good idea of the situation of the city and many of its
important buildings.

"People coming from England or America generally arrive at Calcutta or
Bombay, the larger portion at the former. From the sea the metropolis of
India is reached by the Hoogly River, the most western outlet of the
Ganges," his lordship began. "It is sometimes spelled Hugli. Under this
name, the stream is known sixty-four miles above Calcutta and seventeen
below. Vessels drawing twenty-six feet of water come up to the city; though
the stream, like the Mississippi, is liable to be silted up."

"I see that some of you look at me as though I had used a strange word.
Silt is the deposit of mud, sand, or earth of any kind carried up and down
streams by the tide or other current. But the river engineers here are
constantly removing it; the course is kept open, and the Hoogly pilots are
very skilful. The river has also a bore, though not a great bore, like some
people I know.

"We know the book-agent better than this one," said Scott.

"Some of our rivers in England have bores, though not book-agents; so have
the Seine, the Amazon, and others with broad estuaries. High tides drive a
vast body of water into the wide mouth; and, as the stream is not large
enough to take it in, it piles it up into a ridge, which rolls up the
river. It forms a wall of water in the Hoogly seven feet high, which is
sometimes dangerous to small craft. Enough of the Hoogly.

"Calcutta, by the last census, 1891, had a population of 861,764; but it is
not so large as New York, Philadelphia, or Chicago; and London is the only
larger city in the United Kingdom. It became a town in 1686. After it had
attained considerable importance, in 1756, it was attacked by the Nawab of
Bengal, the king or rajah; and after a siege of two days the place yielded.
The tragedy of the 'Black Hole' followed."

"I have heard of that, but I don't know what it means," said Mrs. Belgrave.

"You observe the large open enclosure at the right of your map of the city,
the esplanade. Within it is Fort William, which has existed nearly two
hundred years. It had a military prison, which has since been called the
'Black Hole.' The nawab caused one hundred and forty-six prisoners, all he
had taken, to be shut up in a room only eighteen feet square, with only two
small windows, both of them obstructed by a veranda. This was but a little
more than two square feet on the floor for each person, so that they coul