2 
GUIDE TO THE 
institution, and although money was then subscribed 
by the late Maharajahs of Burdwan and Vizianagram, 
and by Rajah Rajendra Mullick, Bahadur, to the 
amount of Rs. 39,000, the project had to be abandoned, 
as no suitable site could then be procured. The subject, 
the importance of which had become fully recognized 
from that period, was only held in abeyance, never 
again being lost sight of. 
Mr. Carl Louis Schwendler, in 1873, addressed the 
Council of the Asiatic Society on the same subject, 
and his suggestions were carefully discussed by a 
Sub-Committee of the Asiatic Society and of the 
Agri-Horticultural Society, but the scheme was once 
more deferred for want of a proper site. 
At last, however, during the Viceroyalty of Earl 
Northbrook and the Lieutenant-Governorship of Sir 
Richard Temple, the Zoological Gardens became an accom¬ 
plished fact through the energy of Mr. Schwendler ; the 
Institution being established towards the close of 1875 by 
the Government of Bengal in conjunction with the public ; 
the Government granting a suitable piece of land and 
securing the maintenance and the management of the 
Gardens, the public liberally contributing the capital 
required for the laying out of the grounds and for the 
erection of buildings ; and Mr. Schwendler making over his 
private collection of animals to the new Institution. 
The public, chiefly the naUve section of the com¬ 
munity, contributed the sum of Rs. 2,40,000, and the sub- 
criptions so liberally promised in 1867 were at once 
paid and even increased. 
Advantage was taken of the presence in Calcutta 
of the Prince of Wales to have the Gardens inaugurated 
