should never fail to see the full sum paid into the poor fellow’s hand: otherwise, the servants will at least diminish, if not altogether withhold, the donation. In consequence of the great number of servants that sleep within the houses, and the circumstance of each dwelling having a separate gateway, where a _durwan_, (or porter,) constantly attends; as well as owing to the great number of _chokies_ or patrole stations, every where to be seen; few _chokey-dars_ are employed in the town of Calcutta, unless by merchants who have warehouses full of valuable commodities; or _shroffs_, (_i.e._ bankers) residing in that part of the town inhabited principally by natives: at the _baugeechahs_, or garden-houses, which generally stand, like our farm-houses, at some distance from other dwellings, _chokey-dars_ are found to be indispensably necessary. Within the Company’s provinces no head _chokey-dars_ are to be seen: there the watchman may perhaps be exempt from the imputation of belonging to the local gang: though circumstances do sometimes authorize the suspicion, that he aids the perpetrators of the robbery. Generally speaking, however, there appears no ostensible person who comes forward to guarantee the safety of goods under charge of a _chokey-dar_: when this most desirable assurance is wanting, the greatest vigilance is sometimes inadequate to the prevention of theft. It is not a very easy matter to defeat the machinations of a most expert banditti, in a country where it is necessary to throw open every door, and window, during the night, lest suffocation should ensue! I have said that a _Durwan_, or porter, is stationed at the gate, on entrance into that area, (called the _compound_,) within which most houses in Calcutta are situated. This servant usually receives from four to five rupees monthly, and dresses little better than a _cooly_; though, in some instances, he may be seen more respectably cloathed. So soon as a palanquin enters the gate, the _durwan_ vociferates lustily; informing, that a visitor approaches; when immediately some other servant, such as a _peon_ or _hirkarah_, runs to enquire the name, &c. which is immediately announced to the master or mistress. The _durwan_ is always allowed a small lodge near the portal, where he is in constant attendance day and night. When the family have retired to rest, he shuts and secures the gates: formerly, it was an invariable rule to close them during meals, and to retain them in that state, until notice was sent by the head servant that all the plate, &c. were safe. This certainly was not a bad custom; and, no doubt, operated as a check upon many, who, but for such a restriction, would purloin some valuable article of a portable description: I regret to think it should have been not only relaxed, but nearly abandoned: probably owing to mistaken delicacy.