522 Description of a Machine Jhr pumping Water 



and agitation shake the buckets and even the reservoir, and 

 speedily destroymg both. The wooden buckets in com- 

 mon use, being ariied with iron hoops, have the same dis- 

 advantage : they are apt to lock against each other in 

 ascending and descending ; and by striking continually 

 against the sides of the well, they derange them in the 

 long run. By using leather buckets all apprehensions of 

 this kind will be removed ; for the emptying and filling of 

 their contents is performed in a regular manner, almost 

 without friction, and without any kind of shaking ; and al- 

 though leather may appear less durable than wood, it is in 

 fact more so when it is continually soaked in water: it 

 then becomes extremely elastic, accommodates itself to every 

 kind of motion, and receives a blow from any other body 

 without beincf injured. 



It is probable that the ancients made use of leathern 

 buckets for pumping up water. At any rate, the origin of 

 the emplovmentof leathern vessels, applied to the mechanism 

 of welis, must have been derived from the primitive use of 

 that kind of funnel which served formerly, as it now serves, 

 to carry liquids. 



In the suite of the Turkish armies there are gene- 

 rally a great number of led horses, mules, or camels, 

 which have no other business than that of carrying water 

 from the rivers to the field. The buckets in which it is 

 conveyed are of a conical form, the base being closed by a 

 flat piece of wood. They are buckled on each side of the 

 pummel of a saddle, and the other extremity, tied by a cord 

 to prevent the water from escaping, is folded up, and also 

 attached to the saddle, along the flanks of the horse, which 

 are guarded from moisture by a leather covering. This 

 form of the buckets, while it holds abundance of water, is 

 not troublesome to the horse, which may be ridden at the 

 same time with ease. It is only necessary to unbuckle 

 them from the saddle when they are to be filled ; for, in 

 order to distribute the water afterwards, all that is re- 

 quisite is to untie and lower the small extremity. 



In order to use these conical buckets to draw water from 

 a well, a cistern, or even from a river, the two extremities 

 are to be kept open by means of iron hoops to which cords 

 are attached. 



In order to pour water into a reservoir from them, an 

 extremely simple mechanism of the following form is em- 

 ployed. 



Explanation of Plates IV. and V. 



A kind of triangle is formed over the well, the beams tied 



togelher 



