DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0048
THE SAKIYEH 27
of corn, or one of cotton or sugar-cane, which require
a large supply of water.
Another machine is also extensively used through-
out Egypt and Nubia, called the Sakiyeh, or " The
Persian Wheel," and may have been introduced by
the Persians, 525 B.C It is generally worked by
buffaloes, oxen, and sometimes by a camel. The
animals are driven round and cause a wheel to re-
volve. The wheel works into another fixed upon a
horizontal shaft bearing a drum, over which pass
ropes with earthenware jars attached to them. They
descend into the water, are filled, and raised again by
the action of the wheel ; on reaching the top they
empty their contents into a little watercourse, which
conveys it to the plot of ground requiring irrigation.
These machines are never greased, and as they rotate,
peculiar, and not altogether unmusical, sounds are
produced—described as something between a low
creaking of a door and the harmonious "buzzing of
bees." It lias a dreamy and soothing effect upon the
ear, especially towards evening or during the hours of
the night, for the sakiyehs are worked continuously
by relays of men and cattle during the growing
season. The average cost of one of these machines
exclusive of the cattle; is about £30. It is capable
of irrigating twelve acres of corn in twenty-four hours.
Only two attendants are necessary to keep the
machine at work, and these may be children. A
sakiyeh can be erected at any distance from the river,
as a perpetual supply of water appears to be found
throughout the Nile valley, the soil being light and
porous. Wealth}- proprietors in some cases possess
■steam pumps, but the expenses of fuel and repairs
hinit the use of them to a very few-
of corn, or one of cotton or sugar-cane, which require
a large supply of water.
Another machine is also extensively used through-
out Egypt and Nubia, called the Sakiyeh, or " The
Persian Wheel," and may have been introduced by
the Persians, 525 B.C It is generally worked by
buffaloes, oxen, and sometimes by a camel. The
animals are driven round and cause a wheel to re-
volve. The wheel works into another fixed upon a
horizontal shaft bearing a drum, over which pass
ropes with earthenware jars attached to them. They
descend into the water, are filled, and raised again by
the action of the wheel ; on reaching the top they
empty their contents into a little watercourse, which
conveys it to the plot of ground requiring irrigation.
These machines are never greased, and as they rotate,
peculiar, and not altogether unmusical, sounds are
produced—described as something between a low
creaking of a door and the harmonious "buzzing of
bees." It lias a dreamy and soothing effect upon the
ear, especially towards evening or during the hours of
the night, for the sakiyehs are worked continuously
by relays of men and cattle during the growing
season. The average cost of one of these machines
exclusive of the cattle; is about £30. It is capable
of irrigating twelve acres of corn in twenty-four hours.
Only two attendants are necessary to keep the
machine at work, and these may be children. A
sakiyeh can be erected at any distance from the river,
as a perpetual supply of water appears to be found
throughout the Nile valley, the soil being light and
porous. Wealth}- proprietors in some cases possess
■steam pumps, but the expenses of fuel and repairs
hinit the use of them to a very few-