Bemarhs on the Beport of the Water Commission. 69 



" A tank is simply a reservoir, formed by throwing an embank- 

 ment, or hund, as it is called in India, across a valley to dam up 

 the drainage. The most simple description of hund is constructed 

 entirely of earth, which is generally dug from the bed of the 

 intended reservoir. Tanks of large dimensions have on their 

 inner slope a pitching of loose stone, to prevent the embankment 

 being injured by the action of the waves, and when stone is 

 abundant this revetment is from 18 inches to 2 feet in thickness, 

 the native workmen considering these dimensions the most 

 economical as regards facility of building. The earth lund is 

 constructed by a class of labourers known as ' tank-diggers,' or 

 * earthwork-wudders,' similar to the English navvy, the earth 

 being carried in baskets to the site and there deposited. Puddle 

 is seldom or never used, indeed it is not required, as, owing to 

 the lodgment of silt, a tank will puddle itself after it has been 

 once filled." 



" It should be remarked that whilst the native engineers have 

 generally shown great skill in combining simplicity with efSciency 

 and economy in the selection of the site and the construction of 

 the work, they seem to have under-estimated the quantity of 

 water to be carried ofi" by the bye-wash, for it is found that many 

 of the tanks that are now useless have been breached from no other 

 apparent cause than the w'ant of sufficient outlet to allow of the 

 escape of the surplus water during floods." 



********** 



" The sites for many of the anicuts, or masonry dams (also 

 called weirs), thrown across rivers, have been so judiciously chosen 

 by the native engineers that very little expense has been incurred 

 in building them. The anicuts across the river Toombuddra, 

 which forms the boundary between the Madras Presidency and 

 the dominions of his Highness the Nizam, at a point where it is 

 divided into two streams by an island in the centre, and where 

 the north stream has a dip of about five feet, may be mentioned 

 as an instance in point. Between this island and the river bank 

 there are a number of small islands composed of large blocks of 

 granite and pieces of rock. All these have been utilised in con- 

 Btructing the anient, which consists simply of boulders and blocks 

 of granite ' thrown promiscuously together to filll up the spaces 

 between these natural aids,' Whilst very little artificial work 

 was required in constructing it, sufiicient water has nevertheless 

 been dammed up to cultivate a large area." 



" Besides these weirs of rough stones, the natives construct 

 others of a temporary descrijDtion. These consist of banks of 

 sand either run up the river for a considerable distance parallel 



