Baharia Oasis

The slopes of this hill were covered with large black Ostrea shells.

The floor of the depression further west showed limestones of varying character, frequently highly fossiliferous. Beyond the depression the ground passed over was mainly white limestone, strewn with large sharp angular flints, and many spheroidal flint-masses derived from the limestones. The surrounding hills show that we have here two white limestones with brown beds between, the floor and the hillcaps being white, while the feet of the hills are brown.

The plateau-rock near the great belt of sand-dunes is a hard white limestone with large Conidæ. Just beyond the dunes this rock is very siliceous, the exposed surfaces showing a smoky-black colour; the rock is however quite white on fracture. The hills rising from the plateau here consist entirely of limestone, beds of white chalk alternating with harder yellowish and brown limestones, in which no fossils were noticed. Further on the plateau rises, so that at the entrance to the depression the surface is formed of the same brown limestone-beds which are seen in the hills behind. The hills within the oval depression here are composed of alternations of chalky with harder limestones. The narrow ridge which separates the depression just described from the oasis-depression is of very hard horny siliceous limestone.

On the descent into the oasis the following beds are passed through:—

It seems probable that the entire mass of the limestones forming the surface of the plateau are Eocene, occupying an horizon in and below that of the Mokattam series. That the fissile sandy limestone and calcareous grit cannot be the equivalent of the Post Eocene sandstone deposits encountered on the road from Maghagha is proved by their being intercalated in the Eocene limestones of the plateau.

Traverse from south end of Baharia to Minia.The return journey from Baharia Oasis to Minia was made, as already mentioned, across the open desert, not following any road. The starting-point was the point on the southern scarp of the oasis, where the Farafra road leaves Baharia. Our observations give for the position of this point[25] lat. 27° 46′ 13″ N. long. 28° 32′ 47″ E. of Greenwich; height above sea level, 247 metres. The course was shaped so as to reach the village of Nasl Nadiub Lengat, whence the outward traverse had started, so as to give a closed polygon of survey-lines. The following topographical and geological notes were taken on the journey.

The first 2½ kilometres of the way, going about S.S.E., lay over a plateau of sandy limestone, often mammilated and strewn with limonite-fragments. Sand-dunes of small size were passed on the left. An ascent was then made of some 35 metres on to a flat-topped ridge, consisting of white and yellow marls and clays, capped by a horizontal bed of hard brown calcareous grit, passing into brown crystalline limestone with calcite shell-casts. On this ridge, which is about 600 metres in width at the place seen, a turn was made so as to go almost due east. The descent from the ridge on the other side is on to a plain strewn with whitish-brown laminated and mammilated limestone and some limonite, and from the plain rise hills showing the same structure as the ridge just crossed. A camel-road running south was crossed 7 kilometres from the starting-point, and beyond this, the ground having gradually risen to the level of the brown calcareous grit, we came among numerous low hills; these consist of white chalk beds, capped by sandy greyish limestone and then by thick beds of harder greyish-white limestone, weathered grey on the surface. No fossils were seen here, but continuing the journey east, over uneven ground of white and greyish limestone of considerable hardness, a small hill was met with, at about 12 kilometres from the starting-point, and found to consist of limestone with Nummulites, and these foraminifera were found in great abundance a little further on. The finding of these forms, so distinctively Eocene, is important as showing that whatever the age of the limestones at the actual edge of the south part of the oasis may be, the beds forming the plateau only a few kilometres east of the oasis are, like those which form the top of the northern scarp, of undoubted Eocene age. The nummulites were visible in the rocks of the plateau till about 17 kilometres from the starting-point, none being noticed further on till the neighbourhood of the great sand-dunes was reached. At 25 kilometres a slight depression containing numerous hills of white chalk was entered. The floor of this depression, 267 metres above sea-level, is strewn with fragments of crystalline calcite, probably derived from veins or druses in the chalk. The beds here dip slightly to the south. About 3 kilometres further on the beds dip about 5° E.S.E., so that higher beds were come on; the dip however soon diminished. At 29 kilometres the plateau rock consisted of porous siliceous limestone, generally white, but in places yellow, closely resembling that found capping the scarp in the northern parts of the oasis. The march was continued over white limestones of varying hardness, with flints and fragments of chalcedony on the surface, and numerous low limestone-hills. At 36 kilometres a chalky area was entered on, covered with countless small rounded hills of chalky limestone; these hills, of which there are literally millions, cover the ground like haycocks in a field; they are generally about 20 metres high, and up to 100 metres in diameter. No fossils were seen in the rocks. At 70 kilometres the hills began to get smaller, becoming presently mere chalk-mounds. A slight depression, about a kilometre wide, with larger chalk hills, was crossed at 73 kilometres, beyond which was a long stretch of flat ground composed of snow-white limestone, chalky to fairly hard, unfossiliferous, with thin siliceous bands. At 83 kilometres occasional low limestone hills were seen on ground otherwise fairly level, strewn with flints. A camel-road going south-east was crossed at 77½ kilometres. At 92 kilometres numerous small gasteropod casts were noticed in the chalk, but no other fossils. The plateau further on was seen to be formed of a hard thin bed of siliceous limestone, with chalk below; it shows occasional depressions with low hills within them. At 103 kilometres the great belt of sand-dunes running N.W.-S.E. was entered on. Close to the dunes and in the interspaces between them the plateau-rock is hard semi-crystalline white to brownish limestone, with nummulites and small gasteropod-casts. The sand contains a good deal of calcareous matter in addition to the grains of quartz. The dunes have a total width of about 3½ kilometres, some of them are of great height, and the passage with heavily laden camels is not without some difficulty.

