An Egyptian oasis

by H. J. L. Beadnell

High-Level Springs.

Before leaving the subject of water-supply we must briefly refer to two or three remarkable instances where water is found at very high elevations. The most important of these is on the upper road between Kharga and Dakhla, where a spring, known as Ain Amûr, occurs near the summit of the plateau at about 460 metres above sea-level. The water, which is quite potable, occupies the bottom of a hole about 3 or 4 metres in depth, at the base of a clump of palm-stubs, a few paces to the south of a solitary tree; it does not run, and the water-level is said to fall considerably in the summer. A small patch of green rushes lies a few paces to the west, and there is a good deal of scrub in the neighbourhood, from the position of which one is led to infer that there are several small springs thrown out along one of the bedding-planes, at the summit of the marly and clayey beds which underlie the limestones forming the uppermost portion of the cliff.

The high-level spring on the eastern wall of the oasis, in the neighbourhood of Beris, consists of a pool of clear sweet water at the base of a large fallen block of limestone, in a desolate rocky dingle. Ball determined its height as being 180 metres above Beris, or 260 metres above sea-level. The pool itself is overgrown with weeds, and, scattered about on the sides and bottom of the valley, there is a good deal of vegetation, mostly in the form of coarse grasses, prickly scrub, and tamarisk bushes. Geologically, the spring appears to be similarly situated to Ain Amûr—that is to say, it emerges near, or at the summit of, the argillaceous Exogyra Series, and below the overlying Danian limestones.

The water obtainable at Nakhail, 60 kilometres S.S.E. of the oasis, also appears near the summit of the Exogyra Series, and may therefore be considered to have a similar origin to the springs just described.

These elevated occurrences, thrown out along more or less definite geological horizons, must be regarded as natural springs, quite distinct from the artificially-made wells of the oasis-floor. As the springs lie several hundred feet above the static head of the artesian water, and are separated from the water-bearing sandstones by a great thickness of argillaceous impermeable strata, it is perhaps permissible to assume that their waters are derived from an entirely different source. The occurrences known are of very limited number, and the water only appears in small quantities, so that it is not unlikely that it is derived from the very occasional rains which fall on the plateaux. A portion of these rains would doubtless find its way downwards through fissures in the limestone, and, in areas where the dip of the beds was towards the oasis, might travel underground and occasionally be thrown out as springs on the walls of the depression, at the junction of the limestones and underlying clays.

CHAPTER XII
THE ANCIENT SUBTERRANEAN AQUEDUCTS

Works of Public Utility — The System probably introduced from Persia — The Bulk of the Works carried out by the Romans — Trenches connecting Wells with Cultivable Lands — Fortress Bores and their Underground Connections — Dêr el Ghennîma — Subterranean Aqueducts of Qasr Gyb — Qasr Lebekha and Um el Dabâdib — Reopening of Tunnel by Sheikh Hassan Hanadi — Sala Abdulla — Nature of Tunnels and Shafts — The Magnitude of the Underground Works — Exploration of the Tunnels — Origin of the Water.

Although the Persians and Romans left abundant traces of their occupation of the country in the shape of temples, forts, and monasteries, the determination and energy with which they prosecuted the colonization and general development of the oases is best shown by their attention to works of public utility. At no period in the history of the oases has so much attention been paid to the water-supply. Not content with tapping the deep-seated sources by means of bores, they carried out underground works of considerable magnitude and involving engineering difficulties of no mean order, so as to obtain additional supplies from the sandstones lying at or near the surface. The methods employed were probably introduced from Persia, where underground aqueducts, or ‘kareez,’ for the transference of water from one locality to another, have from an early date been employed. At the same time, judging by the character of the ancient buildings in the immediate neighbourhood of the most important of these works, it seems probable that the latter were for the most part constructed by the Romans.

Underground aqueducts are found to some extent in all the chief oases of the Libyan Desert, but in Northern Kharga they far exceed in magnitude anything known elsewhere. In their simplest form they consist of deep trenches connecting the wells with low-lying areas of cultivable land, the object being to tap the bores at the lowest possible levels, in order to obtain the greatest discharges. Thus, although a bore, originally sunk on comparatively high ground for the purpose of irrigating a particular area of land, might through one cause or another have ceased to flow, it could still be made available for any low-lying area farther afield by the simple expedient of tapping it below the surface by means of a trench or tunnel. This practice was frequently resorted to.

In selecting sites for their forts, monasteries, and other buildings, the Romans were naturally drawn to eminences commanding views of the surrounding country. It was, of course, desirable, and in the case of forts absolutely necessary, to have a supply of water within the building, and it was the custom, therefore, to sink a deep bore within the precincts, generally in the centre of the courtyard. In many cases, however, owing to the elevation, the water would not rise to the surface, the supplies being drawn up by hand. In order to make the water of such a well available for irrigating the lands situated outside the fort, one or more gently inclined tunnels were excavated so as to tap the bore below the fort; the well was thus made to serve a double purpose. Excellent examples of such conduits are to be seen at Dêr el Ghennîma. Here the well is in the middle of the courtyard, and three underground tunnels converge on it from the low-lying and anciently cultivated lands to the north and north-west. Along those portions where the bottom of the channel was in soft ground, and not more than a metre or two below the surface, the conduit was made in the form of an open trench, the sides being carefully built in with stone.

QASR LEBEKHA AND THE NORTHERN ESCARPMENT OF THE OASIS.

When the excavation of the trenches was completed, the open portions were covered over with large flat slabs of rock, so that the channels were not only well protected from blowing sand, but quite invisible on the surface. The underground conduits at Dêr el Ghennîma were indeed quite unsuspected before they were accidentally discovered a year or two ago. The tapping of the bore within the fort had, of course, the effect of still further lowering the water-level as regards the courtyard; it is quite likely, therefore, that the inhabitants had a means of blocking the underground channel when they desired the water to rise to its maximum level in the well. But in any case the few extra metres of distance from the surface to the water could not have been a matter of importance, as the comparatively small supplies needed for domestic purposes within the fort were doubtless raised by means of a bucket and rope attached to a windlass.

These short tunnels, tapping the water of artesian wells bored on high ground, are quite insignificant compared with the extensive systems of subterranean aqueducts driven into the solid rock in various localities in the north of the oasis. The most remarkable of these are found at Um el Dabâdib, at Qasr Lebekha, and in the neighbourhood of Qasr Gyb. They were made with the object of obtaining auxiliary supplies of water from the Surface-water Sandstone, and were especially applicable to localities where this sandstone has an extensive development and forms hills or plateaux above the general level of the floor of the oasis. Although it is difficult to believe that the supplies of water obtained were commensurate with the time and labour involved in the construction of the collecting tunnels, we may safely assume that the engineers who so carefully planned and carried out the works had fully considered the results to be looked for. The ruins of villages and the traces of formerly cultivated tracts show that sufficient water was obtained to enable fairly large colonies to exist, though after the withdrawal of the Romans these outlying districts were abandoned, the aqueducts silted up, and the cultivated lands reverted to the desert.

The ruins of Um el Dabâdib are situated under the northern wall of the depression, and distant about 36 kilometres N.N.W. of Kharga village, the route usually followed lying between the hill-massifs of Jebel Têr and Jebel Tarif. A better route is afforded by the caravan road running from Meheriq to Ain Amûr, Um el Dabâdib lying somewhat to the north of the track at a distance of 25 kilometres from the village.

Dr. J. Ball, in the course of his survey of the oasis, visited Um el Dabâdib in 1898, and thought it possible that one of the tunnels, which he observed ran northwards from the neighbourhood of the ruins, had originally formed a means of communication with some unknown and formerly inhabited depression to the north of the escarpment. Its real nature was, however, well known to the Kharga people, and a year or two later Sheikh Hassan Hanadi, a brother of the present Omda of Kharga village, got together a number of men and cleaned out one of the tunnels from top to bottom, with the result that, after a lapse of perhaps 1,000 years, water again flowed from the mouth of the aqueduct, and enabled a small agricultural colony to establish itself on the ruined site of the original founders.

Sheikh Hassan informed me that the bulk of the work had been done under his personal supervision, by a gang of from seventy to eighty men employed throughout the hot season; he had found from experience that the natives worked better in summer than in winter. The main tunnel was entirely cleared of clay and sand, the silted material being lifted out through the numerous man-holes or vertical shafts which connect the aqueduct with the surface above. A great deal of rough masonry work had also to be undertaken where the sandstone roof or walls had fallen in. The place was put in thoroughly good order, and all the shafts again closed, with the exception of two or three left open to permit of the descent of the men sent down periodically to examine the channel and keep it free from silted material.

When I first visited the place in January, 1905, I found the discharge from the mouth of the aqueduct was between 30 and 35 gallons per minute. A dozen acres or so of land had been reclaimed, and were tended by seven or eight men, who informed me that the crops raised there were equal to those in any part of the oasis. This I can quite believe, as, in spite of the fact that several dune-belts exist in the neighbourhood, the place is comparatively sheltered from the northerly winds by the great escarpment to the north.

The little settlement of Um el Dabâdib, with its adjoining fertile fields and fruit-garden, threaded by the life-giving stream emerging from the foot-hills of the stupendous cliffs to the north, and backed by the grim fort of bygone ages to the south, has in the midst of this desert an indescribable charm.

RUINS AT UM EL DABADIB.

Sala Abdulla, old Sheikh Hassan’s head-man here, proved to be a most delightful fellow, and far superior to the average native in general intelligence. He spun the most fantastic yarns about the desert tableland to the north, and—a peculiarity I appreciated most of all—without expecting me to believe him. According to Sala, traces exist of a formerly much-frequented road, said to lead to a place called Ain Hamûr, lying somewhere to the north-west of Ain Amûr. But although he himself had on one occasion set out and travelled for many hours beyond the summit of the cliffs, he had been forced to return without finding the place, the exact position of which is at the present day unknown. This out-of-the-way corner of the desert is, according to my informant, so undisturbed by man that the gazelle there live for untold periods, and only eventually succumb to old age and the increasing weight of their horns, which grow to such a size that the poor beasts are unable to move about in search of food!

On my expressing a desire to examine the underground aqueduct, Sala led the way to one of the man-holes situated a couple of kilometres to the north, near the upper end of the tunnel. Producing a palm-fibre rope from under a ledge in a cliff hard by, he attached it to a log placed across the mouth of the shaft. There was a hot, steamy current of air ascending from the man-hole, the interior of which was as black as night. Sala had, however, provided candles and matches, and when he reached the bottom and shook the rope as a signal to me to follow, I could see a tiny speck of light in what seemed to be the bowels of the earth. Fortunately I had had a good training in the Cornish and Welsh mines at home, so that the prospect of a descent by the rope did not worry me in the least, and after scrambling into the shaft I went carefully down hand over hand.

The shaft, rectangular in cross-section, and beautifully cut through the solid sandstone rock, measured roughly 1½ metres by ¾ of a metre, tapering gradually downwards. The first few metres, sunk through the down-wash forming the bed of a valley, were carefully built in with blocks of limestone, the bottom layer resting on the solid rock below. Rough footholds on opposite sides of the shaft facilitate the descent, and when nearing the bottom, as the rope stretched and contracted like elastic in a most unpleasant manner, I was glad to avail myself of their assistance. The shaft, which I afterwards found to have a depth of 40·3 metres (132 feet), goes down perpendicularly, and when the bottom was reached, I found myself standing in a gently flowing stream of water, which I knew continued its underground course for at least 2 kilometres to the south.

The tunnel itself is distinctly coffin-shaped in cross-section, being widest near the roof, and tapering downwards. Its average height is about 1½ metres, the mean width near the top being about 60 centimetres—i.e., it measures roughly 5 feet by 2 feet. In some places it is even narrower, so that a man of average stature not only has to keep his head very much bent, but is also forced to progress sideways if he wishes to make his way along the channel. The place was so sultry, and the cramped position I had to assume so tiring, that I had soon had enough, and groped my way back to the base of the shaft. As I had anticipated, the ascent proved considerably more difficult than the descent, and I was not sorry when I regained the surface. After the heat of the shaft and the exertion of climbing, the outside air, despite the fact that it was an exceptionally hot day, felt bitterly cold, and the rapid evaporation from our perspiring bodies chilled us to the marrow.

Although I had vowed at the time that nothing would induce me to again enter the place, I afterwards reflected that, not having followed the tunnel to its extreme limits, there might still be further information to be gained, and at the termination there might exist an inscription, the deciphering of which would yield the much-desired information as to when and by whom the work had been carried out. Moreover, I particularly wished to ascertain whether the bulk of the water came from one particular point or whether it represented the accumulated flow from the numerous small fissures which a tunnel of such length must necessarily traverse. I therefore took the first opportunity of revisiting the place, this time providing myself with proper gear to facilitate the descent, and with instruments to make a thorough survey of the whole network of underground waterways.

The accompanying sketch-map, reduced from the detailed plan made during my last visit, shows that there are four main aqueducts, running nearly parallel, in a north and south direction, along the sides of three separate valleys. It is, of course, quite evident that the tunnels were run under the valleys rather than beneath the intervening ridges with the express object of keeping as near the surface as possible, so as to avoid unnecessary excavation in the sinking of the vertical shafts, and to reduce the labour involved in hoisting the excavated material to the surface. The engineers were at the same time careful to avoid the actual beds of the valleys, as there the soft nature of the ground would have necessitated a considerable amount of stone pitching, without which there would have been constant falls of the loose detritus, consisting of sand and pebbles with large blocks of limestone, forming the actual floors of the valleys. Alignments were chosen along the extreme margins, the mouths of the man-holes being commenced on the sloping sides of the valleys, a metre or two above their pebbly floors. The great majority were thus excavated throughout in solid rock, the latter being, as a rule, sufficiently firm to stand without timbering or masonry supports.

Although only one of the four main aqueducts is open at the present time, the exact course which each follows can be seen from the dump-heaps marking the positions of the shafts. The longest of the tunnels is the most westerly, measuring 4·6 kilometres from the point of origin to its exit on the west side of the ruined fort, the four together having a total length of 14·3 kilometres. The actual length of horizontal excavation is, however, considerably in excess of this figure, as there are very numerous subsidiary collecting branches ramifying from the main tunnels. Moreover, the total length given is the figure obtained by measuring along the surface from shaft to shaft; whereas, one of the most striking things underground is the markedly irregular trend of the tunnel, which frequently takes a wide bend between two adjacent shafts.

[(Large-size)]

THE SUBTERRANEAN AQUEDUCTS
OF
UM EL DABADIB

The man-holes, or vertical shafts connecting the underground waterway with the surface, served a double purpose. Through them the excavated material was hoisted to the surface, and in addition they afforded a means of ventilation, without which it is doubtful whether the work could have been carried out. The excavation of the man-holes alone must have been a gigantic task, equal to, if not greater than, that of cutting out the horizontal tunnels. The cross-section of an average-sized shaft is, if anything, greater than that of the tunnel; and although in vertical dimension the man-holes near the mouth of the aqueduct are insignificant, the depth rapidly increases in the opposite direction, owing to the upward slope of the ground-surface towards the escarpment. As already mentioned, the particular shaft I descended had a depth of over 40 metres, and subsequent levelling, from the exit of the aqueduct to a point above its origin, showed the most northerly one to have a depth of not less than 53½ metres (175 feet). Along this tunnel, which has a total length of 2·9 kilometres, I counted exactly 150 shafts, so that their average distance apart is between 19 and 20 metres.

