"There are about 400,000 people living here," Doctor Bronson answered, "and the majority of them are Hindoos. There are less than 2000 people of English birth here, exclusive of the garrison, and there may be four or five hundred German, French, Greek, and other European nationalities. It is an odd spectacle to see so small a population governing a large one, but you must bear in mind that this is the case in nearly all the cities of the East where Europeans have obtained control." CHAPTER XXIV. SIGHTS AND SCENES IN MADRAS.--THE INDIAN FAMINE. What Frank and Fred saw and did during their visit to Madras is best told in their own words. "After running the gauntlet of the crowd of natives on the beach, and getting a carriage, we drove to the principal hotel of the city. We found it a series of houses disconnected from each other, and the rooms that they gave us were in the building most distant of all from the dining-room. Peddlers and jugglers followed us to the door, and we had hard work to keep them out of our rooms till we called a servant, and told him to drive them away. [Illustration: WESTERN ENTRANCE OF FORT GEORGE.] "We rode about Madras, and the first thing we went to see was the fort, which we reached by crossing a bridge at its western entrance. It covers a great deal of ground, and was a strong enough place before the improvements of the last twenty years in artillery. Its full name is Fort St. George, and it is designed to resist attack both by land and sea; on the side facing the sea it has a front of 1500 feet, and on the land side it has a double line of bomb-proof defences built of stone and covered with earth. "We were surprised at the quantity of things in the fort. There were small guns of all the kinds you ever heard of, and some you never did; there were cannon captured in the various wars with the native princes and kings, cannon from China and other parts of the Far East, swords, pistols, muskets, firelocks, flags, wagons, saddles, spears, and a thousand other things that the auctioneers would say are too numerous to mention. The fort is large enough for a garrison of 1000 men, and in time of war it could hold many more. All the European inhabitants of Madras could be taken inside in case of trouble, but they would be crowded rather closely when their numbers were added to those of the garrison. [Illustration: GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE, FORT GEORGE.]