one, the shape of which, closely resembles the gourd with the neck removed. This is their general form throughout the east. The Hindoos, have them of copper or brass, as well as of earthenware, but they are all shaped alike. This is not a little singular, because a deviation from a globular to a cylindrical form, would enable their mechanics to make those of metal at much less expense, They therefore adhere to the pri mitive model, because of its superiority over others, or from that adhesion to ancient customs which forms so prominent a feature in Asiatic character. In the early ages it was the universal custom for young women to draw water. The daughters of princes and chief men, were not exempt from it. Isis and Osiris are sometimes represented with water vessels on their heads. There are several interesting examples in the Old Testament. Homer, as might be expected, frequently introduces females thus occupied. When Nestor entertained Telemachus, he bade

No. 5.

The handmaids for the feast prepare,

The seats to range, the fragrant wood to bring,

And limpid waters from the living spring. Odys. iii, 544. Pope.

Soon from the fount, with each a brimming urn,

(Eumæus in their train) the maids return. Ib. XX, 193 and 202,

Fountains and wells became the ordinary places of assembly for young people especially, "at the time of the evening, the time that women go out to draw water." Gen. xxiv, 11. Several of the Patriarchs first beheld their future wives on these occasions; and were doubtless as much captivated by their industry and benevolent dispositions in relieving the wants of strangers and travelers, as by their personal charms. It was

Beside a chrystal spring

that Ulysses met the daughter of Antiphates. Travelers have often noticed the singular tact with which Asiatic women balance several of these water pots on their heads without once touching them with their hands. "The finest dames of the Gentoos disdained not to carry water on their heads, with sometimes two or three earthen pots over one another, for household service; the like do all the women of the Gentiles." Fryer's Trav. 117. At one of their religious festivals, Hindoo women, "have a custom of dancing with several pots of water on their heads, placed one above another." Sonnerat, i, 150.

A very pleasing instance of female dexterity in carrying water, is recorded by Herodotus, v, 12. As Darius, king of Persia, was sitting publicly in one of the streets of Sardis, he observed a young woman of great elegance and beauty, bearing a vessel on her head, leading a horse by a bridle fastened round her arm, and at the same time spinning some thread. Darius viewed her as she passed, with attentive curiosity, observing that her employments were not those of a Persian, Lydian, nor indeed of any Asiatic female; prompted by what he had seen, he sent some of his attendants to observe what she did with the horse. They accordingly followed her-When she came to the river, she gave the horse some water

Chap. 3.]

Canopus.

23

and then filled her pitcher: having done this, she returned by the way she came, with the pitcher of water on her head, the horse fastened by a bridle to her arm, and as before, employed in spinning.

Industrious labor is an ornament to every young woman—indeed neither the symmetry of her person, nor the vigor of her mind, can be perfectly developed without it. The fine forms and glowing health of the women of old, were chiefly owing to their temperate modes of living, their industrious habits, and the exercise they took in the open air.

No. 6. A Canopus.

A circumstance recorded in the history of the Egyptians, accounts for the peculiar form of one of their favorite vessels, the Canopus; the annexed figure of which, is taken from the History of the ancient people of Italy,' plate 27. It was named after one of their deities, who became famous on account of a victory which he obtained over the Chaldean deity, FIRE;-the story of which exhibits no small degree of ingenuity in a priest, and it affords a fair specimen of the miracles by which people were deluded in remote times. The Chaldeans boasted, as they justly might, of the unlimited power of their god, and they carried him about to combat with those of other provinces, all which he easily overcame and destroyed, for none of their images were able to resist the force of fire !—At length a shrewd priest of Canopus, devised this artifice and challenged the Chaldeans to a trial. He took an earthen jar, in the bottom and sides of which he drilled a great number of small holes ;-these he stopt up with wax, and then filled the jar with water: he secured the head of an old image upon it, and having painted and sufficiently disguised it, brought it forth as the god Canopus! In the conflict with the Chaldean Deity the wax was soon melted by the latter, when the water rushed out of the holes, and quickly extinguished the flames. Univ. Hist. i, 206. In memory of this victory, vessels resembling the figure of the god used on this occasion became common. Dr. Shaw gives the figure of one which he brought with him from Egypt. Trav. 425. See Montfaucon, tom. ii, liv. i, cap. 18. A figure of one throwing out water from numerous holes on every side is also given. Tom. ii, liv. iii.

