The hospital for the reception of natives requiring surgical assistance, now supported in Calcutta by voluntary contribution, was founded about the year 1793; before which time, those unfortunate persons who met with accidents had no asylum, wherein they could find either solace or remedy. The establishment is, as yet, rather limitted; but, it is to be hoped, will, in the course of a few years, rise superior to the disadvantages under which it labors, in consequence of the great expence incurred in lodging the patients, many of whom labor under complaints purely clinical; contrary to the first intention, and indeed, to the first proposal for such a charity, which was started about 1791, in a letter published in ‘the World,’ (a Calcutta weekly paper,) addressed to the Reverend ——— Owen, one of the chaplains at the Presidency.
In that letter was suggested the expediency of causing all those deformed persons who infest the streets of Calcutta, in quest of eleemosynary aid, to be sent to some hospital, which should likewise accommodate such natives as might be injured by accidents within the city. The proposal was founded on the peremptory necessity for conducting all upon the cheapest plan; and contained a calculation of the expences incident to the construction of thatched ranges of huts, similar to barracks, to be erected on a piece of ground to be granted by government for that purpose. The whole expence, it appeared, would not have amounted to more than £1,500., or £2,000. yearly, yet full accommodation, and subsistence, would have been afforded for three hundred patients.
The idea of permanence, which is usually supposed to carry with it cheapness, was, I understand, the plea for deviating from the proposed economical estimate: the consequence has been, that the number of patients is extremely limitted. That original expence will, in most countries, be found far cheaper than a flimsy beginning attended with constant demands for repair, cannot be doubted; but, where there is no capital, at least a very small one, it is absurd to act upon the former scale; since it must, of necessity, counteract the whole intention. Further, we should consider local circumstances: thus, in Calcutta, the same money that will cover in accommodations for a thousand persons, under a substantial thatch, laid over mud, or mat walls, adequate to the ordinary purposes of the inhabitants at large, and similar to at least ninety-nine in the hundred, of those habitations which shelter the bulk of the population; would not suffice to provide fifty, of the same description, with apartments formed of masonry, timber, &c., according to the scale on which Europeans build houses for their own residence, within that city. It is likewise a well-known fact, that, what is called a puckah-house, that is, one built of bricks, lime, and timber, will, at the end of ten years, cost as much in repairs, as the thatched edifices built for an equal number of inhabitants. This being the case, it will forcibly strike the reader, that, in departing from the original suggestion, the managers likewise departed from the best principle.
It has been vain-gloriously asserted, within my hearing, by many natives, that, although the institution in question was founded by Europeans, yet, that it has been principally upheld by the liberality of opulent natives. This may, perhaps, be in some measure correct; allowing it, however, to be so to the fullest extent, I cannot see that the natives have done more than an ordinary duty, in affording assistance to their own countrymen, and that too, after being urged, or guided, to the measure; while, on the other hand, the European inhabitants may certainly claim the palm, both as original founders, and subsequent benefactors, in a case, where their own countrymen were not to be benefitted. The present state of the funds is not the most flourishing; and its utility is too great to allow its falling from deficiency of means. Would it not be advisable, to collect a very small assessment at every house inhabited by a native within the Maharrattah Ditch, (which limits the jurisdiction of the police,) either according to extent, or to its rent? This assessment should be paid into the hands of the magistrates, to be by them disbursed, according to proper regulations, through the medium of native agents, to be elected annually by all who should contribute either a certain gross sum, or by regular yearly donation, towards the support of the institution. This would produce a stabile, and adequate, revenue; while it would likewise induce many natives, some from pride, others from hope, and a few from fear, to add their mites to such as should result from that spontaneous flow of genuine humanity, with which the Hindu code is replete; and, of which the Hindus at large make so great a boast. Possibly the day is not far off, when, in lieu of building immense houses, richly endowed, for the maintenance of an idle, haughty, ignorant, and insolent, gang of priests, some rich natives, reflecting on the want of their more industrious, and more meritorious, poor, may bequeath liberally towards the formation of such establishments, as may rescue them from that variety of sufferings, to which they become subjected, by the accumulation of years, the visitations of disease, and the pressure of misfortune!
The style of building in use among the natives, is very different from what we should expect to find adopted in so hot a climate; experience is, however, in its favor, and sanctions that which, no doubt, resulted from observation, more than from experiment. The walls of such edifices as are intended to be permanent, are usually constructed of mud; which, being laid in strata, of perhaps 18 or 20 inches in depth, each being suffered to dry before another stratum is added above, becomes extremely firm, and far more durable, though not quite so neat, as unburnt bricks laid in mud cement. The thickness of the wall is proportioned to the intended height; probably about 26, to 30, inches at the base, may be considered a fair average; tapering above to about three fourths of the breadth below. I have seen some bungalows run up with mud walls, which, after being chipped down to an uniform thickness, and properly plastered with fine sand, mixed with chaff, were neat enough: but all mud walls invariably crack considerably while drying; consequently, are apt to harbor centipedes, scorpions, and even snakes, within their fissures. This is a most serious defect; completely counter-balancing the advantages obtained, by that facility and cheapness with which they can be run up to a great height, provided due attention be paid to the perpendicular.
