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

theodolite , to fix with mathematical accuracy the position of piers and abutments , operations were commenced by clearing away as much of the sand as the walls below would admit of , and this appeared to be about 2 ft . or so below the surface of the river bed , a damp , uncomfortable looking

place being now exposed to view . The next part of the business was to lay down enormously massive timber frames , consisting of roughly squared trunks of common jungle trees , firmly fitted and bolted together , all arranged in apple-pie order for the walls of the blocks which were to be built

upon them . To make the matter sufficiently intelligible , and speak in round numbers—though very near the mark—we will assume the foundations for one of the piers to be 200 ft . long , 20 ft . wide , and 20 ft . deep ; this would consist of nine cubes of 20 ft .,

placed between 2 ft ., and 3 ft . apart , and which are built first of all to a height of 12 ft . The walls of each block are so constructed as to form four cavities , or " wells , " as they are called , 6 ft . square , for the convenience of getting out the sand , as will be seen further on . Common trestle

windlasses are next placed on the top of the blocks , one over each well , and strong wooden troughs laid in a slanting position against the walls , to perform the twofold office of an inclined plane for the workpeople to go up and down upon , and a slide for the sand that is to be scooped up from the bowels of the earth .

Coincident with the later operations is the very important one of digging away the sand as deep as can be managed from a distance of 20 ft . or 30 ft ., parallel to the lines of blocks ; for the sand not so excavated , be it known , would , in the course of undersinking ( as the operation is called )

find its way into the wells , which , for obvious reasons , would be a much more troublesome and expensive way of getting rid of it than by digging after the usual manner of mortals . Each of the windlasses is provided with a large ponderous iron spadescoopor whatever the correct

inter-, , pretation may be of the tool called , in Oriental parlance , a " jham , " and to manipulate which a pole is used , varying in length as necessity requires , from 12 ft . to 24 ft . or so . Sinking operations are commenced by inserting the end of the aforesaid long handle into the

nozzle of the "jham" as it hangs dangling from the windlass ; the men then let go the latter , and the whole affair , pole and all ( not including the windlass , of course ) , is allowed to fall to the bottom as fast as it can go , and woe betide the incautious Hindoo who gets in the way of the

handles , which spin round with a force enough to pulverise even a much thicker cranium than his . The long-handled apparatus is how worked vigorously to and fro , with a downward pressure , in order to get a good hold of the bottom ; after which the pole is disengaged from the jham , and rested against the inside of the well , preparatory

to being hoisted up , hand over ht nd , for another good dig . It may be remarked that this very effective iron implement , though drooping down as a matter of course vertically , is by a delightfully simple self-acting contrivance , drawn up horizontally , and

when fairly loaded , may be considered to hold about two cubic feet of sand . On this reaching the surface , after the customary hauling , shouting , and frantic attitudinising , so essential to the success of any combined muscular efforts on the part of Indian workmen , it is tumbled out of the

jham , shovelled into the trough , and carried away —not in wheelbarrows , exactly , but , after the fashion of the East , in baskets , on the shaved and thickly covered heads of her Majesty ' s faithful and loyal black lieges . Speaking of wheelbarrows reminds me of having seen , or heard it mentioned , that on occasion of their being introduced for the first time on some work in that country of

solar influence and " solar topees , " these simpleminded people , after filling them with earth , proceeded to put the whole affair bodily on to their heads , basket fashion . Oh , ye navvies of England , think of that ! It has been remarked that the sand is cleared

away to some distance all round the lines of blocks , and this is a territory carefully preserved from sandy encroachments of any sort , for reasons already stated . As the work proceeds , the sides of the cutting subside with serious intentions of sloping towards the blocks ; but this can be

prevented by taking a hint from the premonitory cracks as they appear now and then . The cavity occupied by the sinking block is called the " crater , " but the term , to my limited understanding , was vastly more suggestive of Yesuvius than anything so decidedly aquatic as block-sinking ; but this may be considered hyper-criticism , perhaps , by the learned in such matters .

Something often goes wrong down in the lower regions of the well j either the rope breaks in one of those frantic efforts above spoken of , or , what is worse , a piece of drift-wood , of unknown antiquity , gets athwart the timber underneath . This was evidently a fruitful source of tribulation

to every one concerned , always excepting of course the insouciant operatives , who instantly assume the sitting attitude of our alleged quadrumanous primogenitors , and are soon oblivious to everything around them in the transcendent delights of the beloved "hubble-bubble . " At this critical

juncture in block-sinking operations , a primitive looking functionary—if not MI p-uris naturalibus exactly , at all events something alarmingly near it—steps forward to the rescue . This amphibious specimen of the order Vertebrateyclep'd the diverthough a more commonly

, , useful member of the well-sinking community at one time , when improved jhanis were not , than he was at the time when I first beheld the light of his countenance , is nevertheless an indispensable