NOTES ON WOODEN WATER-PIPES. 119
about two inches deep, are dug out at the places where the
conduit must take a turn; these chambers act as a sort of small
reservoirs from which the water at once flows off in the desired
direction. These water tanks also serve the purpose of the more
modern man-holes.
In addition to the running fountains they have in many
houses a pump, also made of wooden pipes. The wells are of a
good depth, say 35 to 45 feet, Not only the pipes, but the piston
rods as well, are made of fir-wood. Similar wooden pumps are
besides used for other purposes, as, for instance, to pump out the
storage pits of liquid manure on farms.
To mention yet another use of wooden channels to conduct
water : the houses, wooden from end to end, have wooden gutters,
which are chiselled out of rather thinner but long fir-trees,
fastened to the shingle roofs.
In our villages perfectly straight pipes are made, and the
boring is done entirely by hand. This work requires strong
hands and a good deal of skill ; it is mostly performed by pro-
fessionals, but the farmers supply the raw material.
The tree trunk, already bound with iron bands at either end,
in order to prevent its splitting, is firmly fastened on two
carpenter's benches, at the height of about four feet from the
ground. I forget how it is fastened, there may be several ways
of doing it well. The boring is started with a small drill, so as
to make it easier to drive in the large and heavy borer that is to
give the pipe the necessary calibre. The borers are of good
material and very sharp; they have shafts long enough to reach
a little further than the middle of the length of the trunk. A
long handle of strong wood can be pushed through a hole in the
shaft, like a thread through a needle. At some distance
from the trunks, where the boring is to begin, the shaft is
made to rest on a support with an iron groove, which can be
raised or lowered. This support is placed so as to bring the
borer exactly into the boring line and then made fast. The
borer is applied to the trunk, where one man must hold it with
his hands whilst two others begin to work it. At first they
proceed very gently and slowly, and frequently ascertain whether
they are in the proper lines. As they advance, however, the
danger of a deviation becomes less, whilst the men have to use
all their strength to force the heavy implement through the