Mysteries of the Libyan Desert

by W. J. Harding King

Ershay: A lake of sweet water, variously described as being three miles across and five or six feddans (i.e. acres) in extent; also a wady of the same name that runs into it. Entering the wady near El Guttara, the lake lies three days’ journey along the wady to the north. The lake is said to contain crocodiles, which seize camels when they come down to drink. There is nothing very improbable in this, for crocodiles have actually been found in the middle of the Western Sahara, in the pools of the Wad Mihero, that leads into the Wad Ighargharen, itself a tributary of the great Wad Igharghar, a valley that in prehistoric times must have contained an immense river. Presumably, as this part of the desert dried up, the crocodiles became cut off, and now exist only in the pools of the river bed—a similar state of affairs probably accounting for their presence in the Ershay Lake.

Fardy, Wady el: Another name for the Wady Tibbu, or Bahr el Ghazel, that connects with Lake Chad. Barth calls it the Barrum and the Fede. The latter name may perhaps be a corruption of the Arabic word Fardy.

There is also another Wady el Fardy that is said to run east of Jebel Kusu, through Guru, Erbayana, Buseima and Taiserbo. It crosses the Jalo-Kufara road four days south of Jalo, and then runs past Jarabub, Siwa and Bahrein to join the Nile. One account said that it also ran through the Fayum.

A large number of branch wadies are said to discharge into the Wady el Fardy from the Tibesti range. These valleys support a large population of Tibbus; but as these natives appear to be among the chief followers of the Senussi, I could not induce my informants to give me any information about this district, which appears to be one of the chief strongholds of the sect. Several wadies, however, are shown on existing maps, I do not know on what authority, as starting in Tibesti and running in this direction.

There are a number of native reports of dried-up river beds in various parts of the desert, that have never, I believe, been investigated, and may be without foundation, and information of this kind must be regarded with suspicion. But the Wady el Fardy sounds authentic, for wadies have already been reported to exist at all the points mentioned by my informants in its course. In the Tibesti range there must even now be a considerable rainfall in the rainy season, and probably in former times it was still heavier. The ultimate destination of the water that falls on the northern and eastern sides of Tibesti is still unknown. It is hardly likely that it can break back through the range and discharge towards the south, so apparently it must flow somewhere towards the north.

A plentiful supply of surface water exists in the Kufara group of oases—more than the extremely slight rainfall of the desert could possibly supply. In the Western Sahara the large oasis groups are fed by wadies of this description—the Wad Saura, for instance, brings down the rainfall from the Atlas Mountains to supply the oases of the Twat depression, while the Wad Ghirh group between Tuggurt and Biskra is supplied by the great Wad Igharghar, which takes its rise in the Central Sahara. It seems quite possible that the Kufara Oases and the Wady el Fardy are their counterparts in the Libyan Desert.

Not only are wadies known to exist at all the points along this river bed, where reported to me, but there is also known to be a large depression between Siwa Oasis and the Nile, portions of which, such as Sitra Lake, contain water and are below sea-level. The northern boundary of this great hollow has been surveyed almost throughout its entire length, the cliff running by Jebel el Ghazalat, Jebel Tarfaia, Jebel Dakar, Garet el Leben, Jebel Somara and Jebel Hashem el Gud, to the Wady Natrun. On the southern side of this great valley a well-marked boundary has been found to exist in the neighbourhood of Siwa, extending eastwards towards the Nile as far as Araj Oasis and Lake Sitra. Beyond that point it does not seem to have been surveyed. If this great depression forms part of the Wady el Fardy, it must have widened out to the east of Siwa Oasis into something like an estuary. The Wady el Fardy was described to me as being as big as the Nile Valley.

In addition to the Wady el Fardy, I heard of another great river bed known as the Wady Howar that in places was also said to be as deep and wide as the Nile Valley. The bottom of the valley was said to consist of clay and to contain much water after the rains—presumably in wells and pools—but to dry up in the hot season.

Hurry: The name of a Bedayat tribe. Also of the district that they inhabit, which contains a lake of good water, more than an Arab gunshot across from north to south, and an hour’s journey from east to west. There are a few trees and palms round the lake and some cultivation. The lake lies three days east from Wanjungat, the road lying all over sand and rock, it is seven days due north from Ershay Lake, the road being all over rock with a great deal of water in the rains, but none in the dry weather. There are settlements at the east and west ends of Hurry Lake.

Iddaila: Three days to the south-west of Iddaila is a large oasis, and two days to the west of Iddaila is a large hattia. A road runs from Iddaila to Kufara and another runs west, hidden under the dunes.