devoted to the poppy
culture. A large share of these opium farms, as they may be called,
belong to the English government, and are cultivated by their agents.
Those which are conducted on private account are very heavily taxed, and
are carried on in the interest of the Parsee merchants of Bombay, who
control a large share of the opium trade, handling not only their own
product, but also that of the government.

Oftentimes, near these gorgeous poppy fields were broad ripening acres
of grain, which would have been denuded of their valuable property by
the great flocks of birds floating hither and thither, were it not that
precautions were taken to drive them away. A tall platform is raised
upon poles in the centre of the field, with a slight straw shelter over
it, upon which a young lad or girl is stationed, who thus overlooks the
whole. They have no fire-arms, but are supplied with a simple sling and
a few stones; should a bird be seen too close to the precious grain, an
unerring stone will find him, and his body becomes a warning for his
companions. The monkeys, who abound in southern India, are not so easily
got rid of. Birds will not fly after dark, nor much before the sun rises
in the morning; but the monkeys raid the fruit and vegetable fields by
night, and are capable of organizing a descent upon some promising point
with all the forethought of human thieves. Besides which, birds, as a
rule, will take only such food as they can eat, but the Indian monkeys
appropriate whatever they can lay their paws upon, having a special
regard for light domestic articles, with which they have a fancy for
decking the tops of the highest trees.

While Calcutta is the governmental or political capital of India, Bombay
is its commercial metropolis; and an obvious sense of rivalry exists
between the two places. The opening of communication with England by the
Red Sea route has given the latter city a great business impetus, and it
is growing rapidly, possessing more elements of future greatness than
any other city in Asia. It forms the western gateway to India, is
entirely modern, and three quarters European. The Parsees, Hindoos, and
Mussulmans make up the other quarter of the fixed population, while the
floating populace represents nearly every Asiatic people. These two
principal cities are located on the opposite sides of the peninsula,
Calcutta being on the Bay of Bengal and Bombay on the Sea of Arabia. The
Parsees number over a