MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
247 
Minutes of last meeting read and con¬ 
firmed. 
Report of Exhibition Committee read 
and adopted. 
Tenders for cutting a die for medal 
opened, upon which— 
It was resolved that the Secretary he 
requested to write to the lowest tenderer, 
asking him to submit specimens of Iris 
work to the Council, and that the accept¬ 
ance of the tender stand over to the next 
meeting. 
Letters read from the Hon. E. Deas 
Thomson, Esq., C.B., excusing attendance, 
Mr. W. Hill, Moreton Bay, and circular 
from the American Patent-office, which the 
Secretary was requested to acknowledge. 
Resolved, on the motion of Mr. T. W. 
Shepherd, seconded by Mr. Ottley— 
That a vote of thanks be presented to 
Alexander Dawson, Esq., Colonial Archi¬ 
tect, for his kindness in preparing plans, 
specifications, and estimate of the intended 
farm-buildings at Parramatta, and that the 
Secretary be directed to communicate the 
same to him. 
Resolved, that a meeting of the Stewards, 
for making arrangements for the dinner, he 
called for Monday next at three o’clock. 
Accounts passed. 
Mr. Allen, Hunter-street, proposed as a 
member. 
Mr. J. Baptist excused attendance. 
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE HORTI¬ 
CULTURAL AND AGRICULTURAL 
SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 
Sir, —Considering that the subject of Artesian 
Wells cannot bo brought too prominently under 
the notice of the Society, I enclose you a letter on 
the subject, which appeared in the Maitland. 
Mercury copied from the Adelaide Observer, and I 
shall take the liberty of reiterating one of its 
valuable suggestions:—“ The power of the purse 
being in the hands of the people’s representatives, 
I would merely put it to them whether it would not 
be better to forego one mile of rail-road and apply 
it to the organisation of a permanent staff of Arte¬ 
sian well sinkers, who should be employed in those 
parts of the country most urgently demanding 
their operations. I am confident were such a vote 
passed, it would be productive of more benefit to 
the colony than would at first sight be imagined. 
The hidden interior would be peopled and opened 
up, our flocks and herds would increase, new copper, 
gold, and coal mines would pour forth their riches 
and I shall add from myself, that were such a vote 
put to the country, there would scarcely be found 
one dissenting voice; for then, and not till then, 
will railway shares begin to usurp the unprofitable 
sale of Government Debentures. Deeming your 
influential Society to be the proper channel through 
which may be represented, grievances which check 
or suggestions which may improve the general wel- ! 
fare of the colony, it is almost impossible to place 
them in a proper light, and avoid their partaking 
of a political character. 
I have the honor to be, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Armidale, April 26th, 1858. Lewis Markham. 
ARTESIAN WELLS. 
(To the Editor of the Adelaide Observer.) 
Sir—In Holy Writ wc are told that " the wilderness, 
and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall- 
rejoice and blossom as the rose that '* the parched 
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs 
of water ” Although l am aware that this language of 
the inspired writer is superlatively figurative, as typical 
of the flourishing state of Christ’s Church, yet in these 
latter days, through the skill and ingenuity of man. It 
has received a literal fulfilment—rejoicings have indeed 
been heard in the desert, and the thirsty land has in, 
reality yielded springs of water. 
The French Government, it appears, in their colony 
of Algeria, employ, with a wisdom and humanity which 
redound to their honor, a stafl; consisting of a civil 
engineer, a sergeant of Spahis, and a detachment of 
soldiers of the Foreign Legion, solely in the prosecution 
of a search for water in those arid and sterile deserts, 
which hitherto have been the terror of travellers, conse¬ 
quent on the dearth of that necessary element, and the 
predatory habits of some of the Arab tribes. The last 
report to the French Government by General Desvaux is 
exceedingly gratifying, not only from the success which 
has attended the primary object of the Government, but 
from the revolution which will probably be wrought in 
the social condition of the children of the desert; the 
plentiful supply of water and the formation of settled 
communities doubtless tending to subdue the roaming and 
thievish propensities for which the Arabs have became 
proverbial, I glean from the report in question, which 
has lately been published in the Moniteur Algerien,, that 
'• the first essay was very sucesssful." On the 11 th June, 
H'36,_ a perfect river, yielding -1016 quarts per minutu 
(1,445,780 gallons in 21 hours), at a temperature of 21 
degrees, burst from the bowels of the earth. The joy of 
all the Arabs was indescribable. The news of the mi¬ 
raculous gush of water,, so precious in the desert, spread 
rapidly through the country. People came from afar to 
see ihe spring, to which the marabouts, with solemn cere¬ 
monies, gave the name of the • Fountain of Peace.’ The 
soldiers who had wrought this seeming miracle returned, 
to Biskra without a single sick man, although, during the 
period .of their labours, the centigrade thermometer had 
often marked 46 degrees in Ihe shade. Two other 
borings were also successful, but the supply of water was 
much less abundaol-the first of the two wells, which 
received the name of the * Fountain of the Benediction’, 
yielding only 35 quarts a minute, or 12,600 gallons in 24 
hours, from a depth of 84meters—about 273 English feet; 
the second 120 quarts a minute, or 43,200 gallons in 24 
hours, at a depth of 38 metres—about 183 English feet. 
The gratitude of the Arabs knew no bounds, and they 
showed the most friendly feeling towards the slender 
detachment of soldiers who lived amongst them for weeks 
and rnonLhs together, at long distances from the French 
garrisons. In the Oasis of Sidi-Rached, which was totally 
unproductive for want of water, an artesian well, known 
at the < Fountain of Gratitude,’ yields at the depth of /I 
metres (about 176 English feetj, no less than 4,300 
quarts per minute (1,548.000 gallons in 24 hours), when 
the shouts of the soldiers announced the gush, the Arabs 
sprung in crowds to the spot, laved themselves in the 
welcome abandance, into which the mothers dipped their 
children, while the old Sheik fell on his knees and wept, 
and returned t anks to Allah and the French. At Dim 
Tbuor, a well sunk to the depth of 170 metres (about 553 
English feet), and yielding 180 quarts per minute (64,800 
gallons In 24 hours), W3s at once taken as the centre of 
a settlement by a portion of a previously nomadic tribe. 
As soon as the water appeared, they began the construction 
of a village and the plantation of 1,200 date trees, and 
entirely renounced their wandering cxistance.” 
