THE

ANALECTIC MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1819.

ART. I.-Original Letters, from an American gentleman at Calcutta, to a friend in Pennsylvania.

LETTER VII.

Calcutta, April 30th.

MY DEAR H.

AMONG the objects of note, in this city, you will naturally expect me to speak of the celebrated Black Hole, where a number of Englishmen were so cruelly confined, in the year 1756. The fact is, I had postponed visiting it from day to day, until very lately; when, after some preliminary trouble, I gained admittance. The black hole, or kaullah godaum, as the natives call it, is a kind of dungeon above ground, situated in one corner of the custom house buildings. It was formerly part of the old fort; and this apartment, with some others adjoining it, was used as a prison. At the time the British were confined there, the only door opening into it was from an adjoining cell; so that it was even more dismal than it is now. The East India company's officers have had two doors opened through the outer wall; and this, and the contiguous chambers, are occasionally used as godaums, or ware-houses, for salt petre, &c. The walls of this hideous place are of brick, and are beginning to moulder away. The external appearance is very ancient, and the surface is partly grown over with weeds, but the walls are so immensely thick that they would stand a great while yet. They are about six feet thick at the ground, and gradually decrease to about four feet at top. The part properly denominated black hole, consists of two contiguous oblong cells, with an arched opening between them. It is dismally dark; and the air so confined and oppressive, even with the door open, that it was almost suffocating. My impressions were quite solemn when I reflected that I was standing in the very place where so many unfortunate men had been permitted to perish.* Near the black hole is a

* Of 146 persons who were crowded into the black hole, in the evening, it is stated that only 23 came out alive, next morning.

monumental obelisk, erected in commemoration of the cruel deed, on the pedestal of which, it is inscribed, that

This horrid act of violence

was as amply as deservedly revenged
on Surajud Dowla,

by his majesty's arms under

the direction of vice admiral Watson,

and colonel Clive, anno. 1757.

Very few of the natives now living, know any thing about the transaction; and those have mostly gathered what they do know from strangers who have visited the place. I inquired of some of our sirkars, touching the affair of the black hole, and found that they had never even heard of it.

A treat more agreeable than the view of this dungeon, awaited me in a visit which I recently paid to the company's botanic garden, situated on the right bank of the river, a few miles below the city. This is indeed a most superb establishment; and reflects great credit upon the taste and munificence of the East India company. Much of its excellence is also justly ascribable to the zeal of that worthy and indefatigable botanist, Dr. William Roxburgh, who personally superintended it for a considerable time. The garden embraces 300 acres of ground; of which, 100 are laid out and planted. There is a fine serpentine canal running through the middle of it, which is supplied from the Hooghly by a sluice, and can be filled or emptied at pleasure, by taking advantage of the proper time of tide. The most elegant walks, made with brick. broken to the size of gravel, and skirted with shrubbery, pervade the grounds; and amid the groves of mangoes and other trees, are tanks for the collection and preservation of rain water. There are about 3000 species of plants, mostly tropical, assembled in this garden; and additions are constantly making. Such an elysian field, for a lover of botany, is seldom to be met with. Among the more rare and interesting plants, which attracted my attention, were the bread-fruit tree, artocarpus incisa; the nutmeg, myristica moschata; clove, caryophyllus aromaticus; cinnamon, laurus cinnamonum; the delicious litchi, of China, scytalia litchi, Roxb.; the adansonia; the famous banyan tree, ficus indica, whose long horizontal branches are supported by limbs which droop to the ground, and there take root,-thus forming, from a single tree, a continuous and curiously arched grove; the sissoo, dahlbergia sissoo, Roxb. so much used here by cabinet makers, &c. &c. There were also considerable quantities of the teak wood, tectona grandis; introduced from Pegu, which is so highly prized as ship-timber, and has, from its lasting qualities, received the appellation of the everduring teak of India.'-It would be vain to attempt giving you an adequate idea of the pleasures of a stroll through this delightful garden, where the most gorgeous flowers are perpetually unfolding to the view, and the most fragrant odours are wafted on every passing breeze. The mansion of the superintendant corresponds,

in elegance and comfort, with the rest of the establishment; and the hospitable entertainment I received, while there, was such as might be anticipated from an amiable and accomplished cultivator of natural science. Having spent the day in a continued banquet of sweets, comprising the alternate enjoyment of fruits and flowers, I took my leave of this enchanting spot, as the sun approached the western horizon; and you can readily believe me, when I add, that as our boat receded from the scene, I cast many a 'longing lingering look behind.' One consideration alone, gave pleasure to my departure: and that was, a knowledge that our ship was nearly ready, and was speedily to sail for Philadelphia. The thoughts of home, and absent friends-so distant and so dear-flit ever and anon across my mind, in the midst of all my engagements; and as the moment approaches when we shall embark, excite the most irrepressible and anxious impatience.

