by the brilliant dresses of the ladies, the dashing costumes,
and gold lace of the nabobs, the quaint Oriental dress of their
barefooted attendants, and the spirited music of the military band. The
variety of nationality present was infinite; the participants in varied
dress were Parsees, Hindoos, Mussulmans, English, Egyptians, with a
sprinkling of French and Italians. The twilight hour is brief; the crowd
dashed round the long course in the liveliest manner, until the amber
shades deepened, and then a hundred electric lights of great power,
shielded by ground-glass globes, flashed upon the scene, rivaling in
effect the broadest daylight. Then the occupants of the open vehicles
and the equestrians gathered about the Eden Gardens, where the
music-stand is placed, and in ranks eight or ten lines deep, listened to
the popular airs so finely rendered, or chatted gayly with each other
during the intervals of the music. These Eden Gardens, always open to
the public, with their tropical vegetation, picturesque temples,
summer-houses, and refreshing ornamental waters, are a delightful resort
in the after-part of the day, when their inviting shade can be best
appreciated. The Cascine at Florence, the Pincio at Rome, the Chiaja of
Naples, the Prado of Madrid, none of these can compare in point of
gayety, variety, and attractiveness with the Maidan of this Indian
capital.

It would seem that Calcutta ought to be a healthy city, but, as it
regards English residents, it cannot be said to be so. A peculiarity in
this connection was explained to us by an officer of the civil service,
long resident in the East. Both himself and wife were our companions on
board the Kashgar, on the voyage from Bombay to Suez, the gentleman
being on leave of absence for a brief month's stay in England, where
mother and father were going to meet their three children. It seems that
pure blooded European children, even if born in India, are unable to
struggle successfully against the enervating effects of its climate, and
this applies not alone to Calcutta, but to all parts of the country.
Until their sixth year, children apparently retain their health and the
ruddy color of the race, but, soon after that age, they grow pale and
wan, the listlessness of a premature decay setting in, or some
mysterious blight steals over them. Thus, without the symptoms of any
fixed disease, they droop and pine, like exotic plants. Nothing but a
return to England, the home