BENAEES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 87 



Ionia is very complete and the specimens are beautifully prepared. 

 I had expected to devote a week or more to studying the fishes and 

 reptiles which I should find here, but the absence of classified speci- 

 mens rendered it impossible.* I had, however, the pleasure of 

 meeting Dr. Anderson, the eminent Director of the Museum. 



In Calcutta I began to realize very keenly that the hot season 

 had set in, and hastened my preparations to depart for South- 

 ern India. The thermometer steadily stood at 98° to 100° in the 

 shade, and the nights were almost as hot as the days. There ai-e 

 different qualities of heat, just as there are different degrees. At 

 home, we work out in the fields when the thermometer stands at 

 102° in the shade, with only a thin straw hat for a head-covering, 

 whereas if a white man should attempt anything of the kind here 

 with the same temperature, he would soon be hors de combat. Here, 

 every office is provided with its long swinging fans called " punk- 

 ahs," which hang fi'om the ceiling over the desks and are pulled 

 vigorously to and fro all day long by coolies kept constantly em- 

 ployed for that purpose. Every dinner-table has its punkah, and 

 nearly every European has one over his bed and a coolie crouched 

 down outside his door, pulling steadily all night long, fanning the 

 " Sahib " while he sleeps, or until the coolie himself falls asleep, 

 and the Sahib goes into a nightmare and awakes drenched with 

 perspiration and gasping for breath. Instead of storm-doors such 

 as we have to keep out the piercing cold, here we see the very 

 same idea followed out in an opposite way. The doors of many 

 houses and Enghsh shops are provided with open screens of grass, 

 or " cuscus," upon which water is constantly thrown by the coolies, 

 so that the air in passing through them will be cooled and charged 

 with moisture, and render life less of a burden to those within. 

 These are the " tatties " so indispensable to the existence of Euro- 

 peans in Northern India dming the hot season, and especially dur- 

 ing the prevalence of the dreaded " hot winds." 



Having carefully packed up my collection, and shipped it aboard 

 a vessel bound for New York, on the morning of May 6th I em- 

 barked on the French Messageries steamer 3Ieinam, for Madras. 

 The broad and deep Hoogly River forms the harbor of Calcutta, and 

 below the pontoon bridge the sailing vessels are moored close to- 

 gether along the eastern shore by strong chain cables, while the 

 steamers lie at the jetties which have been built here and there on 



* It must be borne in mind tliat the above was written in 1877. 



