Chap. 8.]

Ancient Modes of raising Water.

51

who spent eight years among those on the upper waters of the Mississippi and Missouri, and another gentleman who had long been east of the Rocky mountains, among the Flat Heads, and other tribes towards the Pacific, both inform us that the wild and untutored Indians never have recourse to wells. They in fact have no need of them, as their villages are invariably located on the borders or vicinity of rivers. In some cases of suffering from thirst while traveling, they, in common with other savages, sometimes scrape a hole in sand or wet soil, to obtain a temporary supply.

CHAPTER VIII.

Ancient methods of raising water from wells: Inclined planes-Stairs within wells: In Mesopotamia -Abyssinia-Hindostan-Persia-Judea-Greece-Thrace-England-Cord and bucket: Used at Jacob's well-by the patriarchs-Mahomet-In Palestine-India-Alexandria—Arabian Vizier drawing water-Gaza-Herculaneum and Pompeii-Wells within the houses of the latter city-Aleppo-TyreCarthage-Cleanthes the 'Well Drawer' of Athens, and successor of Zeno-Democritus-Plautus-Asclepiades and Menedemus-Cistern pole-Roman cisterns and cement--Ancient modes of purifying

water.

We are now to examine the modes practised by the ancients, in obtaining water from wells. When the first simple excavations became so far deepened, that the water could no longer be reached by a vessel in the hand, some mode of readily procuring it under such circumstances would soon be devised. In all cases of moderate depth, the most simple and efficient, was to form an inclined plane or passage, from the surface of the ground to that of the water; a device by which the principal advatages of an open spring on the surface were retained, and one by which domestic animals could procure water for themselves without the aid or attendance of man. There is reason to believe that this was one of the primitive methods of obtaining the liquid, when it was but a short distance below the surface of the ground; and was most likely imperceptibly introduced by the gradual deepening of, or enlarging the cavities of natural springs, or artificial excavations.

But when in process of time, these became too deep for exterior passages of this kind to be convenient or practicable, the wells themselves were enlarged, and stairs or steps for descending to the water, constructed within them. The circumstances recorded in Genesis, xxiv, induce us to believe that the well at which Eliezer, the steward of Abraham, met Rebecca, was one of these. When the former arrived at Nahor, he made his camels "to kneel down without the city by a well of water, at the time of the evening that women go out to draw water: and Rebecca came out with her pitcher upon her shoulder-and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher and came up." Had any machine been attached to this well, to raise its water, or had a vessel suspended to a cord been used, she could have had no occasion to descend. It therefore appears that the liquid was obtained by immersing the pitcher in it, and in order to do this, the persons went down' to the water. That this well was not deep, may be inferred from the fact that Rebecca drew water sufficient to quench the thirst of ten camels, for it is said, she supplied them, "till they had done drinking;" a task which no young female could have accomplished in the time implied in the text, if this well had been even

52

32

Wells with Stairs.

[Book I. moderately deep, and one which under all circumstances was a laborious performance; for these animals take a prodigious quantity of water at a time, sufficient to last them from ten to twenty days. Eliezer might well wonder at the ingenuous and benevolent disposition of Rebecca, and every reader of the account is equally surprised at his insensibilty, in permitting her to perform the labor unaided by himself or his attendants.

Wells with stairs by which to descend to the water, are still common. The inhabitants of Arkeko in Abyssinia, are supplied with water from six wells, which are twenty feet deep and fifteen in diameter. The water is collected and carried up a broken ascent by men, women and children.a Fryer in his Travels in India, p. 410, speaks of "deep wells many fathom under ground with stately stone stairs." Joseph's well in Egypt is another example of stairs both within and without. Bishop Heber observed one in Benares, with a tower over it, and a "steep flight of steps for descending to the water." Forrest, in his Tour along the Ganges and the Jumna, says, "near the village of Futtehpore, is a large well, ninety feet in circumference, with a broad stone staircase to descend to the water, which might be about thirty feet." Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, remarks that " many of the Guzzerat wells, have steps leading down to the water; while others have not." In a preceding page, we quoted a passage from Ward's History of the Hindoos to the same effect. Tavernier, speaking of the scarcity of water in Persia, says, of wells they have a great many, and he describes one with steps down to the water.b "We passed a large and well built tank, with two flights of steps descending into it, at the opposite angles, possibly the pool of Hebron, where David hanged the murderers of Ishbosheth." The fountain of Siloam is reached by a descent of thirty steps cut in the solid rock.

