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



work as efficiently as an experienced well-sinker. On the application 

 of the J ham (vide supra) the top of the cylinder is loaded with logs of 

 wood and heavy articles that may be at hand ; a fork-like prop with a 

 pulley is fixed in the ground, so that the rope which runs over the 

 latter, and to which the Jham is fixed, should run centrically over the 

 well; the Chah-kun then descends with the Jham, and with his hands 

 and feet (for the natives use both with equal facility,) forces the 

 instrument into the soil until it gets properly loaded, when it is 

 drawn up, the contents removed, and the same operation is continued 

 until the work is completed. After the soil has been removed beyond 

 five or six feet below the surface of the water, the Chah-kun's duty is 

 constant diving.* I have known them to remain half a minute and 

 nearly a minute under water without any respiration. Each man is 

 relieved at the end of the hour, and in hot weather the cold that they 

 suffer in their escape from the well is severe to a degree; large fires 

 are kept burning for them to recover themselves at, and a liberality 

 on this point is one of the chief agreements between the well-sinker 

 and his employer. In the cold season the annoyance from change of 

 temperature is infinitely less, and the people themselves have often 

 assured me that they could in this weather do twice the quantity of 

 work, and with one-half of the labour to themselves, that they could 

 do when the weather is hot, and when the evaporation was so rapid. 



In describing the process required for the sinking of one well for 

 common village purposes, we have only now to shew how the applica- 

 tion of a number of these wells in conjunction can be turned to account 

 for the purposes of securing a good foundation ; for this purpose I shall 

 give plans and sections of some of the works on the Doab Canal, 

 explaining the method adopted in these works, and also shew how, 

 under different circumstances, the same plan of foundation has been 

 used with equal effect. 



The course of operations depends on whether the wells used in 

 foundation are placed close together, or at a distance. For piers of 

 bridges with extensive waterway and heavy superstructure the 

 former is usually adopted ; in other cases, the wells are placed four 

 feet apart, and connected together by masonry arches, upon which 

 the wall, pier, or building is constructed. 



In Canal works, however, it is often an object to obtain a running 

 line of wall for foundation unbroken by divisions or points of separa- 

 tion, through which the substrata, when consisting of a loose sandy soil, 



* In very deep wells, where the neemchuck exceeds twenty-five feet from the water's 

 surface, the Jham is worked by long poles fixed to the handle, and the work is most 

 tedious. 



