George Turnbull (1809-1889): Autobiography: Chapter 7

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Chapter 07. 1854. (pages 141-150). East Indian Railway.

1854. January.— Major Baker returned to Calcutta on the 12th, and Henry Burrows, Evans, Pinsor and I went on our way westwards, setting out the line for sections and plans.

A letter came from Mr. Noad, the Secretary to the Railway Company in London, intimating that twenty-two engineers had been depatched for service in India, and letters from Mr. Rendel about them. Bryce, Whitcombe, Haywood, and O’Loughlin arrived. On the 26th, Mr. and Mrs. King and C. Fox arrived ; also Domball, Auley, and Lemesurier; also Mr. and Mrs. Boyle arrived. On the 28th arrived Hellyer and Mantell. There was plenty of work for them in preparing the land plans and sections of about 800 miles of railway. Fortunately a great deal of it was not of a difficult kind, but unfortunately most of the new-comers were inexperienced, untried young men, and had their lessons to learn.

February. Having settled about carrying the line on the side of the old rampart on the south side of the city of Patna with Pinsor, Boyle, Mantell and Whitcombe, went on to the River Soane and set O’Loughlin to carry on borings in the bed of the river; I sent Pinsor on to Benares to explore and take levels, and returned to Patna, and over the line again, arriving in Calcutta on the 3rd March, having been away nearly four months, and done a good deal of heavy work, including much correspondence.

March. Left Calcutta again on the 15th March for Allahabad, and again in one of the N. W. Company’s horse carriages, called “ Garhee dak, ” fare to Agra, 300 rupees, distance by Grand Trunk Road, 800 miles; crossed River Soane on the i8th; crossed River Ganges, at Benares, on the 19th, reached Allahabad on the 20th, and examined the end, or outlet of the Ganges Canal, having remained only twelve hours at Allahabad. Reached Cawnpore on the 21 st, and went over the Canal works with Lieut. Hodgson. Arrived at Agra on the 24th.

The River Jumna at Agra is 1,384 feet wide, the depths at flood level, of July, 1854, ranged from i8i feet on the right bank to 10, II, and 14 feet across the river.

The following is the memorandum in my note-book, written on the spot, when I first saw the celebrated Taj of Agra:

“ Visited the Taj mehal at Agra. Tomb, or mausoleum erected by the Emperor Shah Jehan, in honour of his favourite wife, Nourmahal. It is of white marble, the interior highly ornamented with inlaid work of agate, cornelian, bloodstone, &c., inlaid in the shape of flowers and scrolls of fine design. There are four towers, or minarets of marble, one at each corner of the square terrace, or platform on which the Taj stands. The effect is very impressive and beautiful; no description can convey a correct idea of the extreme beauty of this building. In the enclosure are fine gardens and fountains, and a double row, or avenue of cypress trees. It is situated on the side of the River Jumna, and the side of the quadrangular enclosure seemed to me about half a mile in length. (That, I think, must be a mistake ; it cannot be so large.) The outbuildings are built mostly of red stone. Nourmahal’s tomb is in the middle of the space within the screen under the centre of the dome; that of her husband occupies a place beside her. All of white-marble, richly carved, chased and inlaid with fine stones in most beautiful designs, flowers and scrolls,” &c.

This was my first impression on seeing the Taj, and subsequent visits did not alter it, but only confirmed my admiration of this wonderfully beautiful building. Major Baker, who was with me, quite sympathised in the delight I had in gazing at it, and I remember well his observation that there were many people who did not think much of it, and were surprised at my enthusiasm about it.

James Fergusson says in his “Architecture Handbook,” p. 436, that the tomb is that of Shah Jehan’s favourite wife, Moomtaga Mahal, which no doubt is correct. He says the. enclosure, including gardens and outer court, is a parallelogram of 1,860 ft. by more than 1,000 ; so my guess of half a mile along the river is too much by 246 yards. Ferguson gives a short description of it, and expresses his admiration of the designs ; he measured it .himself, and gives the dimensions. He says : “The principal gateway, measuring no ft. by 140, leads from the court to the gardens, which, with their marble canals and fountains, and cypress trees, are almost as beautiful as the tomb itself. The tomb itself stands on a raised platform 18 ft. high, faced with white marble, and exactly 313 feet square. At each corner of this terrace stands a minaret 133 ft. in height, and of the most exquisite proportions, more beautiful perhaps than any other in India.” As to the central apartment where the tombs are situated, he says: “No words can express the chastened beauty of that central chamber, seen in the soft gloom of the subdued light that reaches it through the distant and half-closed openings that surround it. . . . Now that it is sacred to the dead, it is one of the most graceful and the most impressive of the sepulchres of the world.”

