nscriptions to irrigation-machines, and, although their
exact form and construction are not described, they must have been very
similar to those employed at the present day. The modern inhabitants of
Mesopotamia employ four sorts of contrivances for raising the water into
their irrigation-channels; three of these are quite primitive, and are
those most commonly employed. The method which gives the least trouble
and which is used wherever the conditions allow is a primitive form of
water-wheel. This can be used only in a river with a good current.
The wheel is formed of rough boughs and branches nailed together, with
spokes joining the outer rims to a roughly hewn axle. A row of rough
earthenware cups or bottles are tied round the outer rim for picking
up the water, and a few rough paddles are fixed so that they stick out
beyond the rim. The wheel is then fixed in place near the bank of the
river, its axle resting in pillars of rough masonry.

[Illustration: 293.jpg A MODERN MACHINE FOR IRRIGATION ON THE
EUPHRATES.]

As the current turns the wheel, the bottles on the rim dip below the
surface and are raised up full. At the top of the wheel is fixed a
trough made by hollowing half the trunk of a date-palm, and into this
the bottles pour their water, which is conducted from the trough by
means of a small aqueduct into the irrigation-channel on the bank.

The convenience of the water-wheel will be obvious, for the water is
raised without the labour of man or beast, and a constant supply is
secured day and night so long as the current is strong enough to turn
the wheel. The water can be cut off by blocking the wheel or tying it
up. These wheels are most common on the Euphrates, and are usually set
up where there is a slight drop in the river bed and the water runs
swiftly over shallows. As the banks are very high, the wheels are
necessarily huge contrivances in order to reach the level of the fields,
and their very rough construction causes them to creak and groan as they
turn with the current. In a convenient place in the river several of
these are sometimes set up side by side, and the noise of their combined
creakings can be heard from a great distance. Some idea of what one of
these machines looks like can be obtained from the illustration. At Hit
on the Euphrates a line of gigantic water-wheels is built across the
river, and the noise they make is extraordinary.

Where there is no current to turn one of these wheels,