300 - Mr Robertson oi the Mechanical Arts of Persia. 



boring, the hole is kept full of water, and while the rod is 

 turned round gradually with the left hand, the blows are 

 struck by a small hammer held in the right. This method of 

 boring is very tedious. 



It has just been noticed that one of the principal employ- 

 ments of these stone-cutters is the formation of millstones ; , 

 and perhaps a few remarks on Persian mills may not be out 

 of place here. 



There are two descriptions of corn-mills, the hand-mill and 

 the water-mill. The first is composed of two small circular 

 stones, which are kept together by a peg in the centre of the 

 lower stone, which passes through a large opening in the upper 

 one ; the grain is fed in at this opening, and while the upper 

 stone is turned round by means of a small peg on its rim, the 

 flour is thrown out at the edges. 



For moving the large stone of the water-mill a considerable 

 fall is required. A hollow tree is placed in a sloping position, 

 from the end of the lead, and the confined water, in rushing 

 from the lower orifice, acts upon the oblique and narrow floa.t- 

 boards of a horizontal wheel, about five or six feet in diameter. 

 A perpendicular iron spindle passes from the water-wheel 

 through the lower stone, and gives motion to the upper one, 

 without any intermediate machinery. These mills are placed 

 on the slopes of hills when water can be commanded ; and as 

 they are generally protected by a fortified tower, and sur- 

 rounded by a luxuriant grove of tall poplars, they form a pleas- 

 ing feature of the landscape on approaching a Persian village. 



Method of Procuring Water. — As rain seldom falls in Persia, 

 the farmers have recourse to irrigation for watering their 

 fields. The water used in this process is procured either by 

 means of cuts from the rivers in the vicinity, or more rarely 

 by a system of subterranean canals, which draw oiF the water 

 from the high grounds. From a want of concert among the 

 inhabitants, the water-courses are seldom carried to any dis- 

 tance ; so that immense plains of the richest alluvial soil are 

 met with alongst the banks of most rivers, which, by a little 

 capital and skill, could be made capable of yielding the richest 

 crops, but which at present afibrd only a transient pasturage 

 for the herds of the wandering Coords ; this is more particu- 



