Primitive Modes of Quenching Thirst.
11
Chap. 2.]
In attempting to discover the origin, and to trace the progress of die artof raising water, we must have recourse to Asia, the birthplace of the artsand Sciences; from whence, as from a centre, they have become extendedto the circumference of the earth. It was there the original families ofour race dwelt, and the inventive faculties of man were first developed. Itwas from the ancient inhabitants of that continent that much of the know-ledge, nearly all the arte, and not a few of the machines which we possessat this day, were derived.
That man at the first imitated the lower animals in quenching his thirst atthe running stream, there can be no doubt. It was natural, and because itwas so, his descendants have always been found, when under similar cir-cumstances, to follow his example. The inhabitants of New Holland, andother savages quench their thirst in this manner, (i. e. by laying down.)The Indians of California were observed by Shelvock in 1719, to pursuethe same method. “ When they want to drink they go to the river.” a
The heathen deities, who in general were distinguished men and wo-men, that were idolized after death, are represented as practising this andsimilar primeval customs. Thus Ovid describes Latona on a journey, andlanguishing with thirst, she arrives at a brook,
.And kneeling on the brink
Stooped at the fresh repast, prepared to drink,
But was hindered by the rabble race. Metam. vi, 500.
When circumstances rendered it difficult to reach the liquid with themouth, then “ the hollow of the hand ” was used to transfer it.
Gideon’s soldiers pursued both modes in allaying their thirst ; b and itwas the practice of the last, which Diogenes witnessed in a boy at Athens,which induced that philosopher to throw away his jug, as an implement nolonger necessary.
Virgil represents Eneas practising it:
Then water in his hollow palm he tookFrom Tyber’s flood. En. viii, 95. Dryden.
And Turnus, in the absence of a suitable vessel, made libations in thesame way. The practice was common.
.As by the brook he stood,
He seooped the water from the ehrystal flood ;
Then with his hands the drops to heaven he throws,
And loads the powers above with ofiered vows.
“ At sunrise, the Bramins take water out of a tank with the hollow of theirhands, which they throw sometimes behind and sometimes before them, in-voking Brama.” c
Herodotus , describing the Nasamones, an ancient people of northernAfrica, observes, “ when they pledge their word, they drink alternatelyfrom each other’s hands (b. iv, 172.) a custom still retained among theirdescendants. It is, according to Dr. Shaw, “ the only ceremony that isused by the Algerines in their marriages.” (Travels, p. 303.)
A Hiudoo, says Mr. Ward, “ drinks out of a brass cup or takes up li-quids in the balls of his hands.” (View of the Hindoos, p. 130.) This modeof drinking may appear to us constrained and awkward; but in warm cli-mates, the flexibility of the human body, and custom, make the performanceof it easy and not ungraceful.
“ I drank repeatedly as I walked along, wherever the pebbles at thebottom gleamed elearest—-just deep enough to use one’s hand as a cup.”