The small quantity of water furnished by some wells, rendered a descent to it desirable, and hence it was often collected as fast as it appeared, by women who often waited for that purpose. "That which pleased me most of all," says Fryer, p. 126, "was a sudden surprise, when they brought me to the wrong side of a pretty square tank or well, with a wall of stone breast high; when expecting to find it covered with water, looking down five fathom deep, I saw a clutter of women, very handsome, waiting the distilling of the water from its dewy sides, which they catch in jars. It is cut out of a black marble rock, up almost to the top, with broad steps to go down. Mr. Addison in his Journey Southward from Damascus,' says, "at the fountain near D'jenneen, the women used their hands as ladles to fill their pitchers. This scarcity of water, and the practice of scooping it up in small quantities, are referred to, by both sacred and profane authors. "They came to the pits and found no water, they returned with their vessels empty." Jer. xiv, 3. "There shall not be found of it a sherd, [a potter's vessel,] to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit,"—that is, to scoop it up when too shallow to immerse a vase or pitcher in it. Isaiah, iii, 14. St. Peter speaks of wells ' without water,' and Hosea, of 'fountains dried up.'

The water nymphs lament their empty urns." Ovid, Met. ii, 278. The inhabitants of Libya, where the wells often contain little water, "draw it out in little buckets, made of the shank bones of the camel.d" Wells with stairs are not only of very remote origin, but they appear to have been used by all the nations of antiquity. They were common among the Greeks and Romans. The well mentioned by Pausanias, of

Ed. Encyc. Art. Arkeko. Persian Trav. 157. Lindsay's Trav. Let. 9. d Ogilvy's Africa, 306. Lardner's Arts of the Greeks and Romans. i, 138.

Chap. 8.]

Cord and Bucket.

53

53

which we have spoken in a previous chapter, has steps which lead down to the water.a The well for the purification of worshippers, in the temple of Isis, in Pompeii, has a descent by steps to the water. The wells of Thrace, had generally a covered flight of steps. Ancient wells of similar construction are still to be seen in various parts of Europe. There is one near Hempstead, Eng. for the protection of which, an act of parliament was passed in the reign of Henry VIII.

Such wells, probably gave rise to the beautiful circular stairs so common in old towers, and still known, as well stairs.'

6

In Galveston, (Texas,) and other parts of America, where there are no springs, cisterns are sunk in the sand between hillocks, into which the surface water drains, and steps are formed to lead down to it.

However old and numerous wells with stairs within them may be, most of the ancient ones were constructed without them; hence the ne

cessity of some mode of raising the water. From the earliest ages, a vessel suspended to a cord, has been used by all nations-a device more simple and more extensively employed than any other, and one which was undoubtedly the germ of the most useful hydraulic machines of the ancients, as the chain of pots, chain pump, &c. That a cord and bucket were used to raise water from Jacob's well, nineteen centuries ago, is evident from the account of the interview, which the Savior had with the woman of Samaria at it. "Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, called Sichar; now Jacob's well was there, and Jesus being wearied sat on the well; and there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water; Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink." Had any machine been attached to this well at that time, by which a traveler or stranger could raise it, he could have procured it for himself; and as he was thirsty, he probably would have done so, without waiting for any one to draw it for him; but the reason why he did not, is subsequently explained by the woman herself; who, in replying to one of his remarks, the meaning of which she misapprehended, said "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." This well, as already remarked, is one hundred and five feet deep. Hence at that period every one carried the means of raising the water with him. No. 9. of the illustrations, is a representation of the woman of Samaria drawing water. It is from a Greek illuminated manuscript of the 12th century, from D'Agincourt's Storia Dell'Arte.

It is still the general practice in the east, for any one, who goes to

For. Top. 196. b Pompeii, i, 277. c Hydraulia, 166.

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Cord and Bucket.

[Book I. draw water, to carry a vessel and cord with him, a custom which without doubt, has prevailed there since the patriarchal ages. This was the opinion of Mahomet, whose testimony on such a subject is unexceptionable. He was an Arab-a people who pride themselves on the preservation of the customs of their celebrated ancestors, Abraham, Ishmael, and Job. In his account of Joseph's deliverance from the pit, into which his brethren had cast him, (and which many commentators believe was a well, which at the time contained little or no water,) he says: "Certain travelers came, and sent one to draw water, (who went to the well in which Joseph was,) and he let down his bucket," &c. Koran, chap. xii. This account is perfectly consistent with that of Moses. Josephus, also, seems to have believed it to be a well : Reubel took the lad and tied him to a cord, and let him down gently into the pit, for it had no water in it." Antiq. B. ii. 3.

At 3 o'clock, (says Mr. Addison in his "Journey Southward from Damascus," we rode to a well (in approaching Cana of Galilee) in a field, where an Arab was watering his goats. There was a long stone trough by the side of the well, and this was filled with water by means of a leathern bucket attached to a rope, which the Arab carried about with him, for the convenience of himself and his herds. It was just such a scene as that described in Genesis: "And behold a well in the field, and lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered their flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth.” Among the ruins of Mizra, in the great plain of Jezreel, the same traveler observes: "Surprised at the desolate aspect of the spot, I rode with my servant to a well a few yards distant, where two solitary men were watering their goats, by means of a leathern bucket attached to a rope; and dismounting, I sat on the stone at the well's mouth." Mr. Forbes, after a residence of many years in Asia, said he "did not recollect any wells furnished with buckets and ropes for the convenience of strangers; most travelers are therefore provided with them; and halcarras and religious pilgrims frequently carry a small brass pot affixed to a long string for this purpose."

