1-647-377 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

An Egyptian 'shaduf' lifting the Nile waters to the thirsty fields, Egypt', 1905. 'For many thousands of years this device has been used. A pole, with a weight or counterpoise at one end and a bucket hanging from the other, is suspended at a point not far from the weight, which then, by its simple gravity, draws up the bucket when filled from the waters below. With this primitive equipment, the native raises the water from four to eight feet, though a strong man will lift it much higher.' Stereoscopic card. Detail. From a series called Egypt Through the Stereoscope, text by James H Breasted.