"In one of the smaller streets we saw a collision between two palanquins, which resulted in the occupant of one being spilled out, and a general mixing up of the little crowd around it. For a few minutes it looked as though there would be a fight, but nothing of the kind happened, and the whole affair was soon over. The natives are very careless while driving or walking, and you must keep a sharp lookout for the poles of palanquins or _palkees_. They are as cunning as they are careless, and we have heard some funny stories about their tricks. Here is one of them: "An Englishman bought a black horse one day from a native dealer, and particularly admired the glossy coat of the animal. That night an attempt was made to steal him from the stable, and it came very near succeeding; the next day the purchaser discovered that the horse had been dyed with a peculiar preparation that would wash off with strong soap and water. It was the intention of the dealer to steal the horse before the trick could be discovered, and then by washing him he could not be identified, as the natural color of his coat was gray; the gentleman learned that the horse had been sold and stolen at least half a dozen times. Doctor Bronson says the American horse jockeys might learn some useful lessons by coming to India, and he hopes a good many of them will come--and stay. [Illustration: HARBOR OF CALCUTTA.] "The river forms the harbor of Calcutta, and sometimes the amount of shipping here is very great. Nearly all the ships are English, as they have the most of the carrying-trade of the world, and as we drove along the bank of the river to-day we saw only four vessels flying the American flag. Twenty-five years ago we should have seen ten times as many and perhaps more; American ships are fast disappearing from the ports of the East, and at the rate they are going we should not be able to find one of them in the harbor of Calcutta a decade hence. What a pity it is! as our flag flying from the mast of a ship, when we are so far away from home, is always a most welcome sight to a travelling American. We wonder if our foreign trade will ever revive so that our ships will be as abundant in Eastern waters as we are told they were before our civil war?