Far more enduring and more important (in a modern sense) than any of their buildings, were the extensive excavations carried out by the Romans for the improvement of the water-supply of oasis. In the neighbourhood of Bawitti especially, long series of shafts sunk in the sandstones and clays which form the ground, are frequently to be seen. These shafts, which vary from 1 to 3 metres in diameter, are sometimes round, sometimes rectangular, and are placed at only short distances apart. They are connected below with long tunnels, along which flows the water from the springs. Cailliaud mentions the existence of ten of these ancient aqueducts near Mandisha, eight of which still conveyed water in 1820; he entered one and followed it for 40 metres. He counted no less than fourteen shafts connected with this tunnel in a length of 150 metres, and records that one measured had a rectangular shape, 1·45 metres by 0·45 metres, and was perfectly cut in the rock, with footholds for the descent of the workmen. The largest aqueduct found by Cailliaud is south-west of El Qasr; its size is such that a man is able to walk in it. This tunnel, which now contains no water, leads from an excavation 5 metres in diameter by 8 metres deep, and in a length of 55 metres it is entered by ten shafts. In the same neighbourhood Cailliaud counted more than thirty other aqueducts, mostly coming from the south, like those of Mandisha. Four of these discharge their water into a huge excavation 70 metres diameter and 12 metres deep. The only example of an underground aqueduct at present known to exist in the south part of the oasis is one discovered by Ascherson a few kilometres east of Ain el Haiss; it is at present dry.
Though more abundant in Baharia than in any other of the Egyptian oases, doubtless on account of the relatively shallow depths at which water is there reached, these Roman levels are not peculiar to Baharia, several existing in Farafra,[70] one of which was noticed by Ascherson (l.c. p. 137); other examples have been found at Ain Um Dababib and near Gennah in Kharga.[71] It appears, too, that underground aqueducts of the same nature exist abundantly in the oases of the Algerian and Moorish Sahara.
(c) Coptic Antiquities.
Some 4 kilometres E.S.E. from Mandisha are the ruins of a Coptic[72] village, which appear to be those described and figured by Cailliaud, although he gives the position as “est 35° nord de Zabou” Cailliaud characterises these remains as “miserable ruins,” but mentions specially, besides the fort referred to, two ruined churches, larger than the other structures. The first of these is 11·1 metres long, 6·50 metres wide, and has walls still 6 metres high; a principal door opens to the south, while another smaller door is situated on the north side. The interior presents only one room, with a niche in the wall; there are three windows on each of the two longer sides. The second ruin is of about the same size; on each of its longer sides are nine niches in the wall, and higher up are six small openings for light. The building appears to have been vaulted. The ancient habitations which form the remainder of the ruins are of a uniform type—low vaulted dwellings surmounted by terraces, access to which is got by steps. The entire village has a circumference of about 520 metres. The name of the locality where these ruins exist is not without interest. Ascherson quotes it as “Denise,” while Wilkinson gives “Bayrees;” the name, like that of Beris in Kharga Oasis, doubtless comes from the old Egyptian root “rs” (the south).
Another Coptic village existed in the south-east part of the oasis, in a district now called Uxor, some 10 kilometres east of Ain el Haiss. The principal ruin is that of a church, built of crude brick, 19·8 metres in length.[73] The exterior displays only four bare walls, battered, with two doors in the east part opening respectively north and south. In the interior is a nave, and on each side are three arcades forming small chapels; in the centre is a niche ornamented with small columns with volute capitals.
Above the chapels a gallery runs round the building. The columns of the nave have capitals rudely modelled on the plan of the lotus-flower of the ancient Egyptians. The remains of fresco paintings can still be traced on the walls, with Greek crosses and fragments of inscriptions. Ascherson records that he visited this ruin in 1876 and found it in about the same state as Cailliaud narrates, though he was unable to discover the inscriptions on the walls which that author and Wilkinson refer to.
Besides the two above-mentioned, a third Coptic village seems to have existed about 7 kilometres south-west of Mandisha, at the south end of the range of hills which will be seen on the map. This village has not been seen, apparently, by any European traveller, though its position was pointed out to Ascherson from a distance, under the name “Merharet-el-Fama.” Information was derived on a visit to Ain Jafarra (6 kilometres south of Mandisha) that some ruins existed a short distance to the north-west, and this would appear to coincide with the position given by Ascherson; time unfortunately failed for an excursion in search of them.
[64]Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, Band 20, 1885, pp. 110-160.
[65]Berichte der philologisch-historischen klasse der Konigl. Sachs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 1900, pp. 209-239.