The old gentleman had just begun breakfast at the time we describe him; and he smiled at his egg, as he broke it over his Indian dish of fish and rice, as if he wished to atone, as far as lay in his power, for the violence he perpetrated on it. The lady who sat opposite to him was ten years his junior in reality, but would have looked even his senior, could you have seen the two faces alone, set in picture-frames. She was a marked contrast to him, in every way. She looked her age, which was about forty; but she bore her years well, as the strong and regular proportions of her well-knit frame testified. Her face was a hard one; in youth it must have been handsome, for the features were very regular, but it must always have lacked gentleness of expression. It was evidently the countenance of a strong-minded woman, who had never learnt in life to defer to another, but had always had her own way, and was now likely to have it to the end. There was great character in the face; it spoke plainly of the strong will, and the deep thoughts within; for the owner in no way lacked intellect: but the cold, gray eye, and the thin, compressed upper lip, denoted also a character which would sternly employ the will and talent at command to accomplish her views, treading down without remorse all opposing obstacles. She, too, broke an egg over her rice, but she did it with a frown and a compression of the lips: trifling points these, but those who study character know all such minute traits have weight. The room in which they sat was large, and boasted but little furniture. There were no curtains to the ; windows, as is usual in England, but green jalousie blinds, outside, extended, as the windows themselves did, to the floor. The room was a bow one, and the centre window, or door, in the bow-for no one could say which it was-had been removed, and its place was occupied with a large kuskus tattee. And what is a "kuskus tattee?" A little patience and we will explain. At a certain season of the year, in certain parts of India, blow hot winds. These generally commence about eight in the morning, and puff away their hot blasts till sunset. In more favoured spots, they blow away till ten, eleven, and twelve at night, or even sometimes till they begin again next morning. 
[...]
All this, however, does not explain "kuskus tattees," and we have wandered widely from our subject. In a few words, they are mats or screens, formed from a peculiar spongy grass, and bound together by light bamboo frames; they are placed before an open door or window, during these hot winds, and kept continually wet; the hot air is cooled in a wonderful way in passing through them, and enters the house not only deprived of all its strong and fervent heat, but bears also with it the peculiar and delightful odour of the kuskus grass. By these means a house, during the hot winds, may be kept at a comparatively delightful temperature, and the only being who does not profit thereby is the agent of this beneficial change; in other words, the poor fellow who, standing outside in the verandah, exposed to all the force of the wind, is continually employed in dashing water, by means of a small leathern jug, over the"tattee." Without "kuskus tattees," in the northwest of India, Europeans could scarcely exist during the hot winds; and they are in truth almost as necessary ; to life as is fire to ice-bound navigators at the North Pole. 

We have never seen human beings in Europe assume the attitude-perhaps they lose much by their ignorance thereof; though we must allow the position itself is not comfortable, at least to a beginner, and we have never proceeded beyond that stage. No more of our friend the bheestie touched the ground while squatting than when he stood; his feet, and his feet alone, in both cases were in contact with the floor, but there all similarity between the two positions ceased. As he squatted, his legs were bent double at the knees, that part of the leg above the knee rested on the part below; or, in other words, the under part of the thigh lay touching the calf, forming, if we may use the term, a "point d'appui" for the rest of his body, which was somewhat bent forward, to preserve the equilibrium which the squatting position otherwise destroys. But the most singular feature in the squatting attitude is the use, or rather disuse, made of the hands and arms: the latter are thrown forward at an angle of forty-five from the shoulders, and rest on the knees; the forearms are in no way bent, but preserve the same rigid straight line to the wrists, which, however, disclaim any control over the hands, for these hang down as if they were tied on, and somehow or another invariably manage to look as if they did not properly belong to the wearer. Such ; was the squatting position assumed by the bheestie as he rested from his labours, as it is also the position the lower-class natives of Hindostan invariably take when they have five minutes to spare. As the bheestie, Ramadan by name, took his ease as described, it struck him that he had now been watering the tattee two hours, and had smoked but one pipe, or hubble-bubble, during that period. 