That the tunnel was most carefully planned and excavated is evident from its very low and gradual slope, as is indicated by the depth of water flowing through and by the generally unrippled character of the stream. Judging by the height of the mouth of one of the man-holes near the point of origin of the tunnel, and by its depth to the stream in the tunnel below, there only appears to be a fall of 1 metre in about 2½ kilometres, or a slope of 1 in 2,670. It is possible that, owing to the elasticity of the line used, there may be a slight error in the measurement of the shaft, but the above figure may be taken as approximately correct.

We have now enough data to calculate the amount of material excavated from these underground works, and this gives us a good idea of the magnitude of the task. The average depth of the man-holes (from the ground-surface to the roof of the horizontal tunnel) works out at 22 metres— that is to say, they represent a total length of vertical excavation amounting to 3·3 kilometres. Adding 10 per cent. to the length of the aqueduct, to allow for the numerous bends and the side branches, we get 3·2 kilometres of horizontal excavation, or a grand total of 6·5 kilometres. From a number of measurements the cross-section of both shafts and tunnels works out at an almost identical figure—i.e., three-quarters of a square metre. Thus the amount of rock excavated in this system alone is about 4,875 cubic metres, and we may safely say that the construction of the four subterranean aqueducts and the 600 or 700 vertical shafts meant the excavation and removal of over 20,000 cubic metres of solid rock.

In contemplating the time and labour involved in the excavation and removal of this great mass of material, it must not be forgotten that the latter represents the construction of underground passages over twenty miles in length, and of such restricted size that only one man could have found room to work on the face of the tunnel or shaft at a time. And although the sinking of more than one vertical shaft may have been carried on simultaneously, the cutting of the long aqueducts had almost certainly to be conducted from one side only—i.e., from their exits. The accumulation of water would probably have prevented the cutting out of different sections at one and the same time by separate gangs of men.

One day, in the summer of 1908, I was foolhardy enough to follow the aqueduct to its termination, from the bottom of the ninth shaft—the one I had previously descended—and in case some future visitor to Um el Dabâdib should feel inclined to examine for himself these wonderful subterranean works, it may not be out of place to give a brief account of my examination of the upper portion and termination of the aqueduct in question (the second, counting from the most westerly), so that he may benefit by my experience. My particular objects were to ascertain if the bulk of the water came from one or more large fissures, to determine whether any special characteristics marked the termination of the tunnel, and to discover whether there were inscriptions which would yield valuable information regarding the making of the aqueduct. My intention was to descend one of the uppermost shafts by means of the windlass with which, remembering my previous experience with nothing better than a very elastic native-made rope, I had been careful to provide myself. I reckoned that the distance thence to the point of origin of the aqueduct could not be so far as to entail any great difficulty or danger from insufficiency of ventilation.

Unfortunately descent by any of these shafts proved out of the question in the time available, owing to their mouths having been carefully closed by great slabs of rock, which I had no facilities for moving. This discovery upset my calculations in two ways: unless I abandoned the undertaking altogether, which I was extremely loath to do after coming so far, it would be necessary to follow the tunnel from the bottom of the ninth man-hole for at least 230 metres, and I had already experienced the difficulty of progressing even a short distance in so confined a space. Secondly, there was the question of ventilation. With an open shaft near the top there would at least have been good circulation through the greater part of the aqueduct; however, I still hoped that the upper man-holes were not so tightly closed as to render the air below entirely stagnant.

One of the natives who had taken part in the cleaning out of the aqueduct many years before asserted that the air was not altogether bad, and though I could not definitely ascertain whether or no he had been to the end of the tunnel since the closing of so many of the ventilating shafts, I determined to accept his word for it, and we descended safely to the bottom. The water felt cool by comparison with the air of the tunnel, though my thermometer showed the temperature of both air and water to be identical, registering 87° F. in both cases. It was quite sweet, though a good deal of sediment appeared when the stream was stirred up.

After making a number of measurements of the shaft and tunnel, we proceeded on our way upstream. The sides of the tunnel were everywhere beautifully cut in a light brown sandstone, the direction of the pick-marks showing that it had been excavated in the same direction as that we were following—i.e., from south to north. Small notches for the lights used by the workmen were plainly observable on the walls, about half-way between the floor and the roof. As a rule the tunnel maintains an elongated oval form, wider near the top than elsewhere; along one length, however, where it evidently follows a fissure, both top and bottom taper sharply, so much so that our feet constantly got jammed in the narrow, wedge-shaped channel through which the water flows. We passed many side branches, blind alleys, in fact, and the main tunnel itself zigzagged considerably, frequently turning at sharp angles, and more than once almost doubling back on itself.

The air was bad enough at the start, but seemed to get worse as we proceeded. I trusted, however, to finding a distinct improvement in the neighbourhood of the shafts, but to my dismay each one in turn proved to be hermetically sealed with masses of rock just above its junction with the tunnel, and there was not the slightest suspicion of any circulation of air, so that the only relief they afforded was the possibility of resting in an upright position. Three hundred metres, as I afterwards calculated the total distance to be, may seem little enough in the open, but to grope one’s way this distance by the light of a feeble candle along a passage so restricted that one has to proceed not only with bent head and shoulders, but half sideways, in a hot, steamy, stagnant atmosphere, is quite a different matter. My companion, being of small build and stature, was able to walk upright in comparative comfort, without continually bumping his head and bruising his shoulders, so that the want of air did not tell on him to the same extent; while I became more and more fatigued, owing to the difficulty experienced of getting sufficient oxygen from such an atmosphere in the cramped position I had of necessity to assume. On more than one occasion I sank exhausted into the water, the huge gasps of breath which I took seeming powerless to relieve the horrible sensation of stifling, and with the unpleasant prospect of getting drowned if I escaped suffocation. Yet there seemed to be ten thousand devils tempting me onwards, and although I did not know how long life could be supported under such conditions, a mad desire possessed me to see the thing through; so that whenever I was able to progress a few yards it was towards the head of the tunnel.

When eventually we reached our destination, some 15 to 20 metres beyond the last man-hole, it was only to find that the tunnel just stopped. There was no more water emerging from the rock at the end than I had seen entering at a dozen small fissures along the course we had traversed; there was no vertical excavation downwards; there were no traces of inscriptions; nothing, in fact. After all our trouble, we had drawn a blank. Although I positively dreaded the long crawl back, the very fact that every step took us towards the fresh air made me feel comparatively cheerful. After making my examination of the end of the tunnel, however, I found the space was insufficient to allow of my turning round, so that I was compelled to proceed backwards for some distance before I found room in which to turn. I must confess to never having experienced such a feeling of relief as when we eventually arrived at the bottom of the open shaft, and were able to fill our lungs with copious draughts of the air descending from above. We could see the tiny pin-hole of light far above us, and when sufficiently rested we swung the rope as a signal to be wound up. Although I got back to the surface none the worse for my adventure, with the exception of skin bruises, I would not recommend anyone to attempt the exploration of other similar tunnels unless there were open shafts on either side to insure some circulation of air.

It is now quite certain that the aqueducts derived their water from the numerous small fissures traversed, so that the yield of any single tunnel must have depended to a great extent on its total length. The general formation of the country determined the general direction of the tunnels, which, in order to keep within reasonable distance of the surface, had to follow the valleys. The latter, without exception in this district, run in a north and south direction, having formed at one time drainage-lines from the high plateau to the north. Many of the short branch tunnels are, however, driven along east and west fissures, though these could not be followed to any great distance, owing to the high ridges separating the valleys. It is also quite certain that the work of excavation was eventually stopped by the ever-increasing labour involved in the construction of the vertical shafts, the depth of which necessarily increased at a rapid rate as the surface of the ground rose when nearing the actual escarpment. For instance, in the space of only 230 metres, between the ninth and the first shafts, the depth of the man-holes increases from 40 to 54 metres, and to the north of this the increase would have been still more rapid, until the amount of vertical excavation would have become altogether disproportionate to the horizontal distance gained by the aqueduct.

CHAPTER XIII
BORING METHODS: ANCIENT AND MODERN

The Skill of the Ancients in Well-Boring — Present State of the Ancient Wells — Ancient Methods of Boring — Wooden Casing — Introduction of Machinery by Egyptian Government — Native Methods of Boring at the Present Day — Cleaning of Wells — Divers and their Work — Recent Boring Operations — American Steam-driven Boring Rigs.

Olympiodorus, writing more than 1,500 years ago, remarked that the inhabitants of the oases were celebrated for their skill in sinking wells. Although at the present day a large proportion of the very ancient wells are completely sanded up, or have suffered great deterioration in respect of their flows, there are still many examples to be met with where bores, certainly between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, are still producing strong discharges of water at the rate of hundreds of gallons a minute by day and by night.

Although scores of the old wells have been cleaned out and repaired in modern times, not a single instance has come under my notice of the finding of implements used by the well-borers of ancient times. We know, however, that the bores were in practically all cases lined to a considerable depth with wooden casing, manufactured from the wood of the doum-palm, date-palm, or acacia, which doubtless were then, as now, cultivated in large numbers in the oasis. The timber was carefully fashioned into the required lengths and fitted together by water-tight joints. During the cleaning operations to which many of the old wells have been subjected in modern times, portions of the ancient casing have frequently been extracted, and some of the examples which I have examined, especially those made of acacia, proved to be in an excellent state of preservation. The wood of this particular tree—‘sunt,’ as it is locally called—has remarkably enduring qualities both in and out of water, though not when subjected to alternations of wet and dry. Still, that it should in some cases have retained its original qualities since Roman times is noteworthy.

It is quite evident, from a comparison of the ancient timbering and casing with those manufactured and used by the inhabitants of the oases at the present day, that the methods of well-sinking in modern times are in many respects identical with those anciently employed. This is especially the case in sinking through the superficial strata—i.e., those overlying the actual beds in which the artesian water is held—though of the methods formerly practised for carrying the bore through the Artesian-water Sandstones nothing is known.

We have little, if any, information as to how the inhabitants kept up their water-supply after the withdrawal of the Romans. Probably there was a gradual diminution of the total output, as it is not at all certain that any new wells were subsequently sunk—at any rate, until after the introduction of modern hand-boring machinery some fifty or sixty years ago. On that occasion one Hassan Effendi, a servant of a French engineer of the name of Lefèvre, was sent out by the Egyptian Government to instruct the inhabitants in the use of the new machinery. Judging from their present proficiency in sinking wells through difficult strata with the most hopelessly worn and antiquated tackle, the natives did not take long to learn the new system. Unfortunately, when left to themselves without adequate supervision, they promiscuously sunk a great number of new bores, without regard to the probable effects on the older wells irrigating the existing palm-groves and cultivated lands, with the result that, more especially in the oasis of Dakhla, a great deal of harm was done. Whole districts suffered a general lowering of water-level, many of the wells ceasing to flow altogether. This was the direct outcome of the excessive number of new bores put down in certain districts where the inhabitants were sufficiently rich and influential to get and retain possession of the majority of the newly-imported boring-rigs.

About ten years ago I studied the method of well-sinking used in the oases, and found it to consist of a combination of ancient and modern boring practices. Owing to the difficulty and prohibitive cost of transporting heavy steel tubes across the desert, the use of locally-made wooden casing could not be dispensed with, and as casing of this description could not possibly be made of sufficient strength to stand ‘driving,’ the upper portion of the well had of necessity to take the form of an open shaft carried down as near as possible to the water-bearing beds, the actual boring by means of the drilling-plant being confined to the later stages.

The first operation consists in sinking a rectangular shaft, usually 2 metres square; this work is carried out by hand, the ordinary native ‘fass’ being almost the only implement used. As the shaft is cut out it is timbered with lengths of palm-wood strung one below the other, to prevent the walls from falling in. The excavation is carried as deep as possible, the limit generally depending on the amount of sub-surface water met with. In the oasis of Dakhla, where the superficial strata consist almost entirely of clays, it can usually be continued to a depth of about 30 metres; but in Kharga the depth varies considerably, owing to the more frequent intercalations of water-logged sandstones. The success of the prospective bore depends to a very great extent on the depth to which this preliminary work is carried, as the succeeding strata, lying between the base of the shaft and the true artesian beds, have to be pierced by a hole unprotected by casing, and if of any very considerable thickness, caving beds are likely to greatly interfere with, if not prevent, the progress of the work.

On completion of the timbered shaft the wooden casing is placed centrally in position, so as to form a vertical pipe from the base of the shaft to the surface of the ground. The pipe may be either square or round in section, and is usually made of acacia, though hollowed trunks of doum-palm are sometimes used. It consists of a number of different sections, joined together in such a way as to leave no projecting portions either within or without, the whole length of casing thus preserving a constant diameter from top to bottom. As a rule, the joints are so well formed that the pipe is, to all intents and purposes, water-tight after a short soaking. The square variety of casing usually has an inside width of 36 centimetres, the thickness of the wood being 4 or 5 centimetres; the circular, and perhaps more common, variety is made with an inside diameter of 35 centimetres, except when required for insertion within a previously fixed string of casing, when smaller sizes have to be used. The casing, of course, eventually forms the actual channel through which the artesian water flows to the surface.

The space intervening between the sides of the timbered shaft and the central pipe is then filled in with a mixture of sand and clay, firmly packed down, so as to hold the pipe securely in position, and prevent the escape of water should any of the joints become leaky.

Up to this point there is good reason to believe that the modern practice is similar to, if not identical with, that anciently used; but in the complete absence of evidence, documentary or otherwise, we cannot conjecture how the old well-sinkers proceeded in subsequent stages. We surmise, however, that, given sufficiency of time, they were possessed of the requisite patience and skill to overcome all ordinary obstacles—as has been the case for generations in China—and it is probable that the percentage of wells abandoned was not greater than it is at the present day in countries where well-boring has become an art, carried out by means of scientifically designed machinery.

The second part of the modern operations is conducted with an ordinary percussion hand-boring outfit of European manufacture. As the method of boring with this type of rig is essentially the same all over the world, we only propose to describe it in brief. The proceedings commence with the erection of a timber framework, or derrick, immediately over the mouth of the pipe; at the summit of the derrick is a pulley, over which passes the rope or chain which connects on one side with the drum of the winch, and from the end of which, on the other side, are suspended the actual tools with which drilling is continued. The boring-rod is made up to the required length by screwing together a number of 10-foot sections, the terminal length being a shorter rod fitted with a chisel, auger, or sand-pump, according to the work in hand.

The rate of progress depends to a great extent on the rapidity with which the blows of the chisel are delivered. This, of course, varies considerably, depending on the depth of the well and consequent weight of the rods in use. Where the weight is great and the formation sticky, the rods have to be lifted by means of the winch, and not more than two or three blows a minute can be struck. When the rods are light or working freely, as, for instance, when drilling in sandstones, the winch can be dispensed with, and the necessary motion conveyed by means of a lever actuated by a number of men. In this way progress can be very much accelerated, as many as twenty or twenty-five blows being delivered per minute. At the best, however, the method of drilling by percussion with a solid rod is necessarily slow, owing mainly to the fact that the terminal tool cannot be changed or withdrawn without the entire length of rod being taken to pieces. It is seldom, therefore, that a well of 120 to 150 metres is completed in less than five months, and the average time taken is more like nine months or a year.

It will readily be admitted that this method of sinking wells is in many respects well adapted to the local conditions obtaining in such isolated localities as the oases, where time is of little consequence to the inhabitants. The completed wells are frequently equal in almost every respect to those put down by means of the most up-to-date appliances; in fact, the only objections to the method are its slowness, the limited depth to which it is applicable, and the difficulty of fixing to the wooden casing satisfactory appliances for regulating the discharge.

