14 FIRST VIEW OF INDIA. 



Bombay, and then drove to the Byculla Hotel, about 

 a mile from the shore. A large pile of buildings, 

 composed on the ground floor of one enormous I'oom, a 

 hundred and fifty feet by fifty, divided by screens into 

 reading, dining, and smoking saloons, and under a 

 separate roof were the bed-rooms, with partitions 

 reaching only half way to the ceiling ; which makes 

 them cool certainly, but not otherwise convenient, 

 especially if you wish to hold private conversation 

 with a friend ; but in hot climates people, as a rule, 

 do not prolong their stay in the bed-room beyond 

 the time necessary for their toilet. 



So this is India, the fairyland of the East ! Well, 

 if a fair specimen, I think people might as well stay 

 at home, for there is little difierence between this and 

 any other large mercantile town in Europe, with the 

 exception of the motley group of turbaned humanity 

 moving about languidly under a hot sun. This is 

 probably every traveller's first thought. Gradually, 

 however, we become sensible of certain impressions 

 produced by climate, luxurious ease, and one's bun- 

 galow existence, which combine to change our ojjinion. 

 Also the study of the native character is not without 

 interest, since it opens the recesses of many a little 

 nook and corner in our brain, filled with notes his- 

 torical, social, and scientific, which may have been 