After driving round Agra with Major Baker, and seeing all we could, including the Bazaar, the Ghats, the Jumma Musjeed, we left Agra at 3 p.m. in palkees, and reached Muttra at 12 p.m.

I should mention that at Agra I was much struck with the condition of water in some fine wells used for irrigation, the water raised by bullocks and motes in the usual way. The water was beautifully clear as crystal, but totally unfit for drinking on account of the quantity of saltpetre it contained.

We arrived at Hodul at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday the 26th, and breakfasted with Mr. Butler, the collector. It is a small town, with a good deal of trade. Cotton, sugar and salt are the chief articles on which revenue is raised. The duties along the frontier come to 60 or 70,000 rupees; cost of collecting, according to Mr. Butler, about 6 or 7,000 rupees a year.

On the 27th reached Bulluppore, and stopped about 4 a.m. to rest the men, and remained all day. Here there is a “ chutzee,” or resting-place for passengers, built by the Rajah of Bulluppore; a square stone building, neatly decorated, with carved pillars and little cupolas. No European houses here.

Delhi. The Kootub. My note-book says we reached the Kootub early on the 28th; “mounted to the top of the minaret, and saw the sun rise at 6.20. Ther. at top of Kootub at 6 a.m., 63 Fahr.; temp, at bottom, 63°; also strong, steady breeze; splendid view.” Said to be 242 ft. high. It has 379 steps. I measured it 148 feet round at the base, and 8 feet diameter at the top. The ruins surrounding this wonderful column are very beautiful, but the Major would not hear of stopping to examine them ; he had seen them before.

My first impression was one of astonishment, then of admiration, at the design, then at the excellence and fidelity of the workmanship, and then at the great resources these conquerors must have had to find money for such a monument. Fergusson speaks of it in the following words.

“ By far the most interesting group of ruins that exist in India, or perhaps in any part of the world, is that which is grouped round the tall column of Victory, which Kootub erected at Delhi, within the precincts of the palace of the unfortunate Pirthay Rajah, to celebrate his conquest of the Hindoos.”

He estimates the date of construction of the Kootub and its surroundings at from A.D. 1196 to 1235.

“ The minaret is 48 ft. 4 inches diameter at the base, and when measured in 1794, was 242 ft. in height. Even then, however, the capitol was ruined, so that some 10 or perhaps 20 feet must be added to this to complete its original elevation. It is ornamented by four boldly projecting balconies ; one at go, the second at 140, the third at 180, and the fourth at 203 feet from the ground; between which are richly sculptured raised belts, containing inscriptions. In the lower storey the projecting flutes are ultimately angular and circular; in the second, circular, and in the third, angular only; above this the minaret is plain, but principally, of white marble, with belts of the red sandstone, of which the three lower storeys are composed.

“ The only building known to be taller than this that the Mohammedans ever erected is the minaret of the Mosque of Hassan, at Cairo ; but as this pillar at old Delhi is a wholly independent building, it has a far nobler appearance, and both in design and finish far surpasses, its Egyptian rival, as indeed it does any building of its class, so far as I know, in the whole world.”

The Monument on Fish Street Hill to commemorate the Fire of London, the great fire of 1666, is 202 feet high, and so not so high as the Kootub by 40 feet. As for the designs of the two, it will be most prudent to make no comparison, for fear of offending the shade of Sir Christopher Wren.

Passing through a large space occupied by the ruins of Old Delhi, we reached Delhi at nine o’clock in the same morning, and lookup our quarters in Captain Douglas’ residence, who was most hospitable and kind. He was then the Commandant of the King of Delhi’s guard, and living in the house at, and partly over, the west gateway. He took us over the palace, and the great hall of inlaid marble, &c., mentioned in Lalla Rookh—“ If there is a heaven upon earth it is this, it is this ” (poetical ! highly).

The following are notes written on the spot:

Wednesday the 29th. Ther. at Delhi at 6 a.m., 68°. Out with Major Baker on a hatee (elephant); rode through the town of Delhi; visited the Jumna Musjeed, the principal mosque in Delhi; a splendid building, partly red sandstone and partly marble. Out along bank of Canal, which was dry, but water was coming in. Delhi is a walled city of vast extent, the palace being the citadel; walls of Mohammedan origin, but repaired by the British. Ruins of Old Delhi are plainly visible south and west of the present city. The railway may come up to Delhi anywhere on the south and west, &c., &c.; there is open space all round outside the walls. The Jumna Railway runs close to the old palace walls. Out with Major Baker and Captain Douglas in the King of Delhi’s carriage, lent to him by the king, and drove south through the ruins of Old Delhi, which are vast, and melancholy-looking, the tombs the most prominent features in the view. A large old fortification two miles from Delhi, in good preservation; immense gloomy walls, a town inside. No cultivation among the ruins, or almost none, but to the east is a scene of a different aspect, covered at present with wheat and barley crops. The tomb of Humayoon is a fine building, on a raised terrace, as usual in the domes or cupolas ; but there must be some mistake about the name, for Humaion being the monkey-god of the Hindoos, how can his tomb have Mohammedan cupolas ? (It is I who have made the mistake ; “ Hunooman ” is the name of the monkey-god. “ Humayoon ” was Emperor of Delhi.) A little further on, a ruinous, or half ruinous mass of buildings, is the tomb of Nizam-ood-deen, a small but beautiful building, of white marble on columns ; the tombs around have screens of carved marble work in minute elegant patterns, the tombs of marble, inlaid with flower designs, or painted. All very beautiful, but on a much smaller scale than the Taj at Agra.

