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

sort , in 1862 , the sand supporting the cylinders got washed away , and four of them toppled over on to their sides . Great must have been the fall thereof ! and it is very certain that all the king- ' s horses , and all the king's men , Avill never put those Huuapty-Dumpties on their legs again .

It has been stated soniAvhere in this paper that extraordinary care had been taken to protect the foundations ofthe Solani aqueduct from the action of the current during floods . This Avas accomplished by building a solid flooring 3 ft . thick over the whole of the waterway between the tAvo

abutments ; and a precious long tough job it must have been , besides no end of cunning devices on a very extensive scale on the up and CIOAVU stream sides of the work . By these measures , then , the whole of the foundations are hermetically sealed , as it were ; and it may safelbe predictedI think

y , , that the stability of the structure is positively beyond all reach of danger . Although the body of water that passes clown the Solani during floods is , beyond all comparison , less than Avhat it is in the Jumna , still it must be remembered how the current is affected

by the obstacles presented to its progress in the shape of fourteen piers , each 216 ft . long , 10 ft . thick , and only 50 ft . apart . Hence the necessity , no doubt , for the wise precaution in making the foundations of this Avork so impregnable to attack .

Now , in the case of the Jumna Bridge , there are fourteen piers 205 ft . apart , and , as nearly as I can ascertain , 74 ft . long and 25 ft . thick . There is no flooring , of course , as in the case of the Solani aqueduct , and , like that Avork , the foundations are sunk in sand of unknown depth . The

foundations of the pier are thus isolated , as far as the bed of the river is concerned ; and their future safety must depend upon the depth ( 28 ft . ) to which the cylinders composing them have been sunk 23 roving sufficient ; or , in other Avords , upon the river being * g-ood enough not to scoop out the

sand below that depth in any of its uncontrollable vagaries . The piers of this noble bridge have an abundance of elbow-room , it is true ; and experience has doubtless settled the important fact long ere this , that the stability of their respective ten . stilts is not dangerously affected in any Avay ,

even by a flood above 66 ft . deep , going at the easy pace of nine miles an hour . It used to be a favourite remark at one time , that on the annihilation of British power in the East—and in the general order of things , such must be the case some clay , I suppose ; to Avit ,

when our friend , the NOAV Zealander , will be making a trip to India , to sketch all the fine ruins there—the only trace left behind him by the enterprising Anglo-Saxon Avould be his empty beer-bottles . To these vitreous remains of fallen grandeur might be added , perhaps , the melancholy fragments of a " grand trunk road . " The construction of the Ganges Canal was decidedly the

first thing accomplished toAvards removing this standing reproach from a poAver , in whose dominions , to use another favourite expression , the sun never sets . All honour , then , to the man Avho originated the idea and boldly carried it out . Since then the railroads , with their magnificent

and unrivalled viaducts , are in a fair way of impressing the land Avith some indelible marks of British pluck and enterprise . I can honestly recommend my travelling countrymen who have " done" the Continent , just to take a passage in a Peninsular aud Oriental steamer

, aud " do" Bombay ( I'll warrant they can get the compliment returned ) , and delight their eyes with a sight of the Bhore Ghaut incline , on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway ; for this alone would the trip repay him , to say nothing of the renowned antiquarian Avonders of Eilora and Adjuntathe

, former only forty , and the latter but twenty miles distant from that line of railway . Why , that incomparable old fort at Dowlatabad , close to Ellora , and such a pretty road to it , with its labyrinthine tunnelings , and matchless scai'p of 150 ft . ( it looks double this when close to it ) all

, cut out of the hard trap rock ; its picturesque ramifications of old fortified walls , and the lovely view from the breezy summits—surely these sights alone are Avorth going all the distance to see .

But , for a few parting - words about the Bhore Ghaut Incline , if only to tempt the reader to go and judge for himself . I have the most pleasing recollection of going over this astonishing work shortly before it Avas opened , in company with the intelligent contractor , Mr . 0 . We took our seats

on a trolly early one fine morning , at Kandalla , the station situate on the summit of the . incline . "But before going any further , Mr . Scribbler , pray say Avhat is a trolly ? " Well , the simplest looking form of conveyance in the world—nothing , in factbut an unprotected platform on four

, AA'heels , as I saw it ; and the novel sensation , let me tell you , of being Avhisked along at some fearful pace , with but imperfect confidence in the means of checking it , down this inclined plane , by

the mere force of gravity , through pitch dark tunnels , along giddy precipices , and over unfathomable-looking abysses , Avas as nearly like going to perdition in a dogcart as anything I can possibly imagine . The incline traverses a hilly region composed of

the toughest basalt ; so the difficulty of boring the tAventy-five tunnels through it , aggregating some 4 , 000 running yards , may be easily imagined . The road altogether is 15 ^ miles long , rising in this short distance a height of 1 , 832 ft . The steepest gradient is 1 in 37 and the Avhole Avork

, occupied a period of seven years and a half , costing at the rate of £ 68 , 750 per mile . One of the cleverest engineering devices yet seen in railway work is the " reversing station , " as it is called , Avhere the position of the train in