BIDIYAT PRIEST
Both Arkenu and Ouenat differ from all the other oases of the Western Desert of Egypt in that they are not depressions in the desert with underground water-supplies, but mountain areas where rain-water collects in natural basins in the rocks.
The mountain chain of Arkenu as I saw it is about fifteen kilometers in extent from north to south and some twenty kilometers from east to west. But there was no opportunity to explore it to the eastward, so that I cannot say whether it may not extend farther in that direction than I have stated. I could only observe it as far as I could see from the desert at the western foot of the mountain. It may well be that off to the east Arkenu Mountain runs into a chain of hills of which the Ouenat Mountains are also spurs to the south. There is an opportunity for more exploration of the eastern portions of both these rock masses than I was able to make in the time and with the resources at my command.
The nearest known point to Arkenu and Ouenat to the east or rather the northeast is Dakhla Oasis, some six hundred kilometers distant. There is a tradition that there is an old track to Egypt between these two points, but a journey from Dakhla to Arkenu and Ouenat with caravan, which would take at least fourteen days, would be a formidable undertaking.
CHAPTER XVII
THE LOST OASES: OUENAT
SATURDAY, April 28. We started at 9:30 P.M. for the first all-night trek, halting at 7 A.M. of the twenty-ninth. We made forty kilometers. It was fair and clear with a very strong hot wind from southeast all day. The wind blew from the same quarter, but was warm rather than hot all night. The ground was serira, with large stones making bad going for the camels. At 6 A.M. we reached the western corner of Ouenat Mountain and camped an hour later.
The day was spent quietly, chiefly in rest for the coming night trek. In the early evening we sent men to bring the camels from their grazing. Bukara hired a camel from a Tebu, to relieve his own, which he wanted to be able to sell at the end of the journey for a high price. I hired three Tebus and their camels to go with us, but not for the same reason. Our transport was inadequate, for the trek from Kufra had shown me that our loads were too heavy. The camels became quickly exhausted.