314 RAmasw4ui’s Account of the Island and Bridges of 
any other to the situation. When the river is full, the great body of the 
water in this branch runs in the centre of the bed ; to this the angle of the 
bridge is opposed, and the force of the stream, which is very rapid, is 
thereby broken. 
The best proof, however, of the excellence of its form and structure is, 
that it has withstood the violence of repeated floods without sustaining any 
other than trifling damages, which were easily repaired. The original 
parapet of the bridge was of solid masonry; but a part of it having been 
carried away by a great rise of the river, the whole was taken down and 
replaced by a wooden railing. 
The length of the Ramshatuva Bridge is one thousand feet, the breadth of 
the roadway thirteen feet, and the height, including the foundation, is 
twenty-three feet. It is supported by four hundred pillars, which form 
a hundred and thirteen chesmas, and the stones forming the roadway are 
not let into sockets, but fastened to the pillars with iron pins and mortar. 
The foundations are either cut into the solid rock, or into immense stones 
placed for the purpose, and in many places to the depth of five feet. 
I am not prepared to state, with any thing like precision, the sum which 
this bridge cost me. The other works I had undertaken were proceeding at 
the same time, and I have briefly alluded to the causes which rendered the 
expenditure of money enormous. I was afflicted, not only with mental 
vexations, but my bodily health also suffered severely. I had repeated 
attacks of fever, which obliged me to leave the island, and to commit the 
superintendence of the works to servants, who neither could nor would 
exercise that strict vigilance over the labours of the work-people, which the 
peculiarity of the situation required. 
The bridge was valued in the year 1823, by an officer of engineers, at 
60,000 rupees. I am not acquainted with the data upon which the valuation 
was made, but I consider it greatly lower than it ought to have been; and 
I conceive myself borne out in this observation, when a comparison is 
made between the structure at this island and the Wellesley Bridge at 
Seringapatam. 
This last-mentioned edifice was constructed under the orders of Purnia, 
the celebrated Diwdn of Mysore, who had of course all the resources of that 
government, as well as the skilful artificers and numerous labourers of 
Seringapatam, at his command. 
