1830.] 
Performance of the Dence. 
29 
depths— say from 10 to 20 feet — its extreme cheapness, and the facility with which 
it may be erected and transferred, and the means it thus affords of being a ue to 
multiply upon a particular spot any number of levers that may be required tor even 
very temporary purposes, render it, I conceive, a valuable machine, and deserving 
of more notice than it appears to have met with in the neighbourhood of Calcutta ; 
but 1 have seen no part of India where irrigation is so much neglected as in Bengal, 
and particularly in the vicinity of Calcutta. Notwithstanding the immense quan- 
tity of ground within 10 or 15 miles of the city that is dedicated to the culture oi ve- 
getable crops, it is very rarely that recourse is had to any other means oi watering 
the gardens than by hand, with common earthen pots ; and this system is even the 
prevailing one in irrigating most of the extensive potatoe crops west of the Hugh, 
although the quantity of water required for the potatoes m the sandy ground be- 
tween the Hugh and Damfida is very great, and the waste of labour must lie in con- 
sequence enormous. The same is also applied to the watering ot the soot crop. To 
the S. E. of Calcutta, after the rice crop is gathered from the lower lands, almost 
the whole of these lands are allowed to remain uncultivated for the remainder of 
the year : though 1 conceive there is not a doubt but the greater part could be mane 
to return a good cold-weather crop of pulse or vegetables, if proper attention was 
paid to preserving the rain waters, or of obtaining it by sinking wells, and to the 
means of raising the water advantageously. In many high or badly- watered parts 
of Bengal, the rice crop is very precarious : and in one of these spots, not long ago, 
I observed that the farmers had lost their rice, almost entirely, over a very extensive 
tract of country, and there was no attempt made to raise any other crops to supply 
the deficiency of grain, which was severely felt by the inhabitants, owing, I presume, 
to their supposed inability of assisting what they might then sow by irrigation. But 
the water was, I should imagine, abundant; the tanks were large and numerous; 
and judging from the bed of the Damfida, 1 suppose water would be found in wells 
at a very high level, for the stream of that river is scarcely any where Id feet below 
the level of the country The most usual machine employed by the Indigo plant- 
ers for raising water, is 1 believe, the China pump. I do not recollect seeing any 
account of its performances, but it will be in the power of many of your readers, no 
doubt, to afford you the means of comparing it with the other machines which 
have already been described in the Gleanings. }• S. 
Patna . “ By far the most usual method of raising water from wells, in tins 
district, is by means of a pot suspended from a lever, which is here called lat ha. 
It is always here wrought by one man, who stands under the end of the lever, on 
the sides of the well next to the fulcrum or post. About one half of the pots used 
here are iron ; an iron pot costs a rupee, and the lever and rope cost about 4 annas. 
Although one man works each lever, yet it is usual tor three levers, at least, to be 
wrought in the same well at the same time, and still more, if practicable, is advan- 
tageous, because one man can distribute the water raised by four or live lat has, and 
one man is necessary where only one lathu is employed. Still however one latha 
is often used, because the two men, alternately relieving each other at the lever, 
work with ease the whole day, while four or five men, with only one relief, can scarce- 
ly continue to work so long without much fatigue. Many l at has are employed, 
where the well is from 25 to 30 cubits deep ; but when the depth exceeds 15 cubits, 
it appears to me that this is a very tedious operation, and vastly interior to the 
leathern bag raised by oxen descending on an inclined plane {Mot^, but, except near 
the Ganges such are seldom used, and the kind which requires a man to empty the 
ba- is alone employed; but in some places I perceive that one man suffices to 
work this machine.-— He stands by the well, and empties the bag while lie lias 
trained the oxen to go down the slope, and to return, without being driven. In the 
interior, indeed, the wells are seldom deep, but near the Ganges the latha is vast- 
ly more common than the wot, even in the deepest wells. The reason seems to be 
the want of forage for the cattle in the working season. I tried an experiment on 
the comparative^ effects of these two methods of raising water. A latha from a 
well in which it was 36 feet to the water from the surface, in half an lioui drew 
1357 lbs. avoirdupois of water ; two men usually work from sunnsc ; until 9 o clock 
and from 3 o’clock to sunset, or rather until dark. Where the depth is moderate 
three men, with two luthas , waters from about § ot an acre to 3 daily. , , 
“ Three men and two oxen work a mot from morning until evening, with a refresh- 
ment only of about | of an hour. In a well 33 feet from the sui ace , 
wot , in half an hour, drew lbs. 7210, but such a superiority over the .latha not ad- 
mitted by the natives, who contend that three lat has, wi ought iy ' , S 
to a mot wrought by three men and two oxen. I his, however, u 
mistake, unless where the water is very near the surtace. 
