CHAPTER XXVII

NATURAL HISTORY

THE intense heat and dryness, with the resulting great evaporation,

combined with the almost total absence of rain, and the cutting

action of the sand, when driven by the furious desert gales, makes

the existence of vegetation in the desert almost an impossibility.

Still here and there a few blades of grass, or even a green bush or

two, are to be met with, though one may travel for several days’

journey in any direction from them before any other growing plants

are to be seen.

The plants that grow in the desert are all especially adapted by

nature to withstand the heat and drought. The stems of the bushes

have a dense outer covering to prevent evaporation. Their leaves are

small and leathery for the same reason. But their chief peculiarity is

perhaps the extraordinary development of their roots, which stretch

for enormous distances in search of water.

Some of the wild plants I collected in Dakhla Oasis were found

growing on very saline ground—in a few cases the soil around them

being white, with the salt lying on the surface. The date palm seems

to have been specially designed by nature to flourish under desert

conditions. A palm will grow in soils containing as much as four

per cent of salt, providing its roots can reach a stratum containing

less than one per cent, and, if it can find a layer with a half per

cent of salt only, it is capable of yielding an abundant crop.

The animals in the oasis are no less interesting than the plants.

The nights in Dakhla—especially at Rashida and Mut—are made

hideous by the dismal howling of the jackals. The dog tribe in the

oasis are probably unusually interesting. I collected a number of

skins, but, when I went off into the desert, was unable to take

them with me, and had to leave them behind in a half-cured state

in Mut. Insects swarm in the hot weather, with the result that,

by the time I returned from my various desert trips, I invariably

found that they had got at my skins to such an extent as to render

them worthless to any museum.

One jackal skin that I managed to bring in in a fair state, and

gave to the Natural History Museum in Kensington, was most kindly

identified for me by Mr. Martin A. C. Hinton as being identical with

the large Egyptian jackal, or “wolf,” _canis lupaster_. All the

jackals of Dakhla are of an unusually large size, and are locally

called wolves. I was told that they breed freely with the village

dogs. In addition to the jackals, foxes are extremely numerous,

some being apparently identical with the common greyish fox of the

Nile Valley.

There are probably some species of the dog tribe in the oasis which

are new. One evening near Mut I happened to be returning to the town

about sunset, and noticed a fox that struck me as being of an unusual

appearance. Shortly after I first saw him, he went to the far side of

a low mound of earth; I was consequently able to approach him unseen,

and managed to get within about ten yards of him before attracting

his attention. He then bolted; but not before I had had a good view

of him.

He was a fairly large fox of a greyish brown colour, and carried

a very fine brush. But his most striking peculiarity was that he

was covered with large black spots, which appeared to be about

an inch and a half in diameter. On questioning the inhabitants,

I found that a spotted fox was occasionally seen in the oasis,

but was not apparently very common. Markings of this nature are,

I believe, quite unknown in any fox, so that this one probably was

of unusual interest. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure a specimen.

In addition to the jackals and foxes, an occasional hyena is said

to appear in the oasis, but none, so far as I heard, were seen while

I was there.

A curious fact in relation to the jackals in Dakhla is that they

appear to be to a great extent vegetarians, living largely upon the

fallen fruit in the plantations—a fact which recalls the story of

the fox and the grapes.

Gazelles used to be fairly numerous in the scrub-covered areas in

and around the oases, but I invariably found them extremely shy and

difficult to approach. Once, in the distance, I caught sight of a

pair that looked interesting. One of them had an extremely pale coat,

and was perhaps a _rim_ (Loder’s gazelle); but the other was of a

deep reddish—almost chestnut—colour that, from a distance, looked

unlike any known variety. The usual gazelle found in these parts

is the common Dorcas; but these two looked entirely different. The

natives do not seem to distinguish between the various varieties,

all of which bear a strong resemblance to each other, classing them

altogether as “gazelle.”

