338 ATHENS. 
CHAP, fast, the wells of Greece were always the resort 
' -^ of its inhabitants ; they were places of conver- 
sation, of music, dancing, revelling, and almost 
every kind of public festivity ; secondly, that their 
remote antiquity is evident from the following 
Great An- extraordinary circumstance. Over the mouth 
tiquity of 
the Athe- of each well .has been placed a massive marble 
nian Wells. . 
cylinder, nearly corresponding, as to its torm, 
ornaments, height, and diameter, with the 
marble altars which are so commonly converted 
by the Turks into mortars for bruising their 
corn. A very entire altar of this shape is in 
the Cambridge Collection of Greek Marbles 1 . 
These wells had no contrivance for raising 
water by means of a windlass, or even of the 
simple lever*, common over all the North of 
JLurope, which is often poised by a weight at 
the outer extremity 3 . The water rose so near 
to the surface, that it was almost within reach 
of the hand ; and the mode of raising it was by 
a hand-bucket, with a rope of twisted herbs. 
Owing to the general use of this rope, and its 
(1) Presented to the author by Bridges Harvey, Esq. M.A. of Jesus 
College. It was brought from Delos. 
(2) The lever is now used for some of the wells in Athens; but it 
seems probable that the use of this mechanical power among 'the 
Modern Greeks was introduced by the Albanians. 
(3) See a Sketch of the old Teutonic Well as a Vignette to Chap. II. 
Vol. IX. of these Travels, 8vo. Edition. 
