90

The Jantu.

[Book I.

ver descend into the water, especially if its specific gravity varied butlittle from that fluid. Traits like this, which are often found in ancientdevices, are no mean proofs of skill in the older mechanicians; and asprofessors of the fine arts, discover the works of masters by certain char-acteristic toucbes, and by the general effect of a painting or sculpture—soprofessors of the useful arts may point to features like the above, as proofsthat they bear the impress of the master mechanics of old.

At what period in the early history of our species this dass of ma-chines was first devised, can only be conjectured ; they are evidently ofvery high antiquity ; this is inferable not only from their simplicity, ex-tensive use over all Asia —where it may be said, machines for raising wa-ter have never changed—but also from the mode of working them, by thefcet. Every one acquainted with the bible, knows that numerous opera-tions were thus performed. The juice of grapes was expressed by mentreading them ; and the tombs of Egypt contain sculptures representingthis and other operations. Mortar was mixed and clay prepared for thepotter by the feet. The Chinese work their mangles by the feet; andboth they and modern Egyptians, and Hindoos, move a variety of othermachines by the same means : among these are several for raising water,as the Picotah of Hindostan, (described in the next chapter,) the chainpump of China , and we may here remark, that all the machines for raisingwater described by Yitruvius, with one exception, were propelled by thefeet, or as expressed in the English translation, by the “ treading of men ”It is not at all improbable, that to the Jantu, Moses alluded when descri-bing to his countrymen the land to which he was leading them : “ A landof Hills and valleys,” that “ drinketh water of the rain of heaven,” wherethey should not be employed, as in Egypt , where rain was generally un-known, in the perpetual labor of raising it to irrigate the soil : “For theland whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt fromwhence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it withthyfoot.” Deut, xi, 10. Some authors suppose this passage refers totheoriental custom of opening and closing the small channels for water, thatintersect the fields ; but this trifling labor would scarcely have been men-tioned by Moses, as constituting an important distinction between the twocountries. It was in fact common to both. It is much more probablethat he referred to the severe and incessant toil of raising water, to whichthey had been subject in Egypt , and which would be in a great degreesuperseded in Canaan by the “ rain of heaven.” He could not possiblyhave pointed out to them, a more encouraging feature of the country towhich they were migrating.

A very interesting proof that the Egyptians in the time of Moses didpropel machines by the feet, has recently been brought to light. In oneof the tombs at Thebes , which bears the name of Thothmes III. thereis a sculptured representation ofsomeEgyptian hellows which ■were thusworked. We shall have occasion to refer to them when we come to in-quire into the history of the pump, in the third book. This mode oftransmitting human energy appears to have been quite a favorite one inancient times; for the purpose of illustration we will describe one whichis idehtical with the Jantu ; and is moreover one of the most common im-plements connected with ancient and modern agriculture in the east: “ ThePedal,” says Mr. Ward, “ is a rough piece of wood, generally the trunkof a tree, balanced on a pivot, with a head something like a mailet; it isused to separate rice from the husk, to pound brick dust for buildings, &o.A person Stands at the further end, and with his feet presses it down,which raises up the head, after which be lets it fall on the rice or brick.