The bamboo stage is erected for the purpose of watering the land. The
river water is collected in a deep pool, between two brick walls, across
which a small stage is fixed, on which a man stands, and his business is
to empty the leathern skin which comes up full of water into the
reservoir above, prepared for its reception. A long bamboo, with a large
weight of earth attached to it at one end, is poised on a stage above,
on which a native stands and causes the end towards the river to sink by
the weight of his foot; when the skin below, which is attached to a thin
bamboo from above, is filled with water, he removes his foot, which
causes the water-bag to rise to the height of the reservoir, when the
man below empties it and lets it fall again. In some parts, instead of a
skin, a basket is used, which is rendered waterproof inside by a coating
of clay and mud. Water is thus conveyed to a very great distance from
the banks of a river. The fields in India are irrigated with as much
care as is bestowed upon a garden, and three harvests are often
obtained.
The Bengalī _jantŭ_ for watering the land happily illustrates this
passage of Scripture, “Where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it
with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.” (Deut. xi. 10.)
The palm trees next to the well are remarkably beautiful; they are
portraits. The one displaying the broad leaves is the fan-palm, from
which the large _pankhas_ are made—one leaf alone forms the _pankha_, or
fan, of which three specimens are to be seen in the Museum.