The fast-flowing Hoogly, an arm mighty Ganges, running at the side of the road or course, is covered with ships of all nations, straining at their anchors as the ebb-tide rushes by them. In honour of the day they all carry their national flags; and perhaps in no port of the world can such a mixture of unionjacks, tricolors, lions and eagles rampant, stars and stripes, with other devices, be seen. Indeed, ships from all countries are there-from Norway, from Sweden, from Denmark, from England, France, Hamburg, and the different ports of Northern Germany; from Holland, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey; from America, Australia, China, Penang, Burmah, and many places in the eastern seas,-there they all lie side by side, cheek by jowl, testifying by the difference of build, the cut of their rigging, the comparative cleanliness or otherwise of their exteriors, and the language spoken on their decks, whence they come; but all uniting in proof of the world-wide commerce, the prosperity, and the affluence of the metropolis of British India. P ; Calcutta has been called the City of Palaces, and, in truth, such parts of it as can be seen from the course warrant the appellation. The extensive "midan," or plain, to the left, is bounded at the further end by that part of the town known as Chowringhee, all the houses in which face the open, and in point of size and architecture are superior to many surrounding Hyde Park. At the Calcutta end of the plain, from its huge size looking like the parent of all the others, stands Government House, a noble pile of massive stone, without any of that elaborate decoration, or fretted carving, which so often destroys the effect of similar edifices. Facing it, at the further end of the open, is Fort William, a stronghold of no mean importance, which looks, however, from the immense space it covers, as if it would require a regular army to garrison it. Thus all Calcutta visible from this point is grand and imposing; and as it is always the first part seen by new arrivals, it has probably given birth to the name mentioned above, which many other portions of the city do not justify.

Let us leave Calcutta, however,-it has been described a thousand times before,-and turn to the population taking air and exercise on the course and esplanade at the river's side. Though the crowd before us belongs to the metropolis of India, which is also, of course, the abode of many wealthy natives, we can discern no gay Eastern equipages, no Oriental show or pomp in the moving throng; for Calcutta, unlike Delhi, Lucknow, and other cities in the interior, is very British in its habits, and to the English tastes have even the wealthy natives succumbed. The carriages, for example, which now pass in review are such as may be seen daily in Hyde Park, while the harness and saddles are English all over; so much so, indeed, is all this the case, that as we stand and see the long line of horsemen and equipages go by, we wonder much how very un-Indian it all looks.

The English portion of the crowd are both in carriages and on horseback. Observe the pale and emaciated forms of many reclining in their luxurious chariots, telling plainly that the burning clime of Hindostan is no congenial home for them; while the radiant complexions and blooming cheeks of a few fair girls on horseback announce a but recent arrival in the tropics. All are not, however, of these two classes; some who have been long in India look well and strong enough, though, even in their case, the olive-tinted complexion plainly bespeaks their protracted abode.

It was known in Calcutta by telegram, on the day of which we write, that the overland steamer would arrive that evening. She had been telegraphed from the different stations on the river as she passed up, and sunset was the time they awaited her above Garden Reach, the point where the overland vessels lie. As the way to Garden Reach is but a continuance of the road or course by the river-side, many of the crowd before us are now on their way to the steamer to see the new arrivals, to stare at them as Anglo-Indians always do stare at anybody fresh from home, and to pick up any stray scraps of news. It is with a party standing on the deck of the vessel, some five minutes after she had been made fast to the quay, that we have now to do 

