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[Book I.
gin is unknown. From its simplicity, its obvious derivation from the prim-itive cord and bücket, its employment over all Asia and Egypt at thepresent time, and its extensive use in the ancient World ; there can be noquestion of its great antiquity. Vitruvius is alike silent respecting theorigin of this, as of the noria and tympanum, and doublless for the samereason—their origin extended too far into the abyss of past ages to be dis-covered. It is singulär that the ancients, who attributed almost everyagricultural and domestic implement to one or other of their deities, shouldnot have derived the equally important machines for raising water from a !similar source. The origin of the plough they gave to Osiris, of the harrowto Occator, the rahe to Sarritor, the seylhe to Saturn, the sichle to Ceres ,Xkeflail to Triptolemus , &c.; and as they attributed the art of manuringground to a god, they surely ought to have given the invention of ma-chines to irrigate it to another.
To the chain of pots, there is an allusion in the beautiful description ofthe decay and death of the human body, in the 12th chapter of Ecclesi astes : “ Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken;or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cis-tern.” In the east, the chain is almost uniformly made of cord or rops;and the former part of the passage appears to refer to the ends, whicha.re spliced or tied together, becoming loosened, when the vessels wouldnecessarilv be broken, for the whole would fall to che bottom ; an occur-rence which is not uncommon. The term silver cord, is expressive of itswhiteness, the result of its constant exposure to water and the bleachingeffect of the sun’s rays : and golden bowl refers to the red earthenwarepots or vases, in which the water is raised. Both pots and cords Stream-ing with water, and glittering in the sun, presented to the vivid imagina-tions of the orientals, striking resemhlances to burnished gold and silver.The circulation of the stream of life in man, (his blood) a its interruptionin disease and old age, his energies failing, and the mechanism of hisframe wearing out, and at last ceasing forever to move; are forcibly illus-trated by the endless or circulating cord of this machine; its raising livingwaters and dispersing them through various channels, as so many streamsof life, until its vessels, the pitchers, become broken, and the flow of thestream interrupted, and the wheel, upon which its movements depended,becoming deranged, broken, and destroyed.
That the pots or vases are frequently broken, we learn from numeroustravelers. In the account of Joseph’s well, in the Grande Description, itis said to be necessary for a man to be in constant attendance, to keep theanimals which move it from stopping, and to replace the pitchers that arebroken. And that the wheels were often deranged is more than pro-bable, when we consider how exceedingly rüde a.nd imperfect is theirconstruction over all the east. The surprise of travelers has often beerelicited by their continuing to work at all, while exhibiting every Symptomof derangement and decay. “ The water wheels, pots, ropes, &c.” saysMr. St. John, “had an extremely antique and dilapidated appearance; and,if much used, would undoubtedly fall to pieces.” b We are told that amore striking picture of rüde and imperfect mechanism could scarcely beconceived ; and it is not improbable, that the ‘ Egyptian Wheel’ as an em-blem of instahiHty, had reference to its defective construction and con-