A KHOTARA.
to give a permanent flow of water. It is usually
constructed in a small branch ravine with a view to
irrigating an oasis situated at a lower level.
Its structure is somewhat complicated. A series
of vertical shafts, of a number depending upon the
area to be irrigated, are sunk until water is reached.
These are then connected with each other by underground
tunnels about six feet in height. The whole
system of shafts and tunnels, which may extend to
over a mile in length, communicates with a main
tunnel which, in its turn, conducts the water to the
segias of the oasis which it is intended to irrigate.
Wells on a similar principle are found, I believe, in
Baluchistan and Italy.
