lics, was
opened by the prince of Wales in January 1906. The government acquired
Metcalfe Hall, in order to convert it into a public library and
reading-room worthy of the capital of India; and also the country-house of
Warren Hastings at Alipur, for the entertainment of Indian princes. Lord
Curzon restored, at his own cost, the monument which formerly commemorated
the massacre of the Black Hole, and a tablet let into the wall of the
general post office indicates the position of the Black Hole in the
north-east bastion of Fort William, now occupied by the roadway. Government
House, which is situated near the Maidan and Eden Gardens, is the residence
of the viceroy; it was built by Lord Wellesley in 1799, and is a fine pile
situated in grounds covering six acres, and modelled upon Kedleston Hall in
Derbyshire, one of the Adam buildings. Belvedere House, the official
residence of the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, is situated close to the
botanical gardens in Alipur, the southern suburb of Calcutta. Facing the
Maidan for a couple of miles is the Chowringhee, one of the famous streets
of the world, once a row of palatial residences, but now given up almost
entirely to hotels, clubs and shops.

_Commerce._--Calcutta owes its commercial prosperity to the fact that it is
situated near the mouth of the two great river systems of the Ganges and
Brahmaputra. It thus receives the produce of these fertile river valleys,
while the rivers afford a cheaper mode of conveyance than any railway. In
addition Calcutta is situated midway between Europe and the Far East and
thus forms a meeting-place for the commerce and peoples of the Eastern and
Western worlds. The port of Calcutta is one of the busiest in the world,
and the banks of the Hugli rival the port of London in their show of
shipping. The total number of arrivals and departures during 1904-1905 was
3027 vessels with an average tonnage of 3734. But though the city is such a
busy commercial centre, most of its industries are carried on outside
municipal limits. Howrah, on the opposite side of the Hugli, is the
terminus of three great railway systems, and also the headquarters of the
jute industry and other large factories. It is connected with Calcutta by
an immense floating bridge, 1530 ft. in length, which was constructed in
1874. Other railways have their terminus at Sealdah, an eastern suburb. The
docks lie outside Calcutta, at Kidderpur, on the south; and at Alipur are
the zoo