1840.] Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. 37 



mentioned. Towards the quarter of India, we may trace the 

 wheel through parts of Chuck, Jodhpoor, Oodpoor, and Goojrat 

 as far as Bombay ; in the north it extends to Loodhiana, in the 

 upper part of our Dooab, but it is lost as the traveller proceeds 

 thence towards Delhi. There is only one east of the Ganges. 

 There is no doubt that it might be adopted with great advantage 

 in all our provinces, especially where the water is at a medium 

 depth below the surface ; but where it is beyond fifty feet, 

 the weight of the pots is so great that the use of it will be 

 no longer economical ; and instead, ought to be substituted the 

 bucket well, which is the third species enumerated. It has some 

 varieties j which need not here be adverted to, as only one is 

 well known in these countries. The bucket is of leather, and 

 is raised by a single rope which passes over a pulley, and is 

 drawn by cattle ; this is the commonest well in Toorkistan 

 and Khoorasan, where however it is not used in irrigation 

 but only for the supply of water for men and cattle. The 

 pasturing tribes in the west of Toorkistan and north-west of 

 Khoorasan carry buckets with them, with which they draw 

 water. In India this species of wells is on the whole the 

 commonest ; in the desert and the arid tracts lying east of it, 

 the water is at too great a depth in the soil to admit of 

 any other. 



169. The third species of irrigation is still more expen- 

 sive and operose. It is that by kahrezas, or aqueducts, by which 

 the water of a hill or rising ground is brought out at its foot in 

 a rivulet, to be disposed of at the pleasure of the farmer. 

 A kahrez is usually made in the following manner : — A well is 

 dug at the spot where it is intended the water shall issue ; 

 above it, in the acclivity, is dug another at the distance of from 

 five to twenty yards, according to circumstances and the custom 

 of the place. It is said great skill is required to judge what 

 hills will yield a copious rivulet and in what line it is most ad- 

 visable to conduct the kahrez. The wells are continued at dis- 

 tances generally equal, until the owner thinks the quantity of 

 water will be sufficient, or until the depth of the wells (which 

 however does not increase at the same rate as the height of their 

 summits in the acclivity) becomes so great that the expense ex- 