Beyond the dunes the limestone is frequently siliceous, weathered smoky-grey on surface, and crowded with nummulites; the surface of the ground is generally sandy and flint-strewn. At 113 kilometres a narrow band of highly silicified, superficially blackened, limestone is crossed. This band, which is only a few centimetres broad, running north and south, stands up like a vein above the plateau, and is evidently caused by infiltration of siliceous solutions in a crack. In the silicified part of the limestone here the fossils can be easily seen; they are chiefly corals. Further on, the plateau consists of hard semi-crystalline and horny white limestone in which fossils are not seen.

At 123 kilometres the course, hitherto nearly eastward, was changed about 30° to the north, over the same hard semi-crystalline limestone, with hillocks showing alternations of soft chalky beds with harder ones. Some large flat-topped hills passed at 130 kilometres consist of horizontal limestone-beds, the lower ones being chalky, the upper ones hard, grey, and somewhat porous. Beyond this small rounded flints are seen on the plain, and these continue, increasing in number, till a low plateau in front is reached. At 134 kilometres a broad camel-road going south-east was crossed, and at 135 kilometres the scarp of a higher plateau was ascended. The lower plain has an altitude of 127 metres above sea-level, the top of the plateau being some 70 metres higher; the ground however rises gradually before reaching the escarpment, so that the actual rise at the scarp is only about 40 metres. The beds passed through on the ascent are—

These beds appear to dip slightly eastward. No fossils were seen.

The top of the plateau is a huge level gravel-plain, with white chalky limestone showing through occasionally. Sometimes this rock shows a loose tufaceous texture; at other places it is sandy and fissile, and now and again it encloses small pebbles. A broad camel-road going south-east was crossed at 145 kilometres, and another in the same direction was crossed at 157 kilometres. At 162 kilometres, the gravelly ground having gradually fallen to 179 metres above sea-level, a turn so as to take again an eastward course was made, and a long stretch of gently undulating gravelly ground, with white limestone showing through in small patches, was traversed. A camel-road going east was crossed obliquely at 185 kilometres. At 196 kilometres, low gravel-covered hills of some extent were passed. The pebbles range up to 10 or 15 centimetres in diameter, and are well-rounded. In the lower part of one of these hills, sandy chalky limestone is seen cropping out through the gravel which covers the slope. Then a little further on are other low hills of white and grey nummulitic limestone, only thinly sprinkled with pebbles and sand. Some of the beds here contain cylindrical nearly vertical holes, one being measured and found to be 8 centimetres diameter and 45 centimetres deep.

Beyond the hills just mentioned is a further stretch of gravel, till at 199 kilometres a broad low ridge of white and creamy limestone, crowded with large nummulites (N. gizehensis) is reached. The beds of this ridge dip slightly west. The hollows of the ridge are full of blown sand. Beyond is a flat depression, the floor of which is strewn with small nummulites (N. curvispira), and with Ostrea and other shells; then another small nummulitic ridge is crossed, after which comes some hard smoky-grey silicified limestone, with much sand on the surface. At 202 kilometres from the starting-point a slight descent was made from the limestone on to a shelving gravelly tract with some sand-dunes. Some 4 kilometres further on the wide belt of low sand-dunes fringing the cultivated area west of Minia was entered. This sandy tract has a width of about 4 kilometres; it contains some patches of grassy land with pools of water.

