CALCUTTA. 9S 



At an early hour on a very cold morning I found 

 myself crossing the Hooghly in a steamer for Calcutta, 

 speculating upon the comfort I should enjoy at 

 Wilson's or Spencer's large hotel, but alas I my 

 thoughts had been wasted, for both were full, and 

 it was only after an hour's search that I secured 

 rooms at a lodging house. My first ca.re was to find 

 out how, when and where I should proceed on leaving 

 the Bengal capital, the city of palaces and whatever 

 other appellation people give it, since it did not 

 take me long to discover that it was not a place of 

 my abiding longer than absolutely necessary. 



I had Burmah in my mind, with distant visions of 

 Mandalay and Bhamo, but friends dissuaded me from 

 going there, " nothing to be seen and steamers 

 uncomfortable," and very sorry I am to this day that 

 I listened to the croakers, especially since reading 

 Lieutenant-General Fytche's interesting account of the 

 country. Next I thought of visiting the famous 

 " Black Pagoda " and the temple of Juggernauth 

 at Puri, good specimens of the Indo-Aryan style, dis- 

 tinguished by its square ground-plan and curvilinear 

 sikra or tower ; they are about three hundred miles 

 down the coast, but here again I was baffled " no 

 direct steam communication," and on learning that 

 there were similar pagodas in the Madras presidency. 



