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INDIA

works Madras should have risen to the position of a great
coast port. But as we have already pointed out, there is
no harbour in the east coast of India between Ceylon and
Orissa. It cannot be said of Madras that it is the natural
outlet of a trade basin extending
 over an area that has
any parallel to that of Bombay
 ; but it does, on the other
hand, tap a very large canal
system which reaches both
north and south.
We have already referred
to the marked architectural
ugliness of Calcutta, an ugliness
 which is redeemed only
by such charm as may be
gained by viewing the town
from a distance across the
width of the central “maidan,”
 when there may be
detected a certain spirit of
beauty which is never absent
even from the flattest of river
scenery. In Bombay, on the
other hand, it is worth while
to arrest a traveller's attention
 in order to assure him
that never elsewhere in India
will he behold a city so typical
of oriental life, and so teeming
with oriental colour. Every
corner of that city, even to
the very slums, possesses the charm of variety. A dirty
picturesqueness (which is almost Italian) pervades most of
the back premises of Bombay ; Portuguese design is still
apparent in the quaint mouldings and devices which adorn
the houses in many of the streets, though the Portuguese
have not been there since the early part of the eighteenth
century, when they were ejected by the Mabhrattas.

Miles