XXX11. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS — APPENDIX. 



that irrigation in India is of ancient origin, and it was 

 necessary for the British engineers in the first place to 

 study the works they found in that country, and the con- 

 ditions which influenced their efficiency, before they could 

 apply successfully their greater skill and scientific know- 

 ledge to the design and construction of those greater 

 irrigation works now so widely distributed throughout the 

 Indian Empire. 



Mechanical Appliances for Raising Water. 



The ancient methods used by the natives of India and 

 Egypt for raising water from wells and low-lying depressions 

 consist of the following: — 



1. The Persian Wheel. 2. The Mote. 3. The Picottah in 

 India (called the Shadouf in Egypt). 4. The Basket. 5. 

 The Doon. 



All along the banks of the Nile one sees the numerous 

 shadoufs at work lifting water from the river into channels 

 leading to the areas under cultivation. The Persian Wheel 

 is called a sakia in Egypt, and is generally actuated by 

 bullocks. These ancient and somewhat crude devices have 

 been used for raising water in India and Egypt for thousands 

 of years, and they are apparently just the same to-day. 



In Egypt there is a considerable number of pumping 

 plants used for lifting water and for drainage of the low- 

 lying land on portions of the delta. 



The method of obtaining water from rivers for irrigation 

 consists of inundation and perennial canals. In regard to 

 inundation canals the site for the entrance taking off from 

 the river should be carefully selected, the object being to 

 reduce the deposit of silt in the canals and convey as much 

 of it as possible to the lands to be irrigated, as the deposits 

 from the flood waters of silt-bearing rivers are most valu- 

 able fertilizing agents. 



