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A Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Collection, Now Exhibiting at St. George's Place, Hyde Park Corner, London
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Collection Now Exhibiting at St George's Place Hyde Park Corner London Author:William B. Langdon Subtitle: With Condensed Accounts of the Genius, Government, History, Literature, Agriculture, Arts, Trade, Manners, Customs and Social Life of the People of the Celestial Empire / by William B. Langdon General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1843 Original Publisher: Printed for the proprietor Subjects: Art, Chinese ... more » China Arts, Chinese Art objects, Chinese Art / Asian History / Asia / China Travel / Asia / China Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: 369. Small priming horn. 370. Specimens of brick, one of which was taken from the ancient pagoda on Lob creek. 371. Specimens of stones of which the bridge at Fa-tee is built. CHINESE WATER WHEEL. On the top of this case (No. XVIII.) is placed a model of a Chinese water-wheel, worked by men in a similar way to a treadmill, called Shwuy chay. Sir George Staunton says: " Most eastern nations seem to have been acquainted at an early period with the machine for raising water, which was however, unknown in Europe till the Saracens introduced it into Spain, in an imperfect state, and under a very awkward form, being little more than wisps of hay tied to a rope, which turned upon a wheel; one part of which being immersed in the water, each wisp imbibed a portion of that fluid, and discharged it at the upper surface of the wheel; but the Chinese pump consists of a hollow wooden trunk, divided in the inside along the middle by a board, into two compartments. Flat and square pieces of wood, corresponding exactly to the dimensions of the cavity of the trunk, are fixed to a chain which turns over a roller or small wheel, placed at each extremity of the trunk. The square pieces of wood fixed to the chain, move with it round the rollers, an...« less