:

In ancient Alexandria, where the arts were cultivated and science flourished to an extent perhaps unequaled in any older city, water was drawn up from the cisterns, with which every house was provided, with the simple cord and bucket. This city was supplied with water from the Nile it was admitted into vaulted reservoirs or cisterns, which were constructed at the time the foundations of the city were laid by Alexander, They were sufficiently capacious to contain water for a whole year, being filled only at the annual inundation of the river, through a canal made for the purpose. Apertures or well openings, through which the water was raised from these reservoirs, are still to be seen. "Whole lines of ancient streets are traceable," (says Lord Lindsay, Travels, Letter 2.) "by the wells recurring every six or seven yards; by which the contiguous houses, long since crumbled away, drew water from the vast cisterns with which the whole city was undermined."

"Every house," says Rollin, "had an opening into its cistern, like the mouth of a well, through which the water was taken up either in buckets or pitchers." It may be said, this last quotation is not conclusive, since it does not indicate the manner in which the bucket was elevated—by a windlass a pulley or by the hand alone? We have satisfactory evidence that it was by the latter. The pavement of the old city is from ten to thirty feet below the surface of the modern streets, and excavations are frequently made by the Pasha's workmen, for the stones of the old pave

Chapt. 8.]

Cord and Bucket.

55

ment and of the buildings. In this manner the marble mouths of the vaulted reservoirs or cisterns are frequently brought to light; St. John's Egypt, vol. i. 8: and they invariably exhibit traces of the ropes used for raising the water. Grooves are found worn in them, (by the ropes) to the depth of two inches, and such grooves are often numerous in each curb or mouth. Dry wells are built over some of these, and continued to the level of the present streets. Through them the inhabitants still draw water from the ancient reservoirs; and in the same manner as it was raised from them when the Ptolemies ruled over the land. A person in raising the bucket, stands at a short distance from the curb or mouth, and pulls the rope horizontally, or nearly so, towards him. In this way, the rope rubs against the top and inside of the curb, and in time wears deep grooves in it, such as are found in the ancient ones just mentioned. Sometimes, in order to avoid the friction, and consequent loss of power and wear of the ropes, the person drawing would stand on the edge of the curb, so as to keep the cord clear; but the practice is too perilous ever to have been general. It is, however, practised occasionally by the Hindoos.

El Makin, the Arabian historian, says that Moclach, the Vizier of Rhadi, who was deprived of his right hand and his tongue, and was confined in a lower room of the palace, where was a well; and having no person to attend him, he drew water for himself, pulling the rope with his left hand, and stopping it with his teeth, till the bucket came within his reach." This was in the tenth century. Martigny's History of the Arabians, vol. iv. 7. The wells on the road to Gaza, noticed by Mr. Stephens, had their upper surfaces formed of marble, which he observes had many grooves cut in it, "apparently being worn by the long continued use of ropes in drawing water." Incidents of Travel, vol. ii. 102.

In

That the same mode of raising it was adopted in the public wells of the ancient cities of Greece and Rome, is evident from those of Herculaneum and Pompeii; and from discoveries made in the latter city, it is obvious that it was practised in obtaining water from the wells and cisterns of private houses. This is a very interesting fact in connection with our subject, as it shows conclusively that the pump, if used at all by the Romans in their private houses, it was only to a very limited extent. 1834, besides theatres, baths, temples and other public buildings, eighty houses had been disinterred. These were found to be almost uniformly provided with cisterns, built under ground and cemented, for the collection of rain-water. Each of these has an opening, enclosed in a curb, through which the water was drawn up. These are generally formed of a white calcareous stone, on which are to be seen deep channels, (Pompeii, vol. i. 88,) like those on the mouths of the Alexandrian cisterns, and produced from the same cause-the friction of the ropes used in drawing the water. The hypethrum, says Sir William Gell, in his description of the house of the Dioscuri, in this case served as a compluvium; receiving the water which fell from the roof, and transmitting it to a reservoir below, to which there is a marble mouth or puteal, exhibiting the traces of long use, in the furrows worn by the ropes, by which the water was drawn up. Pompei

ana, vol. ii, 27.

The great variety of buildings to which wells and cisterns having their curbs thus worn were attached, show that this mode of raising water was nearly universal in Pompeii. The simple cord and bucket was equally used in the palace of the quæstor, and the humble dwelling of the private citizen. It was by them, the priests drew water for the uses of the temples, and mechanics for various purposes in the arts. Bakers thus