The patience and industry of the inhabitants of the oases are well exemplified by their unceasing attempts to maintain undiminished the water-supply on which their very existence depends. The population must always have borne a direct ratio to the total discharge of the wells, as on the latter depends the amount of food-supplies which can be raised. At no period, as far as we can judge, has the output of the wells been greater than the requirements, and it is probable that there has always been a population somewhat in excess of that which could be supported by local products, the surplus portion being disposed of by emigration to the Nile Valley.

The methods of dealing with wells in which the flows have diminished or altogether ceased are of considerable interest, as they have given rise to a class of men called ‘ghattasin’ (divers), which one would never have expected to find in such remote and arid localities as the oases of the Libyan Desert.

It is seldom that the poorer inhabitants can command the use of a hand-rig for the cleaning of their wells, so that they usually have recourse to appliances of the most primitive description. Perhaps the simplest form consists of a short iron rod, a sort of crowbar or jumper, suspended from a palm-fibre rope, and with a tiny basket attached to the lower end. In some cases the end of the jumper is itself fashioned into the form of a cup, so that the basket of plaited grass or palm-leaf can be dispensed with. The rod is worked up and down in the bore, so as to stir up the sand and clay at the bottom, which settles in the basket or cup, and is periodically hoisted to the surface. The rope is worked over a wooden roller fixed alongside the mouth of the well, a contrivance which enables the up-and-down motion to be given with a minimum of energy and friction. The process is often continued for years, the material which can be removed in a day only amounting to a few handfuls.

The above method is only applicable to bores in which the wooden casing is more or less intact. Where the latter has rotted and allowed the sides of the well to collapse, a much more difficult and complicated procedure is necessary before the discharge can be re-established. In a case of this sort the original rectangular shaft has to be entirely cleared of material, and a new string of casing placed in the exact position occupied by the original pipe of the well. Moreover, the timber of the shaft itself has generally to be repaired or entirely renewed, as otherwise there would be very great danger of the sides collapsing when the material from within was removed. The process is rendered extremely difficult and laborious by reason of the entire work having to be carried on under water. Although a well may have stopped flowing, the passages are never so completely blocked as to altogether prevent the water from rising to within a few feet of the surface, and any excavation made will always be found to become speedily filled with water. The work can, therefore, only be carried out by men who have trained themselves to remain and work under water, and a limited number of these divers are found in most of the Egyptian oases.

I have frequently watched and chatted with the divers at work on old wells, both in Dakhla and Kharga. Unlike the usual custom of remunerating men employed on well-cleaning by shares of the resulting water, divers are generally paid in cash at the rate of about a shilling a day, each man receiving his food as well. The descent is always made feet first, hand over hand down a rope stretched from the top to the bottom. When the diver wishes to return to the surface he signals by a motion of the rope to those at the top, who promptly haul him up.

The rate of progress depends, of course, on the depth at which the work is proceeding. In a well I once visited near Hindaw, in the oasis of Dakhla, divers were working at a depth of 29 metres. Each man descended six or seven times a day, remaining on each occasion from two to two and a half minutes under water. Work had been in progress here for four years, and the excavation was still 16 or 17 metres from the bottom of the shaft.

The excavated material is placed in baskets, which, when full, are drawn up by hand. As soon as the shaft has been cleared to the bottom the new casing is inserted, the intervening space filled in, and the work carried on as in a new bore. Many extinct wells have thus been put into good working order, though in some cases the divers have been unable to overcome the difficulties encountered, and the wells have been finally abandoned after months, or even years, of labour.

In the reclamation operations conducted in the oasis of Kharga during the last two or three years, both hand and steam boring rigs have been employed, steel casing being used for all wells. The cost per foot drilled is somewhat in favour of the hand-rigs, but the rate of progress is far more rapid in the case of the steam-driven machines. The method used with the hand-machines is the same in principle as that employed by the natives and already described, with the exception that the preliminary excavation is dispensed with, the bore being drilled from the surface and lined with metal casing down to the Water-bearing Sandstones. The casing is driven by means of a heavy weight, or ‘monkey,’ attached to the boring-rod.

The steam-rigs used are of American manufacture, and of the design usually employed in the oil-fields of the United States. The method is a modern adaptation of a practice employed from very early times in China, free-falling tools attached to a flexible rope being used in place of a solid iron rod. The actual drilling tool, which is of great weight, is suspended from a cable, and worked by steam-power in such a way as to give a rapid succession of blows of such force as to cut out a circular hole through the hardest of rocks. The outfit consists essentially of a very high derrick, a large drum on which the cable is wound, and a specially-designed engine worked by steam, the boiler in which the latter is generated being usually placed on a separate carriage. A second and smaller drum is provided for a fine wire rope, which is used with various forms of sand-pump for cleaning out the loose sand or sludge formed by the drilling tool.

A STEAM BORING RIG.

A HAND BORING RIG.

These steam-rigs necessitate the employment of skilled drillers, and are, moreover, with difficulty kept in proper repair in out-of-the-way localities. Their initial cost is high; they are extremely cumbersome to drag from one site to another over the soft surface of the desert, and they consume a large quantity of fuel. These drawbacks are, however, partly, if not entirely, counterbalanced by the rapidity with which the work can be carried out, the average rate of progress under the conditions met with in the oasis being 5 to 7 metres per ‘shift’ of eight or ten hours. In the water-sandstones I have known Mr. B. F. Whiting, who was recently my drilling superintendent in the oasis, carry a bore down as much as 20 or 25 metres in a single shift. Breakdowns are, of course, not infrequent with this system of boring, but the American drillers are remarkably proficient in the recovery of lost tools.

CHAPTER XIV
THE CONTEST BETWEEN MAN AND WIND-BORNE SAND

The Winds — Wind and Sand as Agents of Denudation — The Combat of the Inhabitants with Sand-laden Winds — The Dune-Belts — Origin of the Sand — Composition of Dune-Sand — The Forms of Dunes — Dimensions and Rate of Movement — Irresistibility of Blown Sand — Protection afforded by Topographical Features — Effect of Artificial Obstructions on the Formation of Dunes — Fixing of Dunes by Vegetation and Moisture — Storm-Walls and Fences — The Dunes of Gennâh — Wind-borne Sand beneficial in the South of the Oasis — Formation of Terraces of Wind-borne Materials — Encroachment of Dunes in the South of the Oasis.

No one who has sojourned in Kharga long enough to compare it with other parts of Egypt will feel inclined to dispute the statement that the depression is one of the most windy places in the country. Only one day in ten or eleven is calm, though if the wind has been blowing fairly steadily during the day it generally drops at night. Five times out of six its direction is from the north, and when unaccompanied by sand the wind acts as a welcome moderator of the temperature.

In a desert region, owing to the surface being unprotected by vegetation, there is nearly always an abundance of weathered material loosely exposed on the surface, the lighter portions of which are quickly swept up and carried along as soon as the wind attains even a moderate velocity. On the actual dunes even a light breeze is sufficient to set the surface-layers in motion, while on the open plain the wind becomes visibly charged with sand directly it attains the velocity of a moderate breeze. The frequency with which the wind blows has already been mentioned, and when we add that on one day in three it attains a velocity sufficient to enable it to easily carry sand in suspension, its power as a transporting agent can readily be conceived. Not only does the wind carry the sand along from one place to another, dumping it behind or in front of every obstacle it may meet, but the combination of sand and wind forms a denuding force of no mean power, capable of planing and grooving the exposed surfaces of the hardest of rocks.

Now, although opinions may differ as to the part played in the past by wind and sand in the shaping and formation of the oases-depressions of the Libyan Desert, there can be no question of the effects they are producing at the present day. Wind-borne sand is indeed the curse of the oasis, and although its evil effects may be mitigated or altogether staved off for a time, the longer this force of Nature is opposed by man the greater and more overwhelming is its final victory. If a full account of the human occupation of the oases could be written, it would be very largely the history of an incessant combat between man and Nature; and although man may for a time gain the upper hand, and even make the sand-laden winds to some extent serve his purposes, he is in the end generally forced to abandon those places in which he has been at such pains to establish himself.

In the Libyan Desert, both on the plateaux and in the depressions, blown sand has a marked tendency to collect into dunes occupying definite north and south belts of country, lying parallel to the direction of the prevailing winds. This peculiar and fortunate disposition depends on a number of circumstances, such as the mean direction of the wind, the points of greatest supply of the material, and on other causes which are not perhaps as yet thoroughly understood.

In Kharga Oasis the best marked and most important belt lies somewhat to the west of the central axis of the depression. At the north end, in the neighbourhood of Um el Dabâdib, it consists of a number of isolated but parallel lines of dunes, which southwards pass over and round the hill-massif of Jebel Tarif, eventually uniting and forming a more compact belt of sand, with an average width of 8 or 10 kilometres, which continues right through the depression into the desert to the south. This line of sand sets a limit to the extension of cultivation to the west. A second belt comes from the plateau to the north of Qasr Lebekha, passes immediately to the east of Jebel Têr and the village of Kharga, and continues southwards until it spreads out and is arrested, more or less by artificial means, in the vicinity of Gennâh. Other smaller and less defined belts exist to the south of Ain el Tawîl, to the east of Headquarters, and near the foot of, and parallel to, the eastern wall of the depression.

A BELT OF DUNES NEAR QASR LEBEKHA.

Although it has been stated by more than one writer that the great sand accumulations of the Libyan Desert originate in the denudation of the Nubian Sandstone which occupies large areas to the south of the oases, I have never myself met with any evidence in support of such a view. In my opinion the bulk of the sand must be regarded as originating in the arenaceous deposits of post-Middle Eocene age, which largely occupy and are exposed on the surface of the country between the Mediterranean Sea and latitude 29° N. We know from personal observation that some of the great sand-belts, which cross the intervening limestone plateau to the southern oases, commence in this region, and the supply of sand made available by the denudation of the beds in question is inexhaustible. During the passage of this sand across the great desert tableland the individual grains of silica doubtless become much rounded and reduced by attrition, though the total loss is probably more than counterbalanced by the very considerable additions received in the form of calcareous grains, derived from the limestones forming the surface of the high desert.

An examination of the dunes of Kharga Oasis at once shows that the sand is not by any means composed solely of siliceous grains, but that there is a considerable proportion of white granules of limestone. A number of samples collected at random from the dunes in the central part of the depression were all found to contain a visible proportion of calcareous grains, and one of these, collected from the big dune to the south-east of Headquarters, was qualitatively examined for me by Mr. Garsed, and shown to contain 7·7 per cent. of calcium carbonate. It would be difficult to account for the presence of these calcareous grains on the assumption that the sand is derived from the Nubian Sandstone, though the denudation of the latter in and to the south of the oases must give rise to a very large amount of siliceous sand, which goes to swell the bulk of the dunes which have invaded this country from beyond the limestone plateau to the north.

The dominant form of dune in the oasis is of crescentic or horse-shoe shape, a form specially typical of desert regions where there are prevailing winds in any one direction. These ‘barchans,’ as they are called, which are always disposed with the concave, steeply-inclined sides facing southwards, are found of every size, and exhibit many variations of the simple crescentic pattern. In many parts of the oasis the sand-belts are made up of a number of isolated and promiscuously disposed barchans; in others the dunes have joined together into a compact mass, in which the typical shape of the individual barchan is more or less obliterated.

Solitary barchans, being well-defined isolated masses, lend themselves to observation better than the large and continuous belts of sand. They occur of all sizes, from little baby crescents, a metre or two across, to enormous masses 30 or 40 metres high and 200 to 300 metres in breadth. In all cases, except when their steady march southwards has been temporarily interrupted by southerly winds, the southern face, flanked by the horns of the crescent, is a straight slope of from 30 to 33 degrees, its inclination is, in fact, the angle of rest of loose dry sand, and it is formed of the sand which is continually blown up the opposite slope and dropped over the crest.

In a moderate breeze the whole barchan progresses steadily in a southerly direction without loss or gain of sand; in stronger winds, while still continuing its course, the dune may at the same time be either losing or gaining in actual bulk. The rate at which the barchans travel varies with their size. The larger the dune the greater the amount of material to be moved, so that, as a general rule, small barchans progress much more rapidly than large ones. The actual rate may vary from 10 to 20 metres per annum, the average being about 17. For instance, the big isolated dune on the road between Headquarters and Kharga village moved 11 metres southwards between December 8, 1907, and December 8, 1908, while during the same period a small dune in the Bellaida district travelled 21 metres in the same direction. The dimensions of these two dunes is as follows:

	Kharga Road Dune.	Bellaida Dune.
	Metres.	Metres.
Vertical height of centre of crest	17	10·5
Maximum breadth (east and west)	259	160
Maximum length (north and south)	230	70

These are merely instances from dunes which I have had under observation for a number of months, full details of which I hope shortly to publish.

Approached on a bright sunny day from the south side, the angle of slope within the crescent of a barchan is most deceptive. Nine out of ten persons will confidently state that the face of the dune cannot be less than 60 or 70 degrees from the horizontal, though, as a matter of fact, it never exceeds by more than two or three degrees a third of a right angle. Unless held together by vegetation or compacted by moisture, it cannot exceed the angle of rest of dry blown sand, which is about 32 degrees. In normal weather this face of a barchan is a straight, unrippled, even slope of loose sand from top to bottom; when a light or gentle breeze is blowing from the north, the dune can be seen ‘smoking’ at the top of the crest, the sand being blown up the much more gentle and markedly rippled northerly slope, and dropped over the crest on to the steep, smooth, southerly face. The bulk of this sand in a light breeze falls on the upper part of the slope, equilibrium being adjusted from time to time by a downward sliding of the superficial layers. A cross-section of the dune, from north to south, would indeed show it to be composed of well-stratified layers of sand, dipping steadily southwards at a little over 30 degrees.

In this district I have never observed southerly winds hold for a sufficient length of time to do more than slightly modify the general form of a barchan, though during their continuance the progress of the dune is arrested, the outline of the crest becomes considerably altered, ripple-marks appear on the steep southerly face, and an apron of sand of greater or lesser dimensions forms at its foot.

The irresistibility of drift sand is well seen where isolated hills lie in the path of the dunes. When such hills are narrow, and elongated in a north and south direction, they generally act as a wedge, divide the wind, and force any sand it may be carrying to pass on either side. When, however, a hill has northerly flanks of any considerable width, it will only form a temporary check to the southward passage of the sand. The progress of the latter may be arrested for a while, until hollows have been filled in and the general slopes reduced; but eventually the sand will pass up along the lines of least resistance to the summit. This is beautifully illustrated at Jebel Tarif, the great isolated, flat-topped, hill-massif lying between Um el Dabâdib and Kharga village, standing over 300 metres, or 1,000 feet, above the surrounding plain. Instead of being diverted by this obstacle, the sand, coming from the plateau to the north and north-west of Um el Dabâdib, surmounts the slopes, and continues in its normal direction across the flat-topped summit. The latter has been cut up into numberless parallel north- and south-disposed ridges, separated by deep troughs, which are now to a considerable extent filled with sand. Active erosion must, therefore, at the present day be confined to the upper portions of the slopes of the valleys and to the intervening ridges.

Naturally in such a region the inhabitants have been quick to take advantage of any protection afforded by topographical features, and it is not surprising to find that the most important of the ancient monuments, as well as the greatest area of modernly cultivated land, lie in a comparatively sheltered position to the south of Jebel Têr. Even there, however, trouble is constantly experienced on the east side, owing to the tendency of the belt of sand-dunes, which comes from the vicinity of Qasr Lebekha, to spread laterally. Along the east side of the village the dunes are close up against the outlying houses, and the sand continually surmounts and pours over the walls which from time to time are erected by the natives to act as barricades.