Scorpions swarm in the older buildings of the town, and the natives

get frequently stung, sometimes, I was told, with fatal effect. The

leaves of a round-leaved plant known as _khobbayza_[17] are pounded

and made into a poultice to apply to their stings—it is said with

considerable effect. A native quack doctor from the Nile Valley used

to do a considerable trade in little blackish wafers of a composition

that he kept secret, which were also said to be very beneficial

not only against the stings of scorpions but also in the case of

snake bites. One of the native doctors I met in Mut tried them on

some of his patients with, he told me, great success. Very large,

hairy, yellow spiders, tarantulas perhaps, I saw once or twice,

and found the natives very much afraid of them.

In the Nile Valley, curious mud-built tables supported on a single

thick leg are used on which to place young children to secure them

from the attacks of scorpions and tarantulas that, owing to the

overhang of the table, are unable to climb to the top. The table-top

itself is surrounded by a low wall to prevent the children from

falling off, the crest of the wall itself being often fantastically

decorated.

I never came across any snakes at Dakhla, but more than once saw the

skin they had shed. There is said to be a long black snake, generally

found in or near the water channels, whose bite is considered to be

extremely dangerous. The ordinary horned cerastes viper, though often

met with in the desert, seems to be rare in the oasis—and the same

may be said of the unhorned viper that so much resembles it at first

sight. Insects swarm during the hot weather in the oases. Butterflies

are scarce, but moths are fairly numerous. In Kharga I caught the

cotton moth, but I did not see it in Dakhla. Locusts are almost, I

believe, unknown, but the grasshopper tribe are in some parts—Tenida

for instance—extremely numerous.

[Illustration: SCORPION-PROOF PLATFORM.]

Bristle tails (silver fish) were unpleasantly destructive, and boring

bees do much damage by perforating the palm-trunk joists and rafters

of the houses and rendering them unsafe. House flies were quite common

enough to be a nuisance, though not to the extent usually found in

the Nile Valley. Mosquitoes were present in only small numbers in Mut,

owing probably to the scarcity of water in the neighbourhood.

Dragon flies were conspicuously numerous—a dark red, a greenish

variety and a beautiful steely blue kind being, so far as I saw,

the most common.

In the spring there is a large immigration of birds into the oasis,

coming up from the south-west. Sand grouse—both a pintailed and a

spotted variety—are to be met with on the outskirts of the oasis and

in the parts of it remote from the villages. Quail, duck, snipe and

various water birds abound in the oasis at certain seasons. Kites I

never saw or heard, but eagles were several times seen. Also a bird

of the hawk species. Ravens exist in small numbers.

Pigeons are fairly well represented, a large wild pigeon—the blue

rock apparently, which lives largely in the cliffs surrounding the

oasis—being common. These at times give very good sport; in the

open they are far too wary to be approached within gun-shot. But in

the evening they come down to the wells to drink, usually choosing

one that is removed some distance from the villages.

But these pigeons proved to be very poor eating, their flesh being

hard and dry, and not to be compared with sand grouse for the pot.

The sand grouse, too, were singularly hard to bag. The only place

where I ever succeeded in shooting any was on the Gubary road between

Dakhla and Kharga Oases. I found them fairly numerous there, being

generally to be seen in the early morning at the places where the

_bedawin_ camped for the night. As the day grew older they left the

road altogether and flew off into the desert.

The birds that interested me most in the oases were the _kimri_,

or palm doves. There are at least two kinds in Dakhla, the _kimri

beladi_, or local palm dove, and the _kimri sifi_, or summer dove. The

former seems to be resident in Dakhla all the year round; but the

latter are migrants, coming into the oasis in March and returning in

the autumn after the date harvest. They take somewhat the place in

Dakhla that the cuckoo does in England, their advent being regarded

as a sign that the winter is past and the summer close at hand. The

palm groves of the oasis, when the hot weather comes on, swarm with

these pretty little birds, whose soft cooing as they sit swaying

in the palm tops is a most melodious sound—extremely pleasant and

soothing after a long hot desert journey.

The whole question of the animal and vegetable life in these desolate

regions is one of great interest. In spite of the intensely arid

nature of these deserts, they support in some marvellous way a

considerable amount of life.

