An Egyptian oasis

by H. J. L. Beadnell

Everything connected with the village is of the most primitive description, and until a very short time ago few of the inhabitants had been beyond the limits of their own fields. The advent of the railway caused no little commotion and stir in the oasis, and awakened trading instincts which had lain dormant since Roman times. Many of the villagers now travel to and fro between Kharga and the Nile Valley, and the Omda took an early opportunity of obtaining leave of absence from his onerous duties, and proceeded to Alexandria for a course of sea-baths!

Outside the village, with the exception of the antiquities, to which we shall call attention in a separate chapter, there is little of general interest beyond the wells and gardens, among which there are many picturesque spots. At Bir Ain el Gôs, a few kilometres to the north, a primitive form of corn-mill may be seen working, the grinding-stones being driven by the water of the well by means of an undershot wheel.

It may be mentioned here that with very few, if any, exceptions the different streams which collectively make up the water-supply of the oasis find their way to the surface through artificially constructed passages. The great majority of these are bores of ancient construction, though a few have been sunk with modern plant during the last fifty years. The ancient wells are known as Aiyûn (sing. Ain), the modern as Abiyâr (sing. Bir); for example, Ain el Ghazâl, Bir Mansûra. In cases where a modern bore has been specially sunk to replace an ancient well, the two words are used in conjunction; for instance, Bir Ain el Gôs. The position of each well is nearly always conspicuously marked by a thick clump of acacias, from which (more especially in the isolated settlements in the northern part of the depression) the main irrigating channel generally runs in a southerly direction, the cultivated lands being of triangular form, with the apex at or near the source of the water, and raised little, if at all, above the general level of the surrounding plain. By this disposition the fields present the least possible front to the north, from which side comes the bulk of the sand which is such a curse to these outlying settlements.

Kharga village, being snugly situated among palm-groves, and directly to the south of Jebel Têr, is well protected from the fierce, sand-laden winds which so frequently scour the depression from north to south. The poor little hamlet of Meheriq, on the other hand, set on the open plain some 20 kilometres to the north, is exposed to every wind that blows, with the result that the sand has accumulated to such an extent that most of the palms have been buried, and many of the houses have been overwhelmed. The advancing dunes are, in fact, steadily pushing the hamlet southwards. At frequent intervals the occupants of the most northerly houses move their goods and chattels, and betake themselves to new quarters erected at the southern extremity. This periodical migration has, indeed, become so ingrained a habit that it is now regarded as of little moment; it is only when their wells and trees are threatened and destroyed that the wretched people call on Allah to stay His hand, and protect them from destruction.

Still farther to the north lie a number of isolated wells with small areas of cultivation, and at some of these there are settlements consisting of one or two families. Ain el Tawîl, 8 kilometres south-east of Kharga, is another little hamlet, rendered more conspicuous than most of these outlying settlements by the presence of a Sheikh’s tomb surmounted by a rather pointed dome. A third important dependency of Kharga is known as Um el Dabâdib, and is situated a day’s journey to the north. This place is of exceptional interest, in that its water-supply is not derived from wells, but from extensive tunnels driven into the hills. Some most interesting ruins exist in the neighbourhood, but a description of these and of the subterranean aqueducts must be postponed to a later chapter.

ENCROACHMENT OF SAND-DUNES AT MEHERIQ.

Twelve kilometres to the south of Kharga lies the village of Gennâh. The intermediate country is largely covered by sand, which in the neighbourhood of the village has accumulated into large dunes, threatening it and its magnificent wells, Ain Estakherab and Ain Magarin, with ultimate destruction. Ain Estakherab is undoubtedly the finest well in the Libyan Desert, and has been running for hundreds, if not for thousands, of years; but unless special measures are taken to cope with the advance of the dunes immediately to the north and north-west, this splendid flow of water is doomed to destruction within the next ten or twenty years. Owing to the encroachment of the sand there is very little land available for cultivation near the village, the bulk of the water from the two wells being conducted in an open channel to the low-lying plain south-east of the hill-range known as the Gorn el Gennâh. This channel traverses 7 or 8 kilometres of porous desert before it reaches the first of the cultivated fields in the neighbourhood of the Gorn, and there is in consequence very great loss of water through seepage and evaporation.

The famous wells of Gennâh differ from most of those in the northern part of the oasis in that their mouths are large and deep pools of limpid water, from the depths of which great bubbles of gas constantly ascend to the surface. Little or nothing is known as to the age and depth of either of these wells; they have never been cleaned out in modern times, and are closed in at a depth of a few metres from the surface in such a way as to prevent soundings being made. With the object of determining if the large discharges are due to the wells being situated on exceptionally low ground, I recently had a line of levels run from headquarters to Gennâh. Contrary to expectation, it was found that Ain Estakherab and Ain Magarin discharged at levels considerably above the average elevation of the wells of the Kharga district; possibly, therefore, the exceptional flows in this district are due to its comparative isolation, and to the immunity thus obtained from the interference of other wells.