A somewhat similar case of superstition in the middle ages, is quoted by Bayle from Baronius; being a trial of the virtue in the bones of two saints; or rather a contest of priestly skill. St. Martin's relics being carried over all France came to Auxerre, and were deposited in the church of St. Germain, where they wrought several miracles. The priests of the latter considered him as great a saint as the former; they therefore demanded one half of the receipts," which were considerable;" but Martin's priests contended that it was his relics that performed all the miracles, and therefore all the gifts belonged to them. To prove this, they proposed that a sick person should be put between the shrines of the saints, to ascertain which performed the cure. They therefore laid a leper between them, and he was healed on that side which was next to St. Martin's bones, and not on the other! the sick man then very naturally turned his other side, and was instantly healed on that also! Cardinal Baronius in commenting on this result, seriously observes, that St. Germain was as great a saint as St. Martin, but that as the latter had done him the favor of a visit, he suspended the influence he had with God, to do his guest the greatest honor! The custom of having patron saints or gods was universal among the ancient heathen; and the same system was carried by half pagan christians of the dark ages to an incredible

extent. Ecclesiastics peddled the country, like itinerant jugglers, with sacks of bones and other relics from the charnel house-the pretended virtues of which, they sold to the deluded multitude as in the above instance.

ON WELLS-Water one of the first objects of ancient husbandmen-Lot-Wells before the delugeDigging them through rock subsequent to the use of metals-Art of digging them carried to great perfection by the Asiatics-Modern methods of making them in loose soils derived from the East-Wells often the nuclei of cities-Private wells common of old-Public wells infested by Banditti-Wells numerous in Greece-Introduced there by Danaus-Facts connected with them in the mythologic agesPersian ambassadors to Athens and Lacedemon thrown into wells--Phenician, Carthagenian and Roman wells extant-Cæsar and Pompey's knowledge of making wells enabled them to conquer-City of Pompeii discovered by digging a well-Wells in China, Persia, Palestine, India, and Turkey-Cisterns of Solomon-Sufferings of travelers from thirst-Affecting account from Leo Africanus-Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia-Dr. Ryers in Gombroon-Hindoos praying for water-Caravan of 2000 persons and 1800 camels perished in the African desert-Crusaders.

As the human family multiplied, its members necessarily kept extending themselves more and more from their first abode; and in searching for suitable locations the prospect of obtaining water would necessarily exert a controlling influence in their decisions. An example of this, in later times, is given by Moses in the case of Abraham and Lot. The land was too much crowded by their families and flocks, "so that they could not dwell together," and when they had concluded to separate, Lot selected the plain of Jordan, because "it was well watered every where." Gen. xiii, 10. In the figurative language of the East, "Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan;" in plain English, he went and carefully examined it. When thus extending themselves, the early inhabitants of the world, would frequently meet with locations every way adapted to their wants with the single exception of water; circumstances, which necessarily must have excited their ingenuity in devising means to obtain it.

At what period of mans' history he first had recourse to wells, we have no account; nor of the circumstances which led him to penetrate the earth, in search of water. Wells, we have no doubt, are of antediluvian origin, and the knowledge of them, like that of the primitive arts, has been preserved by uninterrupted use from the period of their first discovery. At first, they were probably nothing more than shallow cavities dug in moist places; and their depth occasionally increased, in order to contain the surface water that might drain into them within certain intervals of time; a mode of obtaining it still practised among barbarous people. The wells of Latakoo, described by Mr. Campbell, in his "Travels in South Africa," were of this description. They were but two feet deep and were emptied every morning. The people of New Holland, the most wretched and ignorant of our species, had similar excavations, at which Dampier, when on the coast in 1688, obtained a supply for his ships. He says, we filled our barrels with water at wells which had been dug by the natives." Burney's Voy, iv, 260. Wells are also connected with the superstitions of the New Zealanders; and the Radack Islanders, when discovered by Kotzebue, had pits or square wells, which they had

66

Chap. 4.]

Public Wells.

25

35

dug for water. Kotzebue's Voy. ii, 28, 66, and iii, 145, 223. The fresh water which Columbus found in the huts belonging to the Indians of Cuba, was probably obtained from similar wells; but which the Spaniards, who found none but salt water, were unable to discover. Personal Nar. of Colum. 67. Boston, 1827.

These simple excavations would naturally be multiplied and their dimensions enlarged as far as the limited means of man, in the early ages, would permit, and his increasing wants require. But when the discovery of the metals took place, (in the seventh generation from the first pair, according to both Moses and Sanchoniathon,) the depth of wells would no longer be arrested by rocks, nor their construction limited to locations where these did not occur. From very ancient wells which still remain, it is certain, that at a time long anterior to the commencement of history, the knowledge of procuring water by means of them, was well understood, perhaps, equally so as at present. On this supposition only, can we reconcile the selection of locations for them composed wholly of rock. Some of the oldest wells known are dug entirely through that material, and to a prodigious depth.

Man's ingenuity was, perhaps, first exercised in procuring water; and it is not improbable, that the art of constructing wells was more rapidly carried to perfection than any other. The physical character of central Asia, its climate, universal deficiency of water, its swarms of inhabitants, and their pastoral, and agricultural pursuits, would necessarily contribute to this result. The Abbe Fleury, in his " Manners of the Ancient Israelites," justly observes," their numerous herds of cattle necessarily induced them to set a very high value on their wells and cisterns; and more especially as they occupied a country where there was no river but Jordan, and where rain seldom fell." Chap. iii. In no other part of the world, even in modern times, has more science been evinced, or mechanical skill displayed in penetrating the earth, than is exhibited in some of the ancient wells of the east; and it is to their authors, that we are indebted for the only known method of sinking wells of great depth, through loose soils and quicksands, viz: by first constructing a curb, (of stone, brick, &c.) which settles as the excavation is deepened, and thereby resists the pressure of the surrounding soil.

