Saturday, December 5, 2015

'Well sweep' 'Thulaa' - Tamil, 'Aandiya lindha' - Sinhalese, was seen in almost every well in the Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lanka, in the 1950s.

The well sweep, with the cemented channel to conduct the drawn water to a cement lined tank to contain the water.


Thirsty cattle were welcome to drink the water
The wells were quite deep as the aquifer was found below the limestone rock layer.
The height of the sweep indicated  the depth of the well. There was a saying in Tamil '  Aalakkinathukku neelath thulaa'.
This sweep was in active  use at the 'Sivan Kovil' Point-Pedro in 2012 when I took this photo.

Sri Lankan 'wallker' of the last century, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.


This was the wooden device used to train a child to walk in the 1940s in Ceylon.Any village carpenter could turn this out. This had to be used on sandy soil to give friction to the wheels.