, surrounded by vultures and
jackals, who, indiscriminately mingled together, were devouring them.

As they approached, the jackals retreated, looking repeatedly back, and
sometimes facing round to the party, as if to inquire why they disturbed
them in their repast. The vultures, on the contrary, did not attempt to
move, until Macallan approached to within a few feet, and then those who
could retired a few yards, or took their stations on the low branches of
a tree close by, where others, who were already satiated, were sitting
with drooping wings waiting for a return of appetite to recommence their
banquet; others were so gorged, that they could not walk away. With
their wings trailing in the mud, and their beaks separated, as if
gasping for breath, their brilliant eye dulled from repletion--there
they remained, emitting an effluvium so offensive that the numerous
skeletons, and the mingled remains of mortality, were pleasing compared
to such disgusting specimens of _living_ corruption.

The party viewed the scene for a minute or two without speaking, and
then turned away by common consent, and did not break silence until they
had left it far behind.

"I begin to think," said Courtenay, taking out his box, "that even a
savage may occasionally have an excuse for taking snuff. Did you ever,
in your whole life, come in contact with such a stench? Positively it
has impregnated my snuff. There's a strong twang of the vulture in it,"
continued he, emptying the contents of the box upon the ground. "Now
that's what I consider cursedly annoying."

"We have, indeed, both seen and heard enough for one day," observed
Captain M---, as they entered the boat. "Many thanks to you, Mr ---,
for your attention to our wishes."

"Not at all, Captain M---. I am only sorry that my sights have not been
as agreeable as they are novel; but when you arrive at Calcutta, you
will find novelty combined with pleasure."

After three days, which appeared to have fled with extra rapidity, from
the constant amusement derived from the anecdotes and information
imparted by the pilot captain, they sailed up Garden Reach with a fine
breeze; and the city of palaces, the only one that deserves its name,
burst, in all its splendour, upon their sight.

But I am not about to describe it: reader, do not be alarmed. It is not
in my province as a novel-writer, and I make it a rule, never to
interfere with anybody else, if I can avoid it. Captain Ha