They have an enormous bill, as
you observe. A friend of mine had a tame one; and one day when the table
was ready for dinner he took a chicken from the dish and swallowed it
whole. He has a searching eye, and discovers a hidden bit of meat, a dead
cat or other animal, and bolts it in the twinkling of an eye."
The steamer continued on her course down the river, and in less than four
hours arrived at Diamond Harbor. It contained a fort, a signal-station, and
a telegraph-office, though there is nothing in the shape of a village. The
East India Company's ships made this their port; but the improvement of the
navigation of the river enables all the steamers to go up to the city, to
which their arrival is telegraphed.
The extensive territory included in the delta of the Ganges is called the
Sunderbunds, and is about equal to the State of Massachusetts in size. It
is a muddy region, cut up by a network of streams; and it is full of
swamps, morasses, and mud-holes. Nearest to the sea is a belt of land,
forming a wide extent of jungle, with a dense undergrowth of tropical
plants and verdure; for it is in the Torrid Zone, which the tourists
entered about forty miles north of Calcutta. This jungle was the objective
point of the hunters of the party.
The captain of the steam-yacht took the company on board through a number
of the lagoons and cutoffs to enable them to see the wild character of the
scenery.
Pages:
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345