ART. VII.-Topographical Survey of the River Hooghly from Bandel to Garden Reach, exhibiting the Principal Buildings, Ghats, and Temples on both banks, executed in the year 1841; by Charles Joseph.

We now resume our brief notices of the places marked down in this map on the Right Bank of the Hooghly, which present any particular claim on the attention of the tourist. The first object which attracts notice is the large three story house, lying almost on the edge of the bank, which forms the residence of the Superintendent of the Honourable Company's Botanical Garden. This noble establishment originated in the enlightened views of Colonel Alexander Kyd, more than half a century ago, and was designed for the collection of plants indigenous in the country, and for the introduction and acclimation of plants from foreign parts. The Garden which is very extensive, is laid out with much taste; but those who have had opportunities of examining similar establishments in England are of opinion that it is susceptible of some improvement in the matter of scientific distribution. It combines the attraction of a Botanic Garden with that of a Park, and is therefore the great lounge of the citizens of Calcutta. The magnificent banian trees which adorn it are the scene of many a merry picnic party on the numerous holidays which the Hindu calendar bestows on the community of the Presidency. It possesses a noble botanical library which has been enriched, from time to time, by the liberality of Government, and the donations of botanists in Europe and America. The annals of the Garden embrace the successive labors of Dr. Roxburgh, Dr. Buchanon, Dr. Wallich, and last, but not least, of the original genius and thoroughly accomplished botanist, the late William Griffith, whose premature death, at the age of thirty-four, has been a source of such deep lamentation to the scientific world. A noble monument to the memory of the founder, who died in 1793, stands in a conspicuous part of the Garden, and arrangements formed in order to open it, from various directions, to public view, have contributed not a little to the improvement of the grounds. Monuments have also been erected in the Garden to commemorate the services of Dr. Roxburgh and Dr. Jack. It is not unworthy of remark, that the Committee assembled during Lord William Bentinck's administration, to curtail the expences of the public establishments, proposed that the salary of the superintendent should be reduced from 1500 Rupees a month to 500 Rupees, on the death

of the existing incumbent; but Dr. Wallich's constitutional stamina has hitherto baffled all financial calculations. Long may he live to enjoy the post with undiminished allowances, and whenever he is constrained to transfer the charge to a successor, may the Government be induced to reconsider a resolution which was adopted under the pressure of circumstances which have ceased to exist, and avoid the contempt of Europe, by endowing this pre-eminent scientific post with a salary not superior to that which crowns the wishes of a Deputy Collector. At the northern division of the Garden, there has long existed a Teak plantation, originally formed with the view of creating forest of that wood, so invaluble in ship-building, in this country, but it has proved an entire failure. The trees present a puny and exotic appearance, and after the lapse of half a century, are still unfit to be used as timber.

At the north of the Garden lies Bishop's College. The sudden appearance of its gothic turrets, and its green lawn, and its air of academical tranquillity, as the voyager ascends the Hooghly, rekindles in many a bosom those early associations which transport the mind back to the banks of the Cam or Isis. But the immediate succession of the port of Calcutta, with its forest of masts, and its tide of commercial life and animation, soon dispels these classical reflexions. It is the metropolis of India, the great mart of Asia, which now bursts on the view. This College is a monument of the zeal and public spirit of Bishop Middleton, the first prelate of the English Episcopal Church after India had been erected into a see. The object of the institution was "the education of Christian youth in sacred knowledge, in sound learning, and in the principal languages used in this country in habits of piety and devotion to their calling, that they may be qualified to preach among the heathen." The importance of adopting this principle as the basis of missionary operations in India has not been practically exemplified or even fully recognized, by all the missionary bodies in the country; by some it has been entirely repudiated. They have continued to import missionaries, year after year, from Europe, whom the climate periodically disables and sends back, to such an extent, that at the end of any given period, the actual number of labourers in the field, is found stationary, notwithstanding the constant accession of recruits from home. The sums of money expended by some of the missionary agencies of note in the outward and homeward voyages of missionaries, in ten years, would be found almost sufficient for the establishment of an institution, which should annually furnish treble the number of labourers in the country itself. Bishop's

College, though never worked up to its full power, has furnished so constant a succession of ministers, missionaries and school masters as to render the Society with which it is connected, to a certain extent independent of European resources. Whatever Society expects to produce a powerful and permanent impression on the superstition of the East must adopt the same plan, and make India rather than Europe its recruiting ground. The same truth applies with equal force to the department of education. If Government desires to produce an impression on the ignorance of India, instructors must be trained up in the country, and the dependence on England must be proportionately diminished. With Bishop's College is associated the name of one of the most profound scholars whose attention has ever been devoted to the pursuit of Oriental literature. We allude to its late Principal, Dr. Mill, whose attainments in the learned language of the East were only exceeded by the extent of his classical learning. His name is never mentioned by the native literati except in conjunction with those of Wilford and Jones, Colebrooke and Carey, Wilson and Yates.

