or where the bank
is too high, the water must be raised by the labour of man or beast. The
commonest method, which is the one employed generally on the Tigris, is
to raise it in skins, which are drawn up by horses, donkeys, or cattle.
A recess with perpendicular sides is cut into the bank, and a wooden
spindle on wooden struts is supported horizontally over the recess. A
rope running over the spindle is fastened to the skin, while the funnel
end of the skin is held up by a second rope, running over a lower
spindle, until its mouth is opposite the trough into which the water
is to be poured. The beasts which are employed for raising the skin
are fastened to the ends of the ropes, and they get a good purchase for
their pull by being driven down a short cutting or inclined plane in the
bank. To get a constant flow of water, two skins are usually employed,
and as one is drawn up full the other is let down empty.

The third primitive method of raising water, which is commoner in Egypt
than in Mesopotamia at the present day, is the _shadduf_, and is worked
by hand. It consists of a beam supported in the centre, at one end of
which is tied a rope with a bucket or vessel for raising the water, and
at the other end is fixed a counterweight.* On an Assyrian bas-relief
found at Kuyunjik are representations of the shadduf in operation,
two of them being used, the one above the other, to raise the water to
successive levels. These were probably the contrivances usually employed
by the early Babylonians for raising the water to the level of their
fields, and the fact that they were light and easily removed must have
made them tempting objects to the dishonest farmer. Hammurabi therefore
fixed a scale of compensation to be paid to the owner by a detected
thief, which varied according to the class and value of the machine
he stole. The rivers and larger canals of Babylonia were used by the
ancient inhabitants not only for the irrigation of their fields, but
also as waterways for the transport of heavy materials. The recently
published letters of Hammurabi and Abeshu' contain directions for the
transportation of corn, dates, sesame seed, and wood, which were ordered
to be brought in ships to Babylon, and the code of Hammurabi refers to
the transportation by water of wool and oil. It is therefore clear that
at this period considerable use was made of vessels of different size
for conveying supplies in bulk by water. The method by which t