyn as he was pointing out the sights to be seen. "You observe some Chinamen and Burmese; but most of the laborers are of the low class of natives, Bengalese, and they are very sorry specimens of the Hindus."

"But what are the merchants and shopkeepers?" asked Captain Ringgold.

"They are Baboos, which is a name given to the Bengalese. The better class of them, in contact with the English, realize that education is a power; and they have labored for years to improve their countrymen. They have established schools and colleges, and when young natives applied for government situations the authorities felt obliged to admit them. To-day you will find many natives acting as clerks in the post-office, railway, and telegraph-offices, as well as in the courts in minor capacities.

"In fact, there has been a social revolution in progress here for half a century or more, and its effects may be seen now. The government has modified the lot of woman to some extent, as you have learned. The Hindu law weighed terribly upon her. When a woman lost her husband, custom required that she should be sent back to her own family. Her relatives shaved off her hair, dressed her in the coarsest clothing, and compelled her to do the severest drudgery of the household. She is forbidden to marry again, and is treated as though she was responsible for becoming a widow. The reforming of this evil is in progress; but the people are baked into their prejudices and superstitions of forty centuries, and it is worse than pulling their teeth to interfere with them.

"One of the favorite divinities of the natives here is Kali, the wife of Siva, the goddess of murder. Her worship is odious and disgusting; for her altars were formerly sprinkled with human blood, and the idols were surrounded with dead bodies and skulls. Their great festival is the Churuk-Pooja, which is still celebrated, though the government has forbidden all its brutal features. You have all seen a 'merry-go-round' machine in which children ride in a circle on wooden horses.

"An apparatus like this, but without the wooden steeds, was used by these fanatics. At the end of the four arms hung ropes with sharp hooks at the end, on which were hung up the devotees, as the butcher does his meats in his shop; and the machine was revolved rapidly till the hooks pulled out, and the victim dropped upon the ground, fainting or dead. At the present time the festival is attended by Baboos of the best class; but it amounts simply to an athletic exhibition with music. The government and the reformers have brought about this change of performance."

"Do the English attend such shows?" asked Dr. Hawkes.

"Sometimes, from curiosity. But they are here just about what they are in London, and their habits are much the same," replied the viscount. "The river here is about a mile wide. Formerly we could not have come as far as we have without seeing hundreds of corpses floating on the surface. Natives who were too poor to pay the bill for the funeral pyre threw the bodies of their friends into the river. Of course this was a menace to the health of the city; and the practice was forbidden by the government, which built an immense tower, wherein is kept a fire constantly burning, in which the bodies of the poor are consumed without expense."

"See that big bird on the shore!" exclaimed Mrs. Belgrave. "I saw several of them yesterday, and I meant to ask what it was."

"That is the arghilah, generally called the adjutant," replied Sir Modava. "He is the licensed scavenger of Calcutta, for it is forbidden by law to kill or molest him. You see him walking about in a crowd with as much dignity and gravity as though he were a big banker; and he is also seen perched upon the walls and buildings. They have an enormous bill, as you observe. A friend of mine had a tame one; and one day when the table was ready for dinner he took a chicken from the dish and swallowed it whole. He has a searching eye, and discovers a hidden bit of meat, a dead cat or other animal, and bolts it in the twinkling of an eye."

The steamer continued on her course down the river, and in less than four hours arrived at Diamond Harbor. It contained a fort, a signal-station, and a telegraph-office, though there is nothing in the shape of a village. The East India Company's ships made this their port; but the improvement of the navigation of the river enables all the steamers to go up to the city, to which their arrival is telegraphed.

The extensive territory included in the delta of the Ganges is called the Sunderbunds, and is about equal to the State of Massachusetts in size. It is a muddy region, cut up by a network of streams; and it is full of swamps, morasses, and mud-holes. Nearest to the sea is a belt of land, forming a wide extent of jungle, with a dense undergrowth of tropical plants and verdure; for it is in the Torrid Zone, which the tourists entered about forty miles north of Calcutta. This jungle was the objective point of the hunters of the party.

The captain of the steam-yacht took the company on board through a number of the lagoons and cutoffs to enable them to see the wild character of the scenery. Lord Tremlyn, Sir Modava, and Dr. Ferrolan were kept busy explaining the trees, plants, crocodiles, storks, and other animals.

At a pleasant basin, dinner was served on board, and it was quite as good as they would have obtained at the Great Eastern; for just now the party were government guests, and the officials could not do enough for a person of Lord Tremlyn's influence in England. After the meal the hunters prepared themselves for the sport in which they were to engage. Mrs. Belgrave warned her son to be very careful, and Mrs. Blossom did as much for Felix.

The steamer started into a cut-off leading through to the Bay of Bengal, the polite captain explained. It was full of game of all sorts, including the wild buffalo, rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, wild hog, deer, and the trees and bushes were as full of monkeys as they could swarm. It was agreed among the hunters that none of the latter should be shot, for they were harmless animals.