The village of Nasl Nadiub Lengat, at the edge of the valley-cultivation, was reached after covering 212 kilometres from the south point of the oasis, the march having occupied about 60 hours.

To summarise the geology of the area crossed in the traverse just described, it will be clear that although the beds which form the top of the scarp at the south end of the oasis are probably of Upper Cretaceous age, yet these beds are overlain by Eocene limestone with nummulites at a short distance (about 10 kilometres) east of the Baharia-Farafra road. It is probable that the entire stretch of limestone-plateau between this point and Minia is Eocene, nummulites being recorded both from near the centre of the tract and from the edge of the desert near Minia. The softer chalky beds traversed appear stratigraphically lower than the Nummulite-limestone, and would seem to correspond to the chalky-limestones with Operculina libyca and Lucina thebaica which occur so constantly near the base of the Eocene in Kharga Oasis. The gravels, as already remarked in referring to the Minia-Baharia road, are of uncertain age, but are certainly Post-Eocene. The sand-dune belt crossed near the centre of the tract is the same as that crossed on the outward journey from Minia, and extends for a great distance north and south.

Baharia-Farafra road.The road from Baharia to Farafra, traversed by Cailliaud in 1820,[26] and by Jordan in 1874[27], was taken by a party of the Geological Survey in proceeding to Farafra after surveying the west side of Baharia. The start was made from the same point as the return traverse to Minia, viz., the point of ascent of the Farafra road at the south scarp of Baharia (lat. 27° 48′ 13″ N., long. 28° 32′ 49″ E. of Greenwich), and the general course taken was in a direction 30°-40° west of south. A second, almost disused, road from Baharia to Farafra ascends the western escarpment from the depression 3½ kilometres further north, follows a narrow plateau at the base of the chalk escarpment and joins the main road some distance south of the extreme end of the oasis-depression.

The main road after ascending the scarp at the extreme south end of the depression, at the point mentioned, proceeds at first in a direction about 30° west of south, over a limestone plateau, with sandstones and clays below. After 4 kilometres hard concretionary grey sandstones are noticed, and 3 kilometres further on a small hill of hard false-bedded grey sandstone is passed. The escarpment of the White Chalk now approaches within 2 kilometres of the road on the right hand, on the left being slightly further away. These escarpments run parallel with the road for some 5 kilometres, forming a large bay, until at 12½ kilometres the road passes through a narrow pass with the cliffs of white chalk quite close on either side. Almost immediately the cliffs again recede, forming a small bay opening into another still larger at 14½ kilometres. At this point an isolated chalk stack, with great masses of fibrous calcite at the base, is passed, and this hill makes a convenient point for a survey-station. Several more isolated hills are now passed and then the chalk scarps on either side close up and join, the road passing up the escarpment at the end of the bay and gaining the summit of the white chalk at 20½ kilometres. The beds forming the plateau between the end of the oasis-depression and this escarpment of white chalk belong to the middle series of the Upper Cretaceous, the “variegated clays and sandstones,” fully described in Chapter V.

From the top of the white chalk escarpment the road continues in a well-maintained direction of about 40° west of south, over a more or less level gravelly plain with outcrops of hard crystalline limestone or chalk. Another, less used, road to Farafra, via the bay to the north-east of Ain el Wadi (in Farafra Oasis), probably branches off about this point. At 35 kilometres a small hill of siliceous limestone is passed and the chalk forms a slight escarpment a little way to the left.

