We hastened readily to the canvas abode, and our deliverer having treated us to a few tumblers of cold water, and explained our wishes to the natives, in a few minutes we each mounted our savage, and rode him over the mud and water to a canoe moored near the bank.
An hour's hard rowing, enlivened, at times, by the wild and discordant singing, or rather yelling, of our swarthy boatmen, brought us once more alongside the ship, anything but pleased with our first excursion on the shores of Hindostan.
I am persuaded that the phosphorescent appearance which we often observe on the ocean, must hold some invisible and fiery influence over the minds of those whose business for a time is on the great waters. To this cause I venture to attribute the strong matrimonial epidemic which broke out on board our trusty ship, many marriages being meditated, and some celebrated by certain of my fellow-passengers. The gaiety which ought to be consequent on weddings was not, at first, very perceptible; but this, I take it, was mainly attributable to the nautical stomach-pump, which took severe effect during the first fortnight, principally, (I lament to say,) on the fair sex. The operations of this fearful tormentor at length ceased. Had the immortal Lawrence Sterne but enjoyed the advantages of a voyage to India, what a mighty field would have been thrown open for the indulgence of his favourite reflections to the edification of his readers and advancement of natural philosophy. But he and his class have long passed from among us, and I must leave to such as deem themselves competent to the task, the elucidation of a theory, (holding doubtless the most absolute influence over the intricate human system,) a subject far too abstruse for this feeble pen.
Having spent two days at anchor off Kedgeree, on the third morning we joyfully descried a dark little steamer, which, though more resembling a demon than a saint, proved our deliverer from the shoals of the muddy Hoogly.
The slimy banks of the river, fringed at a short distance from the water with stunted jungle, gradually gave place to a more civilized appearance as we advanced up the stream; and on rounding Garden Reach, the view was eminently beautiful. The neat villas of the Calcutta merchants, now partially hidden amongst their gardens and shrubberies, and now bursting full upon the view—the river, with the ceaseless stir of business skimming across its waters, and the distant prospect of the city of palaces, flanked by a forest of bare and taper masts, presented altogether a picture of exciting interest, especially to one about to set foot for the first time in a new country, and, to him, almost a new world.
We came to anchor, on the third morning after quitting Kedgeree, under the walls of Fort William, and found H.M.'s third Dragoons encamped on the glacis. About four in the afternoon, the heat having considerably abated, we disembarked, and marched into the Fort, where quarters had been provided for our men, though none for the officers, as the brigade-major informed us, at the same time stating, that as a difference of opinion existed on that subject between himself and the fort-major, we must wait until he (of the Queen's) had craftily overcome him (of the Company's), and induced the latter individual to house us.
There is an old proverb about a man between two stools being likely to come to the ground, which was fully illustrated in our case, for, both of our supports for a night's rest in Fort William having given way, we came to the earth, though fortunately in the tents of the 3rd Dragoons, immediately under the walls of the fort, where our fall was kindly broken by cloaks spread on the ground to receive us.
I was composing myself to sleep as comfortably as circumstances would permit, when suddenly a volley of screams, as though proceeding from the lungs of ten thousand demons, caused me to start on my feet, supposing the camp to have been invaded by the infernal regions. My host, lying in the opposite recess of the tent, being a man of some days' experience, begged me not to disturb myself, as it was only the jackals. "Only the jackals!" but they are pretty nearly enough to murder sleep, I thought, as I laid myself down to await the cessation of their intolerable howls.