By horse power.--It does not fall within the scope of this book to describe water-wheels worked by cattle, or elaborate mechanism of any kind; I therefore only mention under this head, that the Tartars sometimes draw water from their wells, of 150 feet deep and upwards, by a rider harnessing the bucket-rope to his horse, and galloping him off to a mark that tells the proper distance. Their ropes are of twisted hair, and are made to run over a smoothed stone, or a log of wood.
[Sketches of pole and bucket and pump as described below].
A pole and bucket is a very convenient way of raising water from 4 to 12 feet. The bucket may be made of canvas, basket-work, leather, wood, or almost any other material; leakage, though considerable, is of little consequence, because the action of the apparatus is so quick, that there is not time for much water to be lost. This contrivance is used over almost the whole globe--less in England than elsewhere; it is very common where long poles can easily be obtained, as in fir forests.
Pump.--An excellent and very simple pump is used by the Arabs in Algeria. A piece of leather or waxed canvas, is stretched round one or more hoops; it forms a hollow cylinder, that admits of being shut flat like an accordion. The top and bottom of the cylinder are secured round the edges of two discs of wood. Holes are bored in these discs and leather valves are fitted to them. The lower disc is nailed to the bottom of a tub; the hole in it corresponds with the feed-pipe, and the valve that covers the hole opens upwards. The upper disc Is attached to the pump handle; the valves that cover the holes in this disc, open upwards also. When the leather-pump barrel is pressed flat, water flows through the upper valves into the barrel around it; when it is pulled out, water is sucked up through the feed-pipe, and an equal quantity is displaced from the barrel. This flows out into the trough. A bag would do as well as a tub, to hold the water which surrounds the pump-barrel; but, without the water which it is the object of either the one or the other to contain, the pump-barrel must be air-proof as well as water-proof. The action of this pump is marvellously perfect. It attracted much attention in the French Exhibition of 1855.