of usefulness prepared for any who would work it; I had found there kind hearts, and had been received not as a stranger, but as one with whom true sympathy already existed. It was with sorrow, therefore, that I bade farewell to its shores, and for the first time prepared to go forth alone among strangers!

CHAPTER V.

CALCUTTA.

THE banks of the Ganges greeted our longing sight on the morning of November 20.

It is a very strange feeling to find oneself for the first time actually in the very spot which one has looked at on the map from one's earliest childhood, and of which one has heard so much and talked so much all one's life. I had not been long enough a traveller to lose the vividness of novelty; and though still very weak, and somewhat miserable after the tossing of the vessel in the Bay of Bengal, yet it was impossible to be insensible to the fact that we were now floating on the waters which for thousands and thousands of years had been held sacred by countless millions of the inhabitants of this marvellous land. This broad majestic stream does not require any historic memories to invest it with intense interest. These very waters, which we were cutting through as unconcernedly as if they belonged to any ordinary estuary, had taken a marvellous course ere they reached us. Their first origin on the snowclad Himalayas is grand and mysterious; to penetrate to the very source of the sacred river is worthy of a life pilgrimage. When the weary devotee, or the ardent lover of nature, has painfully attained a height which would seem the highest point he is to reach, peak

beyond peak appears beyond him. At length he discovers in the midst of wild and grand displays of nature's most rugged and majestic wonders, the young stream dashing fearlessly down, joyous, pure, and free, which is to become the sacred stream of an empire! Who can describe, who has ever attempted to tell the course of those waters? Who could venture to enumerate the scenes of sorow and of death which they have witnessed, -how many mourners they have soothed by imparting not only a refreshing coolness, but a holy calm? In its course onward to the ocean, what noble cities it has passed, bearing onward their merchandise, purifying their atmosphere; what fine tributaries it has received to swell its flood; and now, after dividing its waters into the numerous streams which form the delta, it is still grand and beautiful, terminating its course in a way worthy of its progress to the ocean!

The banks are low, presenting no peculiar features; but as we approached the capital, those acquainted with it recognised and pointed out to the other passengers many well-known residences or institutions. The excitement of anticipation began to spread among all the passengers. I was probably the only one in the vessel who had no great expectation of meeting anyone, or even of finding a home on landing. On the departure of my party from Madras, I had expressed the intention. of proceeding by the next steamer; but they might not be aware that a French vessel would be the first arrival, and not being one of the regular British steamers, its approach was heralded by no cannon; my friends would therefore probably not be aware of my actual arrival. I had of course written to them as soon as I had arranged my plans, but letters take a slow and weary course of about thirteen days in their transit from Madras to

Calcutta, and my unfortunate missive did not reach its destination until long after my own arrival. The telegraph of course would be deemed the natural and certain mode of speedy communication, but I was informed that it was out of order, and consequently useless. This is not a very unusual condition of things. When at Ahmedabad the wire snapped over our heads as we were taking a morning excursion, and some days after, a missionary, riding quickly along, was seriously injured by a stroke from the still hanging wire against his chest. A gentleman told me that he once received a telegram after a letter which was despatched at the same time; I had therefore thought it useless to telegraph. I did not know the address of the friend who would receive me, having trusted my letter to the general direction of Calcutta. Experience had inspired me with a dread of Indian hotels. In this rather disagreeable emergency, I found kind friends in my fellowpassengers, Mr. and Mrs. G., who were returning home with their little girl. This lovely child was one of the very few I saw in India who had not suffered morally from the surrounding influences of the country; her parents had taken care that she should have no communication with native servants, but if not actually with her mother, was under the charge of a respectable young Englishwoman, who was what we should call a nursery governess. My new friends expected to meet their carriage on shore, and did not hurry from the vessel on her arrival, but waited until the crowd had somewhat dispersed. What was our dismay, when we at last effected a landing with our luggage, on finding, not only that there were no servants and carriage waiting, but that no conveyance of any sort was within sight or hearing! The landing-place was at some distance from

the city itself.

Everyone had gone his or her own way, and there was nothing we could do but sit by the wayside on our boxes, while Mr. G. went to procure carriages; this we expected would involve a walk of nearly three miles, and an absence of at least two hours. Such was my first introduction to the capital of all India! I certainly was not much impressed with the excellence of its arrangements, or with the approach it had made to the common conveniences of civilised life! The sun was not far from its decline, and we were anxiously calculating the flight of time, and fearing the night dews for the little darling; we watched the few passers-by, hoping that some one might act the part of a good Samaritan to us, and succour us in our distress; the few who did go that way passed by on the other side, evidently bent, very naturally, on securing accommodation for themselves, or enjoying some festivity after their long voyage. At length Mr. G. arrived, just as the shades were beginning to close in around us, his early return having been facilitated by having met a friend who had given him a lift. He insisted on my accompanying them to their home, and I thankfully yielded to his hospitable sway.

The road from thence to Alipore, a pleasant suburb of Calcutta, was not very prepossessing. It had formerly given promise of being an agreeable residence for those who desired to escape from the close air of the city; but the property had been purchased within a few years by a native prince, whose retainers and surroundings were not in accordance with English ideas, and the district was left in his hands. Hence there were none of those indications of affluence and refinement which we always see in the vicinity of large and important cities of Europe. Native huts, intended simply for