By-and-by a dark line appeared on the horizon, which the captain pronounced the island of Saugur; and then little tufts and patches of green were seen here and there close to the shore, or out on the sand-bars that just rose to the surface. The morning was bright, with the exception of a few light clouds that were tipped with crimson from the rays of the tropical sun, and the sea was undisturbed save by a light ripple which was not enough to give the least rocking to the steamer. The dark line developed into a low forest, and after a time another forest was revealed on the other side of the ship, but there were no high headlands, and nothing to indicate that there were any mountains within hundreds of miles. Saugur is a densely-wooded island many miles in extent, rising only a few feet out of the water, and seamed and traversed by numerous bayous and creeks. Here come the wood-cutters who supply Calcutta with fuel, and occasionally--much against their will--furnish a good meal for the tigers for which Saugur is famous. The jungle is dense, and the tigers find in it a secure cover; they lurk in the vicinity of the paths, and spring on their victims without the least warning. Formerly they were numerous, but their ranks have been thinned by enterprising and intrepid hunters, and by the tidal wave that swept over Saugur a few years ago, and laid the whole island under water for several hours. All the low land at the mouth of the Hoogly was inundated, and the wave reached to Calcutta, where it caused enormous damage to the shipping. Thousands of lives were lost, and the terrible visitation fills a melancholy chapter in the history of the City of Palaces. On the island of Saugur nearly all the persons who were there at the time, engaged in wood-cutting or for other purposes, were drowned; only those escaped who were near their boats or were able to get into the tops of trees. Two natives who were among the saved said that they climbed into a tree out of reach of the water, and were followed by a tiger. The animal did not molest them, and for several hours they were within a few feet of him, and were not even saluted with a growl. The beast was so terrified at the sight of the waters, and his own danger, that he forgot all his natural antipathy to man, but, on the contrary, seemed to court their presence. Since the inundation it is observed that there are but few tigers on Saugur Island, and the inference is that many of them were killed by drowning. The steamer followed the tortuous channel among the sand-banks, and finally came to the entrance of the Hoogly, one of the mouths of the Ganges. The Ganges, like the other great rivers of the globe, has brought down vast quantities of earth and deposited it at its mouth, and the amount is so great as to divide the river into several channels. Doctor Bronson explained to the boys this peculiarity of great rivers, and told them that the earth which thus accumulates is called a delta.