Meerut. We left Delhi at 6 a.m. on the 30th, and arrived at Meerut at two p.m., distance 38 miles; a large military station, said to be about the largest, as well as the most healthy station in India. We had a dish of excellent strawberries here at the dak bungalow. Next day we walked over the fine parade ground. In the large graveyard are the tombs of Sir David Ochterlony and of General Sir R. R. Gillespie. We lunched with Dr. Dempsey, who hails from St. Andrews, in Scotland, and left Meerut at 4 p.m., and reached Roorkee at 6.3 a.m. next morning, 64 miles from Meerut. Meerut is 886 miles from Calcutta by the Grand Trunk Road, so Roorkee is 950 miles from Calcutta. We have been sixteen days on the way.

Roorkee. We took up our quarters in Captain Oldfield’s, R. E., house. He had then the principal charge of the college. Ther. at 6 a.m. only 62°. Captain H. Goodwyn, R.E., was then in charge of this, the upper end of the Ganges Canal. Colonel Cautley was there also, he being the chief engineer of the canal, and a most able and skilful engineer. We had an interview with Mr. Colvin, Lieut-Governor of the N. W. Provinces, who, with his secretary, had come up on the same business as ourselves, that was to see the opening of the Ganges Canal.

Roorkee College was instituted for teaching and training young men for the Public Works Department of the Government of India, and is said to have been very successful and very useful. There were a large number of young men of various classes there under instruction. A good drawing office, and well-arranged workshops, where they learnt about machinery, and obtained a practical knowledge of mechanical work.

Colonel Maclagan, in after times, became the chief of the college, a man of great ability, and of very high character in every way.

Roorkee. We visited the Solani Aqueduct which was almost finished. It has 15 arches of 50 feet span each ; about 200 feet in length, measured along the soffit of the arch, so that the stream of water passing along the aqueduct will be nearly 200 feet broad. All the piers are 10 feet thick, and are founded on undersunk block foundations of brickwork.

April. We visited the model room and the workshops at Roorkee, both very good, though on a small scale. The small steam engine was at work, and some good planeing and drilling machinery, and a small iron foundry. The College is a handsome building, partly completed. A portico of Tuscan columns and a small dome. There are six classes of students, some of them natives of India, some Eurasions or half-castes, some sappers and miners, Indian officers &c., all secure some pay or subsistence money. They are taught mathematics, drawing, surveying, perspective, and have access to the workshops, and also to the Canal works.

On Sunday the 2nd April, Captain Oldfield read prayers and also a sermon in the new and handsome little church, to a congregation of about a hundred, which included the Lieut. Governor and his staff. The church is in the early style of pointed architecture, a remarkably neat, pleasing building. Mr. Price is the architect, who is also architect of the college. The weather was already very warm, at 3 p.m. ther. at 95° in the shade in the verandah.

We left Roorkee on the 4th, at 5.30 p.m., mounted on elephants, the party being Major Baker, Captain Anson, Mr. Login, myself and another, whose name I forgot, we went along the canal examining the works which are very heavy and most interesting, as they have many peculiarities, carrying the canal over some rivers, and passing some rivers on the river level: that is to say, some rivers are allowed to flow into the canal on one side and out of it on the other side, managed by an ingenious arrangement of regulating dams and sluices, rather difficult to describe without drawings.

Hurdwar. We reached Hurdwar on the sth, where the canal water is drawn from the Ganges, it is but a small town, but there are numerous ghauts of very handsome architecture, with stairs for the pilgrims who come here to bathe in the Ganges. The great Annual Mela, or Fair, was going on at this time, or rather just begun, 100,000 people at least were said to be in camp, a very curious sight. Part of a Ghoorka regiment was there to keep the peace, but there seemed no likelihood of any disturbance of the peace. Some of the Temples are beautiful objects, on account of their picturesque forms and position, and are fine specimens of ancient Hindoo sculpture. Hurdwar is one of the celebrated places of Hindoo purification, and pilgrims from almost every part of India resort annually to its Temples, and to be purified in the waters of the Ploly River. Every sixth year there is a special meeting of the pilgrims, and their number, is said, on an average, to exceed two millions. The cattle fair is said to be the best in India. Horses, elephants, the yak, the nylghan, bears, leopards, and cheetas, also monkeys are brought here for sale.

