1830.] 
Miscellaneous Notices . 
257 
a country too, where it appears, and without the smallest reason to doubt it, 
that in the inhabitable parts, the population is considerably denser than that 
of England by the census of 1821. A few honest husbandmen would, however, 
be of much use in the establishment I have proposed, who would act as 
directors of the indigo, sugar and other works, and take the place of the 
mutasaddis , who plunder alike the sercur and the raiats ; he might have his 
cottage and 30 or 40 acres of land to manage under the same terms as a raiat of 
the village. f 
A few establishments of this nature would tend much to the improvement of the 
country, by raising the value of the products and fitting them to compete in the 
European market ; but if Government wish to give encouragement to improvement 
of this nature, it appears necessary that the assessment of the revenue of the land 
should be put on another footing ; and in the consideration of this already much 
disputed and tortured subject, I shall endeavour to muster up courage to address 
you in mv next. Remaining your’s very obediently, 
Upper Dooab, July, 1830. Z. 
Bote by the Editor . This letter should have appeared in our last number, 
but was mislaid by accident. It is a continuation of the subject discussed in 
our correspondent’s letter published in our April number, p. 129. 
X . — Miscellaneous Notices. 
1. Chinese method of Boring. 
According to M. Imbert, there are, in the vicinity of the town of Ou-thouang 
khiao, several thousands of these salt wells in a space of ter. leagues by five. 
Every person who is tolerably rich, takes a few associates with him, and digs one 
or more wells. The expense of digging a well, is from seven to eight thousand 
francs. These wells are commonly from fifteen to eighteen hundred French feet 
in depth, while they are only five, or at most six, inches in diameter. They are 
almost always bored in the solid rock. 
The process employed by the Chinese in forming them, although very simple, is 
not described by M. Imbert so clearly as might be wished ; it will be understood, 
however, on reading what follows. This people accomplishes the most difficult un- 
dertakings with time and patience. There is sunk vertically into the bed of the 
earth, which is commonly met with at the surface, a wooden pipe crowned with a 
hewn stone, perforated with a hole, which, like the pipe, has the same diameter 
as it is intended to give the well; that is, five or six inches. In this tube there is 
made to work a steel head of three or four hundred pounds weight. This steel 
head, the author says, is notched at the end, and is a little concave above and 
round beneath. A workman by leaping upon the extremity of a balance or lever, 
the other extremity of which is attached to the steel head, lift3 it to the height of 
two feet, and lets it fall again by its own weight. Some pails of water are thrown 
in from time to time, to assist the trituration of the substances. The spur or 
steel head is suspetided by a good corde de rotin , of the diameter of the finger, but 
as strong as a cord of gut. A triangular piece of wood is attached to the cord, 
and each time that the lever raises the cord, a second workman, seated near the 
tube, makes the triangle perform a half revolution, that the steel head may fall in 
a different direction. At noon, the second workman ascends upon the lever to 
take the place of his companion. At night two other men take their place. When 
three inches have been bored, the steel head is withdrawn, by means of a pulley, 
with all the substances with which its upper concavity is loaded. By this mode 
of boring, there are obtained wells which are perfectly vertical, and the lower 
surface of which is highly polished. Beds of sand, coal, &c. are frequently met 
with. The operation then becomes more difficult, and is sometimes entirely frus- 
trated ; for these substances no longer offering an equal resistance, it happens that 
the well loses its verticality ; but these cases are of rare occurrence. At other times 
the iron ring which bears the steel head breaks. When this accident happens at 
a certain depth, the Chinese know no other means of remedying it than to employ 
a second steel head to break the first, — an operation which may take several 
months. When the rock is good, an advance of nearly two feet is made in twenty- 
four hours ; so that it takes about three years to dig a well. 
