it. And when in the following year my salary was raised to Rs. 250

I could indulge in the luxury of a buggy and horse. I had a room in
the best boarding house in Calcutta, in which lived young civilians or
competition-wallahs as they were then styled, studying the languages
prior to being drafted somewhere up-country, barristers, lawyers,
merchants, and brokers. For this I paid Rs. 90 per month. My bearer,
khit, and dhobi cost me a further Rs. 20--the two first Rs. 8 each
and the latter Rs. 4. House-rent was ridiculously cheap in comparison
with the rates of the present day. As far as I recollect, the biggest
house in Chowringhee was obtainable for Rs. 400 or Rs. 450 at the
outside. No. 3, London Street, where my Burra Sahib then lived, was
only Rs. 300 a month. A horse and syce cost about Rs. 25 a month to
keep, and everything else in proportion. People were then very simple
and inexpensive in their tastes. There was not, I think, the same
inclination to spend money, and, as a matter of fact, there were not
so many opportunities of doing so. For one thing, there were no
theatres and other places of amusement, and trips home and even to the
hills were few and far between. Ladies in those days thought nothing
of staying with their husbands in Calcutta for several consecutive
years, and yet they lived happily and contentedly through it all. To
wind up the situation as regards expenses, I should say roundly that
they are now about double what they were then.

[Illustration: _Photo. by Johnston & Hoffmann_ Howrah Bridge from
Calcutta side.]

[Illustration: View of Harrison Road from Howrah Bridge.]