"A smooth, firm, dry road is one of the greatest conveniences and enjoyments, while a rough, soft, muddy road is one of the greatest drawbacks and annoyances of country life. Bad roads form the greatest obstacles to progress and permanent improvements in all the neighbourhoods that are blasted with their presence; they have a demoralising effect upon the inhabitants, and are a sure sign either of poverty or mismanagement, or both."-American State Report.

Roads in Bengal are of two kinds-cutcha, or fair weather roads, and pucka, or metalled roads. The cutcha road is simply a track more or less raised and drained, formed on the natural soil of the district, and unless in gravelly or sandy soils, is hardly passable in the rainy season.

Pucka roads in Lower Bengal are again divided into stone or Macadamised roads and jhama roads, or roads metalled with jhama khoa, or broken vitrified brick. Higher up the country, roads are made with kunker (nodular limestone) or quartz pebbles.

In making cutcha roads on alluvial soil, nothing can be done beyond raising the surface of the road sufficiently to prevent its being under water during the rains, and providing side ditches or drains with sufficient fall to carry off the water and prevent the saturation of the subsoil. Culverts or waterways must also be provided to allow the drainage of the country to follow its natural inclination, and so prevent the road embankment from being breached. Where masonry structures cannot be afforded, very efficient bridges may be constructed of tâl trees or other indigenous timber, as

turfed, as slopes so protected will last for years without repair or attention. Cutcha roads should not be made too wide, as the wider they are the greater will be the cost of maintenance; 20 to 25 feet will be found a sufficient width as a rule. If I were asked to define a perfect road, I should say that it is one the course of which is perfectly straight, its line perfectly level, and its surface as hard, smooth, and non-elastic as possible.

A well-constructed jhama road when kept in proper order and watered during the hot months to keep down the dust, is one of the most pleasant forms of roadway for horse and carriage traffic imaginable, but for heavy cart and waggon traffic it is hardly sufficiently durable. What is known as jhama, is hard well-burnt brick partly fused or vitrified by the action of the fire. Good well-burnt jhama breaks with a clean sharp fracture, does not pulverise to any appreciable extent, and packs close and firm on the road surface. It should be hard, heavy, of a dark red color, running into blue in parts, with a clear metallic ring when struck with a hammer. Overburnt jhama becomes porous, honeycombed, and mixed with scoriæ, and is sometimes so light as to float when thrown into water; this is useless for road-making. First class road metal should consist of about 75 per cent. of jhama of the kind above described, the remainder consisting of sound well-burnt brick.

All amah, or soft brick, and peelah, or unburnt stuff, should be rejected. In making a new road, the surface of the ground should first be cut to the proper level and section, and with a slight rise to the centre of the road. The whole surface is then laid with bricks flat, called the soling. Soling bricks should be laid by a bricklayer, or

Construction of Jhama Roads.

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and underlings will hurry on the binding, or as it is not inappropriately termed sometimes, blinding! material to conceal defects.

As jhama metal is usually broken on the side of the road to be repaired, it should be stacked in uniform continuous stacks, and the person responsible should satisfy himself by measurement that the full quantity of metal contracted for has been supplied before any spreading is permitted. For example, say the length of road to be metalled is 3,000 feet, and the width 12 feet, with a depth of metal of 6", the metal, if stacked continuously, would measure in stack, length, 3,000 feet; cross section, width of base 5 feet; width at

top, 1 foot; height, 2 feet; sectional area, 6 square feet; contents, 18,000 cube feet; but as it is in practice usually impossible to stack metal in an unbroken line on account of cross-passages, gateways, house entrances, trees, and other obstructions, it is more convenient to put it up in stacks of, say 20 feet long. Eightyeight stacks of the following dimensions will give 18,000 less 48 cube feet :

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