About a kilometre further on a ridge of dark brown ferruginous sandstone is crossed and almost immediately afterwards, at 49 kilometres, the road descends through snow-white chalk cliffs into the depression of Farafra. The chalk forming the cliffs weathers in places to a smoky-black colour. At the bottom of the descent, which is gentle and presents no difficulties, an isolated hill occurs on the left and from this the dark clump of palms of Ain el Wadi is plainly visible bearing 9° west of south and distant about 16 kilometres. From Ain el Wadi to Farafra village is another day’s march of 43 kilometres, the road bearing about 35 west of south, but for details the reader is referred to the report on Farafra Oasis.[28] With regard to the geology of the road across the plateau separating Baharia and Farafra, the age of the beds first passed over has already been mentioned. After rising on to the white chalk the surface of this formation is followed right up to the descent into Farafra. Although occasional crystalline limestones are crossed, these, with the surface accumulations of flinty material, are only skin deep and the former probably represents the upper part of the chalk itself. No Eocene beds were observed, and it is extremely doubtful if any exist; in the latter case they would be patches of Operculina-nummulitic limestone from the base of the Esna Shales, as this limestone is sometimes left capping the surface of the white chalk after complete denudation of the shales above, as in the bay to the north-east of Ain el Wadi. We thus see that the Cretaceous of Baharia is continuous with that of Farafra and that the intervening desert is not formed of the Nummulitic limestones of the Eocene as formerly supposed and shown on the Rohlfs Expedition map.[29]

Other Roads.Besides the routes already mentioned, there are several other roads connecting Baharia with Siwa Oasis, the Fayum, and the Nile Valley. Of the principal of these we have a fairly accurate knowledge from the records of scientific travellers, such as Jordan and Ascherson, and it may be well to mention briefly the chief points concerning them.

The road from Siwa[30] was traversed by Jordan in 1874, the march occupying ten days. Leaving Siwa (N. lat. 29° 12′ 0″, long. 25° 31′ 0″ E. of Greenwich, altitude 25 metres below sea-level), the road follows an east-south-east course for about 80 kilometres; it then turns slightly more southwards, rounding the corner of the plateau (Pacho Mt. of Rohlfs) and afterwards passing through the deep depressions of Aradj (- 70 m.) and Uttiah (- 20 m.) to the south side of Lake Sittra (- 25 m., N. lat. 28° 42′ 40″, long. 27° 4′ 23″ E. of Greenwich, 170 kilometres distant from Siwa). From Sittra an easterly course is taken for some 52 kilometres, when another slight turn to the south is made, the oasis of Baharia being entered by descending the scarp some 3 kilometres slightly north of west of El Qasr. Between Sittra and the edge of the oasis the ground, which is of nummulitic limestone, rises gradually but steadily, the level at the edge of the oasis being 194 metres above sea. The distance from Sittra to El Qasr is about 180 kilometres, making the total distance along the route taken from Siwa about 350 kilometres.

The road from the Fayum to Baharia, taken by Belzoni in 1819, Pacho in 1823, and Ascherson in 1876, has a total length of about 240 kilometres, and occupies some six days in marching. Leaving Medinet el Fayum the road proceeds south-west via Gharag to Wadi Rayan (29 m. below sea-level, about 75 kilometres from Medinet el Fayum) where a supply of water is obtainable from several different springs. From Ain Rayan the road proceeds south-west over a rising nummulitic limestone plateau, crossing the so-called Bahr bela Ma a little north of the Maghagha-Baharia road. At “El Bahr” (100 kilometres from Ain Rayan) a turn is made to the W.S.W.; the sand-dunes of Abu Moharik are crossed a little further on, and the oasis is entered at the northern extremity by the same “agaba” as that taken by the Maghagha road. Within the oasis the road branches as already described, the west branch leading to El Qasr and the east one to Zubbo.

Another route making use of the same point of entry into the oasis as that just described is marked on Ascherson’s map as coming from Bahnessa, a large village on the Bahr Yusuf, near the western edge of the Nile Valley. This road, which is some 190 kilometres in length, leads almost due west over a monotonous plateau till near the oasis, where it joins the roads from the Fayum and Maghagha.

The road between Baharia and Samalut, traversed on his return journey by Ascherson in 1876, appears to be the shortest connection between the oasis and the Nile Valley. Its course is due west, and its total length to Mandisha about 180 kilometres. Leaving Samalut the cultivation is crossed via Mangatin to Rubi; this latter village is on the edge of the desert, about 5 kilometres west of Samalut. The road proceeds over a monotonous rocky and gravelly plateau, crossing the great sand-dune belt of Abu Moharik about 122 kilometres west of Samalut, and entering the oasis near Ain Gelid by the same descent as that used by the Survey party from Minia. The journey from Bawitti to Samalut occupied Ascherson four days.

