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. The fountains of Bounarbashi are perhaps the only objects 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 camels perished 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 adopted water buckets in 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.