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« The city of Calcutta stands to the north of Fort-William, 
leaving a clear esplanade of about a thousand yards. What- 
ever may have been the case with the territorial possessions, 
the improvement of the capital, under the Company’s govern- 
ment, has been rapid beyond example. Within the memory 
of thousands, still alive, Calcutta was a miserable rush-built 
Indian village, without commerce or police, At this day it 
embraces a population of half a million; its harbour, compre- 
hending the whole course of the river downward, displays the 
flags of all the nations in the universe; and its native mer- 
chants, secure in the fruition of their riches, are seen driving 
along its streets and environs, in London-built carriages, 
drawn by Arabian horses, 
* The English part of the city, called Chouringee, is built 
in a style of superior elegance, The precautions adopted to 
obviate the effects of a burning climate have been such as to 
give scope for the display of a great deal of taste in orna- 
mental building. The houses are surrounded with verandahs 
supported by columns of all the ancient orders, and perhaps 
a few more. Tbe windows are numerous, to admit a free 
circulation of air, and the excess of light is softened by green 
Venetian blinds. During the prevalence of the hot winds the 
doors and windows are shaded with mats, made of the roots 
of the Kuskus (Andropogon muricatus), which being kept con- 
stantly wetted, communicate a refreshing coolness and balmy 
odour to the air in passing through them. To aid this refri- 
gerating process, the apartments are usually furnished with 
Punkabs, a gigantic sort of fan, consisting of a frame of wood 
in the form of a parallelogram, covered with calico, and 
extending nearly the whole length ofthe room. This machine 
is suspended from the ceiling, and kept in constant motion 
over the heads of the company by an attendant, who pulls a 
cord attached to its lower edge. 
** Calcutta is surrounded by extensive tracts of wooded and 
marshy ground, which, in the hot season, send forth such 
swarms of winged insects, that the inhabitants suffer the tor- 
ments of a plague of Egypt. In the day-time they hardly 
show themselves, but no sooner are the apartments lighted for 
