HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 369

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four gallons each, worked by two men. I timed the labour of this simple machine, and proved that the two; men delivered 3600 gallons within an hour. The men exerted themselves to a degree that could not have been continued throughout the day, and the buckets, of English make, were far more capacious than the simple leather stretched upon a hoop of sticks that is' used in Egypt ; but there is no reason for such inferior adjuncts. It may be safely assumed that with proper appliances the double shadoof, worked by two men, will deliver 2000 gallons an hour for a working day of six active hours, or a total of 12,000 gallons. In Cyprus the wages of a labourer are one shilling a day, therefore the cost of raising 12,000 gallons would be only. two shillings, provided the water is only five feet from-J the surface. There are many portions of the Messaria \ plain where the water is even nearer, but the shadoofI could work profitably at six, and even at eight feet, j and it possesses the advantage of such extreme cheapness of original cost that the outlay is insignificant. Where fuel is expensive, and cattle and human labounl I cheap, the ancient Egyptian water-wheel will deliveril a supply at a cheaper rate than steam. It has thei merit of being always ready ; there is no delay ini lighting fires and getting up the steam ; there is noi expensive engineer who may be sick or absent whene required ; but the wheel is turned either by night orH day by mules or oxen, driven by a child. Windf! vanes might be attached to this principle, and could I be connected on favourable occasions. The peculiarity throughout the lower levels irfl Cyprus (specially exhibited in the plain of Messaria'H of a water-supply within a few feet of the surface, afl the same time that the crops may be perishing fron| |

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