1839,] On Wells used in Foundations in Upper India. 335 



require a mass in superficial area equal to twenty-eight feet by eighteen, 

 to a depth say of from six to ten feet, which would be quite sufficient, 

 even if the mass rested on sand. There is no reason why, by piercing 

 this block with cylinders, the whole might not be lowered, and a 

 foundation obtained of infinitely greater security, and certainly not at 

 greater expense, than any of the methods now adopted. The great 

 advantage however of this plan over others, is its simplicity ; all the 

 apparatus, machinery, &c. of pileing are thrown aside ; a few carpenters 

 procurable at every village, and masons to be had without difficulty, 

 with some Chah-kuns to sink the mass, are all that is required. 



Where stone in slabs is to be procured, a method is adopted by the 

 natives of forming what they call kothis, that is to say a caisson without 

 a bottom. The stones are clamped together, as shewn in Fig. 3. PI. 3, by 

 wooden clamps ; these boxes are undersunk in the same way as the 

 cylinder, but the form is inconvenient, and the difficulty of sinking 

 them greater than either the cylinder or the block above described. 

 The circular form as regards friction alone, offers a much smaller 

 surface than the square ; but the square block of Colonel Colvin has 

 great weight to assist its descent, which the stone kothi has not. In 

 the foundations of the bridge over the Caramnassa river, laid down 

 by Nana Farnavis, these kothis were extensively used. These foun- 

 dations when laid bare for the ulterior operations appear to have 

 extended across the bed of the river on a width of sixty feet, the 

 kothis, which were fifteen feet square, being placed close together, and 

 sunk through sand to a depth of twenty feet. The reader is how- 

 ever referred to Vol. 3. of the Gleanings in Science, in which Mr. 

 James Prinsep has given a most interesting detail of the Caramnassa 

 bridge operations. I may however remark that the kothis in question 

 after being sunk are filled with grouting, or a mixture of lime, kunkur, 

 &c. (concrete) forming an artificial conglomerate, upon which the 

 superstructure is raised. Mr. Prinsep uses the word dhoka, in this 

 part of India ghutta is the term usually applied to this species of ma- 

 terial. The jamwat corresponds with the neemchuk of the northern 

 Doab. 



Another species of kothi, which is also used not only in foundations 

 but in village wells, consists of frames of wood joined together at the 

 angles, as represented in Fig. 4. PL 3 ; this from the want of weight is 

 still more difficult to sink than the one before described ; it is however 

 convenient where wood is plentiful, and the soil to be pierced of a 

 light description ; they are undersunk precisely in the same way as the 

 common cylinder. In village wells, when the kothi is from four to five 

 feet square and the thickness or scantling of the wood used four or five 



