'Persian Water Wheel on the Indus', 1838 (c)

Coloured lithograph from 'Views in Affghaunistaun from sketches taken during the Campaigns of the Army of the Indus', by W L Walton after Captain Sir Keith A Jackson, Bt, 4th (Queen's Own) Light Dragoons, published by W H Allen and Co and T McLean.

A Persian water wheel is a form of irrigation device that has been used across the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. They consist of a chain of buckets or earthenware pots slung round a vertical wheel, which is turned by a system of cogs and interlocking wheels powered by animals, in this case a pair of oxen.