28
[Book I.
numerous others, the terms “ well” and “ fountain,” are synonymous.“ The following is among the first observations of Sir William Gell ,after landing on the Troad ; “ we past many wells on the road, a
proof that the country was once more populous than at present. a Theinhabitants of Ithaca , the birth place of Ulysses and Telemachus , andthe scene of some of the principal events recorded in the poetry ofHomer , still draw their supplies of water, as in former times, from Wells. bAnd as in other places, a tower was anciently erected to guard one ofthese wells, and protect the inhabitants while drawing water from it. c
The ancient Egyptians irrigated the borders of the desert above thereach of the inundations of the Nil e,Jrom wells, which they dugfor thatpurpose. d The Chinese also use wells to water their land.
Äs it regards the antiquity and importance of 'Wells, it has been observedthat the earliest account on record of the purchase of land, 23 Gen. wassubsequent to that of a well, Gen. xxi, 30.
Roman wells are found in every country which that people conquered.Their armies had constant recourse to them, when other sources of waterfailed, or were cut off by their enemies. Paulus Emilius, Pompey, and Cae-sar, often preserved their troopsfromdestructionby havingrecourse tothem.This was strikingly illustrated by Caesar when besieged in Alexandria; thewater in the cisterns having been spoiledby the Egyptians. It was Pom-pey’s Superior knowledge in thus obtaining water, which enabled him tooverthrow Mithridates , by retaining possession of an important post,which the latter abandoned for want of water. Thus the destinies ofthese manslayers and their armies, frequently depended on the wellswhich they made.
The city of Rome, previous to the time of Appius Claudius Caecus , whofirst conveyed water to it by an aqueduct, A. U. C. 411, was supplied chieflyfrom fountains and wells, several of which are preserved to this day. (AtChartres in France , a Roman well is still knownas the ‘ Saints’ Well,’ onaccount of martyrs drowned in it by the Romans.)
In noticing the wells of ancient Italy , we may refer to a circumstance,which although trivial in itself, led to the most surprising discovery thathad ever taken place on this globe, and one which in the interest it hasexcited is unexampled. In the early partof the eighteenth Century, 1711,an Italian peasant while digging a well near his cottage, found somefragments of colored marble. These attracting attention, led to further ex-cavation, when a Statue of Hercules was disinterred, and shortly after-wards a mutilated one of Cleopatra . These specimens of ancient art,were found at a considerable depth below the surface, and in a placewhich subsequently proved to be a temple situated in the centre of theancient city of Herculaneum ! This city was overwhelmed with ashesand lava, during an eruption of Vesuvius , A. D. 79, being the same inwhich the elder Pliny perished, who was suffocated with sulphurous va-pors, like Lot’s wife in a similar calamity. Herculaneum therefore hadbeen buried 1630 years ! and while every memorial of it was lost, andeven the site unknown, it was thus suddenly, by a resurrection thenunparalleled in the annals of the world, brought again to light; andStreets, temples, houses, statues, paintings, jewellery, professional imple-ments, kitchen Utensils, and other articles connected with ancient domesticlife, were to be seen arranged, as when their owners were actively mov-