1837.] 



for widening the Pamban Passage. 



125 



advanced for others to be procured, I have, therefore, taken it and 

 ordered two double catamarans to be formed for receiving the stones 

 from the weighing boats, and two canoes. The blocks, &c. have enabled 

 me to increase the power of our machinery, which now requires fewer 

 hands, and has enabled us to spare what is necessary to man the extra 

 number of boats. 



30th. The boats employed as yesterday, and sixteen holes made in 

 the rock ; the boatswain was ill with fever, and his party did not per- 

 form half the usual duty. I directed they should be kept at work every 

 day, till the regular quantity was done, and the arrears brought up. 

 Eleven charges were fired with excellent effect— three holes had been 

 attempted on a rock having only a few inches of thickness, and sand 

 below; they in consequence failed. 



3lst. The current has been running strong from the south, with no 

 interval of slack water. The divers could not work, but six holes were 

 made ; the men having been carried away several times I ordered the 

 boats to return, only two charges were fired after three hours hard 

 work. About 900 cubic feet of stone was raised, a large quantity 

 under such circumstances. Tried the Jaffna weighing boat again, but 

 without success, she was only saved from turning over by the prompt 

 aid of the other boats. The stone attempted to be raised was about 

 2000-lb. in weight, or a quarter of what had been done by the dhonies 

 and tackles. 



The result of this month's work, is, I trust, on the whole, as much as 

 could have been expected, from the many delays we met with in the 

 early part of it. This place affords no facilities, the most common 

 articles had to be procured from a great distance, and not then 

 without the utmost exertion on the part of the people employed. 



Pamban is a village of 70 families, composed entirely of boatmen 

 and pilots, who have no other occupation than what is furnished by 

 passing vessels through the reef, loading and discharging their cargoes. 

 There are no artificers, and the bazar consists of a few shops for the 

 sale of provisions only ; destitute of the most common articles which 

 are generally to be procured in every other part of the country. 



Artificers we had no difficulty in procuring from other places, but, 

 on a sudden call, it was impossible to advance the work by the addi- 

 tion of extra hands. 



The total failure of the means provided for under-water explosions, 

 also, was the cause of most serious inconvenience, and obliged me to 

 alter entirely the plan of operations. Our supply of tin tubes would 



