Fig. 289.—Wooden well-frame.
Fig. 290.—Rustic well-frame.
There are many ways of conveying water to villages by bamboo pipes. In Kioto many places are supplied by water brought in this way from the mountain brooks back of the city. At Miyajima, on the Inland Sea, water is brought, by means of bamboo pipes, from a mountain stream at the western end of the village. The water is first conveyed to a single shallow tank, supported on a rough pedestal of rock. The tank is perforated at intervals along its sides and on its end, and [pg 300] by means of bamboo gutters the water is conveyed to bamboo tubes standing vertically,—each bamboo having at its top a box or bucket, in which is a grating of bamboo to screen the water from the leaves and twigs. These bamboo tubes are connected with a system of bamboo tubes under-ground, and these lead to the houses in the village street below. [Fig. 291] is an illustration of this structure. It was an old and leaky affair, but formed a picturesque mass beside the mountain road, covered as it was by a rich growth of ferns and mosses, and brightened by the water dripping from all points.
Fig. 291.—Aqueduct reservoir at Miyajima, Aki.
Just beyond this curious reservoir I saw a group of small aqueducts, evidently for the supply of single houses. [Fig. 292] illustrates one of a number of these seen along the road. Fig. 293 represents one of the old wells still seen in the Kaga Yashiki, in Tokio,—an inclosure of large extent formerly occupied by the Daimio of Kaga, but now overgrown with bamboo grass and tangled bushes, while here and there evidences of its former beauty are seen in neglected groves of trees and in [pg 301] picturesque ponds choked with plant growth. The buildings of the Tokio Medical College and Hospital occupy one portion of the ground; and the new brick building of the Tokio University, a few dwellings for its foreign teachers, and a small observatory form another group.