1840.] Account of Khyrpoor and the Fortress of Bukur. 1 107 



evil is the encroachment of the river, vi^hich undermines the scaffolding of 



the wheel, and compels the farmer to remove it to a new site. 



A pair of bullocks perform a revolution in 15 or 18 seconds. A ladder 



holds thirty jars, each containing from 2| to 3 quarts of water. On an 



average they reach the top of a well three parts full, and an eighth of 



their contents is lost from defects in the troughs and machinery. The 



discharge per minute never exceeds fifty or sixty gallons. 



A Persian wheel cannot usually be set in motion for less than sixty 



rupees. The machinery is worth about twenty-five, but in districts where 



wood is plenty and cut on the estate, it can be made for sixteen or twenty 



rupees ; the earth pots for raising water cost two rupees a hundred, and a 



pair of bullocks thirty rupees. 



The cost of a wheel in the districts of Roree and Sukhur is as follows :— 



Rs. The, 



The two wheels fc/m^^<rj which revolve at right angles, 15 



(Where wood is plentiful 10 and 12 rupees.) 



The kanjur, a cross beam eighteen feet long, raised seven feet 

 from the ground on the trunks of date trees. It receives the 

 pivot of the horizontal wheel, and the oxen pass beneath it, ... 2 



The driver's seat (guddee) a plank ten feet long fixed to the pivot, 



and inclined downwards, 1 4 



The lut, a circular beam resting on the ground, and connecting the 



vertical wheel with the ha-ir, which it helps to support 2 3 



The ha-ir or water wheel, about 3| feet wide, and 6 feet in diame- 

 ter. A ladder (mal) made of date leaves, passes over it and 

 holds from thirty to forty earthen pots (keengur.) A principal 

 defect of the wheel might be cured by making the jars thicker, 

 and glazing them, which would prevent the water escaping 

 through the pores, and by separating the jars by a band of 

 rope or mat, the breakage that constantly occurs by their falling 

 on each other would be prevented. 

 ThQ parch, or trough, five feet long, made of half the hollow trunk 



of a date tree, to receive the water from the pots, 13 



The nesur, a second trough of date wood twelve feet long, which 



conducts the water from the parch to the field 1 



In addition to the above there are six timbers which support the troughs 



and water wheel 



The machinery is entirely wood, and those parts of which I have omitted 



the cost, are cut in the farm or forest by servants or hired labourers, 



and shaped free of charge by the carpenter who contracts to repair the wheel. 



The hire of men to cut the wood is about. 1 5 