"What a strange thing it is! If it has all these disadvantages, why is it followed-at least, what are the inducements it holds out to its votaries?" asked Marion. 
"It is supposed by the Hindus to be of divine origin; they receive its mandates with their mother's milk, and we all know how difficult it is to unlearn what we were taught as babes. Besides, with all its absurdities, caste, with its accompaniments, is a Hindu's religion: he knows no other. According to the caste he holds in this world, will be his abode in the world to come; and believing this, as they do, we cannot wonder at their jealousy regarding it." 
"Why do they think it is of divine origin?" asked Beatrice. 
"Because their religious books state it to be so. The story goes that four races of men proceeded from the Creator at the creation; and, according to the parts of the Creator's body from which they sprung, are their honourable or dishonourable states in this life and the life to come. The Brahmins, the highest caste, are said to have come out of the mouth of Brahma, the creator; the lowest class, called Sudra, from his feet; the two intervening classes from his arms and legs; and, according to caste theory, all mankind owe their origin to one of these four classes, or to marriages between different castes, which is, however, strictly forbidden. The Hindus also believe that the descendants of these four classes are perfectly distinct and separate to this day, and that though each class has been divided, and subdivided, into perhaps hundreds of other castes or sects, each of the divisions now existing may still be traced back in all purity to one of the four original fountain-heads from which all mankind are descended." 
"Tell us more about it," said Beatrice; "it is interesting." 
"I don't know very much of the matter," said Hoby; "I believe it would take almost a life's study to master the subject; but the little information I have is at your service. As you may both opine, from what I have already said, caste cannot be purchased, cannot be attained by good deeds, cannot be bestowed by any earthly potentate, is not transferable-in short, can be possessed by hereditary descent alone. The Shastras, or religious writings of the Hindus, lay down certain rules and ordinances, agreeably to which each caste is to conduct itself. These are, however, generally speaking, confined to the most trivial and childlike forms and manner of doing different things. They relate, firstly, to the hereditary occupation (which is supposed to belong to each particular caste and to descend regularly from father to son); secondly, to the rites and ceremonies of marriage,-the bride being always, I may observe, of the same caste as the bridegroom; thirdly, to the union and communion of each caste, and the mysterious sympathy this exercises in that caste circle; and fourthly, to the selection, manner of cooking, and eating food. There are also other subjects on which directions are given, but the above are perhaps the principal points, -at least, they are all I remember. If any of these regulations are transgressed, the caste is broken: once broken, the casteless being is an outcast in every sense of the word. His own family will not recognize him, eat with him, or have any social intercourse with him whatever; never eligible to mix with those of other castes, and now thrown out by his own, he is truly alone in the world, with the conviction always present to his mind that his eternal state is compromised by his error. Strange to say, however (unless when the delinquent is very obnoxious to the heads of his caste circle), a few rupees expended on a 'burra kanna,' or feast, will reinstate him, whatever the fault may be he has committed. A greater absurdity, if possible, exists in the fact that if a man does a thing contrary to his caste, but is not seen to do it, or if seen, it is not reported, his caste does not suffer, nor is his happiness in a future state endangered. 

"My views in respect of caste are, perhaps, peculiar; at all events, they are opposed to the views of the mass of officers, civil and military, and therefore, mind you, I give them with all due deference. In my estimation, we have all along made a great mistake in our treatment of caste: its rules and regulations are so undefined, so uncertain, vary so much in each and every caste division, that even were it wise to recognize it in our dealings with natives who voluntarily take on themselves government employ, it would be difficult to do so only to the extent really necessary; and therefore we should be, as indeed we are now, daily imposed upon. I doubt, however, could we define the necessary limits to which caste compels its votaries to adhere, the wisdom of recognizing it at all. I would, mind you, in no way advocate a crusade against it; this would do infinitely more harm than the course we have hitherto pursued, but I would in every possible case ignore its requirements, in every case treat low and high caste alike: the former should be as eligible for Government employ as the latter; and with regard to the army, where, perhaps, the greatest difficulty lies, inasmuch as high-caste men, would, at all events at the commencement of this new policy, object to enlist in regiments where low-caste men were entertained, I would have both high and lowcaste regiments, treating them, however, in the same way, and showing no favour whatever to the former. Such a course would in a few years do much to lower the estimation caste is held in by the natives themselves, and might eventually-though that day is far distantabolish it altogether. Another advantage we should derive, and no small one in my opinion, is, that whereas the Bengal army (an army of mercenaries without patriotism, serving their conquerors) is now all of one stamp, with the binding sympathies of high caste running through it,-and surely, therefore, a dangerous force for alien conquerors to maintain,-we should then have an army so constituted that if, from any unforeseen causes, a portion failed us, we might all the more, from that very reason, reckon upon the fidelity of the remainder."

• The Heat and Thirst: The single well in the intrenchment becomes a "dangerous place" where even children, like the orphan Willy, are shot by sepoys while trying to draw water.
• Disease and Death: Cholera and small-pox ravage the crowded garrison, claiming Colonel Carstairs and Mrs. Peters.
• The Fire: A red-hot shot ignites the thatched-roof barrack, burning thirty sick and wounded soldiers alive.