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2 with wide spreading inundation and a bed of which the sub-soil presents
3 peculiar difficulties for foundations. It will however be spanned in
4 time; but the bridge must probably be 450 feet long with 9 arches
5 of 60 feet span of the most solid, masonry and block foundation, and
6 From Loodianah to Will cost not less than 5 lakhs of: Rupees or
7 Kurnal, £50,000, with accessory viaducts and embanked
8 * approaches, fo cost 4 lakhs more—in- all 9 lakhs or £90,000. At
9 present it is crossed by ferry boats. Between Umballa and Kurnal there
10 are seven streams of more or less importance (exclusive of minor
11 ‘streams), of which the two principal are the Tangree and Markunda.
12 The Tangree is a treacherous and impetuous torrent, and must be
13 bridged by 10 arches of 60 feet span, with deep and massive foundation:
14 The Markunda really consists of a broad sandy surface, dry during
15 the greater part of the year; but in the rainy season the collected
16 drainage of the neighbouring Himalayan Range descends in a mass.
17 The volume of water, as it approaches, appears to the spectator like a
18 moving wall, and in a few minutes the broad channel previously dry,
19 is swept by an overwhelming tide. A more troublesome or dangerous
20 obstacle to transit than this Markunda cannot well be ‘imagined.
21 Permanent works for such a place must be slow, and temporary
22 -expedients, such as wooden bridges and ferry boats, are impracticable
23 ‘ from the peculiar nature of the stream. A project for bridging it
24 is under consideration ; the masonry work will extend over 500
25 yards and comprise 30 arches of 36 feet span. It has been necessary
26 Engineering difficulties to touch upon this; because the difficulty of the
27 between Kurnal and road between Kurnal and Umballa has attracted
28 eye some attention. But in poimt of fact the
29 road is all made, bridged and metalled, with the exception of these
30 streams and their immediate valleys; and of the streams, all have
31 -strong wooden bridges, except the Tangree and Markunda, where
32 rafts with casks are provided as means of crossing, immediately after
33 the first rush of the floods has subsided. If it were not for some
34 four or five difficult places, the whole sub-division from Kurnal to
35 Ferozepore might be considered as effectively open, and. might be pass-
36 able for the horsed carriages which run from the Railway Terminus near
37 to Calcutta, within a few miles of Umballa. Out of 201 miles, some 185
38 niles are complete and metalled. Some 150 bridges, of sizes, have been