BRIDGE.
Pont, Fe. Bashi, . . . . JAP.
Brueke, Steg, . . GEe. Pul, F001, HIND., PERS. Ponti, . . . . . IT. Puente, SP Bridges in the S.E. of Asia are built of stone, brick, wood, iron, rope, bamboos, canes, and twigs. Hindu and Mahomedan rulers in India built but few bridges. The Bhot, Mongol, and Tartar races of the Himalaya and Burma have numbers of them. In Burma, bridges are seldom wanting near villages where nullahs or inundated fields obstruct the communication ; near towns they are sometimes of extraordinary length. The construction there never varies. Large teak posts are driven in pairs or triplets, with bays between, not exceeding twelve or thirteen feet. Mortice holes are cut through those parts in which cross bearPrs are laid, with beams and solid planking Over those, and a railing is added.
The most characteristic of Hindu bridges are composed of stone posts, several of which form a pier, and are connected by stone beams. Others are on thick piers of masonry, with narrow Gothic arches. ' Turner tells us of a simple bridge for the accommodation of single passengers, constructed between two opposite mountains, which consisted of two large ropes made of twisted creepers, stretched parallel to each other and encircled with a hoop (Embassy, p. 54). This is the original of the jhula or rope bridges of the Himalaya. In the early part of the 19th century, Mr. C. Shake spear advocated rope bridges in India, and one of 160 feet span was erected over a stream at Benares. The bridges of Kamaon are of four kinds,—a simple spar thrown across from bank to bank ; the sanga, by successive layers of timber, those above gradually projecting to form an arch ; the jhula of ropes stretched from bank to bank, with a suspended ladder ; and (4) a single cable across a stream along which a basket- traverses.
• In Jummoo the chiha or haul bridge is in use ; a smooth rope of several strands is hung across from bank to bank, on which traverses a wooden ring, from which is suspended a loop. In this the traveller seats himself, and another traversing rope pulls the ring and traveller across. Down the curve the passage is quick, but the pulling up is tedious. The ordinary bridge is of three ropes,
made of birch or other twigs, and hung, one for the foot to traverse, the other two a yard above it for the traveller to steady himself.
The jhula consists usually of three ropes stretched across the stream, at a height of 8 or 10 feet, between two buttress piers. The three ropes are suspended like the letter V, two parallel ropes forming the upper plane and a central one the lower plane. This disposition is secured by large V-shaped prongs of wood, which at intervals of four or five yards are secured in position above and below by thongs of raw hide, and further strengthened above by a cording, which is passed across between the two upper points where they are fixed to those ropes. It is crossed by the traveller walking on the lower of the ropes, which is sometimes of double or triple strands, and holding his balance with the hands on the upper ropes, which run at each side on a level with his shoulders.
The Kaddal bridge of Kashmir is made of wood, and is very strong and durable. It consists of undressed logs of pine and cedar timber, the undressed trunks of the trees supported on piers 20 to 25 feet apart. The piers rest on a founda tion of stones embedded in the muddy bottom of the river, and protected by a cutwater pointing up the stream, and built of loose stones filled into a frame of logs of wood. Those above Serahan, opposite Mint, and at Poari, whether swinging or suspension bridges, are unsuited for the passage of sheep and mules. The elevation of the rope bridge (jhula) at Tuni on the Touse river is nearly 3000 feet above the sea.
The Nara, over the Nyn Sukh, near its junction with the Jhelum, consists of a single cord stretched across from bank to bank, and secured on either side to some projecting rock or firmly set tree. The cord is furnished with a loop-cradle, which is slung on to it by a forked piece of wood. This last forms the upper part of the cradle, which, when once adjusted, is irremoveable from the cord, though it slides freely backwards and for wards on it by shaking the cord. The cord is made of a climbing plant, with the straight twigs of a species of indigofera.