Sheltered places of the above description are rare, the majority of the smaller settlements being situated on the open plain, where the only precaution which can be taken is to select the sites for wells as far away as possible from the well-defined sand-belts. But in windy weather the sand-blast is not confined to the neighbourhood of the dunes; the wind rages across the open plains, carrying dense clouds of sand in suspension, and devastating the works of man wherever the latter offer the slightest obstacle to its progress.

SAND EROSION ON SUMMIT OF JEBEL TARIF.

In order to protect his crops from the fierce onslaught of wind-borne sand the native is compelled to erect fences and barricades along the northern boundaries of his fields. These serve his purpose for the time being, the sand which would otherwise have cut and beaten down the growing crops being deposited on either side of the fence, where the velocity of the wind is checked. The arrested sand accumulates with increasing rapidity as the size of the obstruction becomes greater, a veritable dune, constituting a really efficient protection to the cultivated lands, being formed over the site of the original small and insignificant hedge. Unfortunately, this sand continues to collect, and although the cultivator may have satisfactorily insured himself against the frequent damage caused to his crops by their exposure to wind-driven sand, he is now confronted with the still more serious prospect of having his lands overwhelmed by the ever-increasing dunes, which have grown to considerable proportions as the result of his efforts to protect himself.

Fortunately for the occupiers of these outlying settlements, the progress of such dunes, formed more or less artificially on the northerly sides of the cultivated tracts, is not at the same rate as that of isolated dunes moving across the open desert plain. Owing to the presence of a certain amount of moisture in the superficial layers of the ground in the neighbourhood of the wells and the cultivated lands, plants of various kinds are enabled to thrive, with the result that the dunes become to some extent ‘fixed’ by wild vegetation. The most valuable plant in this connection is the tamarisk, which by means of immensely long roots continues to thrive and keep its head above growing dunes with remarkable facility. To a certain extent, moreover, the moisture from the soil itself rises by capillarity into the base of the sand, and assists the vegetation in binding it into a compact mass, which is not liable to movement in the same degree as dry sand. The rate of progress of such dunes may therefore be reduced to a considerable extent, but the movement can never be altogether stopped. As we have seen in the case of the hamlet of Meheriq, the sand eventually gets the upper hand, blotting out the arable lands, burying the palm-groves, and forcing man to abandon his habitations.

In the neighbourhood of the Corporation’s Headquarters a considerable area of the floor of the depression has been brought under cultivation during the last three years. This tract is exposed on every side, there being no protection whatever in the shape of natural features. Although occasional sandstorms are experienced from the south, and even from the east and west sides, practically the whole of the trouble encountered comes from northerly sandstorms and sand-laden winds. It was found quite impossible to raise crops unless the fields were protected by storm-walls or fences, the young plants being cut down as if by a scythe. So long as the reclamation of land proceeded from south to north at a fairly rapid rate, the accumulation of sand against these fences was of little moment, being, indeed, rather welcome than otherwise, as the sand was found to be of considerable value when spread out and ploughed into the heavy clay soil with which this area is superficially covered. When, however, a storm-wall remains for several consecutive months exposed to the open desert to the north, the accumulation of sand becomes a more serious matter, and care has to be taken to avoid the formation of dunes, which it might be afterwards difficult to get rid of. A fairly satisfactory mode of procedure is the planting of narrow belts of ‘sesban,’ or other quickly-growing shrub, along the northern limits of the newly reclaimed lands; a hedge of this description forms an efficient shelter to the fields, while at the same time it allows a good deal of the sand to filter through and become absorbed by the soil.

THE CORPORATION’S HOMESTEAD (HEADQUARTERS).

Most of the dunes in the Gennâh district are more or less covered with tamarisk and other wild vegetation, but that their progression southwards has only been retarded, and not prevented, is evident from an examination of the country. Large areas of land have been abandoned owing to the invasion of the dunes, and the magnificent wells of Gennâh are threatened with destruction within a very short term of years, unless special measures are adopted to cope with the advance of the sand. The available land in the vicinity of the village has long been insufficient to utilize the water discharged by these wells, which has in consequence to be led by a channel of several kilometres in length to lower ground south-east of the Gorn el Gennâh. This channel is being constantly pushed to the south, and as the ground rises in that direction, it may eventually become impossible to maintain the conduit at a sufficiently low level to carry the water of the wells to this outlying district.

The southern portion of the oasis is the only area where sand and wind can be said to be of any actual benefit to the inhabitants, but in this area, owing to the broad plains of alluvial clay, the suspended material consists to a very great extent of fine argillaceous particles. At many of the wells in the Dakhakhin and Beris districts the cultivators encourage the gradual deposition on their fields of the sand and clay-dust borne by the northerly winds. The mixture forms an excellent loam, and an annual dressing of the material is regarded as desirable, and even necessary, on account of its value as a fertilizer. The result of this gradual deposition of wind-borne material has been that the cultivated terraces have in many cases attained to such elevations that the discharges of the wells have suffered very considerable diminution, owing to the increased height of the outlets.

To the west of the villages of Maks and Beris the great belt of sand has already enveloped a number of wells, and appears to be still encroaching—as the individual dunes follow their normal course in a direction slightly east of south—on the area occupied by the existing cultivated lands. Fortunately there are still extensive tracts of cultivable land comparatively free from accumulations of drift sand, and doubtless the inhabitants, when driven by the irresistible forces of Nature from the localities they now occupy, will again, as they have so frequently been compelled to do in the past, migrate to pastures new.

CHAPTER XV
SOME ECONOMICAL ASPECTS OF THE OASIS

The Staple Crops of the Oasis — Rice the Summer Crop in Northern Kharga — The Value of Rice in the Reclamation of Land — The Date Harvest — Conditions under which the Date-Palm flourishes — Varieties — Propagation — The Doum-Palm — Lucerne — Its Value in Land-Reclamation — The Vine — Oranges and Other Fruits — The Wadi Molûk — Earthy Minerals — The Ancient Alum Mines — The Phosphatic Deposits.

The staple crops of the oasis are dates, rice, wheat, and barley, while for fodder large quantities of lucerne are grown. It seems at first sight a curious anomaly that in an arid region, where water is so scarce and precious a commodity, rice should be grown as the summer crop. Few, if any, plants require such an abundance of water as rice, which from the time of sowing to that of reaping has to be continually irrigated by fresh water, the fields being, indeed, during the whole period that the crop is on the ground, in a constant state of saturation. Rice does not thrive in stagnant water, and it is noticeable that the best crops in the oasis are raised on lands which have a decided slope, and over which fresh water can be kept constantly running. The proper irrigation of a rice-field is a matter of no small difficulty, and the ingenious manner in which the oasis cultivator lays out his irrigating channels and subdivides them by means of notched weirs, so as to insure every portion of the crop getting a continuous supply of fresh water, is well worthy of close examination.

In the Nile Delta, according to Sir William Willcocks,[13] rice requires about twice as much water as the other commonly-grown crops, but in the oases I do not think I am mistaken in saying that it needs three times as much as any other grain. Rice appears to have been grown from time immemorial, and certainly at the present day the inhabitants would as soon think of giving up their date-trees as of replacing it by any other crop. Now, however, that facilities exist for the export of farm-produce to the Nile Valley markets, it will be interesting to observe whether rice will to any extent be replaced by more valuable crops.

In Upper Egypt the summer crop is largely durra millet (sorghum), but this plant does not thrive in the oasis, though whether on account of an uncongenial soil or owing to unsuitable climatic conditions I am unable to say. It has frequently been tried—in fact, small areas are annually planted, but never produce crops—at any rate, in the northern part of Kharga—in any sense comparable with those of the Nile Valley. The very fact that durra cannot be satisfactorily grown suggests a probable reason why rice, the least valuable of the Egyptian cereals, and the one requiring most water, is so universally grown in Northern Kharga. Rice, as is well known, will grow on land containing a proportion of salts which would be injurious, or even fatal, to the majority of crops, and will at the same time exercise a beneficial and cleansing effect on such land. The growing of rice may therefore have come about through the actual necessity for a periodical cleansing of land, which would otherwise have become salted to a sufficient extent to adversely affect other crops grown on the same ground. At the present day, barley and wheat alternate with rice.

The thorough and prolonged soaking to which land is subject when under rice is in itself of considerable value to succeeding crops, and in the reclamation of heavy clay-lands in the Headquarters district my experience has been that as a first crop there is nothing to equal this cereal. In many cases, indeed, it was found to be the only crop which could be at all satisfactorily raised on new lands with only a moderate application of manure. A good tilth, moreover, is far more rapidly obtained than when other crops are grown, the difference in the second and third years between lands which have and have not had rice on them being most marked.

I was much surprised to find that rice is not grown in the southern districts of the oasis, with the exception of a couple of small areas near Dakhakhin. Extended inquiries failed to elicit satisfactory reasons for this remarkable difference from the practice followed in the north, the universal reply to my questions being that they, the inhabitants, in not growing rice, were merely following the custom of their ancestors! I noticed, however, that durra was grown on a much larger scale than in the north of the oasis, and that the crops in some cases reached a fairly good standard. It seems probable, therefore, that in this part of the depression the soil is of higher average quality, so that the land, renovated by the annual deposition of a fresh layer of wind-borne sand and clay-dust in the manner already described, does not need a periodical cleansing by rice. This, at least, is the only satisfactory explanation which has occurred to me.

The harvesting of the date-crop in September and October is the most important event of the year in Kharga Oasis. A large portion of the crop is exported to the Nile Valley, the Bedawin becoming traders for the time being, and transporting the produce across the desert by means of camels. There are over 60,000 adult date-palms, the chief palm-groves being at Kharga, Gennâh, and Bulaq in the north, and at Beris in the south. The selling-price in the oasis fluctuates to some extent, but averages twenty piastres a ‘weba’ of between 60 and 70 pounds, the weight of a weba varying considerably according to the moistness of the fruit and the astuteness of the man entrusted with the measuring. The price works out roughly at 4 pounds for threepence.

In a book[14] entitled “The Great Sahara,” published nearly fifty years ago, Canon Tristram gives a very full account of the cultivation of the date-palm in North Africa. The date-palm (Phœnix dactilifera) is a tree specially characteristic of the Sahara, where the climate is marked by deficiency of rainfall and by considerable variations of temperature. Although it flourishes best in rainless regions, the date-palm will not fruit unless its roots are well watered; it must, indeed, as the native proverb puts it, ‘have its head in the fire and its roots in water.’

In Egypt there are about fifty varieties of date-palm the chief kinds in Kharga Oasis being the Saîdi, Tamar, Fâlig, and Hamrâwi. The Saîdi dates of the oases are generally considered to be superior in flavour to almost any other Egyptian variety, and have in consequence a ready sale in the Nile Valley. The other varieties are not exported to any great extent, except, perhaps, the Fâlig; the Tamar, while producing a heavier crop than the other kinds, yields fruit of comparatively poor quality, which is on that account almost entirely used for home consumption. The Hamrâwi trees are very limited in number, but produce fruit of large size and excellent flavour; Hamrâwi dates are, however, I believe, regarded as having bad keeping properties.

Dates are met with of almost every variety of colour except pure black or white. All the different kinds ripen at or about the same time—in the early part of September. A tree will bear from eight to ten bunches, each carrying from 12 to 20 pounds of fruit, so that in full bearing it will yield from 100 to 200 pounds of dates annually. The fruit exported from the oases, being entirely disposed of in the native markets of the Nile Valley, is packed and sewn up without any special care in palm-leaf baskets. For local use small quantities of selected fruit are frequently preserved in a moist state in earthenware jars.

Date-stones cast on the ground and accidentally buried under an inch or two of soil will germinate freely, but the resulting plants are of little use. Not one in a hundred will turn out of the same variety as its parent, so that plants raised from seed must in the great majority of cases be regarded as bastards, of no value as fruit-producers. In Kharga all new trees are raised from slipped plants—that is to say, from the young shoots which spring up at the butts of the parent trees. These are detached and planted out separately on new ground. The greatest care has to be taken to protect them from hot winds and sandstorms, and they must be watered daily for a number of weeks after being planted. Growth is very slow for the first two years, and even under the most favourable conditions the trees will not commence to bear fruit for five or six years. Date-palms come into full bearing when from twenty to twenty-five years old, and may live to a century or more. Every year the lowest ring of branches is cut off, so that the age of a tree can be fairly accurately ascertained by counting the rings of notches on the stem. The wild, unkempt, weather-beaten trees occasionally met with in outlying, uninhabited portions of the oasis have a very different appearance from the trim, erect palms of the cultivated areas.

In the oases and in other parts of Egypt a fermented liquor called ‘lagmi,’ with a peculiar insipid taste, is obtained by making a deep incision in the top of the date-palm, the liquid oozing out and being collected in a vessel, generally made of the rind of a gourd. As much as 10 quarts can be obtained in a day, and the tree may be bled once or twice a month without sustaining any harm; the operation may, in fact, prove of considerable benefit to a sickly palm. A very strong spirit—date-brandy—is also made from the fruit.

Tristram records that the heart or cabbage of a date-palm, which in taste is said to resemble the sweet potato, is eaten by the natives when a tree falls or is blown down. The uses to which the leaves, fibre, and wood of the date-palm are put are innumerable, and include the manufacture of such diverse articles as baskets, mats, ropes, and saddles.

The doum-palm, or gingerbread-tree, flourishes in a semi-wild state in many parts of the oasis, more especially in the tract of country lying between Gennâh and Bulaq. The fruit is brown and mealy, and, in localities where the trees are properly tended, is said to be very nutritious, and to resemble gingerbread in taste and colour. In some parts of the Sahara the spongy internal portion of the nut forms an important article of food, and when mixed with an infusion of dates constitutes a cooling drink much valued for use in cases of febrile disorders.

DOUM-PALMS AT AIN GIRM MESHIM.

Although pasture or grazing lands can hardly be said to exist in the Western sense of the term, lucerne is very commonly grown in Kharga to provide a supply of green fodder for cattle. The plant seems to be peculiarly adapted to the local conditions, and is often kept on the ground for long periods, the crop providing very frequent cuttings and improving from year to year. It is seldom or never grazed direct, probably for the reason that cattle are apt to pull the plants out by the roots, the ground on which it best thrives being very loose and sandy. In the reclamation of new lands, where the soil is deficient in organic matter and nitrogen, this leguminous plant has been found to be of very great value. Excellent results were obtained at Headquarters on desert surfaces which had never previously borne vegetation. On the more sandy areas the plant quickly established itself, becoming in the second year an even and strongly-growing crop from 18 inches to 2 feet high, yielding heavy cuttings every few weeks. For benefiting a poor soil by the introduction of nitrogen from the atmosphere probably nothing could be found to excel lucerne, which, judging by the numerous and well-marked nodules formed on the roots, acts as a most efficient host-plant for nitrogen-fixing bacteria. My attention was first drawn to these nodules by Mr. D. Milne, who was formerly in charge of the agricultural work at Headquarters, and both he and my present assistant, Mohammed Said, an Egyptian agriculturist of wide practical experience, have formed a very high opinion of the utility of lucerne in the reclamation and fertilization of raw and new desert soils.

In ancient days the vine was extensively cultivated in the oases, and under the Romans there appears to have been a considerable trade in wine. At the present day excellent oranges, as well as apricots, mulberries, and olives, are grown in both Kharga and Dakhla, but only in comparatively small quantities, though the soil and climate appear to be eminently suited to the cultivation of fruit-trees.

