Having procured some native servants, deposited our baggage in the barracks, and bought large cane bedsteads with mosquito curtains, we began to consider ourselves in clover, though our ignorance of Hindustani left us completely at the mercy of the natives, my sirdar (valet) being not of the most intelligent order. At night, when he had succeeded in clearing my bed of mosquitoes, and carefully arranged the curtains, I signed to him to take away the light. He immediately left the room, but took not the candle. "Sirdar!" He immediately re-entered. I telegraphed him with much energy, pointing to the candle and thence to the door. He shook his head and looked bewildered. This was not to be endured; I darted out of bed to extinguish the light; and a colony of mosquitoes, who had been awaiting this opportunity, immediately established themselves inside, and conversed with me during the night. Notwithstanding our numerous tormentors, the season of the year at which we landed was the coolest and most salubrious of any--that is, the mornings were coldest, and the mid-day heat was also at its minimum; but even a December sun, at noon, was not to be encountered with impunity. I sallied forth in one of those coffin-like conveyances termed palanquins, to visit the city, which is about a mile distant from the fort, and extends along the banks of the river. Enormous store-houses and merchants' offices skirt the river; but the interior of the city, and especially that portion adjacent to the plain around Fort William contains several fine public buildings and extensive private mansions. The streets and squares are wide and handsome; but the bazaars and the portion of the town tenanted by natives are wretchedly narrow and confined, and usually thronged nearly to suffocation; for the natives love to huddle together in contradistinction to the whites, who seem even on this broiling and dreary side of the world to preserve that cold and forbidding demeanour which distinguishes the English in particular from other nations of the globe. I believe the case was materially different a few years ago; but we found cause to remark, during our fortnight's sojourn in Calcutta, that we had experienced less hospitality and more incivility than in any other city of the world, not excepting even New York. The then revolution in the social system of the East has been attributed to the recent establishment of hotels in the city, but this appears more of a subterfuge than a palliation. The absence of the governor-general and commander-in-chief, who were at that time in the upper provinces, had drained Calcutta of the best of its population, as we were informed and afterwards experienced; and we therefore saw the place under unfavourable circumstances. After a comfortless delay of a fortnight, in this city of contrasted luxury and indigence, we gladly received the route to march for our destination in the north-western provinces.