Still another road from the Nile Valley, likewise entering the oasis near Ain Gelid, is marked on Ascherson’s map as coming from Delga, a village near the west edge of the valley-cultivation. This road has a N.N.W. course, and a total length from Delga to Mandisha of about 190 kilometres. It crosses the sand-dunes of Abu Moharik about 130 kilometres from Delga, i.e., about 40 kilometres before reaching the edge of the oasis.

Several other roads start from points still further south, such as Der el Maragh, Beniadi, Assiut, etc., and most of the villages along the west side of the Nile Valley between Assiut and the Fayum have branch tracks which join the main roads at different points.

CHAPTER IV.

The huge hill-mass near the east scarp, north of the latitude of Ain el Haiss, is of blackened sandstone, like most of the hills near it; some of those west of it are, however, white, owing to a capping of limestone, and these stand out in striking contrast to the others. No purpose would be served by a detailed description of the smaller hills; their positions will be evident from the map (Plate I), and except in the case of the larger ones, there is a great monotony of form, nearly all the smaller hills being conical. One of the most striking conical hills is seen near the west scarp in lat. 28° 26′ N. (10 kilometres north-east from El Qasr); this, however, is a limestone-capped hill, thus differing from the numerous cones in the south part of the oasis, which are mostly capped by hard dark ferruginous quartzites and sandstones.

The Floor of the Oasis.—The lowest part of the oasis-floor appears to be in the neighbourhood of El Qasr, where the altitude above sea-level is about 113 metres. Mandisha lies somewhat higher, and the hamlet of Harra, with the springs Ain Gelid and Ain Haswi lie on a level tract some 134 metres above sea-level. Ain el Haiss, according to the Survey’s barometric comparisons with Cairo, has an altitude of 156 metres above sea; as Jordan’s determination, however, gave only 122 metres, there is some little uncertainty about the actual altitude of this point. As might be expected, the lowest parts of the oasis-floor are those where springs abound; in the neighbourhood of the hills and escarpments there is always a gradual upward slope towards the bases of the hills and plateau. The major part of the oasis-floor is flat or gently undulating ground of sandstones and clays, strewn with fragments of rock derived from the hills; large areas, however, are overgrown with grasses and scattered bushes, notably to the north and west of the villages, in the neighbourhood of Ain Gelid, south-east of Jebel Hefhuf, and in the vicinity of Ain el Haiss; while other extensive tracts north of the villages, as well as south-east of Mandisha and between Harra and Ain Gelid, are covered by salty marshes, now partly dried up. The white salty crusts on the ground at these places give them a striking appearance, like a slightly rough glittering sheet of water. The tracts north of Zubbo and near Harra still contain much water and salty sludge; travelling over them needs great caution, as the dry crust will often support the weight of a man, while a camel sinks through into the soft mire beneath. Sand-accumulations do not cover such large tracts in Baharia as in the southern oases; there are, however, some small dunes around the cultivated lands of Mandisha and Zubbo, as well as on some of the hill-sides; the dunes support a scanty growth of tamarisk-bushes.

The principal villages of Baharia are four in number, all situated near together in the north part of the oasis in N. lat. 28° 21′ to 28° 22′. They are separated into two groups by a large hill (Jebel Mandisha), El Qasr and Bawitti lying to the west, and Mandisha and Zubbo to the east. The Government officials reside at Bawitti and El Qasr. According to the last census,[31] the population of the oasis in 1897 was 6,081 divided among the four villages as follows:—

The males slightly outnumber the opposite sex.

The villages are small uninteresting collections of mud hovels, surrounded by gardens, palm-groves, and cultivated lands. Besides the cultivated tracts existing close around the villages, there are others at points more or less distant from them, tilled by men from the villages. Such are seen, for instance, west of Zubbo; at Ain Bayum, a spring with a small cultivated area, among the sand-dunes 4½ kilometres north-east of Zubbo, where a clump of date-palms forms a conspicuous landmark; Ain Sini and Ain Murun, 7 kilometres north-east of El Qasr; also some small tracts west of, and a large area south-west of, Bawitti. Ain Auena, El Ayun, and other points marked on Ascherson’s map, are probably within this last area. Taking the whole cultivated land, inclusive of palm-groves, at 11 sq. kilometres, the area per individual of population works out to about 0·43 feddans; this figure is somewhat lower than Kharga (0·56 feddan) and considerably less than that of Dakhla (1·49). While Kharga exports practically nothing, Baharia does a considerable export trade with the Nile Valley, principally in dates, although not on so large a scale as Dakhla.

