Although a seray may be built near to a river, or to some sufficient stream, yet there is invariably a well, ordinarily lined with circular tiles, or masonry, in the area. The water is drawn from such wells, for the most part, by means of a truck-pulley, suspended between the limbs of a forked bough cut for the purpose, and having a wooden pin through it as an axle. Each person draws his own water, and for that purpose carries a line, generally about twenty feet long. Few indeed travel, even on foot, without a lootah, or brass water-vessel; of which there are various sizes, from a pint, to half a gallon; a tully, or flat brass plate, with a border about an inch high, nearly perpendicular; and a cuttorah, or metal cup. Some even carry their daikçhees, or metal boilers; though, in general, they purchase for a farthing, or, at the utmost, for a halfpenny, a new earthen pot, capable of holding perhaps three quarts, or a gallon, with a lid of the same, in which, if they do not intend to employ the people of the seray, they dress their own victuals; leaving the crockery, which no one else will use, it being considered as polluted.
The water of wells in the seraies, or in populous towns, is certainly far fresher and better than is to be had, in general, from small rivers. But much will depend on the soil, the lining of the well, its depth, and, indeed, on its width. A quick draught necessarily insures a plentiful flow, and prevents corruption from any impurity that may casually fall in from above. At a certain depth there is usually found a stratum of sand; this is remarkably fine, and, in some places, retains such a large portion of fluid as to become a perfect quicksand. In many parts, and especially in the Ramghur district, which, on an average, may be a thousand feet or more above the level country, this sub-stratum presents a most serious difficulty in the sinking of wells.
Of this I experienced two instances in my own practice, which gave me much trouble. Having to sink a well in the corner of a garden, and wishing to avoid the expence and delay attendant on masonry, I cut a square shaft, and went on admirably until I came to a tremulous body of sand. Never having met with a quicksand at such a depth, then about twenty-four feet from the surface, and on so elevated a table land, there being no hills nearer than two miles, and those being separated by deep vallies, in which were running streams, I was somewhat disconcerted. I felt the whole of the difficulty, but necessity urged me to proceed. The well was to be lined with logs of about seven feet long, and about eight inches diameter; they were notched at each end, so that two, being placed parallel at five feet distance, and two others being laid over their ends, the four made a quadrangle, which, by means of the notches, came nearly to a level, and locked very firmly into each other. Having prepared abundance of these logs, I commenced my operations, by affixing a pulley over the well for the purpose of lowering them down to a laborer who stood on a board slung from four stakes at the brink of the shaft; for he could not stand on the sand, which, when the surface was broken, instantly became loose and liquid. The four first logs were scarcely placed before their own weight began to sink them, scarcely allowing time to put on four others before they disappeared. I perceived my error, and immediately had the other logs all wrapped round with straw-rope of about an inch in diameter; whereby they became more buoyant, and resisted the liquescence of the sand more powerfully, by their encrease of diameter. As a foundation, I pinned the four first, forming the primary layer, strongly at their several corners; so that they made a fixed frame. The work now went on merrily, but it was with the utmost difficulty I could supply the logs fast enough, the sand removed by their admission rose so very rapidly. Being determined to overcome the difficulty, I let down full twenty rounds of logs, equal to about seventeen feet, when I had the pleasure to see no more would sink: the sand was excavated, and I found, that, although in one or two places intervals of two or three inches had taken place, yet, on the whole, I was able to boast of better success than I expected. By degrees, I got the logs settled in their places, (a work of serious labor,) and always had water enough for every culinary purpose, but not for a large garden, which required ample irrigation daily during the hot season; further, a quantity was indispensably requisite for wetting the tatties, or frames applied during that season to the doors and windows, to keep my house cool.
My well appeared full of water up to the top of the quicksand, but it was a perfect deception: the sand filled up the shaft in the course of three or four days, though emptied to the very bottom, which was a hard red clay.