Wells are mentioned by Moses, as in common use among the ancient Canaanites; some of which at that remote age adjoined roads, for the benefit of travelers and the public at large. Indeed, all people who have had recourse to wells, have consecrated some of them to the convenience of strangers and travelers. The first wells were probably all of this description. Most of those mentioned in history were certainly such. At one of these, Hagar rested and refreshed herself, when she fled from the ill treatment of Sarah. And it was "by the way" of this well, that Isaac was going when he first met with Rebecca. And we learn from Gen. xxv, 11, that he subsequently took up his abode near it; a custom by which wells frequently became nuclei of ancient cities. Jacob's well is an example, if really dug by him. When that patriarch and his family drank of its waters, few dwellings were near it; (Gen. xxiii, 19;) but, before the time of Alexander, these had so far increased, as with the ancient Shalem, to form the capital city of Samaria. And 600 years before Alexander's conquest of Judea, Jeroboam when he governed the ten tribes had a palace in the vicinity of this well. Josephus, Antiq. viii, 3. "Tadmor in the wilderness," or Palmyra, one of the most splendid cities of the old world, was built by Solomon (2 Chron. viii, 4,) in the Syrian desert, and its location determined according to Josephus, (Antiq. viii, 6,) “because at that

Pliny makes the

place only there are springs and pits (wells) of water." same remark, and speaks of its "abundance of water." Nat. His. v, 25. Bonnini, in his 'Syracuse Antichi,' remarks that most of the Sicilian cities took their names from the fountains they were near, or the rivers they bordered upon. The deep well in the Cumean Sybil's cave, gave its name Lilybe, both to the cape and town near it. Breval's Remarks on Europe, 19 and 39. The same may be said of other European cities. BATH in England derived its name from the springs near it. It was named Caer-Badon, or the place of baths, before the Roman invasion. The city of WELLS, also, was named after the wells of water near it, especially the one now known as St. Andrew's Well. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary. Many others might be named.

Private wells were, however, very common in ancient times. Abraham and Isaac constructed several for the use of their own families and flocks. David's spies were secreted in the well of a private house. "Water out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well," is the language of Proverbs, v, 15; and in the 2d Book of Kings, xviii, 31, we read of "every one drinking water out his of own cistern;" or pit as it is in the margin; a term often used by eastern writers, synonymously with well. In the plans of private houses at Karnac, it appears that the ancient Egyptians arranged their houses and court yards (Grande Description, tom. iii, Planche xvi,) in a manner very similar to those of the Romans, as seen at Pompeii, and like these, each house was generally furnished with a round well and an oblong cistern. Lardner's Arts of the Greeks and Romans, i, 44. If I knew a man incurably thankless," says Seneca, "I would yet be so kind as to put him on his way, to let him light a candle at mine, or draw water at my well." Seneca on Benefits; L'Estrange's Trans. The story of Apono, an Italian philosopher, and reputed magician, of the 13th century, indicates that almost every house had a well. He, however, had not one, or it was dry, and his neighbor having refused to let his maid draw water from his well, Apono, it was said, by his magic caused it through revenge to be carried off by devils. Bayle.

Numerous wells of extreme antiquity are still to be seen in Egypt. Van Sleb notices several. Besides those in some of the pyramids, there are others which are probably as old as those structures. Mr. Wilkinson mentions one near the pyramids of Geezer. An. Egyp. vol. iii. Among the ruins of Nineveh, a city whose foundations were laid by Ashur, the son of an antediluvian, is a remarkable well, which supplies the peasants of the vicinity with water, and who attribute to it many virtues. Captain Rich named it Thisbe's Well. The immediate successors of that Pharaoh who patronized Joseph erected stations to command the wells, (which were previously in use, and probably had been for ages,) at Wadee Jasous, and these same wells still supply the port of Philoteras or Ennum, on the Red Sea, with water, as they did four thousand years ago.b

The building of stations to protect wells was common in ancient times, on account of robbers laying in wait near them. There is an allusion to this in Judges, "They are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water." Chap. v, 11. It was at the public fountains that the Pelasgi attacked the Athenian women. Near the ruins of an Egyptian Temple at Wady El Mecah, is an enclosure, in the centre of which is a well. "All round the well there is a platform or gallery raised six feet. on which a guard of soldiers might walk all round. In the upper part

aNarrative of a residence in Koordistan, and on the site of ancient Nineveh, by C. J. Rich, Lon. 1836. Vol. ii, 26 and 34. An. Egyp. Vol i, 46.