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 CALCUTTA 573 ulty. Calcutta is supplied with water by means of tanks constructed to collect the pe- riodical rains. All endeavors to procure water by boring have hitherto failed; the soil seems peculiarly deficient in springs, even though it has been pierced to a depth of 500 ft. The tanks, of which the city contains more than 1,000, are of masonry, and preserve the water in excellent condition. It is distributed by carriers, who convey it about in leathern bags. The climate, formerly considered exceedingly dangerous to foreign- ers, has been somewhat ameliorated by the adoption of proper san- itary measures ; but of its extreme unhealthi- ness during the hot sea- son there can be no question. When sum- mer sets in, every offi- cial who can do so leaves Calcutta. The average annual rainfall is about 64 inches. The rainy season lasts from June to October. The temperature ranges from a monthly average of 66 F. in December and January to one of 85 in April and May, 83 in June, and a max- imum of 100 to 110 in the open air in the last named month. Vultures, kites, crows, and the adjutant stork by day, and foxes, jackals, and wild dogs by night, act as public scavengers, and perform a most important office, which doubt- less essentially contributes to the health of the city. The British merchants form the most influential and wealthiest class, and are noted for their hospitality. The Armenians are largely engaged in commerce with various parts of the East, and the retail trade is almost monopolized by the natives. The shops or bazaars are furnished with a plainness which must strike a stranger forcibly, but every kind of goods of every quality can be purchased as readily as in England. An industrious and serviceable class are the Eurasians, who are employed to a considerable extent in mercan- tile houses and as government clerks. The brokers, denominated sircars and baboos, are exclusively Hindoos. The foreign trade of Calcutta is mainly in the hands of English merchants. The commerce of nearly all the interior of Bengal, and of a very large propor- tion of India, centres here. The chief exports are opium, cotton, rice, indigo, jute, seeds, silk, hides, saltpetre, sugar, and lac ; the prin- cipal imports comprise cotton twist and yarn and piece goods, metals, railway materials, machinery, wines and spirits, salt, woollen goods, malt liquor, wearing apparel, and books and stationery. In the year ending March 31, 1872, the imports into Bengal represented a value of 19,741,420, and the exports 27,849,- 329. By far the largest portion of this trade goes through Calcutta. In the year 1869-'70 923 vessels entered the port, and there were 936 clearances. Calcutta is connected by railway and telegraph with Bombay, and with the large cities of northern and central India, and by regular steamship lines with Europe and all the great countries of the East. The Government Buildings and Ochterlony Monument Anglican see of Calcutta was established in 1814, and the bishop is the primate of India. A high court of general appellate jurisdiction holds its terms at Calcutta. The city is a fa- vorite field for missionary enterprises, and missionaries of all denominations are to be found there. A number of newspapers and magazines are regularly published in English, and several in the different native languages. The site of Calcutta was originally occupied by the village of Govindpore. In 1698 the Eng- lish factories at Iloogly were removed thither by the East India company. In 1700 three small villages near the factories, one of which bore the name of Calcutta, were assigned to the British by the native rulers. One of these villages occupied the site of the present Euro- pean quarter, another stood where the native residences are now erected, and the third has given place to the beautiful plain on the S. side of the city, in the midst of which stands the citadel. In 1756 the settlement, which then_ contained only 70 houses occupied by Euro- peans, was captured by Surajah Dowlah, the subahdar of Bengal. (See BLACK HOLE.) The British forces under Clive regained supremacy and recovered the town early in the following year. The construction of Fort William, the most extensive and elaborate regular fortress in India, was begun in 1757, after the battle of Plassey; and in 1758 Meer Jaffeer, the succes- sor of Surajah Dowlah as native viceroy, remit-