THE MADRAS HARHOUK. 



67 



sandy beach, there was now a promontory of much harder 

 material, pushed out into a depth that concrete blocks could 

 be set with due care for the foundations. The work of the 

 year 1876 is now scarcely recognizable except in the curved 

 line of rubble stone slope between the shore and the concrete 

 block work of the pier. It looks rough and uninteresting 

 enough, but it may invest it with some interest when I tell 

 you that not one of those laterite boulders was placed where 

 it now lies by coolies' hands, but was rolled in by the waves 

 from a point 100 or 1 50 yards to seaward where the bank 

 had been originally formed, and yet nothing could be better 

 placed to form a barrier against the seas of the north-east 

 monsoon. For five successive monsoons it has been battered 

 by those seas without further injury or change than a little 

 waste which can be easily repaired, and a little additional 

 flattening which is an advantage. 



It was while this work was going on in May 1876 that 

 Mr. May, the first superintendent, died, and the local charge 

 devolved for some months on Mr. Beardmore, his assistant. 

 This was, no doubt, a disadvantage, for though Mr. 

 Beardmore did all that was possible during the interval 

 before the arrival of Mr. Thorowgood in August, still the 

 work was in a state in which more than ordinary experienced 

 watchfulness was required on the part of the superintendent, 

 and a change of command was most undesirable. 



"With the north-east monsoon a change of system was 

 introduced. The Titan Crane was brought to bear, and some 

 concrete blocks were set in the line of the pier. They were 

 not, however, of full size, nor were they set in any permanent 

 way, and a more than usually heavy sea at the end of October 

 dispersed them. It was not till the middle of December 

 that the work of block-setting was fairly started, but the 

 Titan was then got permanently into its line of action, and 



