if they happen to remain out late wooding.  I was shown the tattered fragment of a man’s dress, hung upon a bush, to commemorate the fact of a native having been torn to pieces there by one of these beasts.  But they are not the only foes that man has to dread here; the Ganges contains quite as deadly ones, namely—­the ravenous crocodiles.  These may be seen in groups of six or eight, sunning themselves on the slimy banks of the river or on the numerous sandbanks.  They vary in length from six to fifteen feet.  On the approach of the steamer, several started up, affrighted by the noise, and glided hastily into the dirty yellow stream.

The different branches of the Sonderbunds and the Gury are often so narrow that there is hardly room for two vessels to pass each other; while, on the other hand, they frequently expand into lakes that are miles across.  In spite, too, of the precaution of only proceeding by day, on account of the numerous sandbanks and shallows, accidents are of frequent occurrence.  We ourselves did not come off scot free.  In one of the narrow branches I have alluded to, while our vessel was stopped to allow another to pass, one of the two ships that we had in tow came with such violence against the steamer, that the sides of a cabin were driven in:  luckily, however, no one was injured.

In another arm of the river, two native vessels were lying at anchor.  The crews were somewhat slow in perceiving us, and had not time to raise their anchors before we came puffing up to them.  The captain did not stop, as he thought there was room to pass, but turned the steamer’s head so far in shore, that he ran into the bushes, and left some of the blinds of the cabin-windows suspended as trophies behind him, whereat he was so enraged, that he immediately dispatched two boats to cut the poor creatures’ hawsers, thereby causing them to lose their anchors.  This was another action worthy of a European!

Near Culna (358 miles from the sea), we entered the Gury, a considerable tributary of the Ganges, which it flows into below Rumpurbolea.  The jungles here recede, and their place is occupied by beautiful plantations of rice, and other vegetables.  There was, too, no scarcity of villages, only the huts, which were mostly built of straw and palm-leaves, were small and wretched.  The appearance of the steamer soon collected all the inhabitants, who left their fields and huts and greeted it with loud huzzas.

15th December.  This evening we struck, for the first time, on a sandbank.  It cost us some trouble before we could get off again.