In and near the villages springs are extremely numerous; the water is met with at shallow depths, and does not require, as in Kharga and Dakhla, deep-bored wells. It is led from its sources along underground aqueducts, which date from the Roman occupation; a description of these will be found in the chapter on antiquities (p. 73-80). No attempt was made by the survey to map or number the wells and springs within the vicinity of the villages; they are mostly concealed in the palm-groves and gardens. The water is slightly ferruginous, and frequently warm, bubbles of carbon dioxide rising with it. At Bawitti, the largest spring is cold, but one close by it is warm, although none approach the high temperature of the Dakhla wells. One of the principal sources of water in Mandisha, is a well, situated near the cemetery, 7 metres deep and timbered with palm trunks; the temperature of the water is 26° C. (air 12° C.), and when freshly drawn it is turbid with bubbles of carbon dioxide.[33]

The process of cleaning out wells and boring fresh ones in Baharia is done with a very simple apparatus, an iron jumper about 1½ metres in length, 5 centimetres diameter, worked by a rope passing through an eye at one end, being the only boring-tool used. Cleaning out wells is carried on by this tool in conjunction with the “fass” (a sort of blunt adze used universally for digging operations in Egypt) and a rude basket-apparatus for the removal of sand and sludge. The upper part of the hole having been excavated by the “fass,” the jumper is worked by hand, no tripod or other frame being erected; the sludge is raised by a small basket of plaited grass, fitted on to the lower end of the jumper, lowered into the hole by a rope, the sand settling in the basket after jumping the iron tool, with the basket attached, within the well. The hole is generally made 75 centimetres diameter, and sinking is said to go on at the rate of ⅓ metre per hour, ten men being employed, who relieve each other. It does not appear, however, that this apparatus is capable of sinking new wells, being only used for cleaning out old ones; most of the water used is derived from ancient Roman adits.

The water from a single spring often supplies several land-owners; the usual method of distribution is by means of a wooden weir, in the upper edge of which rectangular notches are cut, each individual being entitled to the water which flows through a certain number of notches. As a rule, the springs are banked up at night, so that the water accumulates in a large pool near, and is allowed to run on to the fields in the daytime.

Taxation in Baharia and Farafra is based on the land cultivated and not, as in Kharga and Dakhla, on the water. Date-palms, are taxed 15 milliemes per annum. The numbers of trees at the 1897 assessment were, apricots, 4,863; olives, 5,370; palms, 93,000, or about fifteen of the latter per inhabitant.[34] The great article of produce in the oasis is therefore dates, and at the date-gathering season the inhabitants are busily employed in gathering, drying and packing the fruit for export to the Nile Valley. Three-fourths of the whole date production are exported. The dates are of excellent quality, and find a ready sale, the villages of the oasis being crowded with camels and traders from the valley each November. A camel-load of dates, packed in two plaited-grass bags, is bought in the oasis for 500 milliemes, and is said to be sold in the Nile Valley for four times that sum, so that the Beduin, to whom the trading is almost wholly confined, even allowing for difficulties of transport, make a good profit.

Though dates are the only fruit exported, olives, apricots, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, and figs are grown in great numbers, and about 600 feddans are cultivated with rice, wheat and barley crops. Clover is sown after the rice crop is gathered. The area of land cultivated for cereals is said to be slowly diminishing year by year, having been 900 feddans fifteen years ago; the decrease is put down to a diminished yield from the springs, owing to their becoming sanded and choked up, but for this the inhabitants are themselves largely to blame, as they do not take sufficient measures to keep the wells free. It may be that water has been diverted to the palm-groves, these furnishing the saleable article. It will be apparent, from the figures already given, that palm-groves cover the greater portion of the irrigated land around the villages.

The public health of the oasis is far from good. Though free from the opthalmia which is so prevalent in the Nile Valley, the inhabitants suffer much from fevers and gastric disorders, and according to the Government doctor virulent epidemics of small-pox occasionally visit the place. The low standard of health is partly attributable to the bad quality of the water, but is probably highly aggravated by the swampy ground found in many localities. It is also noticeable that no trouble is taken to protect the drinking-water from contamination.

