136

Rope Pump.

[Book I.

But was the chain of this machine formed of metal, or of ropes 1 Ofthe latter we have no doubt. They are generally made of flax or fibres of thepalm tree at the present day over all the east. In great elevations, chainsof rope possess important advantages over those of metal, in their Supe-rior lightness, being free from corrosion, and the facility of repairing them.But by far the most interesting problem connected with the Babylonianengine is, was the water of the Euphrates raised by it to the highest ter-race at a single i,ift 1 If we had not been informed of one reservoir only,on the upper terrace “ from whence the gardens on the others were water-ed,” we should have supposed the water really raised as in Joseph’s well,i. e. by two, or even more separate chains; and as it is, we cannot believethat so ingenious a people as the Babylonians would raise the whole ofthe water which the gardens required to the uppermost terrace, when thegreatest portion of it was not wanted half so high. As the size of the ter-races diminished as they approaehed the top of the walls, it is probable thatfull two thirds of the water was consumed within one hundred feet of theground. We therefore conclude that this famous engine was composedof at least two, and probably more, separate chains of pots; and even then,it might with as much propriety, be noticed by ancient authors as a singlemachine, as that at Cairo still is, by all modern travelers. Winkelmansays, the famous gardens at Babylon had canals, some of “ which weresupplied by pumps and other engines.” And Kircher in his Turris Babel,1679, represents fountains and jets d’eau on every terrace,

No. 57. Rope Pump.

There is another device that belongs to this chapter. Every personknows, that where water is dispersed over extended surfaces, and of too lim-ited depth to allow the use of a vessel to scoop it up, various substancesare employed to absorb it, as sponge and woolen rags, and from which it isseparated by pressure. A housemaid, when washing a floor, thus collectsin a cloth the liquid dispersed in the purifying process; and by wring-ing returns it to the vessel. The process is substantially the same as thatadopted to raise water m Vera’s Rope Pump. See No. 57.

This machine consists of one or more endless ropes, formed of loosely