30 Chirm Punji, and its eligibility for the erection [Jan. 



eight to twelve inches in diameter, cost one rupee each; marwells androaks, 

 or roof sticks, eighteen feet long, and four inches in diameter, sell at ten 

 and sixteen for a rupee ; small hill bamboos, called aspar, ten feet long and 

 § of an inch in diameter, for lath and plaster walls, and binding on chup- 

 pers, or grass roofs, cost one rupee for 250 ; latkorahs, or squared tim- 

 bers, five inches square, and eighteen or twenty feet long, for joists or 

 rafters, sell four for the rupee ; rattan grows at the foot of the hills, and is 

 remarkably cheap ; good grass for thatching is brought from the plains at 

 four rupees a thousand bundles, each (being tight bound) measuring 1\ 

 inches in circumference. 



For permanent buildings, the common grey sandstone, which forms the 

 structure of the table land of Chirra, is found by far the best material. 

 This stone is found in inexhaustible qauntities, in slabs or layers from six 

 inches to two feet thick ; it may be easily split into square blocks by the 

 wedge and hammer ; these blocks require little or no dressing before they 

 are passed into the hands of the mason. When thepuckah houses belonging 

 to Messrs. Sargent and Cracroft were erected, the facility of working 

 this stone was not understood ; hence, a material was used, a red spongy 

 soft sandstone, which was squared by the Kasyas, and sold at the enor- 

 mous rate of four rupees a hundred ; these same stones now sell for one 

 rupee the hundred ; but they will never again be made use of in building. 

 The common grey sandstone before alluded to is the same of which 

 the wall is built, which I have described under the head of price of labour; 

 it hardens from exposure to the air, and is not in any situation liable to 

 decay or decomposition. It is of this stone also, cut into blocks of eight or 

 ten feet long, three feet wide, and two thick, of which the monument to 

 the memory of the late Mr. Scott is now in progress of construction under 

 the orders of the Government ; it is likewise the material employed by the 

 Kasyas for their tomb stones, some of which are single blocks, standing 

 nearly thirty feet high, being bulky in proportion, and which, according to 

 the tradition of the natives, have stood uninjured for many centuries. Lime- 

 stone is brought to the spot whenever required, within the Sanatarium, 

 for six rupees the hundred maunds : burning it even in the simple and 

 wasteful manner now adopted costs about ten rupees more, so that good 

 fresh lime, fit for use, only costs sixteen rupees the hundred maunds; it 

 may however be burnt on an extensive scale in proper kilns, for five or six 

 rupees the hundred maunds. Fire-wood for burning lime costs four rupees 

 eight annas the hundred maunds. Good sand for mortar maybe got in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of any spot where a building is to be erected : 

 excellent clay for making bricks or tiles is found within half a mile of the 

 Sanatarium ; but except for mixing with mortar and building furnaces, 

 bricks will not be much in use at Chirra. Good timber may be had, and 



