river. The Ghat is open to the sky,
so that the ventilation is perfect, but the atmosphere is nevertheless
impregnated with an unpleasant odor. The Hoogly River being one of the
outlets of the much-revered Ganges, is considered to be equally sacred.
Close by the Burning Ghat, along the river's front, there is a number of
sheds, with only partial shelter from the street, where poor dying
Hindoos are brought to breathe their last, believing that if they pass
away close to the sacred water, their spirits will be instantly wafted
to the regions of bliss. Here they are attended by people who make this
their business, and it is believed that they often hasten the demise of
the sufferers by convenient means. Human life is held of very little
account among these people, whose faith bridges the gulf of death, and
who were at one time so prone to suicide by drowning in the Ganges, as
to render it necessary on the part of the English to establish watchmen
every night along the city shore of the sacred river to prevent it.

At the close of each day, about an hour before sunset, all fashionable
Calcutta turns out in state for a drive on the Maiden,--the Hindoostanee
name for esplanade,--a broad and finely macadamized roadway, extending
along the river's bank by the fort and cricket grounds. It is the Indian
Hyde Park, or Bengal Champs Elysees (the famous Parisian boulevard). The
variety, elegance, and costliness of the equipages in grand livery are
surprising. The whole scene is enlivened by the beautiful dresses of the
ladies, the dashing costumes and gold lace of the nabobs, the quaint
Oriental dress of their barefooted attendants, and the spirited music of
the military band. The superb horses in their gold-mounted harnesses
dash over the course at a spirited gait; the twilight hour is brief, the
shadows lengthen, when a hundred electric lamps flash upon the scene,
rivalling the light of day. Then the occupants of the open vehicles, and
the equestrians, gather about the Eden Garden, in rows, six or eight
deep, and listen to the popular airs, or chat merrily in the intervals.
The Cascine at Florence, the Pincio at Rome, the Chiaja at Naples, the
Prado at Madrid--none of these famous drives can compare with the Maiden
of Calcutta for gayety, variety, and attractiveness.

Calcutta is said to contain a population of a million. It is sometimes
visited by cyclones, and the fierceness of these warrings of the
elements may be judged by th