( xliii, ) fellowship outside the narrow doorways of the market. As for commodities, they range, from a pin to an anchor. The little stalls of the Hindu and Mahomedan shopkeepers are museums in miniature. The owners of some of them have made their fortunes, and others are piling up their thousands by patient, and assiduous industry. The land value of Chandney may not he as high as that of Barabazar, but it is higher than that of most business places in Calcutta. The stalls fetch high rentals, and ordinarily, a new stall, if available, carries a high salami. Well, though Chandney is visited by thousands daily, does anyone care to inquire who owns this popular and old market place-one of the far-famed sights of Calcutta ? To satisfy the curiosity of the reader, we may mentinn that Chandney Chowk is the joint property of several gentlemen, the largest share of seven annas being held by Babu Vihari Lala Mitra of Bagbazar now of Pathuriaghata. The rest of the property is owned by others in Small shares, but they generally belong to the same Mitra family of Bagbazar, the descendants of Gokul Mitra. A brief account of this ancient, aristocratic Hindu family of Calcutta will not be out of place. The family originally belonged to Bally in the Dis trict of Eughli, and settled down in Calcutta in 1742, that is, a few years before the sack of Calcutta by Nawab Siraz-ud-doula. The Nawab's attack, cul minating in the horrors of the Black Hole, is well. known to students of history, When the founder 18
