Some idea of what one of
these machines looks like can be obtained from the illustration. At Hit
on the Euphrates a line of gigantic water-wheels is built across the
river, and the noise they make is extraordinary.
Where there is no current to turn one of these wheels, or where the bank
is too high, the water must be raised by the labour of man or beast. The
commonest method, which is the one employed generally on the Tigris, is
to raise it in skins, which are drawn up by horses, donkeys, or cattle.
A recess with perpendicular sides is cut into the bank, and a wooden
spindle on wooden struts is supported horizontally over the recess. A
rope running over the spindle is fastened to the skin, while the funnel
end of the skin is held up by a second rope, running over a lower
spindle, until its mouth is opposite the trough into which the water
is to be poured. The beasts which are employed for raising the skin
are fastened to the ends of the ropes, and they get a good purchase for
their pull by being driven down a short cutting or inclined plane in the
bank. To get a constant flow of water, two skins are usually employed,
and as one is drawn up full the other is let down empty.
The third primitive method of raising water, which is commoner in Egypt
than in Mesopotamia at the present day, is the _shadduf_, and is worked
by hand.
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