The frequency of fires, occasioned by the common practice of thatching houses, has caused many regulations to be adopted, in regard to what Europeans commonly call the ‘Black Town’ at Calcutta. About twenty years ago, the principal streets were considerably widened, and the whole of the new tenements were ordered to be tiled. This created some dissatisfaction at the time, yet has not only been of great advantage to the inhabitants at large, but is now confessed, by the natives, to have been highly beneficial, both to their health, and to their convenience. Formerly, it was common to see immense piles of grass all along the banks of the river, brought thither for the purpose of supplying persons who might have occasion to thatch; of late years, however, the quantity has been considerably reduced; there being not a twentieth part of the former demand. Many of these stacks doubtless contained full 20,000, or 25,000 cubic feet, and would have formed a diminutive representation of the infernal regions, had they taken fire; to which accident they were subject equally with any part of the town. Owing to the cheapness of bamboos and mats, as well as to the immense value of land at Calcutta, most of the natives build their huts chiefly of those materials; the whole of the uprights, rafters, &c., being of bamboo, and the walls, partitions, &c., being of mats, supported by bamboo laths. The roofs are first covered with mats, or _seerky_, and then tiled, generally with that kind called _nullies_, which are about eight inches in length, representing the half of a truncated hollow cone, whose base may be about four inches in diameter. These _nullies_ are commonly laid upon roofs, at an angle of about 30° of elevation from the horizon; but the _chuppers_, or grass-thatches, usually are constructed at full 40°. At the military stations, where grass is invariably in use for the covering in of the cabins of the sepoys, &c. it is usual to order the surfaces of all thatches to be smeared with mud; from about November, to the setting in of the rains. Many very extensive lines owe their safety to this precaution; whereby not only are sparks prevented from communicating with the grass, which usually is as prompt as tinder in taking fire, but even when the thatch is partially kindled, the flames are greatly impeded, and more easily subdued.