Cotton cannot be said to be cultivated in the oases, as the very occasional plots one meets with are evidence that its culture is not understood by the natives, who aim at the production of wood rather than fibre. Experiments made at Headquarters, however, show that many Nile Valley crops not hitherto grown in Kharga, such as cotton, sugar-cane, and beans, can be successfully raised without difficulty.

There exists in the possession of His Excellency Johnson Pasha, formerly of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, a curious old Arabic document, purporting to describe the so-called Wadi el Molûk, or Valley of the Kings, a depression or valley in which, according to tradition, large quantities of gold, silver, and other precious metals exist. The place is described in true Oriental fashion, and the manuscript relates in detail how the route, starting from an old monastery in the neighbourhood of Esna, proceeds. According to the information given, the Wadi el Molûk would appear to lie somewhere within the desert triangle between the points Esna, Aswân, and Beris, but although a number of more or less serious attempts have been made to discover its whereabouts, this El Dorado has not yet been located. Judging by the geological conditions—so far as they are known in the area in question—one might, with equally good chances of success, search for metalliferous deposits of gold and silver in the Weald of the South of England.

Earthy minerals exist in the oasis of Kharga, and appear to have been extensively mined by the ancients in some localities. Deposits of ochre occur near several of the wells to the east and south-east of Kharga village, notably to the west of Ain Aid, to the west of Ain Khalîl, and to the north of Ain Girgâwi. The best occurrences are to the south of the Gorn el Gennâh, in which district the ferruginous waters of certain wells have deposited thick banks of ochre along their channels.

The sulphates of aluminium and magnesium are widely distributed in the oasis, though the deposits are seldom of sufficient extent to repay extraction. They occur as thin bands in the shales and sandstones of the surface-water series, seldom exceeding a few centimetres in thickness, and being generally of very limited horizontal extent. The alum, which is often found in beautiful fibrous or hair-like crystalline masses, is frequently of a delicate rose tint, and analysis shows the colour to be due to the presence of small quantities of cobalt. Epsomite (Epsom salts or hydrous sulphate of magnesia) is also found in fibrous crystalline seams, a remarkably pure deposit, containing several hundred tons, having been quite recently located a few kilometres west of Headquarters.

In the foot-hills to the north of Bellaida, at the base of the eastern slopes of Jebel Tarif, and in the hills immediately to the west of Qasr Lebekha, ancient mines of the most extensive description are to be seen. The rocks in these localities consist of variegated sandstones and grits, many of the beds being so dark and ferruginous that the hills, as a whole, have a blackened and almost volcanic appearance. They are literally honeycombed with ancient workings, many of which, both in the form of large chambers and narrow tunnels, penetrate for long distances underground. Huge dump-heaps mark the entrances of the workings, and bear witness to the enormous quantities of ‘country’ rock removed in the winning of the useful mineral. The rude shelters built by the miners are to be seen in the immediate vicinity, and in many cases are still intact.

A WADI IN JEBEL TARIF.

A RIVER OF SAND NEAR UM EL DABADIB.

The extent and magnitude of the underground workings prove that whatever the mineral mined, it was a substance of considerable value in those days; and an examination of the blind terminations of the tunnels occasionally reveals the presence of very thin seams of aluminium sulphate, which, in the absence of indications of other useful minerals, we must conclude was the substance sought. The bands of alum were evidently followed until they thinned out to a fraction of an inch, or disappeared altogether.

A reference to the geological sequence will show the stratigraphical position of the phosphatic series of the oasis, consisting of hard bands composed of fish-remains, coprolites, and phosphatic nodules. The beds have a wide extension in Northern Kharga, and are especially well developed on the flanks of Jebel Tarwan and Jebel Têr, in the centre of the depression. As a rule, they consist of an upper brown-coloured series, individual beds of which in places have a thickness of 2 or 3 metres, and a lower division consisting of three or four thin, hard, and lighter-coloured bands, in which the phosphatic nodules are often cemented by iron pyrites. The upper bands may contain anything up to 60 per cent. of tricalcium phosphate, so that the deposit may be regarded as of considerable potential value.

CHAPTER XVI
SOME NOTES ON SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY

The Libyan Desert as a Sporting Region — The Dorcas Gazelle — Snipe — Wild-Fowl — The Local Sportsmen — An all-night Sitting — Quail — Sand-Grouse — Rock-Pigeons — Turtle-Doves — Various — Striped Hyæna — Jackals — Three Species of Fox — The Desert Fox — The True Fennec.

Sportsmen who reckon the success and pleasures of a shooting expedition only by the contents of the resulting bag are advised to give a wide berth to the Libyan Desert, as in that arid region—with the exception of one restricted area far removed from the oasis under description—no game is to be found which cannot be obtained far more easily, and in much greater quantities, in the cultivated plains of the Nile Valley and on the adjoining desert margins. On the other hand, the sportsman who does not regard too seriously the actual head of game brought to bag, and who has no objection to hard work, will find in the oases undoubted attractions in the way of rough sport. Provided with a few camels to carry the necessary impedimenta, so as to be rendered independent and able to wander about at will, a very enjoyable time can be spent exploring the various isolated portions of the depression where gazelles abound, and visiting the numerous outlying wells where wild-fowl, snipe, quail, sand-grouse, and rock-pigeons are to be met with in fair quantities.

The little Dorcas gazelle ranges over the whole of the Libyan Desert. On the plateau, owing to the extreme scarcity and scantiness of vegetation, gazelles seldom remain in the same locality for any length of time, and even when met with can rarely be approached, owing to the open nature of the country. In the more fertile oases-depressions they are to be seen in far greater numbers, especially in the outlying portions where large tracts are covered with coarse grasses, tamarisk, and other kinds of scrub. After nightfall they frequently descend to the cultivated lands to browse on the crops, almost invariably retiring to the outlying desert areas at the first traces of dawn, though I recollect on one occasion bringing a laggard to bag very early in the morning on the edge of a barley-field at Um el Dabâdib. Gazelles are, in fact, seldom to be seen, unless carefully sought for in their special haunts; one might remain for months in the inhabited portions of the depression and only be aware of their existence from occasionally meeting with their spoor.

It is advisable when hunting gazelles to pitch camp at some distance from their grazing grounds, as they are extremely wary, and not to be approached once they have taken alarm. Extensive tracts of uninhabited, scrub-covered desert, like those to the north of Ain el Qasr, affording ample supplies of food, and undisturbed by man, are the favourite haunts of these extremely shy animals. For shooting this district an excellent camping-ground will be found on the edge of the scrub in the neighbourhood of Qasr Gyb, an ancient ruin conspicuously perched on the summit of a conical hillock, about 20 kilometres north of Meheriq. The dead parts of the scrub supply an abundance of fuel, and good water is obtainable by clearing out a section of the ancient underground aqueduct lying a short distance to the south. From the shelter of any of the higher clumps of vegetation one can, with the aid of field-glasses, keep a careful look-out over the surrounding scrub-covered country, and, once gazelles have been located, getting within range is merely a matter of patience and careful stalking. After sighting the quarry, it is best to proceed alone, as natives have an exasperating way of exposing themselves at the most critical moments. On my last visit to the north of the oasis there were a good many gazelles about, including a herd of some seven or eight; it was, however, quite impossible to get within 500 yards of these, but I had better luck with a solitary couple a few kilometres to the north of the old ruin, both of which I succeeded in bagging.

The Dorcas gazelle is one of the smallest and fleetest of the antelopes. When full grown, the buck stands about 22 inches high at the shoulder, the horns in my best head—not, however, shot in Kharga—measuring exactly 13 inches. Properly cooked, its flesh is excellent, and certainly superior to the average Egyptian mutton.

For snipe the best time is from December to February, though I have shot odd birds as early as October and as late as April. Both the full and the jack snipe are to be met with, their favourite feeding-grounds being the rice-stubbles immediately after the crops have been harvested, and before the ground has had time to get hard and dry. In the cold weather, however, almost any wet patch—and there are numerous small bogs at the lower ends of the paddy-fields and alongside leaky irrigation channels—will yield one or two couple. Formerly there was a very useful bit of ground at Ain el Tawîl, but the best place of all is close to the village of Gennâh, where a reedy bog of considerable size at times positively swarms with snipe. This place is rather difficult to shoot, and I used to consider I had done well if four or five couple were gathered.

Pools of various size, formed by drainage waters from the cultivated lands, are found scattered throughout the oasis, and in the early morning or late evening hours quite a respectable bag of wild-fowl can sometimes, with a little luck, be secured. I say sometimes advisedly, as where duck are concerned one has to compete with the local sportsmen, whose name is legion. Mallard, teal, and shoveller ducks are the most common, though several of the other species commonly found in the Nile Valley are also to be met with in the oasis.

The keenness of the Kharga sportsmen is well illustrated by the following incident: Encamped on one occasion for a week or two near the village, I was in the habit of pottering about of an evening with my gun, visiting the two or three pools within easy walking distance of the tents; but although there were a good many wild-fowl about, these had been worried to such an extent that they only remained on the ponds during the darkest hours of the night, preferring, indeed, to pass the day in solitude in the open desert than to turn themselves into targets for the never-ending practice of the local Nimrods. Thinking to get the better of both duck and natives, I made arrangements to visit a pool about three miles distant from the village, starting at an hour early enough to enable me to take up a good stand before daybreak. Fortified by biscuits and hot cocoa, I and my faithful retainer, Mohammed Abu Salem, left camp one chilly morning about three, riding the best part of the way on camels, over the roughest country imaginable. Half a mile from the pool we dismounted, and I proceeded alone on foot across cultivated lands, on which, to my astonishment, ploughing was already in progress, though it was still dark, wanting a full hour to dawn. Slowly and with some difficulty I made my way towards the thin streak of light that I knew marked the position of the pool, which in my mind’s eye I already pictured as covered with duck. Presently, to my surprise and disgust, a shot rang out; but this was nothing to my astonishment a few moments later, when, just as I was getting up to the water, a regular broadside was discharged. There seemed to be gunners all over the place, and my only concern now was to get out of their way as speedily as possible; so, ensconcing myself behind a small sand-hill, I lighted a pipe and awaited further developments. By careful manœuvring I was able to watch in moderate safety the glassy surface of the pond, and did not have to wait long before I heard a rattle of wings, followed by the swoop on to the water. No sooner had the birds alighted than they were greeted with a fusillade from all sides of the pool, after which silence once more reigned supreme. This performance was repeated every time duck or coot made their appearance, and few escaped the effects of the deadly cross-fire to which they were subjected.

When daylight appeared I counted over a dozen gunners squatting round the pond, although the latter measured no more than 120 to 130 yards across its widest part. They were armed with every sort of weapon, from the latest thing in cheap European breech-loaders to the most antiquated form of flint-lock, the barrel of the latter type of gun being usually of great length, and not unlike a piece of gas-pipe. As soon as daylight was sufficiently advanced, the natives proceeded to gather the slain, the bulk of the bag being made up of coots, which at night have a habit of deserting the depths of the rice-fields for a swim and change of food on the open pools. Each man seized the birds he considered had fallen to his gun, and I was struck by the small amount of squabbling which took place over the division of the spoil, most of the bickering having reference to complaints of being peppered, though the wonder was that no one had been killed, or even seriously hurt. As soon as everything was satisfactorily adjusted the majority of the men, having salaamed and expressed surprise at my presence, made off towards the village, only a few of the keener spirits remaining on the chance of further sport. To my delight, a flight of duck shortly afterwards put in an appearance, and I was able to score by bagging a couple as they passed suspiciously over the pond. The laugh was now on my side, as I need hardly say that the native never risks wasting his powder and shot on birds on the wing, and after some mutual banter they departed, leaving me in possession of the field.

Quantities of quail pass through the oasis on their annual migration from north to south and on their return journey in the opposite direction. The best bags can be made in the spring, when the corn is commencing to ripen, but sport is usually rendered difficult owing to the number of natives at work in the fields. The local sportsmen do not seem to consider quail worthy of their attention, probably because the birds so seldom show themselves except when on the wing. A good many are, however, secured by the peasants in traps.

Sand-grouse are to be met with in many parts of the depression, more especially near the outlying sparsely cultivated spots, the commonest variety found being one of the pin-tailed species. The sandy country round Gennâh is perhaps the best district. Rock-pigeons frequent the cultivated lands of Bellaida, to the north of the village of Kharga, and have their homes in the rocky fastnesses of Jebel Têr and Jebel Tarif, breeding in perfect security in the fissures which traverse the limestone rocks of those hills. Turtle-doves are found in the more wooded portions of the oasis, their favourite haunts being the old spreading acacias which line the water-channels and mark the sources of the ancient wells. Although not as a rule regarded as coming into the category of game-birds, turtle-doves are by no means to be despised when one has failed to replenish the larder from ordinary sources. When disturbed in their favourite haunts, the birds fly rapidly from tree to tree, and shooting has to be both straight and quick if anything of a bag is to be made. In addition to these an occasional plover or water-hen may be met with and be considered as worthy of record in the ‘various’ column of the game diary.

In the Nile Valley the striped hyæna has often afforded me a day’s amusement if not actual sport, but this animal is certainly not a resident in the oasis, though on rare occasions an individual crosses the plateau and remains for a few days within the depression. Jackals are common, though not nearly so numerous as in the neighbouring oasis of Dakhla. At night they prowl about the outskirts of the villages, and the din that a single couple can make must be heard to be believed. The cry is most weird, consisting of a succession of long melancholy wails, each one a little higher pitched than the preceding, followed finally by a quick succession of sharp yelps or barks.

Of foxes there appear to be three species in Egypt, the largest and best known being a variety of the common fox (Canis vulpes, subsp. ægyptiaca). Although this animal frequently makes its home on the margins of the bordering deserts, it is never found at any great distance from the villages of the Nile Valley, to which it invariably descends at dusk, returning to its lair in the early morning after spending the night roaming the cultivated lands in search of food. The smaller desert fox, or fennec (Canis famelicus), is found not only on the desert margins, but throughout the interior plateaux and depressions. A true denizen of the desert, this animal seldom approaches the abodes of man, and probably never penetrates into the cultivated lands on either side of the Nile. Thirdly, there is the diminutive little fox, the true fennec (Canis zerda), which, although found throughout the interior of the Libyan Desert tableland, is especially abundant in the oases-depressions.

Of this beautiful species the late Dr. Anderson, in his ‘Zoology of Egypt,’ wrote: “There is no authentic record of the Fennec having been discovered in a wild state by any European traveller. All the specimens which have been brought home have been obtained from Arabs.” This fox is, it is true, a very shy animal, so much so that during the course of many years’ work in almost every part of the Libyan Desert I never had the good fortune to observe one in its natural haunts, though its burrows were often met with, and my men at night occasionally succeeded in securing specimens in traps.

During the last year or two, however, while resident in Kharga Oasis, I have been more fortunate, having frequently observed these interesting little animals sitting near the entrances to their burrows or sniffing about in search of food on areas sparsely dotted with desert vegetation. Several pairs had burrows within a few kilometres of my headquarters, and were, I believe, responsible for fowls that disappeared from time to time from our farm-yard. Mr. P. von Adametz kept one of these tiny foxes in the mess for some time, but this particular animal, which had been caught in the neighbourhood of Meheriq, was evidently too old to become tame. Fennecs probably subsist mainly on desert gerbils and jerboas, which are always to be found in large numbers in those portions of the desert where vegetation is at all plentiful.

