52
[Book I.
moderately deep, and one which under all circumstances was a laboriousperformance; for these animals take a prodigious quantity of water ata time, sufficient to last them from ten to twenty days. Eliezer mightwell wonder at the ingenuous and benevolent disposition of Rebecca, andevery reader of the account is equally surprised at his insensibilty, in per-mitting her to perform the labor unaided by himself or his attendants.
Wells with stairs by which to descend to the water, are still common.The inhabitants of Arkeko in Abyssinia, are supplied with water from sixwells, which are twenty feet deep and fifteen in diameter. The wateris collected and carried up a hroken ascent by men, women and childrenAFryer in his Travels in India , p. 410, speaks of “ deep wells manyfathomunder ground with stately stone stairs .” Joseph’s well in Egypt is ano-ther example of stairs both within and without. Bishop Heber observedone in Benares, -with a tower over it, and a “ steep flight of Steps for de-scending to the water.” Forrest, in his Tour along the Ganges and theJumna , says, “near the village of Futtehpore, is a large well, ninety feetin circumference, with a broad stone staircase to descend to the water,which might be about thirty feet.” Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs,remarks that “ many of the Guzzerat wells, have Steps leading down tothe water; while others have not.” In a preceding page, we quoted apassage from Ward’s History of the Hindoos to the same effect. Ta-vernier, speaking of the scarcity of water in Persia , says, of wells theyhave a great many, and he describes one with steps down to the water. b“ We passed a large and well built tank, with two flights of Steps de-scending into it, at the opposite angles, possibly the pool of Hebron , whereDavid hanged the murderers of Ishbosheth.” 0 The fountain of Siloamis reached by a descent of thirty steps cut in the solid rock.
The small quantity of water furnished by some wells, rendered a de-scent to it desirable, and hence it was often collected as fast as it appeared,by women who often waited for that purpose. “ That which pleased memost of all,” says Fryer, p. 126, “was a sudden surprise, when theybrought me to the wrong side of a pretty square tank or well, with a wallof stone breast high; when expecting to find it covered with water,looking down five fathom deep, I saw a clutter of women, very handsome,waiting the distilling of the water from its dewy sides, which they catchin jars. It is cut out of a black marble rock, up almost to the top, withbroad steps to go down. Mr. Addison in his ‘Journey Southward fromDamascus, ’ says, “ at the fountain near D’jenneen, the women used theirhands as ladles to fill their pitchers. This scarcity of water, and the prac-tice of scooping it up in small quantities, are referred to, by both sacredand profane authors. “ They came to the pits and found no water, theyreturned with their vessels empty.” Jer. xiv, 3. “ There shall not befound of it a sherd, [a potter’s vessel,] to take fire from the hearth, or totake water out of the pit,”—that is, to scoop it up when too shallow toimmerse a vase or pitcher in it. Isaiah, iii, 14. St. Peter speaks of wells‘ without water,’ and Hosea, of ‘ fountains dried up.’
The water nymphs lament their empty ums.” Ovid, Met. ii, 278.
The inhabitants of Libya , where the wells often contain little water,“ draw it out in little buckets, made of the shank bones of the camel. d ”
Wells with stairs are not only of very remote origin, but they appearto have been used by all the nations of antiquity. They were commonamong the Greeks and Romans. e The well mentioned by Pausanias, of