Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/309

 Government House, February 11, 1837. I see in the papers that the ‘Java’ letter-bag closes to-night, and, though I have particularly nothing to say, and never heard of, or saw the ‘Java’ in the river, still if she will close her letter-bag to-night, I suppose she would like to have something to put into it.

This is our levee day, so I shall write till the people begin to pour in, and after that the sooner I am hanged and put out of my pain, or luncheoned and brought to life again, the better. Not that I expect an immense crowd to-day, as it is the season that people are leaving Calcutta instead of coming into it. It is the new arrivals who bother me entirely.

A shocking catastrophe occurred last week at Barrackpore in the canine department, but there are hopes it may not end fatally. A jackal got hold of little Fairy, ’s pretty little greyhound, and worried her in a horrid manner. and all the other gentlemen settle themselves on the lawn at Barrackpore after we go to bed for an hour’s smoking, and