328 On Wells used in Foundations in Upper India. [April, 



tion) that a few remarks, drawn from practical observation, may per. 

 haps induce others, with more information than myself, to attract the 

 notice of English Civil Engineers to a resource well worthy of their 

 attention. The Hindoo religion in deifying the great rivers, and incul- 

 cating on its disciples the necessity of constant ablutions, and the re- 

 wards held out to those who multiply the shrines and temples on the 

 banks of the sacred waters, have been the cause, in all probability, of 

 the adoption of this system of foundation. In an alluvium so exten- 

 sive, and so moveable, piles, were they used, would have been found 

 inefficient ; the native engineer, however, has no machinery with 

 which piles of a sufficient length could be driven; timber, moreover, at 

 those places where the greatest demand would have existed, could not 

 have been procured without great difficulty, and very great expense. 

 The means of making bricks, on the contrary, were at hand; the labourers 

 required to build masonry and to sink wells were to be found in the 

 neighbourhood ; the solidity of structure was withal more pleasing 

 both to the projectors and to the builders ; and the idea once adopted, 

 the use of wells not only on the edges of the river, but in all places 

 where the badness of the soil and the height of spring water render- 

 ed excavation impracticable, has been acknowledged as the standing 

 resource in the system of hydraulic architecture of Upper India. At 

 Muttra, Bindrabund, &c. where flights of steps or ghats sweep the 

 whole line of the Ganges within the limits of the respective towns, 

 wells have been extensively used in foundations. The Mussulman build- 

 ings at Agra are largely indebted to wells, where the proximity of the 

 Jumna made a depth of foundation necessary ; the Doab Canal works 

 have paid equal homage to this admirable native conception, and it is 

 from these works that I shall collect data to enable the reader not 

 only to comprehend the method which is put into practice when wells 

 are used, but also to draw a comparison between their value as the 

 means of foundation, and that of piles and other methods in use else- 

 where. 



The Chah-kun (from aU. a nfell, and ^f the affix from y>*3 to 

 die/,) or well-sinker is a distinct trade scattered throughout the 

 villages of Upper India. Its followers are called into requisition either 

 for sinking new, or for clearing out old wells ; in the former case, 

 generally doing their work by contract, at a fixed rate per hath or 

 eighteen inches of depth of sinking, and in the latter by the job, or 

 so much for clearing out the well and rendering it fit for use. The 

 expertness of this class of people depends very much, of course, upon 

 practice, and the depth of wells to which the Chah-kun has been 

 accustomed. In a country where the undersinking does not exceed 



