The
skins of the tigers and leopards were sent to an expert, to be prepared for
future preservation when the time should admit.
At the hotel the wonderful success of the hunters was the theme of the
other guests; but the place was regarded as a dangerous one, though that
would not deter Englishmen from visiting it if it were not so difficult of
access, for a government steam-yacht was not available for many parties.
The next morning the tourists were taken to the Botanical Garden, a short
distance above the city, which is said to be the finest as well as the most
spacious in the world.
It was not an affair of greenhouses, like most of such places they had
seen; for they were superfluous in the Torrid Zone, and all the plants grew
in the open air. The ladies and most of the gentlemen were greatly
interested in the plants and flowers, and the whole forenoon was agreeably
passed in viewing them. Uncle Moses insisted that the baobab and the Indian
banyan were literally the "biggest things" there; for the trunk of the
former was ten feet in diameter, while the latter covered half a square
mile of ground. The latter had been considerably damaged by a cyclone.
At the end of a week in Calcutta, every day of which had been occupied to
the pleasure and instruction of the tourists, Captain Ringgold insisted
that they must remain no longer.
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