Finding that more expence was incurred by the perpetual necessity for sending men down to empty out the sand, I resolved to adopt the old custom of lining the well with masonry; and having got all clear to the bed of clay, into which I sunk a stout frame, near a foot and a half deep, I went on with spirit for a whole day, in which near two yards of wall were built up: but, during the night, the balers went to sleep, and I found the whole immersed in the morning. As the sand and water were emptied, the draft was so great as to wash the lime from between the bricks, and I was compelled to take all out again. It then occurred to me to have bricks made in the form of the frustum of a pyramid, so as to fit exactly in a circle of two feet and a half in diameter internally, and of four feet externally. These were laid on the frame, which I now buried a full yard in the clay: between the bricks I put abundance of dry lime, rubbing them close together, and, with the clay, all the interval between the masonry and the wooden frame was filled up. Two workmen were employed all night; one in the well, who ladled the water from the four corners into a bucket, which the other raised to the surface: none worthy of notice got within the circular masonry, and I had the satisfaction, in about a week, to see the whole completed. Sufficient water found its way through the crevices, to keep me supplied, and the sand gave so little trouble, that, during a whole year that I occupied the premises, no clearance was necessary.
This digression may appear irrelevant to the subject; but I could not forbear giving the fact a place here, as it possibly may prove an useful guide to others who may be under similar disadvantages. It is curious, that a very large well, of about twelve feet diameter, was commenced at the same time by a brother officer, within a hundred yards of mine, which went on admirably, and was finished in a very short time. He had no quicksand opposed to his labors; on the contrary, his great difficulty lay in cutting through two strata of rock, from which only a few dribblets appeared while the well was lining with masonry; but, so soon as the rainy season set in, those rocks prevented the descent of the moisture, which, being by them directed to the well, rushed in such a violent manner against the masonry, as to force out many stones: creating a fissure which, in a few weeks, proved fatal to the whole of the work. A handsome well, with a rich spring issuing from a gravelly bottom, was thus ruined, and the station was again subjected to much inconvenience for what we often had in too liberal abundance.
The natives throughout India have a great respect for such persons as plant mango topes (or woods). These are, in general, managed with great care, the trees being set at regular distances each way, forming parallel vistas both lengthwise and breadthwise: the width of which are equal each way, and varying from twenty to forty feet. When first planted, they are well enclosed with a ditch and bank, sufficient to prevent cattle from doing mischief to the young trees, which are also watered at intervals during the dry season, generally through the means of a well, dug at the expence of the planter on one side of the tope. If the proprietor be rich, the well is usually large, lined with masonry, and furnished with cisterns of the same, or of hewn stone, so that cattle may be refreshed in numbers; two pillars of masonry, or of substantial wood, are erected; each supporting the end of a timber, stretching across the well at about five feet above the brink. On this timber, a shieve of wood is fixed, with one or more grooves for the reception of the cord used in drawing water.
The first-fruits of plantations are, with few exceptions, considered as appertaining to the tutelary deity of the planter, and are tendered to him as offerings on the part of the tope. The priests who officiate on these august occasions, commonly find means to save the sacred character of their invisible patron from any suspicion of gluttony, by taking upon themselves the troublesome office of proxy, on this and every occasion wherein mastication is needful.
On many of the great roads, such as that leading from Benares to the upper stations, we find very large wells, conveniently situated near some shelter, though, perhaps, distant from any town: occasionally, a hut or two may be erected in the vicinity, for the residence of a bunneah, (or kind of chandler,) or for a vender of spirits. Some of these wells are furnished with various sets of pillars and shieves, very substantial in their construction; so as to bear the weight of a leather bag, formed by stitching the edges of a whole hide, trimmed of its superfluous angles, &c., to an iron hoop of about a foot and a half in diameter: by means of two arched irons, rivetted at their crossing in the middle by a swivel and loop, the bag, or moot, is managed in the same way as a bucket in Europe. Many of these moots are capable of containing, at least, half a hogshead. They retain the water more steadily in ascending, than any vessel whose sides are fixed and firm; and, as they are drawn into a cistern, or over a bed made hollow for their reception, above the brink of the well, no great exertion is required in emptying them; the waters discharging voluntarily when the moot is suffered, by the slackening of the rope, to touch the bottom of the bed, or cistern.
It may reasonably be inferred, that such a weight of water as may be contained in an ordinary ox or cow hide, though of small growth, must be more than manual strength could well manage; especially as the pulley is extremely small, rarely more than six or seven inches in diameter, nearly as much in width, and moving on a rude piece of wood for an axis; of which, probably, nearly half has been lost by the excessive friction so unfinished, and ill proportioned, a piece of machinery must occasion. Not one in a thousand ever is lubricated, but the hole in the shieve is generally adequate to the admission of an axis treble the size of that in use; whence the pulley must jump from one inequality to another; creating, at every such transition, a check of some consequence to that power whence it derives its motion.