[Book I.
;!0
advances have been made in uncovering the buildings and Clearing theStreets, than will probably ever be accomplished in Herculaneum. Asmight have been expected, several wclls have been found, besides rain-water cisterns and fountains in great numbers. The latter were so com-mon, that scarcely a Street has been found without one ; and every housewas provided with one or more of the former.
Düring the excavations immediately previous to the publication of SirWm. Gell ’s splendid work, ‘ Pompeiana,’ in 1832, a very fine well wasdiscovered near the gate of the Pantheon, 116 feet in depth and containing 15 feet of water!“
That wells were numerous in Asia and the east generally, we canreadily believe, when we learn that some of the most fertile districts,could neither be cultivated nor inhabited without them. Not less thanfifty thousand wells were counted in one district of Hindostan, when takenpossession of by the British ; several of which are of very high antiquity.In China , wells are numerous, and often of large dimensions, and evenlined with marble. In Pekin they are very common, some of the deepestwells of the world are in this country. M. Arago, (in his Essay on Arte-sian Wells,) observes that the Chinese have sunk them to the enormousdepth of eighteen hundred feet! “ Dig a well before you are thirsty,” isone of their ancient proverbs. The scarcity of water over all Persia hasbeen noticed by every traveler in that country. In general the inhabi-tants depend entirely on wells, the water of which is commonly bad.Fryer, xxxv, 67.
To provide water for the thirsty has always been esteemed in the east,one of the most excellent of moral duties, hence benevolent princes and riehmen, have, from the remotest ages, consecrated a portion of their wealthto the construction of wells, tanks, fountains, &c. for public use. It is re-corded as one of the glories of Uzziah ’s reign, that he “digged manywells.” Over all Persia , there are numerous cisterns built for public useby the rieh. Fryer, 225. “ Another work of charity among the Hindoos”
observes Mr. Ward, “is the digging of pools, to supply the thirsty travelerwith water. The cutting of these, and building flights of Steps, in Order todescend into them, is in many cases very expensive; 4,000 rupees, (2,000dollars,) are frequently expended on one.” At the ceremony of setting itapart for public use, a Brahmin, in the name of the donor, exclaims, “ Ioffer this pond of water to quench the thirst of mankind',” after which theowner cannot appropriate it to his own use. Hist. Hindoos, 374.
Ferose, one of the monarchs of India , in the fourteenth Century, “builtfifty sluices” (to irrigate the land,) and “ one hundred and fifty wells.”One of the objects, which the fakirs, or mendicant philosophers of India ,have frequently in view, in collecting alms, is to ‘ dig a well,’ and therebyatone for some particular sin. Other devotees stand in the roads withvessels of water, and give drink to thirsty travelers from the same motives.Among the supposed causes of Job’s affliction, adduced by Eliphaz, was,“ thou hast not given water to the weary to drink,” xxii, 7: a most hor-rible accusation in such a country as Syria , and one which that righteousman denied with the awful imprecation, “ then let mine arm fall from myshoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.” xxxi:, 22
“ The sun was setting,” says Mr. Emerson, “as we descended the lastchain, and with the departure of daylight, our tortures commenced, as itwas too dark to see any of the fountains charitably erected by the Turksnear the road.” b Large legacies are sometimes left by pious Turks for the
Pompeiana, Preface. 8 Letters from the Egean, Let. 5.