Calcutta, although having a population a quarter greater than Bombay, does not measure up to the Parsi stronghold in architectural appearance. Still, one of the best municipal parks in the world, the Maidan, is located in the center of the city; it is two miles long, one mile wide, and is bounded on one side by the Hooghly River and on the other by one of the principal streets of Calcutta, Chowringhee Road. The Maidan is ornamented by splendid monuments to men who took part in the various mutinies, and those who, in the opinion of the British government, wisely and bravely guided the affairs of this country.
We had again got to where street cars were running, where newspapers were published, masts on ships were to be seen; hotels with two or more stories, electric lights, and big buildings, also sidewalks—in short, we were in the largest city of India. Fourteen hundred miles separate Calcutta and Bombay.
Street cars appeared better patronized by Europeans here than in Bombay. There are two grades of travel to the city cars—first and second class. The fare was cheap, first-class three cents and second-class two cents.
Calcutta is better managed than Bombay, notably, fewer beggars are allowed on the streets; and some features that do not add credit to a city were under better control. Official firmness in other ways was also noticeable. It was in the Province of Bengal that the mutiny started, in 1857.
Modern machinery—linotype machines, web presses, and stereotyping appliances—is in use on the daily newspapers of Calcutta, and very creditable newspapers are published. But there is little saving in modern machinery in India. An overseer of one of the printing plants stated that they installed the linotype machines only to be modern, but that there was no saving, in view of hand help being so cheap. The wages paid run from $8 to $18 a month. The same applies to flour or rice mills. Women may be seen in any part of India turning two stones with which the rice and wheat are ground into flour.
This city has a good business appearance, over 200 factories being located within a short radius, a number of rope or jute mills among them. Beside this native product, tea, opium, grain, indigo, raw silk, and cotton are exported from Calcutta. Some of the streets are literally packed with ox carts loaded with these articles of export. Horses are used only for cabs, oxen being the beasts used for vehicular traffic from one end of the country to the other. As in Bombay, the joints in oxen's tails have been broken so often by the drivers twisting them that they resemble threads of a large wooden screw.
The Black Hole of Calcutta, into which 146 human beings were forced on June 20, 1756, and out of which 23 came alive the next morning, does not compare in savagery with the Massacre Well at Cawnpore. Suraja Dowlah, the Nwab of Murshedabad, had placed the 146 prisoners in the building, the remainder of the British having made good their escape. Contrary to general belief, the building called the Black Hole was not a dungeon, but merely a lock-up for disorderly soldiers. The prison, 22 feet long by 14 feet wide, was too small for such a number of people. The time being June, torrid at this season of the year, will account for the deaths. No butchering took place, the detention was for but one night, and, to give the Nwab his just due, the tragedy was unintentional, according to some historians. Part of the space where the old prison stood has been taken for a large building, and the portion not occupied has been covered with black marble—the incident inscribed on a slab of marble above—surrounded by a high, black wire fence.
The Hooghly River, so called by Europeans, but termed Ganges River by natives, is a busy waterway, and the sea, or Bay of Bengal, is not reached until a distance of 80 miles from Calcutta has been traveled. This river is a large one, the water muddy, and very treacherous for navigation. The same style of craft seen at Bombay—the dhow—is the ship of the Hooghly, and is similar to that in use thousands of years ago. It offers a picturesque, though archaic, appearance. Hooghly water is considered sacred by the Hindus living in this section.
Calcutta is not as interesting as Bombay, but there are three things in the premier city of India that attract—the Maidan, museum and botanical garden. Another feature, well known throughout British territory, is the racecourse. The museum is a splendid building facing the Maidan, and located on the principal street; the collection would do credit to even larger cities than Calcutta. The zoo is a good one, some native rhinoceros here seeming three times heavier than the African breed.