836 



Memorandum on the usual Building Materials of the district of Cuttack, 

 forwarded to the Museum of Economic Geology, with a set of Speci- 

 mens, By Lieut. Righy, Executive Engineer, Cuttack Division. 



No. 1, called by the natives Kondah, found at Killah Mootree on the 

 Mohanuddee, about ten miles above Cuttack, little 

 used in the principal parts of buildings, but in 

 constant demand for cornices and screen-work surrounding the roofs of 

 the natives' houses. The stone is cut from the hills as wanted, and 

 the simplest tools are used for that purpose, small or large chisels, 

 according to the size of the portion to be separated. The operation is 

 slow and laborious, and its cost is about three and half annas per yard. 

 The yard of stone is three cubic feet ; the carriage per yard to Cuttack 

 is one and half annas. 



No. 2, (Laterite,) called by the natives Makrah, used almost entirely 

 for puckah buildings in this district ; and may be had in almost every 

 place, as it is found over a large extent of country, and may be carried 

 in the rains to any part of the district. It is procurable in this pre- 

 sidency over a line of about sixty miles, running South-west from 

 Cuttack, and is, I have no doubt, found over even a greater length in 

 the Madras presidency. It is cut in slabs of from one to four feet in 

 length, and to two feet in breadth, but seldom more than eight or nine 

 inches in thickness, and is only quarried to a depth of two or three feet 

 from the surface, as below that it is too soft for use. The mode of 

 quarrying is simple ; a channel being cut to the depth wanted, the stone 

 is split off with a few blows of the hammer and chisel. Exposure to 

 the atmosphere appears to harden these materials. 



No. 3, called Bolemallah, is used for the same purposes as No. 1. 



Brought from the Chutteah hills, Killah Durpon, 

 Soft Argillaceous. 



cut at about tour annas per yard ; its carriage to 



Cuttack thence is, however, six annas for that quantity, which prohibits 



its use to so great an extent as No. 1. 



I have been unable to discover where this kind, (No. 4,) called by the 



natives Moogney is quarried, as it comes to the 

 Greenstone. 



bazar only from the old buildings in the district ; 



it is, however, supposed to have been brought from some considerable 



distance to the Southward. There is much of it in the Black pagoda, 



