1840.] Boring Operations in Fort William. 679 



lower than 167 feet 10 inches ; occasionally a partial advance was 

 made, but it was neither permanent nor certain, from the constant 

 variation of the height of the sand in the tubes. 



On entering the stratum of stiff clay, above alluded to, the night- 

 work had ceased, but it was again found necessary to resume it, 

 as the only means of overcoming the existing difficulties. The effect 

 of this was to carry the bore successfully ■ to a depth of 182 feet 8 

 inches by the 27th of July, when a temporary suspension of the 

 operations took place, from the supply of rods having become ex- 

 hausted. It may be mentioned, that for some days prior to this date 

 considerable inconvenience had been experienced by the stoppage 

 of the borer, both in its ascent and descent, by some obstacle, the 

 nature of which could not be ascertained. Had it been constant in 

 its position, it might have been anticipated that the tubing had again 

 been dislocated or forced from the perpendicular, but so far from this 

 being the case, the borer occasionally descended and was brought up 

 without the least difficulty ; this temporary intermission was followed 

 by the re-appearance of the impediment ; again it intermitted, and 

 latterly disappeared altogether. 



A further supply of the rods having been obtained from Delhi, 

 the boring was resumed on the 13th October, 1836.* During this 

 interval of suspension, however, it was found that the tubes had 



* The following singular circumstances connected with these Delhi rods, may here 

 be placed upon record, though it has been found impossible to obtain any satisfactory 

 explanation of their origin or cause. 



1000 feet of rods, in lengths of 20 feet each, were received from the Court of 

 Directors at one time ; 500 feet of these were taken indiscriminately for the Fort Ope- 

 rations, and the remaining 500 feet were forwarded to the Magazine at Delhi. On the 

 occasion of the supply in the Fort becoming exhausted, a portion of those sent to 

 Delhi were called for, and 200 feet were in the first instance received, subsequently 

 followed by the remaining 300. On working the two sets together a remarkable dif- 

 ference was observed between them. Under equal strains the rods obtained from 

 Delhi twisted and bent with the utmost facility, while those employed in the Fort 

 operations continued rigid and straight, so that ultimately the latter alone could be 

 used in the daily work, the others being laid up in store as useless. Had this flexibi- 

 lity been confined to a portion of the Delhi rods, it might have been explicable on 

 the supposition that some flexible rods had been intermixed with the rigid ones, but 

 it was equally observable in the whole 500 feet of them, so that this explanation can 

 scarcely be admitted, especially when it is remembered that in the first instance no 

 sort of selection was employed. The strength of the Delhi was however considerably 

 greater than that of the Fort rods, the former bearing a strain of 19.6 tons on the 

 square inch, without breaking ; while the latter yielded to a strain of 16.2 tyns per 

 square inch. 