Small lizards were often to be seen in the desert scuttling about the

ground. They run with extraordinary speed, and are very difficult

to catch. The usual way, I believe, is to throw a handkerchief

on the ground and to drive the lizard towards it, when it will

frequently run under the handkerchief to shelter, and can then be

easily picked up. I found that, though they could run very fast for

a short distance, they very soon tired, and, if steadily followed

up for a hundred yards, without allowing them time to rest, they

became so exhausted that they could be easily secured.

I never saw a specimen of the _waran_, or large lizard, in the desert,

but on one occasion saw what looked like its track. It resembled the

trail of a large-bodied lizard crawling slowly over the sand. My

men, however, declared it to be the track of an _issulla_, which

they described as a creature between a snake and a lizard in shape,

which, when approached, will fly at an intruder, rising into the

air after a rapid run on membraneous wings stretched between its

legs—acting apparently somewhat like an aeroplane. They said its

bite was poisonous, and generally fatal, but that, if it failed to

strike home during its flight, it fell on the ground and burst! The

existence of such a reptile—if we exclude the bursting part of the

story—is perhaps not absolutely impossible. One has to take native

statements of this kind with more than the usual amount of salt;

but it does not do to ignore them entirely.

Its track corresponded well with the description of the reptile given

me by my men, for, outside the marks where its feet had been placed,

something had clearly been dragged along the sand, leaving a trace

that showed upon its surface as a scratch. What that “something”

was it is difficult to say—unless, as my men declared, it was part

of the membrane upon which the _issulla_ is said to sail through

the air. It could not have been caused by its tail, as it appeared

in places upon both sides of the track at once.

With regard to the capacity it is said to have of being able to rise

into the air from the ground, that, I think, presents but little

difficulty. I gathered from my men’s account that it would have

been nearly three feet long. The small fast-running lizards previously

mentioned are mostly under six inches in length, and must be able to

travel at nearly ten miles an hour, as it takes a man on foot all his

time to catch them up. As the _issulla_ must be five times the length

of these little lizards, it is not unreasonable to assume that it

can run quite twice as fast, or say at twenty miles an hour, which,

if it were running against a stiffish breeze, would be equivalent to

say fifty miles an hour through the air—a speed that would probably

easily cause it to rise from the ground—but it is a tall story.

Snakes are very common in the desert—the _lefa’a_, or horned

viper, and a very similar viper without horns being in places

rather unpleasantly numerous. In addition we killed a very thin

sandy-coloured snake, about four feet in length, which, so far as

I could judge from its head, did not appear to be poisonous. The

_naja_, or Egyptian cobra, sometimes seen in the Nile Valley, is,

I believe, quite unknown in the desert and oases.

I several times heard rumours of a feathered snake. At first I put

this down as being a myth, but I afterwards found that this creature

had been seen by at least one European, who had been long resident in

the country. The specimen he saw was one killed in the Nile Valley. He

described it as being a short, stout, sandy-coloured snake, having

along its back, for some distance behind its head, a sort of crest

of elongated scales considerably frayed out at their ends.

The existence of this creature is by no means an impossibility,

for reptiles and birds are closely related.

Insects in the desert are comparatively few in number. I once found

a few small ants, pink and silver in colour. Large grotesque-looking

mantids were often seen running about on the sandy portions of the

desert. Some of them were of considerable size, many of them being

quite three inches long. They were curious creatures, and apparently

very pugnacious, as, when approached, they would often turn round

and face me, raising themselves slightly on their squat fat bodies

and pawing the air with their big front legs.

If I pushed my foot towards them they frequently attacked it,

grappling my toe with their legs and trying to bite. I picked up one

of the larger ones and gave him the end of my thumb to bite—a rather

foolish proceeding, it struck me afterwards, as, for all I knew to

the contrary, his bite might have been poisonous. He bit furiously

at the end of my thumb with his rather formidable jaws, foaming at

the mouth and doing his feeble best to damage me. He managed to get

hold of a small pinch of skin between his jaws, which closed in a

horizontal direction, and gave me a nip I could distinctly feel.

Once, in the desert west of Dakhla, I found a mosquito, which

considerably raised my hopes that I might be getting near water. But

it proved to be only a wind-born specimen, coming probably from

Nesla or Bu Mungar. Lace-winged flies frequently came into our camp,

even when far out into the desert, and on most nights a few moths

flew into my tent and came to my candle; occasionally they were in

considerable numbers.

