Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/452

 B/KANER.

442

who exceed

7000, the great majority being Pokarna. The only other which number over 1000 are the Sewaks, or servants of the various temples. The total number of wells is 41, of which in the city 5 are sweet, in the suburbs 22, in the fort 4, the remainder being brackish. Outside the city stands the Alak Sagar Well, built by the Alakgi'r sect.

class

It is the finest well in the State, and water is constantly being drawn from four sides. Water at Bikaner is only obtainable 300 or 400 feet below the surface. Dr. Moore investigated the material brought up from a well where water had been reached at a depth of 316 feet. The strata passed through were first, a mass of kankar ; then red clay thirdly, sandstone ; and lastly, white gritty sand or gravel, the latter consisting of white stones from the size of a pea to that of an egg, composed of quartz, and although not round, yet with surfaces and

—

—

angles so smooth as to give rise to the idea that they must at



some

time have been exposed to the action of running water. The water of Bikaner, though not plentiful, is generally excellent in quality. It is

somewhat hard from excess of

often

lime,

has a temperature of 85° F.

and when drawn from the

To

wells

from organic impurities, a stone covering is usually put over the mouths of wells, and the water is conveyed to the city in large ghards or earthen jars instead of the common leathern masaks. The people of Bikaner are exceedingly dirty both in their persons and habits ; but as they do not wash in or on the brink of wells, the supply of drinking water is not contaminated. In other respects the sanitary condition of the city is

protect

it

very bad.

There are several schools in the State for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic in Hindi. In 1881 the Ddrbdr gave sites for two buildings, which have since been completed. These schools are to be branches of the Dungar Singh College, named after the present Maharaja, in which English, Hindi, and eventually Urdu will be taught. The large subscriptions for this college from the chief nobles and mercantile community will, it is hoped, make the college a permanent institution. There are seven Jain monasteries {updsards which possess many Sanskrit manuscripts. Bikaner is famous for the manufacture of a white variety of sugar-candy, and of fine woollen blankets. There are also a large number of potters, stone-cutters, and carvers among the population. The fort of Bikaner, which contains the Raja’s palace, is The buildings situated about 300 yards from the Kot gate of the city. towering above the battlements present an imposing appearance. The palace is 1078 yards in circuit, with two entrances, each of which has three or four successive gates with different names and its rampart is strengthened by numerous bastions about 40 feet high, and a moat running all round in a direction parallel to the curtains without This moat is 30 feet wide at the following the course of the bastions.