Douglas Island news., 1910-08-03
THE WORLD
Dr. Simpsons Story of His Visits to the Countries of the
 Old World
Continued from last week.


 Calcutta has great park, or maidan, nearly three miles long. It has num- Der of monuments and drives; the Eden gardens are at one end, the zoo at the other and Fort William in the middle. The Eden gardens are thickly wooded, have few little lakes, Burmese pagoda and band ssand. The fort is a very large one, is we'll provisioned, and has large number of soldiers. 1t is close to the bank of the river. The zoo is we'll worth visiting. It should be, for it is an easy thing to start zoo in India. If you want lion, tiger or big snake you have only to go out and get one as you would deer or salmon | in Alaska. saw some kangaroos with young ones in their pouches. They would crawl out or in as they liked. l also saw the kangaroo rat, which car ries its young on it's back. There was splendid collection of birds, fishes, snakes and monkeys, besides number of giant turtles. There was large rhinocerous and several hippopotami, crocodiles, etc. Near the zoo is the race course two miles long and close by is the belvedere where Warren Hastings and Sir Phillip Francis fought the duel, Francis being wounded and forced to return to England. The General and Military hospitals are farther along at the foot of the maidan and both are we'll worth visiting. visited seven or eight hospitals in Calcutta, among others the lepers, where l am sure there were over 1000 fingers and toes missing among some 200 patients. l never spent six hours more proftably than in College hospital. There were nearly 800 students in the college. Near the General hospital is St. Paul's cathedral which was Bishop Heber's church. There is fine large marble kneeling statue of him In the church. There are many tombs, among them being that of Lady Canning, who died while her hus- band was governor general of India. There are few in Westminster Abbey that are richer and in better taste.
 About 11a miles from the .church is Kalighat, or Caligat, named after the goddess Kali, or Surga, one of her fin gers having dropped here when she was cut to pieces by Vishnu. Calcutta re- ceived its name from Caligat. Kali was more of a devil than a god and notice that the Hindoos worship the devils and bad gods more than the good. They say that the good gods will not do you any harm aud do not require any cou- ciliation, while the bad ones have to be propitiated. There are about fifty shrines with mirror deities. Tue pil. grim first takes bath in the river, then begins his course from god to god until he reaches the shrine of Kali. 1 say he, but more often it is she. They bring all kinds of offerings; wines, syrups, fruits of all kinds and every thing that would be acceptable to Kali. There are many fruit stores and green grocers who make fine thing out of the pilgrims. Kali shrine is building with her image and large stone vessel holding about 30 gallons. The house is thronged with men and women, all with offerings and all terribly in earnest. They keep up constant prayer, each for what he or she most desires. One favorite prayer among women is for a son and all through the country you will see holy trees with rags tied to them, each rag representing some wo mans prayer for a son. They throw