INDIA, 281 



time and labor in holding and distributing the limited 

 water supply. In some districts the government has 

 established well-planned systems of irrigation, which 

 have brought millions of acres of arid land under suc- 

 cessful cultivation. Beyond these areas, the farmer, 

 during the dry season, spends most of his energies in 

 supplying the arid soil with moisture by the most primi- 

 tive methods. From pools, tanks and wells, water is 

 drawn in pails, by hand, foot or bullock power, in the 

 same way as was done a thousand years and more ago. 

 I never saw a windmill in India. The water is poured 

 into little gutters, which intersect the fields in different 

 directions. Men, women and children are engaged in 

 this kind of work. The women supply the household 

 with water and, as the wells are frequently far apart, 

 this task is often not an easy one. Hard as this work 

 may be, it has its fascination for the women. They 

 congregate at the well, chatter and laugh while the 

 earthen or brass vessels are being filled, and, when 

 perched on their well-balanced heads, return in files to 

 their village, keeping up their lively conversation until 

 the one from the greatest distance finds herself alone. 

 The erect, graceful stature of the laboring native women 

 is largely due to this enforced useful gymnastic exercise. 

 A common way of dipping water from a tank or pool 

 into an irrigating ditch is by means of a large water- 

 proof basket made of palm leaves, to which is attached 

 a piece of rope on opposite sides. Two persons swing 

 this basket so regularly and skillfully that it catches 

 the water on one side and discharges it on the other. 

 To maintain the proper tempo of these swinging move- 

 ments between the two persons so employed, a monot- 

 onous chant regulates the muscular movements. Pumps 

 appear to be unknown. When bullocks take the place 

 of man power, the water is drawn from the well in an 

 immersed bucket, the traction rope running in the 

 groove of a wheel about two feet in diameter. The bucket 

 is swung in the desired direction by a man and emptied. 



