, 1925-01-04

coast II came down at the seaport
of Chittagong. at the mouth of the
C~hittagong river. Here we landed,
refue ed hurriedly, devoured a few
sandwiches and at noon took Off for
Calcutta.
Like On the flight acroxs the pri.
meval forest of Malaga, we now had
one of the o dangerous stretches
in the world ahead of US. The deitas
OF two of the largest rivers on earth
lie between ~Chittagong and Calcutta.
The Gauges and the Brahnaputra,
each OF which is about tho size of
the Mississippi. join in central Ben
gal. But not only do they form one
main stream, the Hoogh. which Ia
often over ten miles wide, but hun
dreds uf other channels spread out
tanlille and empty into the bay. BE.
tween these channels and countless
creeks are sandbars, dense Jungle,
and mangrive swamps. Hero and
there are a few Villages nearly
smothered by the luxuriant vegeta-
lion. But the jungle is inhabited
mainly by enormou numbers of
deer, tigers, and monkeys. while the
murky b%ackwaters swarm with
c%rocodlles.
4 large part of the region is vlr.
gin. Our maps were q but little use
on the flight. Calcutta. although the
principal port Of India. lies eighty
two miles up the Hoogii river. The
dreaded delta region over which we
flew is called the -isundarbans. The
only %precaution We could take wa
to fy fairly high In order to always
be within gliding distance of IA body
OF water OF some description, in case
Of engine trouble. But even TO come
down safely on one Of those chan
nels would Simply have been the
start Of ones trouble. The sundar-
bans are such an enormous wilder
ness of u~neNplored Jungle, swamps,
and rivers that searching parties In
beats might hunt Il month without
finding YOU, Nothing but a plane
would be Of much use for rescue
purposes In this nightmare region.
".All OF us spent the afternoon
scanning teh weird landscape for
scanning the weird landscape for
be possible to alight in case of nee.
essity. As Don as we picked out enc
then we would look ahead for anoth.
err in order to keep some such spot
always in sight. Visibility was per.
feet ana ut 3:15, far ahead. We saw
the smoke OF a great city and a sill.
very streak winding through that
vast alluvlal plain. \ moment later
We were flying over village after
village. We were approaching the
outskirts of the co-calledN second
city Ct the British Empire
Calcutta from the air, with its
countless mills. and jute factories, It's
mammoth docks. Its rows and rows
OF ocean going vessels, ferries and
native river craft, its handsome resi-.
Dental quarter. It's great common IN
the center Of the city. with a magnif.
icent white marble domed palace at
one end. its crowded streets, and
modern office buildings made It one
of the most impressive sights Of the
orient"
Knowing that tho Hoogll was
merely another name for the Gangen
after its union with the .Brahma.
putra, the world flyers looked down
upon it with no little awe. From
childhood all OF them had read OF
this holy stream, with its magic
powers, and OF how HIindoo mothers
used to throw their girl babies to
the crocodlles.
Instead Of coming down near the
center of h city. arrangements had
been made for them to moo fifteen
miles farther up stream. where
there would be less river traffic to
bother them. But even away up
there native craft made It all but
impossible to get to the m~oorings.
Only oulck headuorL M the p.vt ~