The following day we again bent our way towards India, with light hearts and cheerful countenances. We soon reached the Pilot, cruising off the sand-heads of Saugar, and steered our way up the river Hoogley. This river is wide, and its current powerful. The views on each side, when you get as far as Fultah, are romantic, and we gratified our eyes in feasting on nature's beauties. On rounding the corner, or protruding neck of land, on which stand the company's botanical gardens, Fort William first appears; then Calcutta, with its innumerable shipping, bursts upon the view, and the beholder gazes on the beautiful fortification of the fort, and the city of palaces, with astonishment and delight. We passed the fort in full sail, and were hailed from its ramparts by the artillery, and part of the 10th regiment of Foot, then in garrison there. We returned the welcome greeting with three loud cheers, and in five minutes after came to anchor off Esplanade Ghaut, after a voyage of more than five months. [Illustration] [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [7] Previous to the arrival of the British in 1795, an agreement between the Dutch and Caffres had recognized the line of the Sunday's River, between Graaf-Reynett and Algoa Bay, as the colonial boundary. The reader may be reminded that the British occupied the Cape Colony in 1795; restored it to the Dutch at the Peace of Amiens; and retook it in 1806.--ED. CHAPTER VI. The instant the anchor was gone, boats were alongside, for the purpose of conveying the two companies ashore; and, in a couple of hours, we were safely lodged in our quarters at Fort William. Here the five companies of his majesty's 10th regiment of Foot joined our lads, with bottles of rum, and a scene ensued that was beyond description; drinking, singing, dancing, shouting, fighting, and bottles flying in all directions. The sight was terrific; so I marched off to the bazaar, to get out of the bustle; went round the fort, and visited everything worth seeing. On my return to the barracks, I found the men lying in a state of the most disgusting drunkenness; some on the floor, others on cots, trunks, and boxes. In those days, I knew not the taste of spirituous liquors; and, indeed, for years after: consequently, instead of joining those scenes of revelry and discord, they were to me offensive and disgusting in the extreme. The very smell of arrack would at any time drive me from the barrack, and many a night have I slept in the open air, to avoid the fumes arising from its use, as well as the drunken jargon of those who drank it to excess.