310 BRITISH SOCIAL SYSTEM. 



house on " red letter days" are on a scale of great magnifi- 

 cence, and the invitation is given by advertisement in the 

 newspaper, addressed to ;dl persons in the service of his 

 majesty and the company. On these occasions great atten- 

 tion is paid to precedence ; and at one time malters assumed 

 so formidable an aspect in this particular, that reference was 

 made to George the Fourth, who decided that hereditary 

 should be preferred to official rank. The influence which a 

 governor or governor-general possesses over society is very 

 great, more particularly as a by-law of the company obliges 

 all their servants to obtain his sanction and permission be- 

 fore entering into the state of matrimony. 



The chase, from the variety of fierce and powerful animals 

 with which the Indian jungles abound, and which are 

 described by Mr. Wilson under the head of Zoology, is 

 rendered a noble and inspiriting occupation, in which the 

 younger British officers take particular delight, though its 

 fatigues beneath a burning sky often seriously injure their 

 health. Hunting the fox, as in England, with hounds, the 

 natives take no interest in ; but Englishmen carry all their 

 diversions with them, go where they will. In the peninsular 

 campaigns, the army had its pack ; so in every part of India 

 the chase is pursued with all that ardour and contempt of 

 danger so peculiar to our countrymen. Snipe-shooting also 

 possesses manv attractions; but being usually practised 

 during the burning heat of noon, it can scarcely be indulged 

 in without incurring the hazard of deep injury to the con- 

 stitution. , 



The_asp£ctof English society in India is splendid. The 

 government-TiouTe~arratrutta is eompUtlUly DI eastern 

 palace. Its two principal apartments are decorated wjth 

 pillars covered with the cement called chunam, which makes 

 th.-rn resemble Parian marble; they are considered by Mrs. 

 Graham the finest she ever saw. The quarter called 

 Chouringec. is described by Lord Valentia as a village of 

 palaces, strangely contracting with the Black Town, a huge 

 assemblage of mild and thatched huts, similar to the poorest 

 cabins of the Irish peasantry. The aspect of Calcutta, 

 notwithstanding the difference of climate, strongly sug- 

 gested to Heber what he had seen in Russia ; " the size of 

 the houses, their whiteness, and Falla lian porticoes, the lofti- 

 ness of the rooms, and the scanty furniture, the unbounded 