Turning round the elbow of land which projects above Bishop's College, we obtain a noble view of the City and port of Calcutta ; and find ourselves approaching an elegant country residence, called Shalimar, where Sir John Royds, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court thirty years ago enjoyed his learned leisure, and the last tenant of which was Mr. Sutherland, the nephew of Mr. Colebrooke, from whom he imbibed that partiality for Sanskrit lore, to which the public is indebted for the translation of two learned treatises on law. Immediately above it lies the island of Seebpore, thrown up within the present century, which has so inconveniently narrowed the channel of the river. Immediately before us lie Albion Ghat, Albion Lodge, Albion Mills, all created by the energy of one of the most enterprizing men in the annals of Indian improvement; and one of the greatest benefactors of the country. We allude to William Jones, who is deserving of the same distinguished record as Watson, the father of shipbuilding, or Prinsep, the first cultivator of Indigo. He came out to India in the year 1800. For the first ten years of his Indian career we find him designated only as a mechanic, and we may therefore suppose that he was struggling with difficulties during this period, of monoply and stagnation without any opportunity for the development of his abilities. In 1810, the Directory promotes him to a Manufacturer, and the next year he is put down as the proprietor of a Canvas manufactory at Howrah. It was there that he first established himself to any advantage, and to

his energy and example may be in a great measure attributed the prosperity of that suburb. For the canvas manufactory in India we are entirely indebted to his spirit of enterprize. It continued for some time exclusively in the hands of Europeans, and at first yielded a considerable return, but like almost every other manufacture in this country, it has passed into the hands of natives, and, wanting the benefit of European superintendence and honesty, has lost its repute; and the hopes which were once entertained of its superseding Europe canvas, have disappeared. When the expedition was about to be despatched in 1811 for the capture of Java, its departure is understood to have been impeded by the want of cartridge paper, and Mr. Jones came to the assistance of Government. His extraordinary mechanical skill enabled him to set up a little paper manufactory, from which he furnished all the paper that was requisite, and closed his new works as soon as the object of the expedition was accomplished. He was not encouraged to continue his exertions, for the Court of Directors had not then become alive to the importance of calling forth and improving the resources of the country. Down to that late period, India continued to be governed in a great measure upon the old colonial and selfish principle of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of administering a colony solely for the benefit of the mother country, and fostering improvements only as far as they tended to promote that object. The idea of governing the foreign possessions of Europe, and more especially those of England, on the enlarged principle of promoting their interest, though now reckoned among truisms, has been recognized and acted upon only within the present century.

Four or five years subsequently, Jones accidentally discovered the existence of coal in Burdwan, and with his characteristic ardor determined to open the mines. From that new spirit of enterprize which had then begun to manifest itself, he foresaw that it could not be long before the powerful agency of steam was introduced into India, and he resolved to accelerate its progress by providing a supply of fuel. It is chiefly in reference to our Indian coal, and in contemplating the vast benefit which Jones's labours have conferred on India, that his claim to the highest rank among her benefactors, rests. At the end of less than thirty years, the coal fields which Jones was the first to work, produce seventy thousand tons annually, and supply fuel for 150 Steam Engines. His last public engagement was the building of Bishop's College, which he undertook in some measure from his desire to promote every object of public utility, but also because he aspired to the honour of erecting

the first Gothic edifice in India. That he should have ventured upon so difficult an undertaking and one so foreign to his previous pursuits, and that he should have so admirably succeeded in the execution of it, is of itself a sufficient demonstration of the lofty enterprize and genius of the man. His active and useful life was brought to an abrupt close in the month of September 1821, in consequence of a fever which he contracted while superintending the building and which proved fatal in three days. Bishop Middleton, in his letters thus deeply lamented the loss of his invaluable assistance:

"In addition to other causes of solicitude, the Bishop at this time had a severe trial to endure in the loss of Mr. Jones, the gentleman with whom he had contracted for the building of the College, and who died towards the end of September, 1821, after an illness of two or three days. Any interruption to this noble work would have weighed most heavily on his spirit: but the loss of the able and zealous contractor, by whom it was begun, was felt by him almost as a personal calamity. In the first place, it threatened him with all the trouble and perplexities of a fresh contract; and, what was still worse, with the probability of great additional expense. Besides, he anticipated the greatest difficulty in finding a person at all equal to the task of completing the work in the same admirable style in which it had been commenced. "The buildings," he observes to Archdeacon Barnes,* are brought up to the level of the first floor of the second story: but more than half the masonry done, considering the vast mass of foundation. It seems to be admitted that finer work was never seen in this country; and poor Jones was pleased with it himself. He was all heart about his undertaking, and was just beginning to see the effect produced. The grand entrance to the hall and chapel, a Gothic arch, seventeen feet high, and ten wide, is finished on the south side, and, very nearly so on the northern. I saw it a few evenings since, chiefly by flashes of lightning; and, as unfinished buildings look like ruins, it reminded me of some ancient abbey gate. He has executed my idea admirably. But the chapel roof is the part in which he would have shewn himself to the best advantage; and here is my perplexity: but the plan cannot now be altered. The frames of the chapel windows are in, and the skeleton of the great eastern window, twenty-three feet high, is, I hear, completed. It is something, certainly, that Jones lived to do so much. It will still be his monument !"

He was perfect master of the native language, which he spoke with as much facility and accuracy as if he had been born in the country. He was thoroughly acquainted with the habits, customs, and feelings of the natives, and was ever ready to assist those around him with his skill and advice, as well as with his purse. He came therefore at length to be known among the people as Gooroo Jones, or the teacher Jones. Like many other men of genius, he was incapable of saving a fortune out of the numerous lucrative schemes which he originated. They imparted a great impulse to national

Dated October 5th, 1821.