The country all along the sea-coast, on both sides of the river’s mouth, being extremely low, and there being no hills of sufficient altitude to be distinguished at sea, especially on the right bank, very little gratification is offered to the eye by the surrounding scenery. The shelving beach, on either hand, is overgrown, in most parts, with trees rarely exceeding twenty feet in height, whose stems are surrounded with under-wood, or grass jungle, in which abundance of deer are to be found. The pursuit of sport must, however, be invariably desisted from, on account of the immense numbers of tigers which occupy the same covers. It rarely happens that a party land for the purpose of shooting deer, or wild hogs, (which are equally abundant,) without meeting with some accident; or, at least, being frightened so as to produce the most salutary forbearance. About twenty-five years ago, a son of the late Sir Hector Monro was carried off by a tiger from among his comrades, who had seated themselves round a large fire, made to obviate the apprehended danger, while they awaited the arrival of a boat that was to convey them back to their ship. All the way, from Balasore up to Kedgeree, the prospect, if we except those agreeable sensations arising from the display of vegetation, and from arriving at the ultimate thule of destination, rather wearies than pleases: nothing is to be seen but a series of wilderness, perhaps here and there enclosing a few huts, or, in the broken intervals, displaying some insignificant village, of which the inhabitants are as poor as they are idle. No public edifice; no gay villas; no busy hum of men; no crowded wharfs! In fact, I scarcely know a spot more dreary than the debouché of the Hooghly, for at least thirty miles; or until arrival at Diamond Harbour. It is usual for the pilot-schooner to return to the Roads, in search of other importations, unless her tour may be over; in which instance, she proceeds up to Calcutta; leaving a person on board, lest the vessel should drag her anchors, and to prevent her getting into foul ground. The purser, for the most part, avails himself of the attendance of the _chokey-boats_, which are always plying about the mouth of the rivers for the express purpose of receiving packets. In favorable seasons, these boats have been known to reach Calcutta, distant full sixty miles, in one tide. If a schooner should be proceeding up the river, there should be no hesitation in embarking in her: no equal accommodation can, in general, be had: the whole risk, trouble, and delay, attendant upon making a passage in any of the common country boats, are at once annihilated. The pilot may possibly expect some return for his good offices; but, if he likes his company, will, in all probability, set them ashore at Calcutta free of all expence.