Few of the peasantry, even though possessing some property, carry their walls higher than 8 or 10 feet; indeed, the generality of huts may be set down at 7 feet exteriorly, though they will rise near a cubit more inwardly, when filled up to the under part of the thatch. It is rare to see any window in the front; and, in such as have enclosed areas, (by us called ‘compounds,’ but by the natives designated ‘ungnahs’,) the cricky, or door, which is always very low, obliging even short persons to stoop considerably, is commonly in some part of the environing wall, and partly concealed by an angle, so as to preclude the possibility of seeing any thing of the interior when the door is thrown open. Every door has a frame, composed of strong wood, of which the side pieces, or uprights, are tenoned into mortices, made in the threshold and the upper limb. The superincumbent part of the edifice is supported by a strong plank, or by several pieces of timber, laid parallel, and secured by thorough-pins, for the whole breadth of the wall. No arch is turned to keep off the dead pressure of the enormous weight, that, in many instances, is thus borne up entirely by the door-plate. On the top of the wall, a stout piece of timber is laid, whenever the rafters are fastened, each by one or more nails, but projecting at least a foot beyond the exterior, for the purpose of sustaining the thatch, which is made to hang over, with the intention to throw off the rain, that, falling in torrents during many months, would else wash away the mud, and endanqer the building.
The thatches are usually made of the kuss, or common wild grass, whose roots furnish that fibrous substance called kuss-kuss, already spoken of while describing the formation of tatties. Immense plains are covered with this kind of grass, glowing commonly about two or three feet high: though, in some places, it may be seen full five feet; serving as an asylum for every species of game; causing many gentlemen, on first entering the country, to admire, what they at first take to be ‘the prodigious fine crops of hay.’ It is commonly burnt down every year during the hot season, when perfectly dry: the ashes thus tendered to the soil, being washed in by the succeeding rains, occasion the grass to shoot forth, from the apparent ruin, with incredible freshness and vigor! At such times, nothing can be more acceptable to the herds, which, during the preceding months, are often obliged to be sent to great distances, where a little herbage may be found; or they are, perhaps, subsisted upon chaff made from straw, millet-stalks, and the refuse of the thrashing floor. For several months, the grass in question is relished by every description of cattle; but, after the sun has crossed the Line, on his return to the opposite tropic, it becomes harsh and dry, proving so injurious to their mouths as to cause their rejecting it, except when severely oppressed by hunger.
From the end of February, probably to the setting in of the rains in June, great numbers of persons are employed in cutting the kuss, or khur, as it is indiscriminately called, with a kind of sickle, and tying it up into haunties, (or handfuls,) usually about six inches thick. These are conveyed on hackeries to the several markets, and especially to the military cantonments, where they sell at various prices, according to the distance they may have been conveyed, the scarcity or abundance of the article, the time of the year, and the pressure of the demand. From 1000 to 1200 bundles for a rupee, may be taken as a fair medium; though, during the rains, when thatches must often be made, or replaced, cost what they may, I have often known them sold at a rupee for every hundred: on the contrary, they are often so cheap as 3000, or even 4000, for that sum. The manner of constructing a thatch according to the best principle, both for neatness and durability, is as follows. The whole side of the building, intended to be covered in, is measured, and that measurement is exactly represented on some level spot, by means of four cords, fastened to as many stakes; which thus exhibit the form and extent of the thatch to be constructed. Each side of a quadrangular, or other building, must be thus laid down. All hands set to work in placing either whole bamboos of the large kind, or bundles of three and four of the small kind, parallel, and about a foot asunder; all directed by the base line, towards which they stand at right angles; so that, when ready, they would be in the same line with the fall of the ‘chupper,’ (or thatch). These being duly prepared, are crossed at about five, or six inches asunder, by battens of split bamboo, which are fastened down, at every intersection, with strong twine made of a finer kind of grass, called the moonje; which is very strong, especially when wetted. Each frame being thus formed, is raised into its place by the joint efforts of perhaps fifty or sixty men; some laying hold of the frame, others pushing upwards with forked poles of various lengths, thereby to facilitate the ascent, and to prevent that friction which must attend upon any continued contact between the frame, and the several ready-laid rafters on which it is to lie, and to which it is to be firmly lashed.
The several frames being duly fitted at the corners, are properly secured in their places, and to each other; after which, a slender kind of scaffolding is made under the eaves of the respective frames, to enable the grammies, or thatchers, to commence their operations in laying on the coating of grass. The eaves are first brought to the thickness of at least a foot, by placing very large bundles, previously well compacted, and squared at their ends, in a line between the frame, and a succession of very strong bamboo laths: each bundle is pressed as close as possible to its neighbour, and thus the whole of the lower tier is completed.
The rest of the thatch is laid on in small portions, the several bundles being spread open, and having their butts, or lower ends, compressed between two bamboo laths, which are tied in several places, so as to secure their contents perfectly. Each parcel is then handed up, and laid with the butt downwards, at about two or three inches above its lower neighbour; causing the whole thatch to appear in over-laps from bottom to top, like so many ridges, of about an inch high, and running parallel for the whole breadth of the work.