portions of that strange region he would be glad to place at our
disposal one of the boats of the company, which we would find lying at
Port Canning. I eagerly accepted the proposition; and on the next day,
taking the short railway which connects Calcutta and Port Canning, we
quickly arrived at the latter point, and proceeded to bestow ourselves
comfortably in the boat for a lazy voyage along the winding streams
and canals which intersect the great marshes. It was not long after
leaving Port Canning ere we were in the midst of the aquatic plants,
the adjutants, the herons, the thousand sorts of water-birds, the
crocodiles, which here abound.

[Illustration: THE PORT OF CALCUTTA.]

The Sunderbunds--as the natives term that alluvial region which
terminates the delta of the Ganges--can scarcely be considered either
land or sea, but rather a multitudinous reticulation of streams, the
meshes of which are represented by islands in all the various stages
of consistency between water and dry land. Sometimes we floated along
the lovely curves of canals which flowed underneath ravishing arches
formed by the meeting overhead of great trees which leaned to each
other from either bank; while again our course led us between shores
which were mere plaits and interweavings of the long stems and
broad leaves of gigantic water-plants. The islands were but little
inhabited, and the few denizens we saw were engaged either in fishing
or in the manufacture of salt from the brackish water. Once we landed
at a collection of huts where were quartered the laborers of another
company which had been successfully engaged in prosecuting the same
experiment of rice-culture which our friend had just undertaken. It
was just at the time when the laborers were coming in from the fields.
The wife of the one to whose hut my curiosity led me had prepared his