48

Reflections on Ancienl Wells.

[Book I.

sides coincide, has not, that we are aware of, been recorded. Should theyprove to be in the direction of the rising and setting sun, the reason sug-gested, may possibly be the true one.

In Ogilvy’s Africa , it is remarked that at the last city to the south ofEgypt , “ is a deep well, into whose bosom the sun shines at noon, whilehe passes to and again through the northern signs.” p. 99. This is thesame well that Strabo raentions at Syene , which marked the summer sol-stice—the day was known, when the style of the sun dial cast no shade atnoon, and the vertical sun darted his rays to the bottom of the well. Itwas at Syene, that Eratosthenes , 220 B. C. made the first attempt tomeasure the circumferenee of the earth—and to the same city, the poetJuvenal was banished.

REFLECTIONS ON ANCIENT WELLS.

Before leavinsr this part of the subject, it may be remarked that an-cient wells are of very high interest, inasmuch as many of them are theonly memorials, that have come down to us, of the early inhabitants ofthe world; and they differ from almost all other monuments of man in •former times; not only in their origin, design, and duration, but above all,in their Utility. In this respect, no barren monument, of whatevermagnitude or material, which ambition, vanity, or power, has erected, atthe expense of the labor and lives of the oppressed, can ever be com-pared with them. Such monuments are, with few exceptions, proofs of apeople’s sufferings; and were generally erected to the basest of our spe-cies: whereas ancient wells have, through the long series of past ages,continually alleviated human woe; and have furnished man with one ofnature’s best gifts without the least alloy.

It would almost appear, as if the divine Being had established a law,by which works of pure beneficence and real Utility should endure almostfor ever; while those of mere magnificence, however elaborately con-structed, should in time pass away. The temple of Solomon—his goldenhouse, ivory palaces, and splendid gardens are wholly gone; but the plaincisterns, which he built to supply his people with water, remain almost asperfect as ever. Thus the pride of man is punished by a law, to whichthe most favored of mortals formed no exception.

An additional interest is attached to several wells and fountains of theold world, from the frequent allusion to them in the Scriptures, and bythe classical writers of Grreece and Rome . In addition to those alreadynamed, the following may be noticed. When the Israelites left Egypt ,“ they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and three scoreand ten palm trees.” Now the Grove of Elim yet floürishes; and itsfountains have neither increased nor diminished, since the Israelites encamped by them. a Modern travelers in Palestine often allay theirthirst at the well which belonged to the birth place of David, the “ Wellof Bethlehem,” whose waters he so greatly preferred to all others. Theinhabitants of Cos, drink of the same spring which Hippocrates usedtwenty-three hundred years ago; and their traditions still connect it withhis name. The nymphs of Scyros, another island in the Egean, in theearly ages assembled at a certain fountain to draw water for domesticuses. This fountain, says Dr. Clarke, exists in its original state; and isstill the same rendezvous as formerly, of love or of gallantry, of gossip-

>We are aware that Dr. Shaw—Travels, p. 350—observed but nine wells. He says, atthat time, three of them were filled up with sand; but the whole ivere to be s een ashort time previous to his visiting them, and we believe since.