The common house flies, though a nuisance in the oasis, are

fortunately unknown in the desert, though frequently a swarm of them,

if there is no wind, will follow a caravan when starting from an

oasis; but they disappear in a day or two.

Once while riding in a desert with my caravan, when, having left an

oasis the day before, we were considerably bothered with these pests,

a swarm of which kept buzzing round our heads, I was relieved of them

in a rather unexpected manner. A swallow—evidently migrating—came

up to the caravan from the south, and being presumably very hungry,

kept flying round and round our heads, snapping up a fly at every

circle. Owing probably to its hunger, the little creature was

extraordinarily tame—its wing tips several times almost touched my

face. Having remained with the caravan for a few minutes, it circled

round us half a dozen times to make sure that there were no flies that

it had overlooked, and then flew off and pursued its way to the north.

A list of some of the insects I collected will be found in Appendix

II.

The road that we followed to the south-west from Dakhla lay in the

direction from which the birds were migrating, so I not only noted

every specimen that we saw, but put down in my route book every

feather that I picked up, and even the marks on the sand where these

migrants had alighted, as this was all valuable evidence that we

were still travelling in the right direction.

In addition to palm doves and the smaller migrants, we several times

saw storks and cranes, or their tracks; but this, of course, only

occurred during the season of their migration. There was a large

white bird, which appeared to be an eagle, that we frequently saw

at all seasons, but I was never able to get very close to it, as,

unlike most desert creatures, it was extremely wild.

The only place where I ever saw any sand grouse, outside the oases,

was on the road between Kharga and Dakhla. They seemed to be entirely

absent from the desert to the south and south-west of Dakhla, and

also from the desert surrounding Farafra Oasis—the reason of their

absence presumably being the lack of food.

Not only were insects, reptiles and birds fairly well represented

in the desert, but even mammals were not unknown. In addition to

the desert rats, about eighty miles to the south of Dakhla I came

across the remains of a gazelle, but possibly the poor little beast

had only wandered out into the desert to die. Small foxes, though

they existed in the oasis, I never saw in the desert—the rats

would not have been so numerous if I had. The tracks of a larger fox

were seen several times, often several days’ journey away from an

oasis. The tracks of jackals, or wolves, I could not be sure which,

were still oftener encountered.

The dog tribe, of course, could live on the rats and lizards,

but, unless they obtained sufficient moisture from the blood of

their victims, they must have returned occasionally to the oases

to drink. One wonders why these animals, who can live also in the

oases, should prefer to exist in the desert, where the conditions

under which they are forced to live must make life almost impossible.

The problem of how the desert rats exist has caused much discussion,

and cannot yet be said to be solved. I have found them certainly a

good hundred and fifty miles from any oasis, in a part quite barren,

yet they were obviously perfectly healthy, plump and lively.

I was once camped for several weeks in the dune belt that runs

through Kharga Oasis. One evening I had just sat down to dinner,

when I noticed one of these little kangaroo rats hopping about in the

candle-light just outside the door of my tent. A sudden movement that

I made scared him. He jumped about four feet and was gone in a flash.

But in a minute or two, prompted probably by curiosity, he was back

again in his old place, hovering about just outside the tent. Hoping

to get a better look at him, I flipped a small piece of bread so that

it fell just in front of him. After some hesitation, he pounced on

to it, and carrying it a few yards away, proceeded to eat it.

He then came back again, stationing himself a little nearer in,

and seized another piece of bread I threw him that dropped about

half-way between us. Soon I had him taking pieces actually out of

my hand—he was extraordinarily tame.

I was just finishing my meal, and had forgotten all about him, and

was reading a book propped up on the table as I ate, when I suddenly

felt a tap on the top of my thigh, and on looking down to see what

it was, found that he had not only returned, but had actually jumped

up on to my leg as I sat at table. In a moment more, he had hopped

up on to the table itself and was eating the crumbs.

He was so absolutely fearless that he even allowed me to stroke his

back with my finger; but directly I attempted to close my hand over

him he jumped off the table in alarm on to the ground, where, however,

he remained restlessly hopping about with his extraordinarily springy

movement, till I threw him another piece of bread.

