Well Zemzem.

45

Chap. 7]

being held in great veneration by tbe Arabs in his time. [50, B. C.] Theceremonies still performed, of “ encircling the Caaba seven times, kissingthe black stone, and drinking of the water of the well Zemzem,” by thepilgrims, were practices of the ancient idolaters, and which Mahomet, as anadroit politician, incorporated into his System, when unable to repressthem. The conduct of the pilgrims when approaching this well anddrinking of its water, has direct reference to that of Hagar , and to herfeelings when searching for water to preserve the life of her expiringson.

If we reflect on the infinite value of wells in Syria —on the jealous carewith which they have always been preserved—that while they affordedgood water, they could never be lost—that Mecca is one of the most an-cient cities of the World, the snpposed Mesa of the scriptures, Gen. x, 30,—and that this well is the only one in the city, whose waters can bedrunk:—we cannot but admit the possibility at least, that it is the identi-cal one, as the Arabs contend, of whose waters, Ishmael and his motherpartook.

We are not aware that any modern author has had an opportunity ofclosely examining it; it being death for a Christian to enter the Caaba .Burckhardt visited the temple in the disguise of a pilgrim, but we believehe had not an opportunity to ascertain any particulars relating to its depth,&c. Purchas, quoting Barthema, who visited Mecca in 1503, says it is“ three score and ten yards deepe,” [210 feet,] “ thereat stand sixe oreight men, appointed to draw water for the people, who after their seven-fold ceremonie come to the brinke,” &c. Pil. p. 306. In Crichton’s His-tory of Arabia, Ed. 1833. Vol. ii, 218, this well is said to be fifty-six feetto the surface of the water. The curb is of fine white marble, five feethigh, and seven feet eight inches in its tnterior diameter. In the 317th year ofthe Hegira, theKarmatiansslewseventeenthousand pilgrims withm the cir-cumference of the Caaba , and filled this famous well with the dead bo-dies;—they also carried off the Black Stone.

Joseph’s well.— The most remarkable well ever made by man, is Jo-seph’s well at Cairo. Its magnitude, and the skill displayed in its con-struction, which is perfectly unique, have never been surpassed. Alltravelers have spoken of it with admiration.

This stupendous well is an oblong square, twenty-four feetby eighteen;being sufficiently capacious to admit withm its mouth a moderate sizedhouse. It is excavated (of these dimensions,) through solid rock to thedepth of one hundred and sixty-five feet where it is enlarged into a capa-cious chamber, in the bottom of which is formed a basin or reservoir, toreceive the water raised from beloiv, (for this chamber is not the bottomof the well.) On one side of the reservoir another shaft is continued, onehundred and thirty feet lower, where it emerges through the rock into abed of gravel, in which the water is found. The whole depth, being twohundred and ninety-seven feet. The lower shaft is not in the same ver-tical line with the upper one, nor is it so large, being fifteen feet bymne. As the water is first raised into the basin, by means of ma-chinery propelled by horses or oxen loithin the chamber, it may beasked, how are these animals conveyed to that depth in this tremendouspit, and by what means do they ascend 1 It is the Solution of this prob-lem that renders Joseph’s well so peculiarly interesting, and which indi-cates an advanced state of the arts, at the period of its construction.

A spiral passage-way is cut through the rock, from the surface of theground to the chamber, independent of the well, round which it windswith so gentle a descent, that persons sometimes ride up or down upon