WELLS.

Joseph’s Well.

Long before pumping devices were conceived, wells existed as the invention of prehistoric man. Herewith is a sectional view ofJoseph’s Wellto be seen at the present time at Cairo, Egypt. Scientists think it the production of the same people that built the pyramids and the unrivaled monuments of Thebes, Dendaroh and Ebsambone. The magnitude of the well and the skill displayed in its construction is perfectly unique.

This stupendous well is an oblong square, twenty four feet by eighteen, being sufficiently capacious to admit within its mouth a moderate sized house. It is excavated (of these dimensions) through solid rock to the depth of one hundred and sixty-five feet, where it is enlarged into a capacious chamber, in the bottom of which is formed a basin or reservoir, to receive the water raised from below (for this chamber is not the bottom of the well). On one side of the reservoir another shaft is continued, one hundred and thirty feet lower,where it emerges through the rock into a bed of gravel, in which the water is found, the whole depth being two hundred and ninety-seven feet; the lower shaft is not in the same vertical line with the upper one, nor is it so large, being fifteen feet by nine.

As the water is first raised into the basin, by means of machinery propelled by horses or oxen within the chamber, it may be asked, how are these animals conveyed to that depth in this tremendous pit, and by what means do they ascend? A spiral passage-way is cut through the rock, from the surface of the ground to the chamber, independent of the well, round which it winds with so gentle a descent, that persons sometimes ride up or down upon asses or mules. It is six feet four inches wide, and seven feet two inches high. Between it and the interior of the well, a wall of rock is left, to prevent persons falling into, or even looking down it (which in some cases would be equally fatal), except through certain openings or windows, by means of which it is faintly lighted from the interior of the well. The animals descend by this passage to drive the machinery that raises the water from the lower shaft into the reservoir or basin, from which it is again elevated by similar machinery and other oxen on the surface ofthe ground. In the lower shaft a path is also cut down to the water, but as no partition is left between it and the well, it is extremely perilous for strangers to descend.

Twelfth Century.

Asiatic Pulley and Bucket.

Note.—However old and numerous wells with stairs in them may be, most of the ancient ones were constructed without them; hence the necessity of some mode of raising the water. From the earliest ages, avessel suspended by 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 machine of the ancients. The figures shown on this and a few succeeding pages are from the collection made by Ewbank—to whom reference has been made in another portion of this work.

Pulley and Two Buckets.(ANCIENT.)

The square openings represented on each side of the upper shaft are sections of the spiral passage, and the zig-zag lines indicate its direction. The wheels at the top carry endless ropes, the lower parts of which reach down into the water; to these, earthenware vases are secured by ligatures(see A A)at equal distances through the whole of their length, so that when the machinery moves these vessels ascend full of water on one side of the wheels, discharge it into troughs as they pass over them and descend in an inverted position on the other side.

Chinese Windlass.

This celebrated production of former times, as will be perceived, resembles an enormous hollow screw, the center of which forms the well and the threads a winding stair-case around it. To erect of granite, a flight of “geometrical” or “well stairs,” two or three hundred feet high, on the surface of the ground, would require extraordinary skill, although in its execution every aid from rules, measures, and the light of day, would guide the workmen at every step; but to begin such a work at the top, and construct itdownwardsby excavation alone, in the dark bowels of the earth, is a more arduous undertaking, especially as deviations from the correct lines could not be remedied; yet in Joseph’s well, the partition of rock between the pit and the passage-way, and the uniform inclination of the latter, seem to have been ascertained with equal precision, as if thewhole had been constructed of cut stone on the surface. Was the pit, or the passage, formed first; or were they simultaneously carried on, and the excavated masses from both borne up the passage, are unanswered questions.

Anglo-Saxon Crane.

The extreme thinness of the partition wall, excited the astonishment of M. Jomard, whose account of the well is inserted in the second volume of Memoirs in Napoleon’s great work on Egypt. It is, according to him, but sixteen centimetres thick, [about six inches!] He justly remarks that it must have required singular care to leave and preserve so small a portion while excavating the rock from both sides of it. It would seem no stronger in proportion, than sheets of paste-board placed on edge, to support one end of the stairs of a modern built house, for it should be borne in mind, that the massive roof of the spiral passagenext the well, has nothing but this film of rock to support it, or to prevent from falling, such portions as are loosened by fissures, or such, as from changes in the direction of the strata, are not firmly united to the general mass. But this is not all: thin and insufficient as it may seem, the bold designer has pierced it through its whole extent with semi-circular openings, to admit light from the well: those on one side are shown in the engraving.

Swape or Sweep, A. D. 1493.

