BOOK VI. 



159 



Our people give the name of water-bags to those very large skins for 

 carrying water which are made of two, or two and a half, ox-hides. When 

 these water-bags have undergone much wear and use, first the hair comes 

 off them and they become bald and shining ; after this they become 

 torn. If the tear is but a small one, a piece of smooth notched stick is put 

 into the broken part, and the broken bag is bound into its notches on either 

 side and sewn together ; but if it is a large one, they mend it with a piece of 

 ox-hide. The water-bags are fixed to the hook of a drawing-chain and let 

 down and dipped into the water, and as soon as they are filled they are drawn 

 up by the largest machine. They are of two kinds ; the one kind take in the 

 water by themselves ; the water pours into the other kind when it is pushed 

 in a certain way by a wooden shovel. 



When the water has been drawn out from the shafts, it is run off in 

 troughs, or into a hopper, through which it runs into the trough. Likewise 

 the water which flows along the sides of the tunnels is carried off in drains. 

 These are composed of two hollowed beams joined firmly together, so as to 

 hold the water which flows through them, and they are covered by planks 

 all along their course, from the mouth of the tunnel right up to the extreme 

 end of it, to prevent earth or rock falling into them and obstructing the flow 

 of the water. If much mud gradually settles in them the planks are raised 

 and the drains are cleaned out, for they would otherwise become stopped up 

 and obstructed by this accident. With regard to the trough lying above 



A — ^Trough. B — Hopper. 