It is here that the River Ganges Issues through a gap, or pass in the Sewalic range of mountains, or rather hills, which may be described as an advanced guard of the Himalayas. The scenery is highly beautiful and romantic. The water is brought into the canal by means of a jetty or mole of loose stones projected into the bed of the river, and seems to answer its intended purpose very well. Login said they did not expect it to be a permanent structure, but to be washed away by the floods, and renewed every year when the floods were over. The water was beautifully clear and limpid, and Captain Anson and I had a fine swim in the cool water. I was foolhardy enough to swim round the end of the mole, but the current was so strong that I could not get out of it until I was swept about half a-mile from the mole downstream ; luckily I was none the worst for it, but will not try it again, if ever an opportunity occurs, which is not very likely. Login said there was at that time about 500 cubic feet of water running into the canal. He thought that at a minimum there' would be a flow of about 10,000 cubic feet a second in the Ganges at Hurdwar.

The Sewalic range is said to be of sandstone, and at that time there was a great interest excited by the discovery of large quantities of curiously shaped plates of sandstone of various sizes, some 3! feet long and several inches thick, nearly rectangular in shape, with the corners cut olf, and something like a pattern upon them. Eventually it was decided that they were fossiled plates or shelves of a gigantic tortoise of an extinct species, which was very interesting. Dr. Falconer was much taken up about it. Dr. Dempsey also, as well as Major Baker. It seems there was an ancient myth or legend of the Hindoos about a gigantic tortoise carrying an elephant on his back, and the elephant carrying a world or image of a world, on his back, and some suggested that the myth had its origin in this extinct gigantic animal.

We returned to Roorkee on the 6th and were kindly received by Capt. Oldfield, Lieut. Turnbull, who had a charge in the College, also Lieut. Walker and Colonel Cautley, all of the Bengal Engineers. Lieut. Wm. Turnbull, alluded to, lived to be Colonel Turnbull, a most agreeable, sensible man, he has been dead for many years, I believe.

1854. May.— We left Roorkee by palkee dak, at 3.30 p.m. on the 6th, Meerut on the 7th, Ruttunpore on the Sth, J el a! abaci dak Choky on the 9th (Sunday), Cawnpore on the loth, Allahabad on the nth, Benares on the 12th, River Soane on the 13th, Bagoodah dak bungalow on the 14th, Ahsensole on the isth, on i6th with Hodgson and Purser at Poonabad. On the 17th along the line to Raneegunge, and so on to Howrah, arriving there on the 22nd, tired and glad of a rest.

June. The works were now in full swing, and I was very busy at designs of bridges and other works, and conferring on future arrangements with R M. Stephenson, Major Baker and others.

First Locomotive. On the 28th June a first trip was made with a locomotive, under guidance of Mr. Hodgson, the locomotive superintendent, from Howrah to Pundoah, 37.5 miles, and back to Howrah. This was the first appearance of a locomotive on an East Indian railway, and was considered to be an event of some importance. A small party in a carriage among whom were Hodgson, Baker, Colonel Yule, White and others.

August. First piece of line opened to Hooghly. On the 15th the railway was opened for public traffic to Hooghly, 23 J miles without any attendant ceremonial, very successfully, great crowd of natives, especially at Serampore, who took the matter very coolly to all appearance.

September. On the 1st, a further short length of railway was opened to Pundoah for traffic, 37I miles from Howrah.

October. The designs for the great bridge over the Soane were now taken in hand ; a work of great importance, and some anxiety, on account of the deep bed of shifting sand in the bed of the river.

November. On the 1st November, Richard Thomas arrived from China. I was sorry to see him looking so ill, his lungs were evidently much affected. He died November 23rd, 1855.

On the 2nd, news arrived in Calcutta of the victory of the River Alma near Sebastopol; the allied English and French armies there, defeated the Russians.

December. Travelling about all this month, mostly on the N.W. part of the line. Very difficult to arrange about the proper number and sizes of bridges and flood openings. Borings made in the bed of the Soane, also Kurrumnassa, and also for the Keeul and Hullohur Bridge.

Mr. Boyle was now settled in his house at Arrah, about 8 miles west of the Soane, and in charge of the Soane district, a length of about 95 miles from the River Soane to the River Kurrumnassa, the latter being the river which separates Bengal from the N. W. provinces.

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