odors, and one
was fain to get on the windward side of the smoking mass. The Ghat was
open to the sky, so that the ventilation was all that could be obtained.
The bodies thus treated are entirely consumed in about three hours,
during which the wood requires partial renewal, and all palpable signs
having disappeared the ashes are solemnly cast into the sacred river
close at hand, the Hoogly being one of the outlets of the Ganges. When
first brought to the Ghat, a very simple and brief ceremony is held over
each body, and then a member of the family of mourners which attend the
burning applies the torch to the pyre. The custom is that this service
should be performed by the oldest son of the deceased, if there be such
a representative. The first time we witnessed such a scene was at the
Calcutta Ghat, but our after experience, as to the disposal of the
dead, was still more strange, as we shall have occasion to record in
these notes. Close by this Burning Ghat, along the river front, there
are a number of sheds, with only partial shelter from the street, where
poor dying Hindoos are brought to breathe their last, believing that if
they pass away close to the sacred water, their spirits will be
instantly wafted to regions of bliss. Here they are attended by persons
who make a business of it; and it was intimated to us that they often
hasten the demise of the sufferers by convenient means. Human life is
held of very little account among these people, whose blind faith
bridges the gulf of death, and who were at one time so prone to suicide,
by drowning in the Ganges, as to require strict police surveillance on
the part of the English to prevent it.

At the close of each day, about an hour before sunset, all fashionable
Calcutta turns out in state for a drive on the Maidan,--the Hindoostani
name for esplanade,--a broad and finely macadamized roadway, extending
along the river's bank, by the fort, the open cricket grounds, the
parade, and the gardens, arranged as a circular course of a mile or more
in extent, which would be perfection had it only a proper complement of
shade trees. It is really a most delightful resort after the trying heat
of the day, when the cooling influence of the twilight commences; in
short it is the Indian Hyde Park, or Bengal Champs Elysees. The variety,
elegance, and costliness of the equipages in grand livery that crowd the
Maidan during the fashionable hour was a surprise, the whole scene
enlivened