"Captain, dear, are there any schnakes forninst the joongle?" asked the Milesian, who was much exhilarated at the prospect of the sport, and easily slipped into the vernacular of his mother.

"Plinty av thim, Musther McGavonty," replied Captain O'Flaherty, with a broad grin on his honest face. "They air as thidck as broken heads at a Donnybrook fair."

"Faix, ye's air a brither o' moine!" exclaimed Felix, grasping the hand of the captain.

"Air ye's from the County Carhk?"

"Oi'm from the county and parish of Kilkenny; or mi mudther was, thou' she's dead now, long loife to her! Wud I foind ary cobry in here?"

"All you'll want uv 'em; and pythons too."

"What is a poithon?" asked Felix.

"A big schnake; a boa, or loike him."

"Is it the bore that runs up the river to Calcutty?"

"Not the same boa," laughed the captain. "But you speak English, for I have heard you do it; and I have about forgotten my native brogue."

"If the boa is a snake, he is the fellow I want to see," replied Felix.

"There's one of them now!" exclaimed Captain O'Flaherty, pointing to one wreathed around a bush.

The young hunter brought his rifle to his shoulder, and fired before the captain had time to say anything more. The python began to writhe and wriggle in the bush, and Felix fired again. Then he dropped off into the water. The rest of the company had been aft with the ladies, but they all rushed forward at the report of the rifle. The captain stated what the hunter had done, as he rang to stop and back the boat. They saw the bamboo on which the serpent had been, but the game could not be seen. They wondered what had become of him.

The rest of the hunters began to shoot ducks, herons, and other water-fowls. As fast as a bird dropped into the bayou he disappeared, and not one of them could be recovered. Captain Ringgold wondered what became of them, and the Indian gentlemen only laughed at his perplexity.

"But what becomes of them, for they do not sink?" demanded the commander.

"You shall see," replied Sir Modava. "Don't shoot the adjutants; but there is a long-legged heron. I will bring him down, for he waits very patiently to be shot. Now watch the water when he comes down."

The bird dropped the moment he fired, and the instant he touched the water a pair of jaws closed upon him, and drew him under water. The company were astonished, and looked for an explanation.

"I never counted the crocodiles in this river; but I should guess there were at least a million of them, and they steal your game as fast as you bring it down," said Sir Modava.

The ladies were interested; and another bird was shot, to enable them to see the operation of the saurians. The python was about ten feet long, and he must have been a meal for one of them. The cranes, herons, and storks were numerous; but the party decided to kill no more of them, for they held still, as though they were all ready to be shot; and there was no sport in such game.

The boat continued on its course for half an hour longer, and then came up to a sort of stockade, extending out into the water, and near it were a couple of bamboo huts. This wild region is sparsely peopled with Hindus, who are obliged to keep guard over themselves and their families all the time, and are occasionally the victims of the ferocious monsters of the jungle and of the water.

"What is that stockade for?" asked the commander, as soon as the steamer was moored to the shore.

"The Hindus are a cleanly people, as required by their religion," replied Captain O'Flaherty in the hearing of all the party. "That stockade contains a big trough for washing their scanty clothing. It reaches into the water, so that they can fill their washtub without going out of it."

"I don't see why?" asked Mrs. Woolridge.

"If they went to the border of the stream to dip up water the crocodiles would pick them up as fast as they did so," added the captain; and all the ladies shuddered, and wanted to get out of such a horrible place.

"But the hunters are to land here; and they will find all the heavy game they can dispose of, for there have been no hunters here yet this season to scare them off. You will find the biggest tigers of India here, gentlemen."

The hunters went on shore, and as they passed down the gangway they saw a couple of the crocodiles in the water. Louis put a bullet into the eye of one, and Mr. Woolridge served the other in the same way; but all of them thought saurians were mean game. Near the huts they found two men, and Sir Modava had a talk with them, which no one else could understand; but he employed them to guide the party and show them their traps.

"The wife of one of these men was devoured by a crocodile a year ago, and the daughter of the other, a child of six, had been borne off by a tiger," he explained, as they proceeded after the two men.

They soon came to the traps. The tigers were exceedingly numerous on all the islands formed by the cut-offs, and swam without difficulty from one to another. The first trap they saw was a broad trench, the bottom and sides armed with stakes of the hardest wood, sharpened to a wicked point. A roaring sound attracted the visitors to another of the same kind, in which a monstrous tiger was floundering about, trying to escape the points that pierced him. He was suffering fearfully; and Captain Ringgold shot him at once, though the Hindus were delighted by his torture.

Another kind of trap was more ingenious. It was on the plan of the twitch-up snare, common in New England. A young tree, very strong and flexible, is bent down till the upper end touches the ground. To this extremity is attached a stout cord, and fastened to a stake in the ground. A slip-noose is so arranged that the tiger thrusts his head through it in order to reach the meat with which the cord holding the tree is baited. As the animal pulls the cord he casts off the line holding the tree in its bent position. The slip-noose is tightened around his neck, the tree flies up into the air, carrying the tiger with it. Everything about the trap is made very strong, and there the savage marauder hangs till he chokes to death.