96
Swape used by the Romans.
[Book I.
It appears to have f'ormed one of a series, designed to raise water overthe elevation feebly portrayed in the back ground, in precisely the samewav that is now common in Egypt and in the east, and as shown m No. 35. |
The remark of a traveler that a Chinese seemed to him “ an antediluvian !renewed,” might with equal propriety, be applied to a modern Arab raising water by this implement from the Nile ; and the figure, No. 36,might be taken as a probably correct representation of an antediluvianlaborer engaged in the same employment. On comparing the last twocnts, the former having been sketched by Mr. Wilkinson, from life, butthree years ago; and the latter copied from sculptures that have beenexecuted upwards of three thousand years, we see at once, that the swapehas undergone as little change in Egypt, since the times of the Pharaohs ,as the costume, if such it may be called, of the laborers themselves; in oth-er words both remain j}ie same. The discovery of this implement amongthe sculptures of ancient Egypt tends to corroborate our views respectingthe antiquity of other machines for the same purpose, and which like it arestill in common use in the east. It also admonishes us notto reject as im-probable or fabulous, current oriental traditions; since they are, as in thecase of this machine, often, if not generally, founded in truth.
The swape seems to be alluded to by Herodotus , vi, 119, as used inPersia in bis time. He observes that Darius, the father of Xerxes , sentsome captives to a certain distance from Susa , and forty furlongs from awell, the contents of which were “ drawn up with an engine, to which akind of bücket is suspended, made of half a skin ; it is then poured intoone cistern and afterwards removed into a second.” This appears tohave been the shadoof of the Egyptians, as figured in No. 35, to whichthere is probably a reference also in Clio, 193, where he says the Assyri-ans irrigated their lands from the Euphrates “ by manual labor and byhydraulic engines.” Aristotle mentions the swape as in common use amongthe Greeks. a Dr. Clarke says some of the wells of Greece were notdeep, and pulleys were not used, only buckets with ropes of twisted herbs,and sometimes the water was raised by a ‘ huge lever, great stones beinga counterpoise to the other end.’ A circumstancö connected with theoverthrow of the Syracusans, and the death of Archimedes , in which theswape is referred to, may here be noticed. When the Roman vessels, atthe siege of Syracuse were grappled by hooks and elevated in the air,by levers that projected over the Walls of the city, their resemblanceto vessels of water raised by the swape, was so striking, that Marcelluswas wont to say, “ Archimedes used his ships to draw water with" h Thisremark of the Roman general clearly shows that the swape was very fa-miliär to him and to his countrymen. But we are not left to circumstan-ces like this to infer its use among the Romans. Pliny expressly men-tions it among machines for raising water. As the passage is highlyinteresting, and as we shall have occasion to refer to it hereafter, it mayas well be inserted here. It is in the fourth Chapter of the NineteenthBook, “ On Gardens“ above all things there should be water at command,
(if possible a river or brook running through it, but if neither can be ob-tained,) then they are to be watered with pit water, fed with springs;either d,raten up by plain poles, hooks, and buckets ; or forced, by pumpsand such like, going with the strength of wind enclosed, or eise weighedup with swipes and cranes.” Holland’s Trans.
The Swape is extensively used over all Hindostan. “ The peasants,morning and evening draw water out of wells by buffaloes or oxen, or