Fields of rice were alternated with sugar plantations, while palm, bamboo, and other trees, sprung up between, and the vegetation extended, in wanton luxuriance, down to the very water's edge; the only objects wanting to complete the picture were villages and human beings, but it was not until we were within about five-and-twenty miles of Calcutta that we saw now and then a wretched village or a few half- naked men.

The huts were formed of clay, bamboos, or palm branches, and covered with tiles, rice-straw, or palm leaves.

The larger boats of the natives struck me as very remarkable, and differed entirely from those I saw at Madras.

The front portion was almost flat, being elevated hardly half a foot above the water while the stern was about seven feet high.
The first grand-looking building, a cotton mill, is situated fifteen miles below Calcutta, and a cheerful dwelling-house is attached.
From this point up to Calcutta, both banks of the Hoogly are lined with palaces built in the Greco-Italian style, and richly provided with pillars and terraces.

We flew too quickly by, unfortunately, to obtain more than a mere passing glimpse of them.
Numbers of large vessels either passed us or were sailing in the same direction, and steamer after steamer flitted by, tugging vessels after them; the scene became more busy and more strange, every moment, and everything gave signs that we were approaching an Asiatic city of the first magnitude.
We anchored at Gardenrich, four miles below Calcutta.