TEMPORARY WELLS 153 



parable with those of these provinces. There are, it 

 is true, large numbers of such wells in the Panjab, 

 but even in that province there are four masonry 

 wells to one temporary well, and the total number of 

 temporary wells does not exceed 75,000 ; whereas in 

 the United Provinces in a dry year nearly 1,000,000 

 temporary wells are in use in irrigation — that is, for 

 each permanent well there are two temporary wells. 

 They differ from the permanent wells in being lined 

 with a cylinder of wood, wickerwork, or brushwood, 

 instead of masonry. The lining is generally carried 

 up to only a few feet above the water surface. The 

 temporary well may, like the permanent well, receive 

 its supply either from a spring or from percolation. 

 Where the supply is wholly by percolation, the tem- 

 porary well is a mere hole in the ground, from which 

 water is drawn by manual labour with the aid of 

 a wheel or a weighted lever. Such a well seldom 

 irrigates more than 2 acres, and often only a 

 fraction of an acre. A good spring well of the tem- 

 porary kind, such as are found extensively in the 

 Ganges-Jamna Doab, will irrigate 4 or more acres in 

 a season. They are worked by bullock-power, and 

 occasionally carry more than one water-bag. The cost 

 of a temporary well may be anything from Rs. 2 to 

 Rs. 50, according to its depth and the nature of the 

 lining. 



The irrigation works other than wells constructed 

 by private enterprise are comparatively unimportant. 

 There are practically no embanked private tanks of 

 any considerable size in the United Provinces. Close 

 to almost every village there is a pond, the excavation 

 of which afforded materials for the construction of the 

 dwelling-houses ; and occasionally in some parts of 

 the country, especially in Mirzapur and the Bundel- 

 khand districts, water is held up by small embankments 

 across depressions or drainage lines. But, except in 

 Mirzapur and the adjoining Trans-Jamna districts, 



