THE HOOGLY. 
91 
CHAPTER, VIII. 
RAJEMAH’l.— a SUTTEE. BUDGEROW. 
We now took our passage in a country ship to 
Calcutta, where we stayed only a few days, when we 
launched upon the broad bosom of the Hoogly. We 
were exceedingly struck with its imposing magnifi- 
cence ; and who has ever directed his eye over the 
wide waters of this celebrated river without being 
similarly impressed ! The varieties of feature which 
it presents, both of still and active life, the associa- 
tions it calls up, from the fables and superstitions 
attached to it, the busy activity of human pur- 
suits which it constantly displays, are all highly 
interesting to the traveller; while the reverence in 
which it is held, especially after its junction with 
the other western branch, when it assumes the sacred 
name of Ganges, raises those unavoidable emotions 
that, in defiance even of well-grounded prejudice, in- 
spire almost a veneration for its consecrated waters. 
Upon the whole, this is, perhaps, the most distinguished 
river upon the face of the globe, whether we consider 
the lofty regions of perennial ice, never yet pene- 
trated by mortal foot, in which its unknown source is 
concealed, the stupendous precipices over which it 
dashes in its progress to the plain, the natural im- 
