A well was often covered with a great stone, which being removed, the person descended some steps to the surface of the water, and on his return poured into a
WELL
905
WELLES
trough that which he had brought up (Gen. xxiv, 11- 15; xxix, 3-10; Exotl. ii, 10; Judt;. v, 11). There is, in fact, no intimation of any other way of drawing wa- ter from wells in Scripture. But as this could only be applicable in cases where the well was not deep, we must assume that they had the use of those contriv- ances which are still employed in the East, and some of which are known from the Egyptian monuments to have been very ancient. This conclusion is the more probable as the wells in Palestine are mostly deep (Prov. XX, 5 ; John iv, 11). Jacob's Well near Shechem is said to be 120 feet deep, with only fifteen feet of water in it (Maundrell, Journey, March 24) ; and the labor of draw- ing from so deep a well probably originated the first re- luctance of the woman of Samaria to draw water for Jesus : " Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." See Jacob's Well. From this deeper kind of well the usual methods for raising water are the following: 1. The rope and bucket, or water-skin (Gen. xxiv, 1-1-20; John iv, 11). AV'hen the well is deep, the rope is either drawn over the curb by the man or woman, who pulls it out to the distance of its full length, or by an ass or ox employed in the same waj' for the same purpose. Sometimes a pulley or wheel is fixed over the well to assist the work (Robinson, i, 204 ; ii, 248; Niebuhr, /)(=«c?-. cZe r/l?-«64V, p. 137, pi. 15: Col.Ch. Chron. 1859, p. 350; Chardin, Voy. iv, 98; Wellsted, Trav. i, 280). 2. The sahiyeh, or Persian wheel. This consists of a vertical wheel furnished with a set of buck- ets or earthen jars attached to a cord passing over the wheel, which descend empty and return full as the wheel revolves. On the axis of the wheel revolves a second wheel parallel to it, with cogs which turn a third wheel set horizontally at a sufficient height from the ground to allow the animal used in turning it to pass under. One or two cows or bidls are yoked to a pole which passes through the axis of this wheel, and as they travel round it turn the whole machine (Nntnb. xxiv, 7; see Lane, J/ot/. Eyypt. ii, 163; Niebuhr, T'o//. i, 120; Col. Ch. Chron. 1859," p. 352 ; Shaw, p. 291, 408). 3. A modification of the last method, bj' which a man, sitting opposite to a wheel furnished with buckets, turns it by drawing with his hands one set of spokes prolonged beyond its circumference, and pushing another set from him with his feet (Niebuhr, Foy. i, 120, pi. 15; Robin- son, ii, 22 ; iii, 89). 4. A method very common, both in ancient and modern Egypt, is the shaduf, a simple con- trivance consisting of a lever moving on a pivot, which is loaded at one end with a lump of clay or some other weight, and has at the other a'bowl or bucket. This is let down into the water, and, when raised, emptied into a receptacle above (Niebuhr, Voy. i, 120; Lane, Mod. Egypt, ii, 1(53 ; Wilkinson, Anc. Er/ypt. i, 35, 72 ; ii, 4). See luiiiGATiox.
Wells are usually furnished with troughs of wood or
Ancient Egyptian Machine for Raising Wafer, identical with the xl(ad''fo{ the present day.
stone (P)?b'; Sept. iroTiaTt'ipiov ; Vulg. canalis), into which the water is emptied for the use of persons or animals coming to the wells. In modern times an old stone sarcophagus is often used for this purpose. The bucket is very commonly of skin (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 63; Robinsoii, i, 204; ii", 21, 315; iii, 35, 89, 109, 134; Lord Lindsay, Triir. p. 235, 237 ; Wilkinson, A nc. Egypt. loc. cit.; corap. Gen. xxiv, 20 ; Exod. ii, 16).
Unless machinery is used, which is commonly worked by men, women are usually the water-carriers. They carry home their water-jars on their heads (Lindsay, p. 236). See Drawer of Water. Great contentions often occur at the wells, and they are often, among Be- dawin, favorite places for attack by enemies (Exod. ii, 10, 17 ; Judg. v, 1 1 ; 2 Sam. xxiii, 15, 16). See Burck- hardt, Syria, p. 63 ; Notes on the Bed. i, 228 ; Col. Ch. Chron. 1859, p. 473 ; Lane, Mod. Egypt, i, 252 ; Robin- son, iii, 153; Hackett, Illustr. of Script, p. 88-93.— Smith; Kitto; Fairbairn. See Water.
"Wellbeloved, Charles, D.D., an English Uni- tarian minister, was born at York about 1770. He be- came a clergyman at his native place; was noted for his philological and arch;eological attainments; and died at York in 1858. He was the author of, Ehoracum ; or, York under the Romans (1842) : — The Holy Script- ures of the Old Covenant (1859-62), in a revised trans- lation, in which he was assisted by Rev. George Vance Smith and Rev. John Scott Porter; and other works. A Memoir, by Rev. John Kenrick, appeared in 1860.
Weller, George, D.D.,a Protestant Episcopal cler- gyman, was born in Boston, Mass., Nov. 15, 1790. He was educated in the public schools of Boston ; learned the trade of a bookbinder; opened a small bookstore in Newark, N. J. ; and afterwards removed it to Danbury, Conn. About the year 1813 he entered the family of the Rev. Bethel Judd, D.D., of Norwalk, to study theol- og}'. He began to officiate as lay reader at Bedford, N. Y., in June, 1814; was admitted to deacon's orders by bishop Hobart June 16, 1816; missionary in the counties of Putnam and Westchester in 1810-17; or- dained priest April 2, 1817; instituted rector of Great Coptank parish at Cambridge, Md., Nov. 15, 1817 ; rec- tor of St. Stephen's Church, Cecil County, Md., in No- vember, 1822; became editor of The Church Register Jan. 7, 1826, in which office he continued three years; was secretary and agent of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society in 1828 ; removed to Nashville, Tenn., about 1829, where he built a new church, the first Episcopal Church in Tennessee; retired for a time on account of feeble health about 1835; became rector of Calvary Church. Memphis, in 1838; rector of Christ Church, Yicksburg, Miss., in 1839. This was his last field of labor. During the prevalence of the yellow fever in Yicksburg, he was overburdened with the claims of the sick and friends of the dead, and fell a victim of the epidemic, Nov. 9, 1841. He was the au- thor of Vindication of the Church (1824): — and editor of the Poems of Bishop Heber (about 1820) : — and the Weller Tracts. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pul- pit, V, 001.