On our
left is the Government House, which we passed when we came in. It is a fine
building, and it has a large garden of its own."
"But what is it for?" asked the lady.
"It is the residence of the governor-general, generally called the viceroy;
and he has his offices there. Now, if you look beyond Fort William, you
will see the race-course."
"I don't care for that," replied Mrs. Belgrave, whose memories of the sport
were anything but pleasant.
"Near it is the presidency jail, and there are two hospitals farther
along."
The party walked along the road to view the residences of the nabobs, and
returned to the hotel, where they seated themselves on the large veranda
overlooking the street. The first thing Louis did was to look at a
thermometer he discovered on a post.
"How hot is it, Louis?" asked his mother.
"It isn't hot at all; it is only 70 deg.."
"The glass varies here from 52 deg. to 100 deg.; but we don't get the latter figure
except in summer," added Sir Modava.
"But you have awful cyclones here, an English lady told me last night,"
said Mrs. Belgrave.
"We do; but we never have them at this season of the year; they come in
May, September, and October, and sometimes in November the belated ones. In
1867 we had one in the latter month which destroyed thirty thousand native
houses; but you know they are built of bamboos and such stuff, and it does
not take much of a breeze to demolish them.
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