Though dates are the only fruit exported, olives, apricots, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, and figs are grown in great numbers, and about 600 feddans are cultivated with rice, wheat and barley crops. Clover is sown after the rice crop is gathered. The area of land cultivated for cereals is said to be slowly diminishing year by year, having been 900 feddans fifteen years ago; the decrease is put down to a diminished yield from the springs, owing to their becoming sanded and choked up, but for this the inhabitants are themselves largely to blame, as they do not take sufficient measures to keep the wells free. It may be that water has been diverted to the palm-groves, these furnishing the saleable article. It will be apparent, from the figures already given, that palm-groves cover the greater portion of the irrigated land around the villages.
The public health of the oasis is far from good. Though free from the opthalmia which is so prevalent in the Nile Valley, the inhabitants suffer much from fevers and gastric disorders, and according to the Government doctor virulent epidemics of small-pox occasionally visit the place. The low standard of health is partly attributable to the bad quality of the water, but is probably highly aggravated by the swampy ground found in many localities. It is also noticeable that no trouble is taken to protect the drinking-water from contamination.
Besides the four principal villages already mentioned, small settlements exist at Mandisha Aguza, 2 kilometres east by south from Mandisha; at Harra, a tiny hamlet 14 kilometres east of Mandisha; at Ain Jafarra, 6 kilometres south of Mandisha; and at Ain el Haiss, in the south part of the oasis. The populations, etc., of these outlying settlements are included in the figures given above for the chief villages.
Mandisha Aguza consists of a group of mud dwellings aggregated round a low sandstone eminence, surrounded by a small cultivated tract. Ascherson records that in 1876 the inhabitants still spoke the Siwa dialect among themselves. Cailliaud had already remarked in 1820 that the spot was peopled by colonists from Siwa. Harra consists of about half a dozen hovels, sheltering a population which cannot exceed fifty, with several springs and palm-groves, and a small tract of cultivated land. The principal spring is marked by a large pool of clear water, about 40 metres in diameter, lying in a slight depression to the south of the houses; the water has a temperature of 24° C. (hotter than the air). There is plenty of water at this place, and more can easily be got by digging to a small depth.
At Ain Jafarra there is only one house, tenanted by a single family. At least two springs exist here, one being near the house and the other at a distance of some 700 metres to the east; the water from the latter spring is led by a long canal to the small palm-grove and patch of cultivated land near the house. The water, though somewhat saline, is drinkable.
Ain el Haiss is an important point on the road from the villages of Baharia to Farafra. It lies some 40 kilometres S.S.W. from Bawitti, in about lat. 28° 2′ N., long. 28° 39′ E. of G. It is a small settlement, being tenanted at the time of survey by only three or four men. There are two springs, one at a higher level than the other. The upper spring is close to the house occupied by the inhabitants; the water, which has a temperature of 15°.6 C. (i.e. 3° warmer than the air at the time of measurement) is collected into a shallow muddy pool, surrounded by a mud dam, whence it flows westward on to the fields. The lower spring forms a pool of about 400 square metres in extent, the temperature of the water here being 14° C. It is situated about 400 metres south-west of the one just described, and like it serves for irrigation. Rice was the crop growing at the time of our visit. The total irrigated area at Ain el Haiss is about 60 or 70 feddans, and there are only a few palms. Besides the house there is a sheikhs’ tomb, which is an object of veneration in the oasis, a small walled-in garden, and a large ruin; the last named will be described among the antiquities of the oasis. Another small cultivated tract, some 15 or 20 feddans in extent, with at least one spring, exists about 3 kilometres north-west of Ain el Haiss. According to Jordan there are two springs here, named Ain Hassab and Ain el Gharb, owned in 1874 by the Kadi of El Qasr, but the place is usually spoken of as Ain el Haiss el Bahari.
East of Ain el Haiss are two considerable patches of cultivated land which were mapped from the east scarp, and thus not examined by the survey. Of these, the most northerly one is situated about 9 kilometres east of Ain el Haiss; according to Ascherson it bears the name of Tablemun, and its principal spring had a temperature of 27° C. The ruins of a Coptic village existing here show that the place was inhabited in early times. It lies some 5 kilometres S.S.W. from Tablemun, and about 7 kilometres E.S.E. from Ain el Haiss, and thus forms the most southerly cultivated spot in the oasis. Both these localities were reported by our men, sent there to obtain water, to be untenanted; the lands are doubtless cultivated by men sent from Ain el Haiss or from the villages for the purpose. A long line of sand-dunes and scrub runs S.S.W., hiding these places from a traveller approaching from Ain el Haiss.
Besides the springs at the inhabited spots above described, and those used for irrigated lands more or less near to them, there are numerous outlying springs, which, while not serving for irrigation, are important as localities where water may be obtained. The chief of these are Ain Gelid, on the road from Minia and Samalut, 3½ kilometres south-east of Harra; Ain Haswi, 9½ kilometres due south of Harra, to which two roads from the east scarp converge; Ain Beled, 7 kilometres west of Bawitti; and Ain Khaman, half-way between Ain el Haiss and the south point of the oasis. The water at Ain Khaman is said to be bitter and the spring is apparently frequently sanded-up and difficult to find, so that travellers to Farafra should take in their supplies at Ain el Haiss.
[31]Recensement général de l’Égypte, tome III, 1896.