white buildings, the bright sandy beach, and the dark green sea, all combine to form an object of uncommou beauty; nor does the motley group, to be seen in the streets, weaken the effect; some of them entirely naked, others so completely covered, that nothing but the face and neck is to be seen; women carried in palanquins, on men's shoulders,

on horseback, clothed like women, in muslin dresses, having black faces, adorned with large gold earrings and white turbans.

The black town, as it is called, or that part which is, now, peculiarly the residence of the natives, is four miles in circumference, and is separated from the fort of Madrass only by a level plain. It, also, has 'some good streets, but the houses are very irregular, and being principally built with mud, and tiled roofs, the whole has a mean appearance. In 1795, the population of both towns was computed at 300,000.

Madrass carries on a very great trade, not only with England, but with China, Ceylon, the different parts of Europe, and new Holland; owing, however, to the difficulty of land, ing goods, it labours under great disadvantages. The boats employed there, are built of soft wood, extremely light, and are sewed together, not having a nail in their whole construction; hence they are very buoyant and pliable, and are borne, by the surf, many yards on the shore, without any injury. They make use, also, of a raft, called a catamaran, on which they land

such things as are not injured by sea water. The people who work these machines, and the boatmen, are expert swimmers, and it is seldom, when left to themselves, that any accidents occur. A European boat, that should attempt passing the surf, would surely be overset, and ard would perish,

The next place which Captain Blisset visited, wa the capital of the Bengal Empire, and of the English power in India, Calcutta.

Calcutta is the chief city of Bengal, and, of all the British possessions in Hindostan; it is a wealthy and commercial town, situated in the Hoogly, or eastern branch of the Ganges, which, though a hundred miles from its mouth, is navigable even for large vessels, the whole way up to the town. It is the seat of the su preme government of India, and the residence of the Governor-General, as he is called, who is always a person of the highest character for rank and talents, and is appointed by the King of England. The houses are, principally, only one story high, flat roofed and thatched, except in that quarter which is inhabited by the English, where are several haudsome residences, built in the English state, and with large gar dens adjoining; the Governor-General's palace and garden are inferior to none, in the whole world, in magnificence and extent. Calcutta extends along the banks of the river for about four miles, and contains above half a million of inhabitants. It will scarcely, however, be imagined that, in this large and pepulous city,

there are only three places of Christian wor ship to be met with. Sir, said William, when I lived on George's-quay, there were three houses of worship within a few streets' length of me, and in the whole City of Dublin (which, ́ I am told, does not measure three miles, at its greatest extent) there are at least fifty; while here in a city four miles long, there are but three to be found.

The mixture of European and Asiatic manners is very striking; coaches, phaetons, chaises, and hacknies, palanquins carried by the natives, the heavy loaded camel, and the stately elephant, parade the streets together: and the people display as great a variety, differing from each other in dress, complexion, religion and manners; here you see the black Hindoo, the olive coloured Moor, and the fair counte nance of the Englishman: the Jew and the Turk, the priest and the soldier, or, in other words, Chinese and Frenchmen, Persians and Germans, Arabs and Spaniards, Americans and Portuguese, Jews and Heathens, Hindoos and English thronging together, through the crowded streets. But, though they apparently mingle thus together indiscriminately,, no people, in the world, are so jealous of another, or keep themselves more distinct, from each other, than the inhabitants of Calcutta; even the Blacks there will not so much as eat any vegetable food, that has not been cooked by one of their own tribe or cast; aud, as they call it a meritorious act to abstain, altogether, from

E

eating the flesh of animals, it is not surprizing that a quantity of food is suffered to go to waste; what is not used being always thrown out, and, at night, the Jackalls, hyænas, and other wild beasts may be heard, prowling thro the streets, come in from the neighbouring woods, to devour this rejected food; to this, also, may be attributed the amazing flock of crows and kites which frequent the town, quite undisturbed, and almost cover the house-tops and gardens.

The inhabitants rise early, to enjoy the cool of the morning, before sunrise; at twelve, they take a hot meal, which they call tiffing, and, those of the more wealthy classes, have the custom of lying down to rest, for a couple of hours, during the intense heat of the day. They dine, usually, between seven and eight, and from that till sun-set, is the time when they walk, ride, or drive out in their open carriages, and the mussal chees, or torch-bearers, go out to meet their masters as soon as it begins to grow dark, and will often run before the carriage at the rate of eight miles an hour.

The boats, which are used on the Ganges, are of various forms and sizes, according to the purposes they are intended for; those calculated for conveying goods from town to town, along the banks of the river, by which a very considerable traffick is carried on, are flat bottomed, having no keel, the sides are raised high, and the planks of which they are formed are sewed together with the fibres of the cocoa-nut; they

are large, and are furnished with a single mast, and a square sail; this kind of boat is called a bar, and another, which somewhat resembles it, is called a massoolah; but those which are called travelling boats, and are kept by gentlemen for their own accommodation, are by far the most elegant and commodious; these are called budgerows, and vary in size according either to the wealth of the owner, or the use he has for them; some are nearly sixty feet in length; and, as it is convenient that they should both sail and row, they are generally furnished with from twelve to twenty oars, and have one mast in the centre. The budgerows usually afford one large apartment, and either one or two sleeping rooms, and, if the owner be a rich man, he will have two smaller boats in attendauce on him, one which carries his kitchen utensils, and another for occasionally conveying him on shore. The Moors build their budgerows long and narrow, sometimes they are a hundred feet in length, and, perhaps, not eight feet wide, so that, instead of having rooms in them, they erect an awning along the deck, supported by pillars, which are usually gilt and painted, and very handsomely ornamented, and the almost continued fine weather in this climate enables them to live, in this way, in the open air, without any inconvenience.

But of all modes of conveyance the palanquins are the most easy and convenient to the traveller. There are, usually, nine bearers to each palanquin, besides two other attendants,