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



inches, it lasts for many years, and merely requires repair in the upper 

 portion, where its exposure to the atmosphere tends to the destruc- 

 tion of the material. 



The Sundook, or box, is another, and perhaps the most awkward of 

 all methods to obtain a depth of foundation ; it is adopted by the na- 

 tives, but generally where there are no experienced workmen. The 

 plan and form of this box is represented in Fig. 5. PI. 3 ; the size 

 generally about ten feet long by five feet wide, and depth not exceed- 

 ing five feet. The size of the box being lined out on the ground 

 where it has to be sunk, a pointed timber six feet long, or thereabout* 

 and four inches square, is driven into the ground at each corner, two 

 inch planks are then nailed on the uprights, and the whole made as 

 strong as possible, either by additional uprights on the sides or by 

 transoms; the soil is then removed from the inside, and the depression 

 goes on by driving the uprights down with mallets, as fast as the 

 removal of the soil from the inside will admit of it. As may be supposed 

 the frame work is liable to disarrangement in every way ; when sunk 

 to its full depth the interior is filled with grouting (concrete) and the 

 heads of the corner piles or uprights sawed off. These foundations are 

 allowed to stand for a year at least before the superstructure is com- 

 menced.. 



Pileing as the means of foundation, appears, as far as my observation 

 has gone, to be totally unknown throughout Hindusthan. I have 

 never met with it under any form, or under any modification. The 

 fact is, that labour is so cheap in India, that it is less expensive to adopt 

 any means for purposes of this sort with manual labor, than with 

 machinery ! That the value of the latter would in the course of time 

 be most justly appreciated, there can be no doubt ; but the philan- 

 thropy of the existing generation has not arrived at that point which 

 would lead the builder of a Ghat or of a Musjid to experimentalize, 

 when he has before him a secure, and well authenticated method of 

 operation. 



To recur to the wells or cylinders, it is usual to fill them with 

 grouting of lime, kunkur, and broken brick, so as to make a solid 

 mass of the whole for the superstructure to rest upon. This may be ne- 

 cessary where the wells are sunk to a great depth, and where the su- 

 perstructure is of great weight, but in other cases the value or necessity 

 of such an arrangement may be doubtful. The wells used by me have 

 never exceeded twenty feet in depth, the greatest number only ten. 

 From their position they are in some instances liable to be undermined 

 by a current setting in upon them when supporting a revetment or line 

 of ghat, or in the case of locks from under-currents, and I have inva- 



