ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
3 
by His Royal Highness on the ist of January 1876, 
and they were opened to the public on the ist of May 
of the same year. 
The land granted by Government for the use of the 
Gardens comprised two sections, lying on either side of the 
road leading from the Zeerut Bridge to the entrance to 
Belvedere, the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of 
Bengal. The section to the west was covered by a dense 
mass of native huts, more or less grouped around a large 
sheet of water, now converted into an ornamental serpentine 
lake with islands; whilst the other section to the east, 
which was a very waste piece of ground, much cut up by 
small tanks requiring to be filled up, yet remains only 
partially reclaimed, but there is an immediate prospect of its 
being utilized for the rearing of stock and for a dairy farm. 
The Menagerie is at present solely confined to the 
western section, which has been transformed into one 
of the most beautiful pleasure-grounds in India. 
The Gardens are situated about one mile and a half 
to the south of the city, on the south-eastern bank of 
Tollah’s Nullah, probably one of the original channels 
of the sacred Ganges, and on the opposite bank of 
which, about a mile to the south-east, is the famous 
Temple of Kali from which Calcutta is supposed by 
some to derive its name. 
The Zeerut is the bridge by which the Gardens are 
usually approached from the Calcutta side, and towards 
it converge roads from the east and west of the Maidan ; 
but there is also the Alipore Bridge to the east, and over 
this it is proposed to carry an extension of the Calcutta 
systems of tramway, the terminal station to be within five 
minutes walk of the Garden Gate. 