Our cargo is now all on board, and to-morrow the pilot will haul the ship into the stream, and commence beating down the river. The monsoon has shifted to the S. W. since our arrival here, and we shall have the same difficulty in getting to sea, that we had in approaching this place. I have been busied these two days in stowing away my baggage, and taking leave of my Asiatic acquaintances. Last evening I crossed over to Sualky point, nearly opposite the city, to take a last farewell of Mr. C, an English gentleman, and his interesting family,-in whose society I have passed many happy hours, since my arrival here. The lady of the family is what is called a Chee-chee: that is to say, her mother was a native Hindoostanee, and her father a British officer. She was sent to England at an early age to be educated, and is an elegant and accomplished woman. Her engaging naiveté, vivacity, and good sense, have often reminded me of the fascinating Eliza, of Anjenga, with whom the abbe Raynal, and the sensitive Yorick, were so much enraptured. The graceful and delicate attentions of a fine woman are at all times captivating; but they are doubly so to the wanderer in a strange land, whose sensibilities are all awakened by a consciousness that he is far from the friends whose kind offices he might justly claim. Mrs. C. having heard me incidentally express my fondness for the cocoa nut and banana, during this last visit, I found, on returning to my boat, that her servant had, by her orders, nearly filled it with those favourite fruits. The time, and manner, of this engaging civility, abated nothing of those emotions which affected me at parting with friends whom I could never again expect to behold. You may possibly think it trifling to no. tice those little traits of benevolence; but should you ever take it in your head to roam in distant climes, you will find that even those little attentions, from a stranger, are admirably calculated to awaken your gratitude, and seize upon the finest feelings of the

heart.

I will now, my dear H. bring to a close the last letter which I shall probably ever address to you from this romantic region. I

send it by captain N. whose vessel dropt down the river a day or two ago, and who is just proceeding after it. As we shall follow so soon, I flatter myself, if we have reasonably good fortune, that my letter will scarcely precede me at your social circle:-but, if it should be our fate to be ingulfed by the countless billows, which roll between us and our homes, it may serve to bring you the proof, that the latest opportunity of evincing his affectionate remembrance, was embraced by your sincere and devoted friend.

ART. II.-Thoughts on the various departments of the National Industry of the United States.

THE true picture of our country exhibits an extent of land, free from the interference of forests, or cleared for cultivation, of an extent double the whole arable soil of any maritime country in Europe, if we include our prairies, and lands on which the forests have been burned. Our entire territory, after its limitation by the Louisiana and Florida treaties, is about twelve times that quantity of land, being about fifteen hundred millions of acres. This is a landed interest, which never can be outweighed by all our other interests conjoined.

The part of our population employed in the various landed operations of planting, farming, gardening, mines, quarries, and procuring wood and timber, &c. &c. constitute a great and commanding majority, even in the most commercial, manufacturing, and fishing of our states-Rhode Island. The increase of interior townships, counties, and states, will always maintain that immense preponderance of the landed population, which now exists, as will be admitted by every man who compares the population of all the counties from the St. Croix river to the Sabine, with the population of our hundred trading sea-ports and manufacturing towns.

The prosperity of the United States principally depends on a landed interest, well and cheaply supplied with all things necessary to cultivate the cleared lands, and to clear two thirds of those which are yet covered with woods-and on a landed interest, the prices of whose productions shall be surely and well supported by all the other departments of the national industry: or in other words, by commerce and manufactures.

It is submitted to the nation as a general rule (subject like all general rules to exceptions) that it is the right and duty of the landed interest, the merchants, the mechanics, the professions, and the other citizens to make out the public prosperity, by buying their manufactured supplies, with due attention to quality, upon the cheapest terms. This being an actual operation of a vast majority (the cultivators, merchants, mechanics, professions, &c.) with the minority (the manufacturers) is not avaricious; nor does it appear in any wise injudicious or absurd, in such a state of society, where the voice and moral interests of a real and very respectable majority of polls, talents, property, and industry present a just and