ons--namely, the Business-town,
the Black-town, and the European quarter. The Business-town and
Black-town are very ugly, containing narrow, crooked streets, filled
with wretched houses and miserable huts, between which there are
warehouses, counting-houses, and now and then some palace or other.
Narrow paved canals run through all the streets, in order to supply
the necessary amount of water for the numerous daily ablutions of
the Hindoos. The Business-town and Black-town are always so densely
crowded, that when a carriage drives through, the servants are
obliged to get down and run on before, in order to warn the people,
or push them out of the way.

The European quarter of the town, however, which is often termed the
City of Palaces--a name which it richly merits--is, on the contrary,
very beautiful. Every good-sized house, by the way, is called, as
it is in Venice, a palace. Most of these palaces are situated in
gardens surrounded by high walls; they seldom join one another, for
which reason there are but few imposing squares or streets.

With the exception of the governor's palace, none of these buildings
can be compared for architectural beauty and richness with the large
palaces of Rome, Florence, and Venice. Most of them are only
distinguished from ordinary dwelling-houses by a handsome portico
upon brick pillars covered with cement, and terrace-like roof's.
Inside, the rooms are large and lofty, and the stairs of greyish
marble or even wood; but neither in doors or out are there any fine
statues or sculptures.

The Palace of the governor is as I before said, a magnificent
building--one that would be an ornament to the finest city in the
world. It is built in the form of a horse-shoe, with a handsome
cupola in the centre: the portico, as well as both the wings, is
supported upon columns. The internal arrangements are as bad as can
possibly be imagined; the supper-room being, for instance, a story
higher than the ball-room. In both these rooms there is a row of
columns on each side, and the floor of the latter is composed of
Agra marble. The pillars and walls are covered with a white cement,
which is equal to marble for its polish. The private rooms are not
worth looking at; they merely afford the spectator an opportunity of
admiring the skill of the architect, who has managed to turn the
large space at his command to the smallest imaginable profit.

Among the other buildings worthy of notice are