no cyclones, no hurricanes, to relieve the tedium of the voyage.

4. We reached the small island of Bombay, on which is the city of the same name, close to the west coast of Hindostan, on the 15th of October. Our ship having steamed up to her moorings in the harbor, which is between the island and the mainland, we were taken by a tug to the landing-place of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, where we mounted a long flight of granite steps-and were in India!

5. On passing through the custom-house gates we were greeted, not by the donkey-boys of Egypt, but by a crowd. of barefooted and bare-legged Hindoos, who claimed the honor of conveying us into the city. We were much struck by their singular appearance, for all were clad in snowy white garments, and wore lofty turbans on their heads. Mounting into their long, box-shaped carriages, we rode on and on for miles, through streets that seemed to be endless, to an English hotel at the extreme limits of the city, and were thus able to realize that we were in the great commercial emporium of the East,-a city the second in size in the British empire, and larger than any in Great Britain, except London.

6. As we rode through the streets, our attention was at once directed to the numerous, often gorgeous, and strangelooking Hindoo temples that on every side met our view. Prof. Howard tells us that they are so abundant throughout all India, as to show that the most important of all interests with the Hindoos, before Europeans acquired possession of their country, was their religion it was the great object of their thoughts, the chief concern of their daily life, and to it they devoted their richest treasures. A photograph of the lofty spire and massive dome of one of these temples will give you some idea of the character of these famous structures.

7. If Constantinople was strange to us, Egypt stranger

still, and the Cape a miserable motley of humanity, the East Indian city of Bombay is the strangest of all. The

streets are swarming with life, as a hive swarms with bees; and the bazaars are like so many ant-hills; but, ex

cepting the few Europeans and Americans that may be seen there, the people who go in and out are not like any race that we have elsewhere seen.

8. They are not white like Europeans, nor black like Africans, nor red like our American Indians; but of a color so dark-brown as to show that they do not belong to the fair Caucasian race. Many of them, in this hot climate, are clad in little more than the garments that nature gives them; for, of the common classes, it is only the house servants who wear anything that can be called a costume. One thing, however, which is never omitted, is the lofty turban, or, in its place, a thick blanket, to shield the head from the direct rays of the sun.

9. Among the better classes of the people, however, the women show the Oriental fondness for gorgeous apparel, and wear the richest silk turbans, and flowing robes. Tricked out as they are in the brightest colors,-dark red, crimson, and scarlet, yellow, and orange, and blue,— with heavy bracelets of silver on their wrists, and huge silver anklets clasping their naked feet, they give, altogether, a strange and bewildering appearance to the gay bazaars and the crowded streets.

10. Added to all this, the men chew the betel nut, which turns the lips a brilliant red; and they stripe their foreheads with coarse paints, by which they denote the different castes into which the whole Hindoo people are divided. Then imagine a whole city crowded with dark-skinned men and women thus gayly dressed,—or half dressed, with nothing to hide their swarthy breasts and limbs,—walking about, or, perchance, riding in little carriages drawn by the smallest of oxen, that trot almost as fast as the donkeys of Cairo, and one may have some idea of the peculiarly strange appearance of the streets of Bombay.

11. But the manners of the people are quite as strange as their costumes. A European or an American, wherever he goes in Bombay, is surrounded and waited upon by

soft-footed Hindoos, who glide about noiselessly like cats, watching every look, and eager to anticipate every wish or command likely to be uttered.

12. Even I, young as I am, cannot walk through the corridors of our hotel unhonored: a dozen servants will rise to their feet, and remain standing until I have passed. How grand it is to have snowy turbans rise on every side,

in token of homage to so great a being as I am! I, of course, bow in acknowledgment,-though very slightly, so as not to concede a particle of my dignity, or encourage too great familiarity.

13. Although it is autumn, and cool weather for the

season, we are obliged to keep out of the sun at mid-day. But the mornings are delightful, and then we drive off to the Flower Market, where the fruits and flowers of the country are displayed in truly tropical profusion. The flowers are gorgeous, but the fruits are too sweet for our appetites, and it is a common remark with us that they have not the fine flavor of those of our own country. Dr. Edson says that a good New Jersey or Delaware peach would be far more delicious to his taste than the ripest orange or mango, or the longest string of bananas.

14. In the evening we ride out to Malabar Hill, or go to the public gardens which English taste has laid out in different parts of the city. Although Bombay is mostly a city of Hindoos,-for, of its seven hundred thousand inhabitants only eight thousand are Europeans, one hundred and twenty thousand Mohammedans, and thirty thousand Parsees,—yet, everywhere, it bears the stamp of English rule, and, like the cities of Great Britain, is thoroughly governed.

15. Our windows at the hotel look out upon an extensive parade-ground, and upon the sea, from which, after sunset, comes a soft, delicious air from the Indian Ocean. Every evening, on the parade-ground, a band is playing, and there is a great turn-out of carriages, with cavaliers upon Arabian horses, bringing thither the fashion and wealth of the city. In the crowd of well-dressed people, wealthy Parsees, distinguished by their high hats, and Hindoos by their turbans, mingle with English officers; and children of all nations run about together on the lawn.

16. Prof. Howard had much to say to us about the religion, character, and habits of the Parsees and the Hindoos. He told us that the former, who are now largely the merchants of Bombay, were an ancient Persian sect, and that they worship fire, which they adore as the principle and source of all life. Hence, morning and evening, they may be seen uncovering their heads, and turning reverently to the rising or the setting sun, and offering their adoration