IN DINAJPUR. O 



inches wide, the height of the sides in the middle 

 part is six or eight inches, gradually decreasing to- 

 wards the ends, one of which is excavated to a point, 

 to prevent the water from running back and being 

 lost. When this instrument is used, it is slung to 

 three bamboos placed erect and crossing each other 

 in the centre ; a long and heavy bamboo, loaded at 

 the further end with a large ball of earth, is then 

 faftencd to the end which is to be plunged into the 

 water, and thrown over the three erect bamboos, 

 resting on the top of them. A person standing on a 

 stage, even with, or somewhat below the surface of 

 the water of a pond, river, &c. then plunges the end 

 of the Jant into the water, with his foot, by which 

 means it is filled. The weight at the end of the long 

 bamboo assists him in raising it out of the water, and 

 throwing its contents into a small reservoir, or pit, 

 from which it is conveyed into the fields, by chan- 

 nels cut for that purpose. Two feet, or two and a half, 

 is the heigbt to which water can be thrown to effect 

 by this machine ; when the height is greater, two, 

 three, or more Jants are used, and in that case the 

 water is thrown into small reservoirs or pits, at a pro- 

 per height above each other, and sufficiently deep to 

 admit Jhe next Jant to be plunged deep enough to 

 fill it. Water is by this means sometimes conveyed 

 to the distance of a mile or more on every side of a 

 large tank or reservoir of water.* I have seen fifty 

 or sixty Jants at one time, in a large receptacle of 



* Qu. Is not this the watering wikh the foot mentioned in Scrip- 

 ture, Deut. xi. ver. 10, and may not there be an aUusion to the facility 

 with which this water is directed at the will of the huibandnian, in 

 Prov. xxi. ver. 1 1 



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