Aqueducts, fountains, cisterns and wells, are in numerous instances the only remainsof some of the most celebrated cities of the ancient world. Of Heliopolis, Syene and Babylon in Egypt; of Tyre, Sidon, Palmyra, Nineveh, Carthage, Utica, Barca, and many others. “The features of nature,” says Dr. Clarke, “continue the same, though works of art may be done away: the ‘beautiful gate’ of the Jerusalem temple is no more, but Siloah’s fountain still flows, and Kedron still murmurs in the valley of Jehoshaphat.” According to Chateaubriand, the Pool of Bethesda, a reservoir, one hundred and fifty feet by forty, constructed of large stones cramped with iron, and lined with flints embedded in cement, is the only specimen remaining of the ancient architecture of that city.

Note.—Roman wells are found in every country which that people conquered. Their armies had constant recourse to them when other sources of water failed. Pompey and Cæsar often preserved their troops from destruction by having provided them. It was Pompey’s superior knowledge in thus obtaining water, which enabled him to overthrow Mithridates, by retaining possession of an important post.

Picotah of Hindostan.

Note.—The operation of this primitive device may be thus described—Near the well or tank, a piece of wood is fixed, forked at the top; in this fork another piece of wood is fixed to form a swape, which is formed by a peg, and steps cut out at the bottom, that the person who works the machine may easily get up and down. Commonly, the lower part of the swape is the trunk of a tree; to the upper end is fixed a pole, at the end of which hangs a leather bucket. A man gets up the steps to the top of the swape, and supports himself by a bamboo screen erected by the sides of the machine. He plunges the bucket into the water, and draws it up by his weight; while another person stands ready to empty it.

Ephesus, too, is no more; and the temple of Diana, that according to Pliny was 220 years in building, and upon which was lavished the talent and treasure of the east; the pride of all Asia, also one of the wonders of the world, has vanished, while the fountains which furnished the citizens with water, remain as fresh and perfect as ever. Cisterns have been discovered in the oldest citadels in Greece. Thefountains of Bounarbashiare perhaps theonlyobjects remaining that can be relied on, in locating the palace of Priam and the site of ancient Troy. And the well near the outer walls of the temple of the sun at Palmyra, will, in all probability, furnish men with water, when other relics of Tadmor in the wilderness have disappeared; a great number of the wells of the ancient world still supply man with water, although their history generally, is lost in the night of time.

We are now to examine the modes practised by the ancients, in obtaining water from wells. 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 the water; a method by which the principal advantages 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.

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 for descending to the water, constructed within them.

Historical Note.—One of the most appalling facts that is recorded of suffering from thirst occurred in 1805. A caravan proceeding from Timbuctoo to Talifet, was disappointed in not finding water at the usual watering places; when, horrible to relate, all the persons belonging to it, two thousand in number, besides eighteen hundred camelsperished by thirst! Occurrences like this, account for the vast quantities of human and other bones, which are found heaped together in various parts of the desert. While the crusaders besieged Jerusalem, great numbers perished of thirst, for the Turks had filled the wells in the vicinity. Memorials of their sufferings may yet be found in the heraldic bearings of their descendants. The charge of a foraging party “for water,” we are told, “was an office of distinction;” hence, some of the commanders on these occasions, subsequently adoptedwater bucketsin their coats of arms, as emblems of their labors in Palestine.

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. Fryer in his Travels in India speaks of “deep wells many fathoms underground, with stately stone stairs.” Near the village of Futtehpore, is a large well, ninety feet in circumference, with a broad stone staircase which is about thirty feet deep to descend to the water. The fountain of Siloam is reached by a descent of thirty steps cut in the solid rock, and the inhabitants of Libya, where the wells often contain little water, “draw it out in little buckets, made of the shank bones of camels.”

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 chiefly, among the Greeks and Romans.

Italian Mode of Raising Water to the Upper Floors of a House.

As a matter of interest some six or eight representations of the early forms of wells, have been introduced; but little need to be written relating to them—the cuts with the titles speak for themselves and also indicate their manner of use.(See note.)

In Syria and Palestineat the present time the antique bucket and rope, in modified form, is still used in raising water from wells for irrigation. The buckets are attached to the ropes at regular intervals and pass over large drums going down empty and rising full. They discharge at the top into a large open trough, which conveys the water to the irrigating ditches.

Roman Screw.—Fig. 72.

A method much used where rivers are available is the wheel and bucket, in which the buckets are mounted on the rim of a large wheel which is of a diameter equal to the height to which the water is to be raised. The processes although extremely crude are well adapted to countries where labor is inexpensive as the running expense of the devices is very small.

Note.—The source from which many of these have been derived is “Eubank’s Hydraulics,” to which work credit is gladly given for nearly all the historical data so far used in this volume. The author of the book named gave many years of research into the early records of all relating to hydraulics and water machines and kindred subjects.

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