[13] At this moment, I cannot recal to recollection a single existing resident of Penang who has not arrived there since 1829. The Europeans of that time have all, or nearly all, been removed by death.
[14] Although the jungles of Penang abound with tigers, I have seldom heard of their preying on man, as they do in the neighbouring settlement.
[15] Oct. 1845.—Penang has increased in importance since the foregoing was written. Its sugar-planters have continued their exertions with energy, sparing neither trouble nor expense to make their plantations profitable investments. It gives me much pleasure to be able to add, that their success seems certain, and that their perseverance in petitioning Government on the subject of duties, has at length been rewarded, as it ought sooner to have been.
CHAPTER VII.
CALCUTTA.
FIRST VIEW OF CALCUTTA—STATE OF SOCIETY— MERCANTILE CHANGES—UNPLEASANT CLIMATE—SIGHTS AT AND NEAR CALCUTTA—IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSIT AND NAVIGATION—CUSTOM-HOUSE NUISANCE—PILOT SERVICE—CHARACTER OF THE BENGALEES—RIVER STEAMERS.
In 1829, I visited for the first time the far-famed city of Calcutta, and have since then paid it four visits. So much, however, has been written about the "City of Palaces," that it must be nearly as well known to the English reader as London itself; and I shall therefore say less respecting it.
The feeling I experienced on first making the land at the mouth of the Hooghly, was extreme disappointment. To a stranger coming, as I did, from Java, Singapore, and Penang, nothing can have a more dreary and desolate appearance than the land about and below Kedgeree. The very sight is almost enough to bring on the ague; and the abominably filthy water of the holy stream heightens the feeling of disgust. From Kedgeree to Diamond Harbour, the view on the low banks of the river improves but little. Above Diamond Harbour, the river banks are somewhat higher, buildings are more numerous, and the country appears more cleared and brought under cultivation. On arriving at Garden Reach, the stranger may begin to imagine that not wholly without reason Calcutta has acquired the proud title of the "City of palaces." From the lower part of this Reach, on the right, the river bank is laid out in large gardens, each with a handsome mansion in its centre; and the whole scene speaks of opulence and splendour. Of late years, these magnificent residences have been much neglected, and what was once the most fashionable part of the suburbs, has been nearly deserted by the great folk. The reason assigned for this, is, that the river, in very wet seasons, overflows its banks, breeding malaria and fever, from which, at the time of my second visit, the inhabitants suffered not a little. For a year or two, these mansions stood empty; but, when I last saw them, in 1840, they were nearly all occupied by mercantile men, who find them pleasant retreats from the bustle of the city, and seem willing to brave the chance of fever. On approaching the head of Garden Reach, the stranger all at once beholds Fort William and the town of Calcutta spread out before him; and a splendid view it is. Should he arrive in the month of November or December, he will behold, perhaps, the finest fleet of merchant shipping the world could produce. Here are seen, besides the flag of Old England, those of America, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and Arabia. I must not forget to mention the floating taverns or large passenger ships, which carry home from twenty to forty passengers every voyage; and besides the fleet of large ships, the river presents steamers, pleasure-boats, and native craft of all sorts and sizes, from the gay budgerow, to the wretched and more than half rotten dhingy. The scene has, however, its drawbacks. The stranger is shocked and disgusted at the sight of some half-dozen dead bodies floating down the river, in all stages of decomposition, some with a vulture perched on them, gorging himself as he floats down the stream on his hideous raft. Government has placed people above the town, for the express purpose of sinking dead bodies and similar nuisances; but they have not succeeded in effecting their object The last time I went up the river, four human corpses passed my boat between Kradd's Dock and Colvin's Grant, a distance of two miles.
Nothing strikes the stranger, on landing for the first time in Calcutta, so much as the extraordinary aggregation of palaces and mansions, ordinary dwelling-houses, warehouses, shops, bazaars, stables, huts, and hovels, all mingled together in glorious confusion, a few streets forming the only exception. This is a great eye-sore even to the old resident. I know no part of the world where society is divided into so many ranks and classes as it is here, nor where pride and pomp hold their heads higher. To hear some of the great ones of this city talk, you would think they had sprung from a long line of princely, or, at least, of noble ancestors. It is often observed, however, that they seldom or never mention their immediate progenitors, nor the whereabouts of their birth-place, which, in nine cases out of ten, would be found to be some humble cottage on the bank of a modest brook in England, or burn in Scotland. The more obscure or lowly their origin, the more difficult of access they are generally found. The real gentleman is easily discovered by his superior breeding and genuine urbanity.