LITERATURE ON THE OASIS OF KHARGA

Poncet, M.
1709.	“A Voyage to Æthiopia, made in the Years 1698,1699, and 1700.” (Translated from the French.) Printed for W. Lewisat the Dolphin, next Tom’s Coffee House, in Russel Street, CoventGarden, London, 1709.
Browne, W. G.
1806.	“Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, from theYear 1792 to 1798.” Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London,1806.
Cailliaud, F.
1822.	“Travels in the Oasis of Thebes, and in theDeserts situated East and West of the Thebaid, in the Years 1815,1816, 1817, and 1818.” (Translated from the French, and publishedin New Voyages and Travels, vol. vii.) Sir Richard Phillips andCo., London, 1822.
Drovetti, M. the Chevalier.
1822.	“Itinerary of an Excursion to the Valley ofDakel,” by M. the Chevalier Drovetti, French Consul-General inEgypt, about the latter end of 1818, with a previous Itinerary fromSyout to Dongolah and Darfour. In New Voyages and Travels, vol.vii. Sir Richard Phillips and Co., London, 1822.
Edmonstone, Sir Archibald,Bart.
1822.	“A Journey to Two of the Oases of Upper Egypt.”John Murray, London, 1822.
Cailliaud, F.
1826.	“Voyage a Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc, au delà deFâzogl dans le Midi du Royaume de Sennâr, a Syouah et dans cinqautres Oasis; fait dans les années 1819, 1820, 1821, et 1822.”L’imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1826.
Wilkinson, I. G.
1835.	“Topography of Thebes and General View of Egypt.”John Murray, London, 1835.
Hoskins, G. A.
1837.	“Visit to the Great Oasis of the Libyan Desert.”Longman, Rees, Orme and Co., London, 1837.
Schweinfurth, Dr. G.
1875.	“Notizen zur Kenntniss der Oase El-Chargeh” (I.Alterthümer). Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 21 Band, 1875. JustusPerthes, Gotha, 1875.
Rohlfs, Gerhard.
1875.	“Drei Monate in der Libyschen Wüste.” MitBeiträgen von P. Ascherson, W. Jordan, und K. Zittel. TheodorFischer, Cassel, 1875.
Jordan, Dr. W.
1876.	“Physische Geographie und Meteorologie derLibyschen Wüste.” Rohlfs’schen Expedition. Theodor Fischer, Cassel,1876.
Brugsch, Dr. Heinrich.
1878.	“Reise nach dem grossen Oase el Khargeh in derLibyschen Wüste.”
	“A History of Egypt under the Pharaohs.” JohnMurray, London, 1881.
Zittel, K. von.
1883.	“Beiträge zur Geologie und Palæontologie derLibyschen Wüste.” Rohlfs’schen Expedition. Theodor Fischer, Cassel,1883.
Lyons, Captain H. G.
1894.	“Notes sur le Géographie Physique des Oasis deKhargueh et de Dakhel.” Bull. Soc. Khéd. de Géogr., iv. série, No.4, 1894.
	“On the Stratigraphy and Physiography of theLibyan Desert of Egypt.” Quarterly Journal of the GeologicalSociety, vol. 1., London, 1894.
Barron, Beadnell, Lucas, and Hume,Messrs.
1900.	“The Phosphate Deposits of Egypt.” SurveyDepartment, Cairo, 1900 and 1905.
Ball, Dr. John.
1900.	“Kharga Oasis: its Topography and Geology.”Survey Department, Cairo, 1900.
Guest, A R.
1900.	“The Oases of the Mudirieh of Assyut.” TheGeographical Journal, vol. xvi., London, 1900.
Beadnell, H. J. Llewellyn.
1904.	“The Oases and the Geology of Egypt,” in “TheNile in 1904,” by Sir William Willcocks. E. and F. N. Spon, London,1904.
Sayce, Professor A. H.
1905.	“History of the Egyptian Oases.” The EgyptianGazette, April 6, 1905.
Beadnell, H. J. Llewellyn.
1908.	“Flowing Wells and Sub-Surface Water in KhargaOasis.” Geological Magazine, N.S., Decade V., vol. v.,February—March, 1908.
Lyons, Captain H. G.
1908.	“Some Unsolved Problems of the Nile Basin.” TheCairo Scientific Journal, vol. ii., No. 18, March, 1908.
Hume, Dr. W. F.
1908.	“The South-Western Desert of Egypt.” The CairoScientific Journal, vol. ii., Nos. 23 and 24, August—September,1908.
Beadnell, H. J. Llewellyn.
1909.	“The Mutual Interference of Artesian Wells.”Geological Magazine, N.S., Decade V., vol. vi., January, 1909.
	“The Relations of the Nubian Sandstone and theCrystalline Rocks south of the Oasis of Kharga.” Quarterly Journalof the Geological Society, vol. lxv., London, 1909.

