Block-Sinking; Or Brick And Mortar Reminiscences In The East.

BLOCK-SINKING ; OR BRICK AND MORTAR REMINISCENCES IN THE EAST .

( From the Builder . ) During a roving tour in Northern India , some years ago , undertaken for the combined purpose of seeing a little more of the world , and escaping the much-dreaded rigours of an English winter , I happened to visit , on my way to the " Hills , " —that

Paradise of Anglo-Indians , —a somewhat dull but profoundly philosophical little station far away in the north-west ( shame on me for forgetting the name of it !) , and thus became acquainted with the particulars of some very important engineeringworks going on in the immediate neihbourhood .

g Though but in an embryonic stage of existence when I saw them , these brick and mortar performances were so different from anything of the kind I had seen before in my wanderings about the world , and the circumstances connected with them so particularlinterestingthat I shall endeavour

y , to give the reader—not already over-primed on the subject , it is hoped—a brief account of what I saw on that occasion ; and again on another one some years afterwards , when on a flying visit to the AVestem Presidency , that steaming , suffocating , odoriferous haven of bliss for " land reclamation

companies ( limited ) , and money-making Parsees , unlimited . The noble art of block-sinking is brought into play , it seems , for constructing the foundations of buildings , under circumstances which , in other and more civilized parts of the universe , would

necessitate a recourse to pile-driving , or some wonderful mechanical arrangement involving the use of steam-power , and which , as far as the latter are concerned , would be wholly unsuited to such an out of the way part of the world as that secluded name-forgotten abode of the brick and mortar art

so especially was in those clays of yore . Complicated machinery of any sort would be sure to go wrong in the hands of the unsophisticated Hindoo , and then everything would be at a stand still for want of the necessary means to repair damages . Sofor matters to go on smoothly and

uninter-, ruptedly in that part of the country , simplicity , I was easily convinced , must clearly be the order of the day . As an instance of native genius for misunderstanding the use of common things beyond their ken , it may be mentioned that a friend of mine had indulged in the luxury of very ordinary

brass locks for his bungalow doors ; and sure enough every one of them became quite useless before long ; and , in many cases , the handles wrenched off in trying to do what any one of our own blessed infants acquires a knowledge of as soon as it is old enough to reach the much-coveted object .

The works that came under my observation , and on which swarms of natives wero working away as busy as bees—though such instinctive industry is by no means a remarkable attribute of that interesting people—were the foundations of a gigantic

aqueduct , compared with which all other conduits of water , ancient and modern , were verily not to be mentioned in the same breath ; in short , nothing like it on the planet . Operations were being carried on in the bed of a river of some considerable width , as dry as the table I am writing at for

several consecutive months in the year , and during the rainy season the scene occasionally of such very heavy torrents , that it was difficult for uninitiated man to conceive by what scientific means anything could be constructed to withstand their violence ; especially when it is known that the

integrity of the river bed , consisting of sand and water of unknown depth , can be only permanently secured by the most consummate skill and good management , failing which it would be scooped out here , there , and everywhere , and every blessed

thing along with it . The difficulty of laying in the foundations of a work 20 ft . deep by any other process than the one to hand can be easily understood , from the fact of the perennial spring water lying so near the surface that it was utterly impracticable digging down

more than 5 ffc . or 6 ft . in the usual way , and that by no means an easy matter . It is true that the means employed for overcoming a difficulty of this nature are extremely simple , and , after all , but an improvement on the plan that has been in use by the natives of India from time immemorial ; but it

is on this very account they are so well worthy of notice , as not only being admirably adapted to the comprehension of the Asiatic and the undeveloped resources of his charming but very tepid part ot the globe , but also as being so desirable of introduction elsewhere .

It may be stated , in a few words , that the native method of obtaining foundations for their bridges , and such like , is sinking a number of brick cylinders—or " wells , " as they are generally called , I believe—which are afterwards filled in with earth or concrete , domed over , connected together , and

built upon as they best may . In the work that I am presuming to scribble about , the choice was said to lie between pile-driving and " blocks , " the relative merits of which , and the reasons of preferring- the latter to the former , though duly impressed upon my bewildered mind at the timeis

, really much too serious and recondite a matter to take in hand just at this moment—much to the reader's satisfaction , no doubt . The advantages of rectangular blocks over circular wells , to build upon , are far too manifest , oue would thinkto need airy special disquisition

, on that head , substantiality and their adaptation to the form of superstructure being not the least important of them ; and yet these wells have since been extensively used on some important ; works now in progress in another part of the country , which will be noticed hereafter . In regard to the

system adopted on this occasion , the style of procedure appeared to be as follows . After divers optical feats had been performed with level and