no "virgin forests," as by this term I understand a forest
of mighty trees. During the night, we heard, from time to time, the
roaring of tigers. These animals are pretty abundant in these
parts, and frequently attack the natives if they happen to remain
out late wooding. I was shown the tattered fragment of a man's
dress, hung upon a bush, to commemorate the fact of a native having
been torn to pieces there by one of these beasts. But they are not
the only foes that man has to dread here; the Ganges contains quite
as deadly ones, namely--the ravenous crocodiles. These may be seen
in groups of six or eight, sunning themselves on the slimy banks of
the river or on the numerous sandbanks. They vary in length from
six to fifteen feet. On the approach of the steamer, several
started up, affrighted by the noise, and glided hastily into the
dirty yellow stream.

The different branches of the Sonderbunds and the Gury are often so
narrow that there is hardly room for two vessels to pass each other;
while, on the other hand, they frequently expand into lakes that are
miles across. In spite, too, of the precaution of only proceeding
by day, on account of the numerous sandbanks and shallows, accidents
are of frequent occurrence. We ourselves did not come off scot
free. In one of the narrow branches I have alluded to, while our
vessel was stopped to allow another to pass, one of the two ships
that we had in tow came with such violence against the steamer, that
the sides of a cabin were driven in: luckily, however, no one was
injured.

In another arm of the river, two native vessels were lying at
anchor. The crews were somewhat slow in perceiving us, and had not
time to raise their anchors before we came puffing up to them. The
captain did not stop, as he thought there was room to pass, but
turned the steamer's head so far in shore, that he ran into the
bushes, and left some of the blinds of the cabin-windows suspended
as trophies behind him, whereat he was so enraged, that he
immediately dispatched two boats to cut the poor creatures' hawsers,
thereby causing them to lose their anchors. This was another action
worthy of a European!

Near Culna (358 miles from the sea), we entered the Gury, a
considerable tributary of the Ganges, which it flows into below
Rumpurbolea. The jungles here recede, and their place is occupied
by beautiful plantations of rice, and other vegetables. There was,
too, no scarcity of villa