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but are even dearer than native bricks, and not very satisfac tory, and I know of one instance at least wliere the facing bricks of a large proposed building have gone from England to Bombay. The fact is, that good material and fuel for brick making are both equally scarce. A coarse spongy conglome rate known as kurial is occasionally used for filling-in and internal walling. I believe it to be a species of coral, and it is probable that some coralline material may in many tropical localities be obtained of a serviceable quality. Gravel there is none : for sand there is only sea sand, which at Bombay is not silicious, but ground-up basalt rounded by action of water. Of course this would be different in many localities. Laminated stone there is none, so that any thin paving stones have to be imported from Europe. A rough paving of the local trap is in use, but is very expensive. Lime and timber are the two materials, which alone can be described as really excellent of their kinds. The lime is known as chunam, and is obtained mostly from kunker, a nodulous limestone found in the neigh bourhood of Bombay, a small supply of best quality coming from shells. Where cement is required it has to be imported from England. For some; purposes which are served by cement with us—such as fillets and hips—a kind of temporary ex pedient called dammcr is made use of; this is a sort of coarse resin mixed with oil, melted and paid on hot like pitch, with or without the addition of strips of canvas among it to make it hold better. Flat terraced roofs are not so common in Bombay, either for the buildings of Europeans or of natives, as they are elsewhere in the tropics. Where they are used they are ordinarily of chunam, and very thick. For all carpentry and joinery, Bombay, like other parts of India, has recourse all but exclusively to one malerial—teak timber. This wood is extremely tough and strong, and can be got in great scantlings. It is hard to work, but has the three cardinal virtues, that the ants do not eat it, the rainy season does not rot it, and when seasoned in India the Indian sun does not warp it. Wherever teak is procurable, the designer of buildings for the East will do well to employ it alone, unless he is sure that any substitute he proposes will fulfil all three of the above conditions. Timber is often used by the native builders for such purposes as joists and rafters, in the form of unsquared round poles, or some other rough shape. The best teak is from Calicut, the next quality from Moulmein. Black wood, which rivals teak in its indestructibility is only used for furniture. There is plenty of rough timber to be procured for ordinary and temporary purposes, but not proof against the white ant. The native tiles are exceedingly bad roof covering : and nothing but the extreme difficulty of obtaining those substi tutes which would be an improvement has caused them to bo retained in European use. They are of very thin red porous tile, and almost semi-cylindrical in section, and about nine or ten inches long. They are laid fourfold in thickness, and except the eaves course are laid quite loose on the roofs, and arc consequently so easily decayed and damaged, that a relaying of them, called tile turning, is an annual part of the prepara tion for the wet season. Galvanised corrugated iron has been imported to some extent from England, and js sometimes used as a roof covering; it is not altogether well suited to the climate, but is an improvement on the tiles. Where used for roofing, it ought to be employed double, with an air space of tenor twelve inches, with free access for ingress and egress of air between the two skins, and then it is found to form a tole rably cool roof. All metal fittings must be of brass to withstand the damp of the monsoon time, and if they are to act at all as Europeans like hinges and latches to act, must come from Europe; so must window glass, and marble or tile pavements. The ordi nary material available for floors is a filthy pulp of cow dung, laid by native women, who spread it about with their hands, often jewelled, with great unconcern. I must admit that this unsavoury mess quickly hardens into a good and inoffensive floor ; but it requires renewing with fresh applications of the material almost fortnightly. Tile floors, or chunam floors, are of course preferred by Europeans, but they are disliked as being cold to the feet by the native servants, all of whom go bare foot. Window glass is, I believe, obtained solely from Europe, and till lately came only in small panes. Rolled iron joists, to be used in a flooring similar to that of Fox and Barratt’s patent, are to some extent imported; but the excellence of teak as a material for joists leaves room to doubt whether the ordinary floor, which is constructed with a sort of concrete filling in between teak joists, is not quite as good. Dennett’s arch, perhaps used in connection with Phillips’ girder, and Ransome’s artificial stone, seem both of them appropriate inventions for use in cities within the tropics, but are less available in Bombay than elsewhere, owing to the absence good sand or gravel, or of any fair substitute. Terra cotta as a substitute for stone dressings has been to some little extent introduced, and promises to be very serviceable. Laths are not forthcoming; the split bamboo, which is the best substitute, is liable to be eaten by the white ant, and this is, I presume, the chief reason why plastered ceilings are very un usual. Their place is usually filled by boarded, and often by canvas ceilings. Plastering in chunam on walls is coarse and soft. As papering is unsuitable (it would harbour insects) the ordinary finish is an inferior kind of distemper. The saltness of the sand renders the walls hygrometric, but if damage from damp could be guarded against, a treatment like the interiors of Pompeii would be the proper internal finish. There is a very superior sort of chunam plastering known as Madras chunam. It very closely resembles fine Parian cement, but is so expensive as not to be often employed. Plumber’s work is all but unknown in Bombay, except occa sionally for water pipes. Gas fitting is, however, now in use there, as gas has been lately introduced, and would have now to be provided for in arranging buildings for that city. I have, I think, in this list said enough to show that a build ing intended for Bombay, even if designed in accordance with the climate, but requiring for its erection large blocks of stone, landings, or even much iron-work, or such things as slate slabs, panes of plate glass, or flat tiles for floors or roofs, would have to be modified on the spot, in respect at least of those parts— unless all required was sent out from England; and though, perhaps, some of the localities for which the services of an English designer may be required will be better off than Bom bay in some one or two particulars, it is more than likely that they will be worse off in others, so that an acquaintance with the material resources of the place, and the utmost anxiety not to overtax them, is required of every architect of a building for tropical climates. The administrative difficulty is, however, likely to be greater than the constructive in any case that may be probably have to be encountered by any of us, and is much more likely to be over looked or misunderstood by an architect who has never travelled beyond the limits of Europe. The available modes of carrying out a building abroad, as at home, are of course either through contractors, or by engag ing labour and buying materials. Native contractors of some sort will be found in most large Asiatic towns ; and in many places, where there is an extensive European settlement, English or American contractors aie to be met with. Where it is probable that the works will be carried on by them, it is important that the documents sent out to explain the architect’s intentions should be in such a form as they will understand. Here it may be worth while to add that, at least in India, the documents need not be translated into any foreign language; simple good English will be thoroughly well understood by those natives engaged. Specifications should be clear, distinct, and full, and above all things free from such technical words as are not known to be in use in the place where the work is to be done. Drawings should be very full and clear, and should bear on their face written directions as to what is intended by any difficult, or unusual, or intricate arrangement or construction. Simple bills of quantities will ordinarily be valuable, but they should not be taken in much detail. They should also afford more means of tracing on the plans the work which they describe than is usual in England ; and where much work has been done under the Royal Engineers, so that the contractors are accus tomed to their routine, it may be advisable to throw the bills into the shape ordinarily employed by them, and which are taken very much in the gross, and are arranged to exhibit on the same page the dimensions as well as the result ot each of the few measurements made use of. This will be not only advis able, but probably necessary, if the work is under any colonial government. . . In many instances it will not be possible for work in the tropics to be contracted for, and it will be done by day labour. If