CALCUTTA, INDIA, _Oct. 8, 1851_.
I left Ceylon by the steamer Hindostan, on her way from Suez, with the
overland mail, having about forty passengers, mostly from England. I
now find myself in the so-styled city of palaces, upon the banks of the
Hoogley, one of the many branches of the Ganges, and about one hundred
and forty miles from the Sand Heads of hazardous navigation, while the
jungle, on its lower banks, is haunted with the famous Bengal tiger,
a terror to the shipwrecked mariner. Strong indications of a heavier
storm than we had already encountered, two days below the entrance,
induced our captain to turn back and run south, which was most unusual
and unwarrantable, with a well-found steamer of fourteen hundred tons
burden, and caused a delay of thirty-six hours, proving an error of
judgment.
This city, the capital of the Bengal Presidency, is said to contain
from five to six hundred thousand inhabitants, the foreign population
not exceeding one thousand, besides the troops. The public buildings
of the East India Company, inclusive of the Governor’s palace,
and private residences of the employees of government, are well
constructed, and discover a good deal of taste in their erection and
site. The course or esplanade, and general drives along the river
banks to Garden Reach (the out of town residences), are extensive and
beautiful, and display more luxurious vehicles, and finer horses with
outriders, and bearers in costume, than can be found for the same
population anywhere in the world. The evening six o’clock drive before
dinner being the greatest means of enjoyment in this hot climate,
every sacrifice is made on the part of all classes to sport their
equipages. I arrived here just after the commencement of the annual
Hindoo festival called the _Doorgah Poojah_, during which all
business is suspended. The heat is most oppressive, and no white man of
any means is seen walking in the streets during the day, but palanquins
are in general use. They are not unlike small houses with sliding
doors on each side; they contain a mattress to lie upon, covered with
matting, and sofa pillows of light material upon which to recline the
head, and are supported on the shoulders of four Hindoo bearers, whose
black shining skins, reeking with perspiration, denote the fatigue
they endure. It is astonishing how fast they get over the surface;
they are to be found in all public places and anxious for employment.
It is a luxurious mode of travel, and long journeys are performed by
Dawk, so called, with relays of men, but to me it is a painful mode of
conveyance, and scarcely fast enough for an American. The Punkah here
is indispensable; in the large hotel where I am staying, and which
equals in size some of our large New York hotels, all the rooms are
furnished with them, suspended from the ceiling, and necessity obliges
each occupant to employ a punkah driver, who by means of his cord and
pulley in the passage, keeps up a constant circulation of air. The
great diversity of caste among the Hindoos, makes it necessary that
housekeepers should employ a multitude of servants. The punkah driver
being inferior, cannot be employed as bearer or body-servant, and he in
turn will not wait at table. They must be employed as grooms, coachmen,
footmen, cooks, water-carriers, washerwomen, and an infinite number of
occupations. In dining with an official in the East India Company’s
service, of large appointment, who had been a fellow passenger, and
who had a large retinue of servants, he informed me that he required
fifty for his establishment. Their wages are low and they furnish
their own supplies, which are mostly rice and curry, as they disdain
the food of the Christians. The Mussulmans, of which I have one, are
not so tenacious, and turn their attention to different kinds of work.
The expenses of life here are enormous, exceeding those of all other
oriental cities. They grow out of the luxurious extravagance of the
East India Company’s servants, through its extensive patronage, and
the officers of the Queen’s troops, who not only exhaust their liberal
salaries but are heavily in debt.
The native portion of the city, which extends for miles, exhibits a
striking contrast to the palaces of the European quarter. The bazaars
are worthy of being seen, but having visited those of Constantinople
and Grand Cairo, they were no novelty to me. The other evening I
attended the “nautches,” a species of ball or entertainment given by
the native princes some three miles distant from the hotel; driving
my buggy through immense masses of the populace, with the continual
cries of my servant and footman to clear the track, I made my way
slowly, coming in contact with a variety of vehicles in the darkness
and confusion. At last I emerged from this chaos of equipages, and
managed to get up to the extreme end of the lane to the Sohha Bazaar,
where my vision was dazzled with the immense number of torches. The
illuminations of the princes were intended to out-rival each other, and
were got up with a good deal of fanciful display in oriental style. On
pressing among the crowd through the spacious arena of the building
amid the display of tinsel and torchlight, I found a large assembly of
mixed nations and great variety of costume. The interior was covered
with matting and chairs, with divans around the wall for the multitude.