Besides the four principal villages already mentioned, small settlements exist at Mandisha Aguza, 2 kilometres east by south from Mandisha; at Harra, a tiny hamlet 14 kilometres east of Mandisha; at Ain Jafarra, 6 kilometres south of Mandisha; and at Ain el Haiss, in the south part of the oasis. The populations, etc., of these outlying settlements are included in the figures given above for the chief villages.

Mandisha Aguza consists of a group of mud dwellings aggregated round a low sandstone eminence, surrounded by a small cultivated tract. Ascherson records that in 1876 the inhabitants still spoke the Siwa dialect among themselves. Cailliaud had already remarked in 1820 that the spot was peopled by colonists from Siwa. Harra consists of about half a dozen hovels, sheltering a population which cannot exceed fifty, with several springs and palm-groves, and a small tract of cultivated land. The principal spring is marked by a large pool of clear water, about 40 metres in diameter, lying in a slight depression to the south of the houses; the water has a temperature of 24° C. (hotter than the air). There is plenty of water at this place, and more can easily be got by digging to a small depth.

At Ain Jafarra there is only one house, tenanted by a single family. At least two springs exist here, one being near the house and the other at a distance of some 700 metres to the east; the water from the latter spring is led by a long canal to the small palm-grove and patch of cultivated land near the house. The water, though somewhat saline, is drinkable.

Ain el Haiss is an important point on the road from the villages of Baharia to Farafra. It lies some 40 kilometres S.S.W. from Bawitti, in about lat. 28° 2′ N., long. 28° 39′ E. of G. It is a small settlement, being tenanted at the time of survey by only three or four men. There are two springs, one at a higher level than the other. The upper spring is close to the house occupied by the inhabitants; the water, which has a temperature of 15°.6 C. (i.e. 3° warmer than the air at the time of measurement) is collected into a shallow muddy pool, surrounded by a mud dam, whence it flows westward on to the fields. The lower spring forms a pool of about 400 square metres in extent, the temperature of the water here being 14° C. It is situated about 400 metres south-west of the one just described, and like it serves for irrigation. Rice was the crop growing at the time of our visit. The total irrigated area at Ain el Haiss is about 60 or 70 feddans, and there are only a few palms. Besides the house there is a sheikhs’ tomb, which is an object of veneration in the oasis, a small walled-in garden, and a large ruin; the last named will be described among the antiquities of the oasis. Another small cultivated tract, some 15 or 20 feddans in extent, with at least one spring, exists about 3 kilometres north-west of Ain el Haiss. According to Jordan there are two springs here, named Ain Hassab and Ain el Gharb, owned in 1874 by the Kadi of El Qasr, but the place is usually spoken of as Ain el Haiss el Bahari.

East of Ain el Haiss are two considerable patches of cultivated land which were mapped from the east scarp, and thus not examined by the survey. Of these, the most northerly one is situated about 9 kilometres east of Ain el Haiss; according to Ascherson it bears the name of Tablemun, and its principal spring had a temperature of 27° C. The ruins of a Coptic village existing here show that the place was inhabited in early times. It lies some 5 kilometres S.S.W. from Tablemun, and about 7 kilometres E.S.E. from Ain el Haiss, and thus forms the most southerly cultivated spot in the oasis. Both these localities were reported by our men, sent there to obtain water, to be untenanted; the lands are doubtless cultivated by men sent from Ain el Haiss or from the villages for the purpose. A long line of sand-dunes and scrub runs S.S.W., hiding these places from a traveller approaching from Ain el Haiss.

Besides the springs at the inhabited spots above described, and those used for irrigated lands more or less near to them, there are numerous outlying springs, which, while not serving for irrigation, are important as localities where water may be obtained. The chief of these are Ain Gelid, on the road from Minia and Samalut, 3½ kilometres south-east of Harra; Ain Haswi, 9½ kilometres due south of Harra, to which two roads from the east scarp converge; Ain Beled, 7 kilometres west of Bawitti; and Ain Khaman, half-way between Ain el Haiss and the south point of the oasis. The water at Ain Khaman is said to be bitter and the spring is apparently frequently sanded-up and difficult to find, so that travellers to Farafra should take in their supplies at Ain el Haiss.