INDEX

• Ababdeh Arabs, [106]
• Abraham, Sara, and Isaac, [104]
• Abrasion of Rocks (see Denudation)
• Absorption Tests, [151], [152]
• Abstemiousness of Camels, [15]
• Abu Bayan, Jebel, [45]
• Abulfida Ismail, [109]
• Abu Mohariq Dunes, [4], [43]
• Abu Sighawâl, [26], [29], [30], [31], [32], [34], [39]
• Abydus, [108]
• Abyssinia, [6], [13], [88], [92], [125], [159]
• Acacia-Trees, [69], [76], [77], [92], [187], [190], [231]
• Adam and Eve, [104]
• Adametz, P. von, [233]
• Æthiopia (see Abyssinia)
• Age of Ancient Lakes, [120]
• Age of Wells, [71], [72], [80]
• Agriculture, [67], [157], [171], [212]-220
• Agûl el Douma, [76]
• Ain (Aiyûn), [69]
• Ain Aid, [221]
• Ali Morad, [59]
• Amûr, [17], [21], [36], [37], [38], [55], [99], [165], [166], [171], [173]
• Bella, [83]
• Bellal, [59]
• Bergis, [80], [81]
• Dakhakhin, [78], [79], [80]
• Dizé, [15]
• Estakherab, [59], [71], [72], [139], [210]
• Foq el Doum, [81]
• Girgâwi, [221]
• Girm Meshîm, [57], [75], [76], [114], [115]
• Hamûr, [173]
• Harrân, [59], [114]
• Jaja, [77]
• Johar, [81], [85]
• Khalîl, [221]
• Khenâfish, [36], [106]
• Mabrûka, [85]
• Magarin, [59], [71], [72], [210]
• Mahmud, [59], [115]
• Mohammed Delaib, [142]
• Mustapha Kashef, [101]
• Tabashîr, [106]
• Zaaf, [59]
• Zaha el Din, [85]
• Zaiyan, [59]
• el Burg, [59], [106]
• Burrda, [84]
• Douma, [76], [114]
• Ghazâl, [28], [59], [69], [110], [114], [115], [142]
• Ghuâta, [59]
• Hais, [38]
• Hushi, [81]
• Karm, [85]
• Qasr (near Maks), [85]
• Qasr (N. of Meheriq), [15], [59], [114], [115], [226]
• Sabbagh, [59]
• Tawîl, [59], [60], [70], [227]
• Terfai (N.), [115]
• Terfai (S.), [85]
• Akhmîm, [106]
• Alexandria, [68], [105], [106]
• Alluvial Clays, [76], [81], [83]
• Altitudes, [10], [27], [57], [58], [59], [60], [72], [116], [117], [136], [142], [144]
• Alum, [21], [125], [221], [222], [223]
• Al Vahat, [108]
• Amenebis, [99]
• American Methods of Drilling, [134], [196], [197]
• Excavation in Necropolis, [87]
• Ammonians, [88], [89], [90]
• Ammon of Hibis, [99]
• Amun (Ammon-Ra), [92], [100], [105]
• Amûr (see Ain Amûr)
• Ancient Lakes, [110], [122]
• Roads, [38],
• Anderson, J., [232]
• Andrews, C. W., [118]
• Aneroid Determinations (see Barometric Observations)
• Animals, Wild, [14], [108], [224], [233]
• Annexation of Oases, [66]
• Anticlinal Folds, [129], [147]
• Antiquities, [6], [7], [86]-109
• Antoninus Pius, [98], [99]
• Apted, F. E., [59]
• Aqueducts, [8], [9], [71], [100], [101], [117], [118], [131], [167]-185
• Arabian Geographers, [108]
• Arabic Inscriptions, [104]
• Arbaîn (Derb el), [13], [16], [33], [34]
• Arcadius, [105]
• Area of Libyan Desert, [2]
• Arianism, [105]
• Army of Cambyses, [88], [89], [90], [91], [92]
• Artesian Basins, Conditions required in, [124]
• Artesian-Water Sandstone, [49], [121], [125], [126], [131], [138], [151], [152], [162]
• Arûs el Buqar, [4]
• Ascent of Passes, [27], [30], [36], [37]
• Ascherson, P., [20], [89]
• Ash-Grey Shales, [48]
• Assiut, [27], [28], [33], [34], [37], [43], [44], [91]
• Athanasius, [94], [105]
• Auasis, [108]
• Augila, [90]
• Australian Wells, [140], [143], [161]
• Average Discharge of Wells, [135], [140]
• Avidius Heliodorus, [99]
• Baglûli, El, [32]
• Baguat, El, [103]
• Baharia Oasis, [3], [8], [17], [23], [38], [51], [53], [96]
• Bahnessa, [5]
• Baker, H. H., [113]
• Baldwin-Wiseman, W. R., [154]
• Ball, J., [23], [24], [39], [56], [58], [60], [87], [98], [101], [103], [165], [171], [236]
• Banishment to Oasis, [94]
• Barchans, [31], [202]-205
• Barley, [62], [66], [212], [214], [225]
• Barometric Observations, [58]
• Barron, T., v, [236]
• Basilides, [96]
• Baskets, [68], [74], [193]
• Beadnell, H. J. L., [236]
• Beans, [220]
• Bedawin, [2], [31], [40], [62], [76], [158], [215], [233]
• Belat, [17], [38]
• Bellaida, [101], [102], [106], [114], [203], [222], [231]
• Beniâdi, [16], [17]
• Berber Race, [66]
• Beris, [15], [16], [25], [32], [34], [46], [60], [80], [81], [85], [110], [115], [158], [165], [210], [211], [215], [218]
• Bir (Abiyâr), [69]
• Bir Ain el Gôs, [59], [69]
• el Dinaria, [136]
• Mansûra, [69]
• Murr, [43]
• Qattara, [59]
• Birds, [14], [227], [231]
• Bisharin Arabs, [106]
• Blemmyes, [106]
• Blockhouses, [82]
• Bones, Subfossil, [118]
• Bore No. 1—[58], [59], [137]
• 4—[146]
• 5—[144], [145]
• 6—[144], [145]
• 14—[148], [152]
• 16—[152]
• 18—[152]
• 22—[59]
• 31—[152]
• 33—[127]
• 36—[142]
• 38—[142]
• 39—[152]
• 42—[142], [146], [156]
• 43—[127]
• 44—[59], [142], [152]
• Bores for Forts, etc., [168], [169]
• Boring Machinery (see Machinery)
• Boring Operations, [69], [131]-134, [143], [151], [186]-197
• Botîkh, El, [30], [35]
• Brevedent, Father C. F. X. de, [13]
• Bricks, Size of Sun-dried, [101]
• Bronze on Temple Doors, [92]
• Browne, W. G., [15], [234]
• Brugsch, H., [22], [86], [98], [235]
• Bubbling Springs, [47]
• Bulaq, [15], [32], [73], [74], [75], [215]
• Buraig, El, [31]
• Burg Hamâm (see Dovecots)
• Byzantine Period, [99], [102]
• Cailliaud, F., [16], [17], [22], [34], [58], [86], [234], [235]
• Cairo Observatory, [58]
• Calcareous Tufa, [26], [48], [52], [53], [112]
• Caliphs, [103]
• Cambyses, [88], [89], [90]
• Camels, [14], [15], [26], [33], [34], [37], [42], [44], [215], [224]
• Capacity of Rocks as Water-Carriers, [132]
• Caravan Routes (see Roads)
• Caravans, [24], [26], [27], [33], [34], [37], [41], [44]
• Carcasses of Camels, [14]
• Casing of Wells, [78], [79], [128], [135], [137], [141], [186], [187], [189]
• Cause of Rise of Water in Wells, [162], [163]
• Cause of Salts in Water, [130]
• Caving of Strata, [134], [135], [189]
• Cementing Material in Sandstone, [132], [134]
• Cemeteries, [100], [102]
• Centroclinal Folds, [56]
• Channels (see Irrigating Channels)
• Character of Desert Roads, [39]
• Character of Inhabitants (see Inhabitants)
• China, Well-Sinking in, [19], [196]
• Christ, [104]
• Christian Customs, [106]
• Christian Necropolis (see Necropolis)
• Christian Period, [21], [87], [103]-106
• Chronology, Ancient, [88]
• Clay Hummocks, [111], [113]
• Clay Plains, [76], [81], [133]
• Cleaning out Aqueducts, [171], [172]
• Cleaning out Wells (see Repairing)
• Climate, [52], [53], [67], [107], [108], [120], [171], [172], [220]
• Closing of Wells, [135], [148]
• Cnoeus Virgilius Capito, [95]
• Cobalt, [222]
• Coffin Masks, [102]
• Collecting Pits, [126], [127]
• Colonization by Romans, [167], [170]
• Coloquintida, [14]
• Coloured Designs on Tombs, [104]
• Colours of Dates, [216]
• Columbaria, [106], [116]
• Composition of Waters, [6], [72], [130], [131], [137]
• Concretions, [30], [35]
• Confining Strata (see Impervious)
• Constantius, [105]
• Contest between Man and Sand, [199], [200], [206], [207], [208], [209], [210], [211]
• Contraband Trade, [76]
• Contrast of Desert and Cultivated Lands, [1], [18]
• Coots, [230]
• Coptic Church, [103]
• Coptic Period, [7], [103]
• Corn-Mill, [69], [119]
• Corporation of Western Egypt, Ltd., [38], [39], [65], [113], [208]
• Cost of Dates, [215]
• Cost of Drilling Wells, [196], [197]
• Cotton, [14], [220]
• Craig, J. I., [159]
• Crescentic Dunes (see Barchans)
• Cretaceous System, [22], [48], [55], [112], [124], [166]
• Crops, [14], [62], [130], [212]-220
• Cross-Country Travelling, [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44]
• Crystalline Rocks, [49], [124], [161], [164]
• Cubit (Unit of length), [107]
• Cultivated Lands, [10], [46], [61]-85, [212]-220
• Cultivated Lands, Formation of, [78]-83, [122], [210]
• Cultivation of Date-Palm, [216]-218
• Cultivation of Rice, [212]-215
• Cyrene, [21], [97]
• Cyril of Alexandria, [106]
• Daila, El, [4]
• Dakhakhin, [76], [77], [80], [210], [214]
• Dakhla Oasis, [3], [4], [16], [17], [23], [25], [27], [36], [51], [89], [90], [136], [189], [195], [229], [232]
• Danian Formation, [48], [166]
• Darcy, H., [154]
• Darfur, [2], [33], [34], [125], [159]
• Darius, [7], [92]
• Date-Brandy, [218]
• Date-Crop, [62], [215]
• Date-Palms, [216]-218
• Decline of Well-Flows, [79], [135], [140], [148], [188]
• Deepest Borings in Oasis, [132], [157]
• Deflation, [52]
• Denudation, [35], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [83], [111], [126], [199], [206]
• Deposits, Table of Geological, [48]
• Depressions, Formation of, [5], [47], [50], [52], [53], [54]
• Depth of Wells, [8], [107], [129], [132]
• Dêr el Ghennîma, [16], [100], [101], [128], [129], [147], [169]
• Derb el Arbaîn, [13], [16], [33], [34]
• Derb el Ghubbâri, [36]
• Derb el Refûf, [26], [28], [30], [31], [39]
• Derb el Tawîl, [16], [17], [37]
• Derut, [43]
• Dervish Raids, [82]
• Descent of Passes, [27], [36]
• Desert Roads, Nature of, [39]
• Desert Types, [31], [35], [42]
• Development of Artesian Basins (see Exploitation)
• Development of Strata, Unequal, [50], [51], [55]
• Dials, [107]
• Dilail el Kelb, [32]
• Dimensions of Oasis, [45]
• Diminution of Flows of Wells (see Decline)
• Dip of Strata, [55], [56], [161], [166]
• Discharges of Wells, [57], [63], [81], [127], [129], [134], [135], [136], [139], [149], [150], [160], [186]
• Discharge of Um el Dabâdib tunnel, [172]
• Disintegration (see Denudation)
• Disposition of Ancient Monuments, [117]
• Divers, [193], [194], [195]
• Domesticated Animals, [118]
• Dongola, [13], [16]
• Donkeys, [68]
• Dorcas Gazelle, [174], [225]-227
• Doum-Palms, [68], [73], [74], [77], [82], [84], [187], [190], [218], [219]
• Dovecots, [107]
• Doves, [231]
• Drilling (see Boring)
• Driving Well-Casing, [189], [196]
• Dronka, [28]
• Drovetti, Chevalier, [16], [234]
• Drugs, [14]
• Dubîya, El, [32]
• Duck (see Wild-Fowl)
• Dunes (see Sand-Dunes)
• Dungun, [33]
• Durability of Wooden Casing, [187]
• Durra Millet, [213], [215]
• Dush, [16], [26], [33], [84], [85], [97], [106], [115]
• Dust-Winds, [13], [49], [52], [67], [70], [79], [81], [82], [84], [198]-211
• Early History, [6], [12]-24, [87]
• Earth-Movements (see Folding)
• Earthy Minerals (see Minerals)
• Economical Aspects, [212]-223
• Edfu, [22], [28], [33], [93]
• Edmonstone, Sir A., [17], [100], [234]
• Effect of closing Wells, [148], [149]
• Effect of Salty Waters on Crops, [130]
• Egyptian Government, [9], [20], [59], [62], [63], [64], [82], [137], [159], [188], [220]
• Egyptian Kings, [87], [88]
• El Baglûli, [32]
• El Baguat, [103]
• El Botîkh, [30]
• El Buraig, [31]
• El Daila, [4]
• El Dêr (see Dêr el Ghennîma)
• El Dubîya, [32]
• El Elwania, [30], [32]
• El Ghart, [31]
• El Ghennaim, [28]
• El Ghuâta (see Qasr el Ghuâta)
• El Ghubbâri, [36]
• El Hais, [38]
• El Hamera, [32]
• El Ishab, [32]
• El Mafâriq, [32]
• El Masaad, [30]
• El Mishâbit, [30]
• El Mograbi, [30]
• El Nakhail, [33], [85]
• El Qara, [38]
• El Qusîya, [32], [43]
• El Ramlia, [15], [26], [28]
• El Refûf, [26], [28], [29], [30], [31]
• El Sherîf el Edrissi, [108]
• El Shugera, [28], [29], [39], [42]
• El Suâga, [31]
• El Tundaba, [29], [31], [39]
• El Yabsa, [26], [28]
• El Zizagat, [31]
• Elevation of Well-Outlets, [78], [79]
• Embalming, [104], [105]
• Emigration, [193]
• Encroachment of Dunes (see Sand-Dunes)
• Eocene System, [22], [35], [48], [50], [54], [55], [112], [201]
• Epsom Salts (Epsomite), [125], [222]
• Erosion (see Denudation)
• Errors in Measurement of Well-Discharges, [65], [66]
• Eruptive Rocks (see Crystalline Rocks)
• Escarpments of Oasis, [26], [45], [51]
• Esna, [16], [27], [28], [33], [34], [121]
• Esna Shales, [48], [51]
• Ethiopia (see Abyssinia)
• Euergetes, [93]
• Evaporation, [71], [164]
• Excavation of Ancient Sites, [86]
• Excavation of Conduits, [169]
• Exile to Oasis (see Banishment)
• Exogyra Beds, [48], [51], [54], [166]
• Expedition against Oases (see Cambyses)
• Experiments on Wells, [127], [136], [144]-149, [151], [155]
• Exploitation of Artesian Basins, [135], [140], [142], [143], [150]
• Exploration of Underground Aqueducts, [173]-175, [179]-184
• Extinct Lakes, [110]-122
• Ezula, [14]
• Fâlig Dates, [216]
• Fallow Lands, [10]
• Famous Wells, [71]
• Farafra Oasis, [3], [4], [17], [23], [38], [43], [44], [54], [90], [91]
• Farshut, [16], [28], [30], [32], [33], [38], [58]
• Faults, [55], [56], [116]
• Fayûm, [5]
• Fellahin, [43], [66]
• Fennecs, [232], [233]
• Ferruginous Sandstone, [36], [130], [222]
• Ferruginous Waters (see Ochreous Waters)
• Fertilizers, [79], [210], [214]
• Fevers, [10], [19], [42], [108], [219]
• Fezzan, [2]
• Fissures, [8], [116], [127], [131], [134], [148], [149], [150], [153], [162], [166], [175], [180]
• Flexures (see Folding)
• Flint Implements, [6], [7], [29], [87], [119]
• Flooding by Wells, [120], [121]
• Flowing Wells, [124], [139]-153, [186]
• Flowing Wells from Surface-water Sandstone, [127]-130
• Flowing Wells of Arid Regions, [161]
• Flowing Wells, Relation to Ground-Level, [128]
• Flow of Water through Coarse and Fine Sands, [155]
• Flow of Water through Sandstone, [127], [149], [150], [153], [154], [155], [162], [163]
• Fodder, Green, [212]
• Folding, [22], [51], [53]-57, [129], [147]
• Food-Supplies, [62]
• Formation of Depressions (see Depressions)
• Formation of Terraces, [78], [79], [81]
• Former Prosperity of Oasis, [10], [94], [107], [108], [109]
• Fortified Monasteries (see Monasteries)
• Forts, [26], [30], [94], [100], [101], [156], [167], [168], [172]
• Fossils, [30], [52], [57], [107], [113], [116], [118], [132]
• Foxes, [232]
• French Engineers, [188]
• French Government, [16]
• Fresh-Water Shells, [53], [116], [118]
• Fruit of Date- and Doum-Palms, [62], [73], [216]-219
• Fruit-Trees, [78], [172], [220]
• Gala, [57]
• Galba, Emperor, [95]
• Garat el Melh, [31]
• Garat Radwan, [31]
• Gardens, [19], [67], [69], [84], [172]
• Garrisons, [14], [82], [94], [108]
• Garsed, W., [130], [137], [202]
• Gases in Artesian Waters, [72], [77], [137], [155]
• Gauges used in Measurement of Wells, [64]
• Gazelle, [174], [225]-227
• Gennâh, [46], [71], [72], [114], [138], [201], [209], [210], [215], [218], [227], [231]
• Geographers, Arabian, [108]
• Geological Sequence, [47]
• Geological Society of London, [23]
• Geological Survey of Egypt, [23]
• Geology, [20], [45]-60, [125]-134, [221], [223]
• Gerbils, [233]
• German Expedition, [20]
• Gertuma, [56]
• Geysers, [81]
• Gharaq, [5]
• Ghart, El, [31]
• Ghattasin (see Divers)
• Ghennaim El, [28]
• Ghennîma (see Dêr and Jebel el Ghennîma)
• Ghuâta (see Qasr el Ghuâta)
• Ghubbâri, Derb el, [36]
• Gingerbread Tree (see Doum-Palms)
• Girga, [27], [30], [32]
• Girm Meshîm, [57], [75], [76], [114], [115]
• Gorn el Gennâh, [18], [46], [56], [60], [71], [106], [116], [117], [210], [221]
• Gorringe, L., [23], [27]
• Government Survey (see Egyptian Government)
• Græco-Roman Period, [93], [118]
• Grazing Lands, [219]
• Greek Inscriptions, [97], [99], [104]
• Gregory, J. W., [161]
• Grey Shales (see Impermeable Grey Shales)
• Grinding-Stones, [119]
• Guest, A. R., [236]
• Guhêna, [29]
• Gyb (see Qasr Gyb)
• Hadrian, Emperor, [98]
• Hagar Hawara, [32]
• Hagi Ali, [13]
• Hais, Ain el, [38]
• Hamera, El, [32]
• Hamlets (see Settlements)
• Hamrâwi Dates, [216]
• Hamûr, Ain, [173]
• Hand-boring Rigs, [191], [192], [193], [196]
• Hardness of Rocks, [50], [54]
• Harvesting, [215], [217], [227]
• Hassan Effendi, [189]
• Hazen, A., [154]
• Headquarters of Corporation of Western Egypt, Ltd., [39], [59], [113], [115], [126], [127], [128], [130], [133], [138], [142], [202], [203], [208], [214], [219], [220], [225], [233]
• Hedges, [67]
• Hegîra, [108]
• Height of Ancient Lakes, [112], [115], [116], [117]
• Lacustrine Deposits, [115], [116]
• Helaoue, [13], [14]
• Herbs, [14], [15]
• Herodotus, [19], [88], [89], [90], [107]
• Hesperides, Gardens of the, [19]
• Hibis, Temple of, [7], [22], [59], [92], [93], [94], [98], [101], [103]
• High-Level Springs, [165]
• Hills, and Hill-Massifs, [46]
• Hindaw, [195]
• Historic Period, [7], [86]-109, [119]
• Holding Capacity of Water Strata, [151], [152]
• Hollow Walls, [98]
• Honorius, [106]
• Horizontality of Strata, [54]
• Horus, [22]
• Hoskins, G. A., [17], [18], [19], [21], [22], [86], [91], [95], [97], [99], [100], [104], [105], [109], [235]
• Hot Springs (see Temperature)
• Hume, W. F., [54], [236]
• Hummocks, Clay, [111], [112]
• Hyæna, Striped, [37]
• Hydraulic and Hydrostatic Pressure (see Pressure)