The Rajah was very polite, offering his divan with refreshments, and
ordered the “nautch” or dancing girls before us to perform their
different evolutions, which delight the natives, but to a European are
anything but chaste or graceful. They were loaded with ornaments in
their ears and noses, and on their necks, arms, wrists, and ankles;
their voices were put upon a nasal half key, which enabled them to keep
it up much longer.
The Hindoos burn their dead, but the funeral pile is not desecrated
as formerly with widows of deceased husbands. In the upper part of
the city is found a hollow square on the river bank, enclosed by three
high walls, the water-side being open; a large gateway receives the
remains of all Hindoos whose friends can afford to furnish the wood
for burning. I saw them congregated thither and throwing, according to
custom, small broken sticks upon the burning bodies. It was a revolting
and disgusting sight to witness the burning bodies, particularly when
fuel enough is not provided for their destruction, in which cases
they are devoured by hundreds of carrion birds, like the adjutant and
vulture. Very many are thrown into the river, and not unfrequently you
meet them in passing up and down, though that method of disposing of
them is contrary to law. We have just had the great annual Tumasha, and
the worship paid to the goddess Kallee, by immersion. I suppose there
must have been one hundred shrines mounted on platforms and supported
on men’s shoulders, representing the goddess in tinsel of gold and
silver, surrounded by artificial flowers, with her six arms, and a
variety of other figures upon the pedestal. The procession of votaries
to consign this inanimate but adored goddess to the holy waters of the
Ganges, consisted of thousands of men, women, and children, with bands
of music; the tops of houses, terraces, and balconies were filled with
human beings. The different priests of the goddess came from different
parts of the city, and congregated at the strand, where this rash tide
of humanity despatched their deity on her cloudy voyage in the muddy
waters of the sacred stream.
The drive up the river to Barrackpore, some fourteen miles, over a
perfectly level road, with rows of trees almost the entire length, is
beautiful, and a great relief from a heated city. It is a military
station, and the country residence of the governor, besides being the
finest park in India; there is also found there a large collection of
wild animals, among which the giraffe, the tiger, and ostrich are seen
in perfection. Ten miles higher up, the French have a small possession
called Chandernagore, which they have retained during all the conquests
and battles of Europe. It is antiquated, but prettily situated, a small
town without back country; their whole force consists of twenty Sepoy
soldiers, but the tricolor is floating from the government house. It
is a favorite asylum for unfortunate debtors and persons of small
means, and is a nuisance in the eyes of the English, but the rights of
France and treaties must be respected. The Danes had a settlement near
by, which the English bought, but “_la grande nation_” declined
selling.
The Hindoos have a great fancy for painting their faces, with a streak
down the nose and across the forehead, as well as lines on the cheeks,
and bars of a yellow color made from powdered sandal-wood, which looks
like gold upon a black ground. The eyes and nails of many are dyed
with henna; a part of the foot is also dyed red. A great variety of
character is to be found in the bazaars, not forgetting the beggars
with daubed faces, and hair filled with ashes; they are not in such
favor as the fat Brahmin bulls of the priests, which walk along and eat
where they please, until the poor benighted Hindoo raises his hands
together to his head, and cries, “Now, good bull, pray go eat at some
other shop.” The Chinese population are at full liberty to enjoy their
opium, to which they are so much addicted, and it is curious to see
the effect produced upon them by the use of the drug. You will find
some fifteen at a time lying upon couches, inhaling the fumes, which
seem to put them in a happy state, after which they gradually recover.
The opium leaves its bad effects in prostration of the system, and the
habitual smoker may readily be known from the expression of the face
and eyes. The manufacture and sale of the article, which is a monopoly
of the East India Company, is its greatest source of revenue.