An Egyptian oasis

by H. J. L. Beadnell

AIN ESTAKHERAB, GENNAH

AN EGYPTIAN OASIS

AN ACCOUNT OF THE OASIS OF KHARGA
IN THE LIBYAN DESERT, WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO ITS HISTORY, PHYSICAL
GEOGRAPHY, AND WATER-SUPPLY

BY H. J. LLEWELLYN BEADNELL
F.G.S., F.R.G.S., Assoc.Inst.M.M.
FORMERLY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF EGYPT

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1909

TO THE
MEMORY OF A FRIEND AND FELLOW-GEOLOGIST,
THOMAS BARRON,
WHO LOST HIS LIFE IN THE SUDAN
IN FEBRUARY, 1906

PREFACE

The inhabited depressions of the Libyan Desert, called by Herodotus the ‘Islands of the Blest,’ are interesting alike to the archæologist, to the geographer and geologist, and to the tourist who wishes to wander from the well-beaten tracks, and perhaps none more so than the Oasis of Kharga, lying 130 miles west of Luxor—the site of ancient Thebes—and recently connected by railway with the Nile Valley.