An Egyptian oasis

by H. J. L. Beadnell

The Skill of the Ancients in Well-Boring — Present State of the Ancient Wells — Ancient Methods of Boring — Wooden Casing — Introduction of Machinery by Egyptian Government — Native Methods of Boring at the Present Day — Cleaning of Wells — Divers and their Work — Recent Boring Operations — American Steam-driven Boring Rigs.

Olympiodorus, writing more than 1,500 years ago, remarked that the inhabitants of the oases were celebrated for their skill in sinking wells. Although at the present day a large proportion of the very ancient wells are completely sanded up, or have suffered great deterioration in respect of their flows, there are still many examples to be met with where bores, certainly between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, are still producing strong discharges of water at the rate of hundreds of gallons a minute by day and by night.

Although scores of the old wells have been cleaned out and repaired in modern times, not a single instance has come under my notice of the finding of implements used by the well-borers of ancient times. We know, however, that the bores were in practically all cases lined to a considerable depth with wooden casing, manufactured from the wood of the doum-palm, date-palm, or acacia, which doubtless were then, as now, cultivated in large numbers in the oasis. The timber was carefully fashioned into the required lengths and fitted together by water-tight joints. During the cleaning operations to which many of the old wells have been subjected in modern times, portions of the ancient casing have frequently been extracted, and some of the examples which I have examined, especially those made of acacia, proved to be in an excellent state of preservation. The wood of this particular tree—‘sunt,’ as it is locally called—has remarkably enduring qualities both in and out of water, though not when subjected to alternations of wet and dry. Still, that it should in some cases have retained its original qualities since Roman times is noteworthy.

It is quite evident, from a comparison of the ancient timbering and casing with those manufactured and used by the inhabitants of the oases at the present day, that the methods of well-sinking in modern times are in many respects identical with those anciently employed. This is especially the case in sinking through the superficial strata—i.e., those overlying the actual beds in which the artesian water is held—though of the methods formerly practised for carrying the bore through the Artesian-water Sandstones nothing is known.

We have little, if any, information as to how the inhabitants kept up their water-supply after the withdrawal of the Romans. Probably there was a gradual diminution of the total output, as it is not at all certain that any new wells were subsequently sunk—at any rate, until after the introduction of modern hand-boring machinery some fifty or sixty years ago. On that occasion one Hassan Effendi, a servant of a French engineer of the name of Lefèvre, was sent out by the Egyptian Government to instruct the inhabitants in the use of the new machinery. Judging from their present proficiency in sinking wells through difficult strata with the most hopelessly worn and antiquated tackle, the natives did not take long to learn the new system. Unfortunately, when left to themselves without adequate supervision, they promiscuously sunk a great number of new bores, without regard to the probable effects on the older wells irrigating the existing palm-groves and cultivated lands, with the result that, more especially in the oasis of Dakhla, a great deal of harm was done. Whole districts suffered a general lowering of water-level, many of the wells ceasing to flow altogether. This was the direct outcome of the excessive number of new bores put down in certain districts where the inhabitants were sufficiently rich and influential to get and retain possession of the majority of the newly-imported boring-rigs.

About ten years ago I studied the method of well-sinking used in the oases, and found it to consist of a combination of ancient and modern boring practices. Owing to the difficulty and prohibitive cost of transporting heavy steel tubes across the desert, the use of locally-made wooden casing could not be dispensed with, and as casing of this description could not possibly be made of sufficient strength to stand ‘driving,’ the upper portion of the well had of necessity to take the form of an open shaft carried down as near as possible to the water-bearing beds, the actual boring by means of the drilling-plant being confined to the later stages.

The first operation consists in sinking a rectangular shaft, usually 2 metres square; this work is carried out by hand, the ordinary native ‘fass’ being almost the only implement used. As the shaft is cut out it is timbered with lengths of palm-wood strung one below the other, to prevent the walls from falling in. The excavation is carried as deep as possible, the limit generally depending on the amount of sub-surface water met with. In the oasis of Dakhla, where the superficial strata consist almost entirely of clays, it can usually be continued to a depth of about 30 metres; but in Kharga the depth varies considerably, owing to the more frequent intercalations of water-logged sandstones. The success of the prospective bore depends to a very great extent on the depth to which this preliminary work is carried, as the succeeding strata, lying between the base of the shaft and the true artesian beds, have to be pierced by a hole unprotected by casing, and if of any very considerable thickness, caving beds are likely to greatly interfere with, if not prevent, the progress of the work.

On completion of the timbered shaft the wooden casing is placed centrally in position, so as to form a vertical pipe from the base of the shaft to the surface of the ground. The pipe may be either square or round in section, and is usually made of acacia, though hollowed trunks of doum-palm are sometimes used. It consists of a number of different sections, joined together in such a way as to leave no projecting portions either within or without, the whole length of casing thus preserving a constant diameter from top to bottom. As a rule, the joints are so well formed that the pipe is, to all intents and purposes, water-tight after a short soaking. The square variety of casing usually has an inside width of 36 centimetres, the thickness of the wood being 4 or 5 centimetres; the circular, and perhaps more common, variety is made with an inside diameter of 35 centimetres, except when required for insertion within a previously fixed string of casing, when smaller sizes have to be used. The casing, of course, eventually forms the actual channel through which the artesian water flows to the surface.

The space intervening between the sides of the timbered shaft and the central pipe is then filled in with a mixture of sand and clay, firmly packed down, so as to hold the pipe securely in position, and prevent the escape of water should any of the joints become leaky.

Up to this point there is good reason to believe that the modern practice is similar to, if not identical with, that anciently used; but in the complete absence of evidence, documentary or otherwise, we cannot conjecture how the old well-sinkers proceeded in subsequent stages. We surmise, however, that, given sufficiency of time, they were possessed of the requisite patience and skill to overcome all ordinary obstacles—as has been the case for generations in China—and it is probable that the percentage of wells abandoned was not greater than it is at the present day in countries where well-boring has become an art, carried out by means of scientifically designed machinery.