8
walls. There are also 34 brick-kilns, which are principally situated to the south
-east, and 39 tanneries, 15 of which are in the vicinity of the Sháhpur Gate. The
dhobies appear to be allowed to wash their clothes in the river wherever they
like, and there is no restriction regarding the washing of dyed cloths in the stream.
25. The bodies of Hindus are, for the most part, carried out of the town as far
up the river as the ford near the temple of Dudheshwar, about a mile above the
city, and about ¼ mile below the Sháhi Bagh, where the railway bridge crosses the
river. They are burnt on the sand on the edge of the water, and the ashes are
thrown into the running stream. At the same place, in the very centre of the
dry bed of the river, and within 40 yards of the stream, Kolis, Marwaries,
and Khumars are in the habit of burying their dead in the sand. The graves are
dug for a depth of about 3 feet, and the bodies are said to be not unfrequently
scratched out by jackals and other animals. There were about 300 or 400
mounds of sand, each indicating a grave, to be seen at the time of my visit. The
bodies of the Shrawak inhabitants of the city are burnt on the bank of the
river near the Sháhpur Gate, and their ashes are thrown into the stream. Musul
-men are buried in the numerous places of sepulture all round the outside of the
town. The only burial-grounds inside the city allowed to be used are those for
Christians. The Prostestant one is situated close under the walls at the
Khánjia Gate. It was formerly a Mussulman graveyard, but must have been
appropriated to its present use in 1780, when General Goddard took the city, as
there is a tomb in it erected over the body of Captain Gough, of the Bengal
Native Infantry, who died of the wounds he had received during the assault of the
town. Near this is the Roman Catholic cemetery, between the water works and
arsenal. It is a small place, but its position is not so good as the Protestant one.
26. I must also notice that there are many objectionable hollows near the
city, and the right of excavating the ground below the walls on the north-west
side has been sold by Government to potters, and as the hollows thus made
a f f o r d c o n v e n i e n t s h e l t e r , t h e p l a c e i s u s e d a s a p u b l i c n e c e s s a r y .
27. There is not a single made drain or sewer in Ahmedabad; and, from the
account already given, it will be seen that the storm-water runs off through the
streets, and through the four nullahs referred to, and that the household refuse-
water with privy-water and urine are allowed to flow into closed pits, from the
bottom of which the fluid escapes into the surrounding soil. We know that for
a mixed population it is safe to assume that 40 ounces of urine are voided per head
per diem; so that in Ahmedabad, every day, there are produced about 124 tons
of urine, equal to 45,260 tons per year; and this amount contains about 1,855 tons
of solid putrescent matter, which, during every minute of the day is giving off
the deadly gases of decomposition, and which, by constant infiltration through
the soil, finds its way into the water-bearing stratum. In the 2,752 "deep"
privies, besides the urine, the nightsoil of about 9,200 persons is retained every
day at the bottom; so that, at 25 ounces per head per day, there must, every year,
be about 235 tons of solid nightsoil deposited within the inhabited area of the city.
28. It will be thus seen how impure the subsoil has been rendered by the
accumulated filth of generations upon generations the consequence being, that
the water in the wells throughout the town has become brackish, and totally
unfit for drinking purposes. The well-water is so bad that it cannot be used for
gardens, as flowers watered with it die. I am informed that water drawn from
wells situated immediately outside the walls, although much less so, is still
brackish, but is drank by some of the poorer classes; whilst at a few hundred yards,
distance from the city the water in the wells becomes sweet and potable. Such
facts are instructive; and that this contamination of the water-bearing stratum in
the town has been going on for centuries, may be learnt from the fact, that the
people have, from time immemorial, been in the habit of constructing beneath their
courtyards tanks or reservoirs lined with hydraulic cement, into which the
rain-water, falling on the roofs during the monsoon, is stored for the year's con-