• Igneous Rocks (see Crystalline Rocks)
• Impermeable Grey Shales, [48], [49], [126], [131], [133], [164]
• Impervious Strata, [121], [124], [126], [134], [166]
• Implements (see Flint Implements)
• Implements for Repairing Wells, [193]-194
• Implements used by Early Well-borers, [186]
• Inclination of Strata (see Dip)
• Infiltration into Sandstones, [6]
• Influence of Wells, [72], [135], [144]-148, [162]
• Inhabitants of Kharga, [67], [68]
• Inscriptions, [12], [19], [22], [93]-99, [104]
• Interference of Wells (see Influence)
• Intermittent Flow of Wells, [77], [81], [155]
• Iron Pyrites (see Pyrites)
• Irresistibility of Sand, [205], [211]
• Irrigation, [127], [135], [168], [212], [213]
• Irrigating Channels, [69], [71], [75], [77], [120], [168], [169], [227]
• Irrigation Methods, [9]-11, [107], [212]-213
• Ishab, El, [32]
• Isis and Serapis, [97]
• Islands of the Blessed, [19], [88], [107]
• Ismail Abulfida, [109]
• Isopotential Lines, [142]
• Jackals, [232]
• Jacob, [105]
• Jacutus, [109]
• Jaja, [16], [26], [32], [33], [76], [77]
• Jebel Abu Bayan, [45]
• Jebel Ghennîma, [26], [30], [46], [100], [111], [133]
• Jebel Lebekha (see Qasr Lebekha)
• Jebel Tarif, [36], [46], [55], [56], [60], [102], [126], [171], [200], [205], [222], [231]
• Jebel Tarwan, [56], [114], [223]
• Jebel Têr, [46], [55], [56], [60], [66], [70], [102], [103], [114], [126], [171], [201], [206], [223], [231]
• Jebel Um el Ghennaim, [26], [46]
• Jellab, Nagab el, [30]
• Jerboas, [233]
• Johnson Pasha, [220]
• Jordan, W., [20], [58], [235]
• Joseph, [105]
• Julius Demetrius, [95]
• Junction of Artesian-Water Sandstone with Overlying Shales, [133]
• Jupiter Ammon, [88], [89], [90], [91]
• Juvenal, [94]
• Kareez (see Aqueducts)
• Karnak, [28], [30], [32]
• Kawâmil, [27], [28], [29]
• Kenem, [93]
• Kharafish Type of Desert, [35]
• Kharga Village, [21], [25], [46], [58], [66]-70, [215], [228]
• Khartum, [159]
• Khenâfish, Ain, [36], [106]
• Kilns, Brick and Pottery, [102]
• King, F. H., [154]
• Kneph, [100]
• Knibbs, G. H., [143], [154], [162], [163]
• Koptos, [22]
• Kordofan, [2], [159]
• Kufra Oasis, [3], [4]
• Kurkur Oasis, [33], [109]
• Kysis, [97]
• Lacustrine Deposits, [48], [49], [52], [110]-122
• Lagmi, A Date-Palm Liquor, [218]
• Lakes, Ancient, [110]-122
• Land Reclamation, [10], [172], [214], [219], [220]
• Lebekha (see Qasr Lebekha)
• Lefèvre, M., [188]
• Length of Underground Aqueducts, Total, [179]
• Letronne, M., [95]
• Level of Sub-surface Water, [126], [127]
• Level of Ain Amûr, Beris Spring, and Nakhail, [165], [166]
• Levels (see Altitudes)
• Libyan Desert, Limits, Area, etc., [1]-5
• Libyan Formation (see Eocene)
• Libyan Races, [66]
• Lignite, [132]
• Limits of Ancient Lakes, [112], [114]
• Limits of Oasis, [85]
• Local Pressure, [129], [130], [163], [164]
• Longitudinal Flexure, [55], [116]
• Loss of Cambyses’ Army, [88]-92
• Lucas, A., [137], [236]
• Lucerne, [212], [219]
• Lyons, H. G., [22], [160], [235], [236]
• Lythgoe, A. M., [86]
• Machinery for Boring, [8], [9], [188], [191]-193, [196], [197]
• Mafâriq, El, [32]
• Magmatic Waters, [161]
• Magnesia, Sulphate of, [125], [221]
• Maks, [15], [82], [83], [84], [115], [211]
• Manfalut, [13], [38], [43]
• Man-Holes, or Air-shafts, of Underground Tunnels, [9], [173]-185
• Manufacture of Casing, [187], [190]
• Manufactures, [68], [107], [218]
• Manures (see Fertilizers)
• Maps (see Surveying)
• Marcus Ruffinus Lupus, [97]
• Marine Deposits, [50]
• Masaâd, El, [30]
• Masks, Coffin, [102]
• Mats, [68], [74]
• Maximus, [96]
• Measurement of Wells, [63]-65
• Mediterranean Sea, [201]
• Meheriq, [28], [39], [70], [101], [106], [114], [115], [142], [171], [208], [226], [233]
• Melh, Garat el, [31]
• Mellawi, [91]
• Memphis, [90]
• Menes, [87]
• Meteoric Waters, [161], [163]
• Methods of Sinking Wells (see Boring)
• Middle Ages, [93]
• Migration of Villagers, [70]
• Milne, D., [220]
• Minerals, [125], [157], [220]-223
• Mines, Ancient, [222], [223]
• Miocene System, [4]
• Mishâbit, El, [30]
• Mogara, [4]
• Mograbi, El, [30]
• Mohammed Abu Salem, [228]
• Mohammedan Conquest, [7], [9], [103], [108]
• Mohammed Said, [220]
• Mohariq (see Abu Mohariq)
• Monasteries, [100], [101], [105], [167], [168]
• Monoclinal Fold, [56]
• Monuments, Earliest, [7]
• Mosquitoes, [10]
• Mouaslet el Kharga, [38], [39]
• Movement of Dune-Sand, [199], [203], [204]
• Mud-Volcanoes, [81]
• Mummies and Mummy-Cases, [102], [104]
• Murr, Bir, [43]
• Mut, [100]
• Nadûra, [22], [56], [93], [98]
• Nagab Bulaq, [26], [33]
• Nagab el Jellab, [30]
• Nakhail, El, [33], [85], [166]
• Natural History, [224]-233
• Nature of Desert Roads, [39]-44
• Necropolis, Christian, [21], [87], [103]-105, [116]
• Nektanebos, [92]
• Neolithic Implements, [7], [29], [119]
• Nestorius, Bishop, [94], [106]
• Nile Delta, [213]
• Nile River, [6], [158], [159], [160], [164]
• Nitrogen (see Gases)
• Noah, [104]
• Notables of Oasis captured by Dervishes, [82]
• Nubia, [6], [66], [124]
• Nubian Sandstone, [48], [51], [92], [124], [151], [152], [159], [201]
• Nummulitic Limestones, [54]
• Oasis, Derivation of Term, [3], [21]
• Observations on Wells (see Experiments)
• Ochreous Waters, [72], [130], [137]
• Ochre (Oxide of Iron), [72], [73], [125], [138], [221]
• Olympiodorus, [107], [186]
• Omda of Kharga, [63], [64], [65], [66], [68], [171]
• Origin of Lakes, [120]-122
• Origin of Oases-Depressions (see Depressions)
• Origin of Underground Waters, [6], [125], [154]-166
• Osiris, [22]
• Otu, [21], [22]
• Outcrop of Water-bearing Beds, [124], [164]
• Output of Wells (see Discharges)
• Ownership of Wells, [10], [11], [47]
• Paganism, [105]
• Palæolithic Implements, [6], [119]
• Palm Leaves and Fibre, [68]
• Palm Trees, [63], [66], [67], [74], [77], [81], [84]
• Panopolis, [106]
• Parthey, [90]
• Passage Beds (see Esna Shales)
• Passes, [26], [27], [36]
• Past Accumulations of Water, [160]
• Patterson, R. S., [65], [158]
• Paul, [104]
• Peasantry of Oasis, [66], [213], [230]
• Pelusium, [88]
• Percolation from Nile into Nubian Sandstone, [160]
• Persian Period, [7], [22], [86]-93, [167]
• Persian Water-Wheels (see Saqia)
• Phosphatic Deposits, [48], [223]
• Physiognomic Types, [66]
• Pick-Marks, Ancient, [181]
• Pierpont Morgan, [87]
• Pigeons, [106], [107], [231]
• Plants, Fossil (see Fossils)
• Plateau, Limestone, [48], [54]
• Pleistocene Deposits, [48], [53], [118], [120]
• Plinius Capito, [99]
• Plover, [231]
• Plutonic Rocks (see Crystalline Rocks)
• Plutonic Waters, [161]
• Poncet, M., [13], [14], [15], [109], [234]
• Population, [61], [66], [67]
• Porosity of Nubian Sandstone, [151], [152]
• Porosity of Strata, [124], [132], [149], [150], [151], [155]
• Pottery, [29], [31], [102], [113], [118], [119], [120]
• Prehistoric Period, [6], [8], [29], [87], [112], [113], [120]
• Pressure of Gases, [77], [155]
• Pressure of Water, [77], [121], [130], [134], [136], [140], [141], [142], [149], [150], [155], [162], [163], [164]
• Primitive Character of Kharga Village, [68]
• Proclamations inscribed on Monuments, [95]
• Prosperity, Former, [10], [94], [107], [108], [109]
• Protection of Conduits, [169]
• Protection of Cultivated Lands, [69], [205], [206], [207], [208], [209]
• Psammetikh, [88]
• Ptolemaic Remains, [7], [93], [99], [118]
• Pumping, [123], [127], [128], [157]
• Purple Shales, [48], [126], [128]
• Pyrites, [137], [223]
• Qara, El, [38]
• Qasr Ain Mustapha Kashef, [101]
• Qasr Dakhl, [4], [38]
• Qasr Dush, [85], [97]
• Qasr el Ghuâta, [73], [93]
• Qasr Farafra, [44]
• Qasr Gyb, [131], [170], [226]
• Qasr Lebekha, [8], [100], [101], [126], [131], [170], [200], [206], [222]
• Qasr Zaiyan, [59], [60], [73], [98], [99], [117]
• Qirat, Value of the, [64], [65], [138]
• Quail, [230]
• Queensland, Artesian Wells of, [140]
• Quicksands, [134]
• Qusîya, El, [43]
• Radwan, Garat, [31]
• Railway, [10], [25], [29], [31], [38], [58], [68], [74]
• Rainfall, [2], [29], [40], [62], [104], [107], [161], [166], [216]
• Raising of Outlets of Wells (see Elevation)
• Raising of Water from Wells, [170]
• Ramlia, El, [15], [26], [28]
• Rate of Boring, [192], [197]
• Rate of Travelling of Caravans, [44]
• Rate of Underground Flow (see Flow of Water)
• Ratio of Calm to Windy Days, [198]
• Rawlinson, Canon, [88]
• Recent Deposits, [48]
• Recharging of Depleted Water-bearing Strata, [150]
• Reclamation (see Land Reclamation)
• Reduction of Pressure, [140]
• Refûf, El, [26], [28], [30], [31], [39]
• Regulating Appliances for Wells, [9], [65], [193]
• Relation of Population and Water-Supply, [61], [62], [63], [193]
• Religion and Customs, [96], [103], [104], [105], [106]
• Repairing Wells, [78], [82], [83], [187], [193]-196
• Resistance of Strata to Flow of Water, [149], [150]
• Retaining Banks, [78], [80], [82], [83]
• Revenue, [66], [94]
• Reversion to Desert, [7], [70], [71], [83], [84], [208], [210], [211]
• Rice, [62], [66], [212]-214, [227], [230]
• Rice in Land-Reclamation, [2], [213]-215
• Rigs for Boring (see Machinery)
• Rizagat, [18], [28], [32]
• Roads, [4], [13], [25]-44
• Rock-Pressure, [163]
• Rod el Ghanam, [32]
• Rohlfs Expedition, [4], [20]
• Rohlfs, G., [20], [21], [89], [93], [100], [235]
• Roman Occupation, [7], [8], [9], [22], [31], [68], [93]-109, [118], [157], [167], [170], [187], [226]
• Rotation of Crops, [10]
• Sala Abdulla, [173]
• Salt-pans, [75]
• Samhûd (see Wadi Samhûd)
• Samples of Strata from Bores, [151], [152]
• Sand and Sand-Dunes:
• Composition, [201], [202]
• Cross-Section of Dunes, [205]
• Damage to Cultivation, [69], [200], [207]
• Disposition, [200]
• Encroachment, [4], [70], [71], [83], [84], [206], [207], [208], [209]
• Erosion, [35], [52], [83], [111], [199], [206]
• Form, [202], [203], [204], [205]
• Formation of Terraces, [78], [210], [215]
• Held by Moisture and Vegetation, [208]
• Movement, Rate and Direction of, [92], [203], [207], [208], [211]
• Relation to Hills, etc., [199], [200], [205], [206]
• Sandstorms, [13], [89], [91], [208], [217]
• Sheltered Areas, [206]
• Storm-Walls and Fences, [207], [209]
• Origin, [201]
• Velocity of Wind, [199]
• Sanded-up Wells, [76], [85], [119], [150], [156], [157], [158], [171], [181]
• Saqias, [128]
• Saturated Sandstones, [121], [133], [148], [152]
• Sayce, A. H., [7], [87], [94], [98], [108], [236]
• Schweinfurth, G., [21], [22], [86], [94], [101], [235]
• Sea-Level, Relation of Floor and Plateau to, [59], [60]
• Sedimentary Rocks, [49], [54]
• Seepage [71], [159]
• Selection of Sites for Forts, [168]
• Selîma, [13], [15], [33]
• Senna, [14]
• Sensitiveness of Wells (see Influence)
• Senussi Arabs, [4]
• Septimus Macro, [99]
• Serapis, Isis and, [97]
• Serir Type of Desert-Surface, [35]
• Set-ament, [22]
• Seth, [22]
• Settlements, Outlying, [69], [70], [84]
• Shebb, [13], [15]
• Sheikh Hassan Hanadi, [171], [173]
• Sheikh Khalid Ibn el Walîd, [74]
• Sheikh Mustapha (see Omda of Kharga)
• Sheikhs’ Tombs, [70], [74], [84]
• Shells (see Fossils)
• Sherîf el Edrissi, El, [108]
• Shugera, El, [28], [29], [39], [42]
• Sighawâl (see Abu Sighawâl)
• Silt Deposits, [29]
• Silting of Wells, [9], [75]
• Similarity of Ancient and Modern Methods of Boring, [187], [190]
• Simultaneous Elevation and Denudation of Strata, [54]
• Siwa Oasis, [3], [4], [17], [89], [90], [91]
• Slaves, [33], [34]
• Slichter, C. S., [154]
• Slope of Underground Aqueducts, [178]
• Sohag, [27], [28], [30], [31], [39], [42]
• Soils, [52], [72], [214], [215], [220]
• Southernmost Wells of Oasis, [85]
• South-West Desert of Egypt, [54]
• Springs, [7], [8], [47], [52], [112], [116], [121], [122], [126], [165], [166]
• Spring Deposits, [48]
• St. Martin, V. de, [39], [90]
• Stagnation of Water in Strata, [131]
• Static Head, [128], [140], [141], [142], [153], [166]
• Steam-boring Rigs, [196], [197]
• Steel Casing, [189], [196]
• Steindorff, G., [88]
• Storage Reservoirs, [124], [152], [153]
• Strabo, [108]
• Streets of Kharga Village, [67]
• Suâga, El, [31]
• Sub-artesian Water, [8], [125], [161]
• Subsidence (see Folding)
• Subterranean Water-Supply, [123]-185
• Subterranean Works (see Aqueducts)
• Sudan, [2], [6], [33], [82], [124], [159]
• Sudd Region, [6], [159]
• Sugar-cane, [220]
• Sunt (see Acacias)
• Surface Water, [8], [47], [76], [85], [113], [133], [189]
• Surface-Water Sandstone, [47], [121], [125]-131, [151], [162]
• Surveying, [17], [20], [23], [42], [43], [58]-60, [72], [176]
• Swamps, [4], [9], [125], [159], [164], [227]
• Syene, [94]
• Synclinal Folds, [56]
• Tables:
• Altitudes, [59]
• Dunes, [204]
• Geological Deposits, [48]
• Interference of Wells, [145]
• Population, [62]
• Water Analyses, [138]
• Tamar Dates, [216]
• Tamarisks, [77], [85], [209], [225]
• Tahta, [28], [29]
• Tapping the Nile, [158]
• Tarif (see Jebel Tarif)
• Tarwan (see Jebel Tarwan)
• Tau Symbol, [104]
• Tawîl, Ain el, [59], [60], [70], [227]
• Derb el, [16], [17], [37]
• Taxes, [62], [63], [65]
• Tchonemyris, [99]
• Temperature, Changes of, [52]
• Effect on Rate of Flow of Water, [155]
• of Artesian Waters, [77], [109], [136], [149]
• of Sub-Surface Waters, [181]
• Temples (see Hibis, Jupiter Ammon, Qasr el Ghuâta, Qasr Dush, Qasr Zaiyan)
• Tenîda, [36], [37]
• Têr (see Jebel Têr)
• Termination of Um el Dabâdib Aqueduct, [183]
• Terraces formed by Wind-borne Material, [78], [79], [80], [81], [83], [210]
• Thebes, [18], [88], [89], [90], [91], [105]
• Theodosius, [107]
• Thickness of Artesian-Water Sand-stones, [152]
• Tiberius Julius Alexander, [95]
• Tibesti, [2], [159]
• Timasius, [106]
• Timbering Wells, [189], [190]
• Topography, [45]-60
• Total Thickness of Strata, [48], [49], [164]
• Total Yield of Wells, [62], [63], [139]
• Trading, [62], [68], [74], [76]
• Traditions, Local, [158], [173]
• Trajan, Emperor, [97]
• Transportation, Agents of, [52]
• Travelling in the Libyan Desert, [41], [42]
• Trenches, [168], [169]
• Tripoli, [2]
• Tristram, H. B., [216]
• Tufa (see Calcareous Tufa)
• Tundaba, El, [29], [31], [39]
• Types of Desert, [31], [35], [42]
• Um el Dabâdib, [8], [60], [70], [100], [101], [126], [131], [170]-185, [200], [205], [206], [225]
• Um el Ghennaim, [26]
• Uncemented Sandstones, [134]
• Underground Exploration, [174], [175]
• Underground Water-Supply, [123]-185
• United States, [143], [196]
• Value of Dates, [215]
• Value of the Qirat, [64], [65], [138]
• Variation in Character of Deposits of Libyan Desert, [50], [51], [55]
• Variation in Discharges of Wells, [57]
• Variation in Level of Water-bearing Strata, [129], [141]
• Variation in Porosity of Sandstone, [151]
• Variation in Static Head, [141]
• Varieties of Dates, [216]
• Vegetation, Wild, [15], [37], [40], [76], [84], [85], [165], [166], [208], [209], [225], [233]
• Velocity of Desert Winds, [199]
• Velocity of Underground Flow (see Flow)
• Ventilation of Aqueducts, [177], [181]
• Vespasian, Emperor, [96]
• Villages overwhelmed by Sand, [70]
• Vuta, G., [23]
• Wadi el Molûk, [220], [221]
• Wadi Halfa, [159]
• Wadi Samhûd, [16], [32], [38]
• Wah, [21]
• Waled Hallaf, [27], [30], [32], [34]
• Walls of Kharga village, [67]
• Waste of Water, [9]
• Watch-Tower, [102]
• Water-bearing Beds below Plateau, [123], [124], [153]
• Water-bearing Beds disturbed by
• Faults, etc., [56]
• Sandstones, [6], [49], [123]-185
• Waterfalls at Dakhakhin, [78]
• Watering Camels, [27], [28]
• Water Stations, [9], [31]
• Water stored under Oasis-Depression, Amount of, [152], [153]
• Water used in raising Rice, Amount of, [213]
• Weathering (see Denudation)
• Weba Measure, [215]
• Wheat, [62], [212], [214]
• White Chalk, [48], [54], [55]
• Whiting, B. F., [197]
• Wild-Fowl, [227]-230
• Wilkinson, I. G., [99], [100], [235]
• Willcocks, Sir William, [213]
• Wind, [13], [35], [49], [52], [78], [79], [84], [106], [111], [172], [198]-211, [217]
• Wind-formed Deposits, [78], [79], [122]
• Wine, [94], [108], [220]
• Winlock, [87]
• Wooden Lining of Wells (see Casing)
• Xaverius de Brevedent, [13]
• Yabsa, El, [26], [28]
• Yield of Date-Trees, [217]
• Yield of Wells (see Discharges)
• Young, [95]
• Zambiles (see Baskets)
• Zarâbi, [28]
• Zittel, K. von, [20], [235]
• Zizagat, El, [31]
• Zoology of Egypt, [233]
• Zosimus, [106]

THE END