Apparently, however, he had had as much as he wanted for the

moment, for, instead of eating it as he had done before, he

picked it up, hopped out of the tent, and disappeared for several

minutes. Presently, however, he came back again. I threw him another

piece that he again made off with, and after an interval returned

for more. He must have carried off about ten pieces in this way that

evening, each piece about the size of a filbert. I kept on feeding

him so long as he continued to return; but at last, being perhaps

tired after carrying so often what must have been a heavy load for

him, he ceased to appear.

He returned again on the following night, and for eight consecutive

ones. Each night I gave him as much bread as he would eat and carry

away. He seemed to be a very small eater; but he must have taken

off with him enough bread to make two or three loaves. In addition,

he levied toll on the grain for the camels, which he obtained by

gnawing holes in the sacks.

This last, however, proved to be his undoing, for one of my men

happened to catch him in the act, and promptly, much to my disgust,

killed him. It was unquestionably the same rat that had come nightly

to my tent that had also carried off the grain, for there was no

possibility of mistaking him, owing to the fact that he had lost

an eye.

I felt quite sorry to lose the little beast, which had become quite

a pet, and latterly became so tame that he would allow me to pick

him up and stroke him. When my man, however, grabbed hold of him in

his hand, he promptly bit him in the thumb.

These little kangaroo rats are wonderfully pretty little creatures,

just the colour of the sand itself, with large black eyes and a very

long tail. Their most striking peculiarity is the enormous muscular

development of their hind legs, which seem quite disproportionately

massive in comparison with their small bodies.

It is this great muscular development of their long hind legs that

gives them such wonderful powers of locomotion. Once, while travelling

with my caravan over a large area of level sand, I came across the

track of one of these rats, quite clearly visible on the smooth

surface, and as it happened to be travelling in practically the same

direction as I was going myself, I followed it for a long distance.

The track consisted of a series of double dots where the hind feet

had landed on the sand, occurring at regular intervals of three

to four feet apart. I followed those tracks for over nine miles in

practically a straight line, till a change in the direction of my

route from that of the rat compelled me to leave them.

During the whole of the time during which I followed them, I only

found three or four places where the rat had abandoned his regular

pace and stopped for a moment or two to turn round and round

apparently to play with his tail.

The speed at which these little beasts can travel is little short of

marvellous. The fastest runner would not have the remotest chance

of catching them; when frightened, they will go off at a pace that

the natives say even a horse cannot equal. The steady rate which

the one whose tracks I had followed had kept up for so many miles,

shows that they can travel long distances without tiring, and that

they not only can, but do.

It is in this marvellous capacity for getting over the ground, and

their habit of hoarding up provisions, that the explanation of their

ability to live in these districts can, I believe, be found.

Absolutely barren as this district seems to be, there are here and

there patches of grass, quite dead to all appearances, but which have

probably shed their seed on the surrounding ground. Even in these

arid districts rain is not unknown—there were stories in Dakhla of a

regular downpour that was said to have occurred not many years before,

when rain fell in such quantities that many of the mud-built houses

of the oasis melted before it and fell down. Rainfall such as this,

or even a heavy shower, might cause the seed to sprout. The grass

is usually found growing on the stiffest clay, which would hold

the moisture from the rain for a considerable time, and, aided by

the great heat of the warmer months, cause the grass to grow with

extreme rapidity. Upon this grass and its seeds these rats could

easily live, and from it they could store up in their underground

burrows provisions to last them for a very long time. Rats are known

to be able to subsist on hard grain alone, that does not contain

more than ten or fifteen per cent of moisture.[18] They are probably

acquainted with a number of places where these grasses grow, and,

as it is known that they never drink, by making a store near each,

and travelling from one to another as their depots become exhausted,

they can maintain themselves for several years of drought. The

tracks that we saw running continuously for nine miles at a stretch,

with hardly a break, may have been those of a rat travelling from

one of his storehouses to another. A journey such as this could

hardly have been undertaken without some definite object in view. A

fifty mile run would be nothing to one of these little creatures,

so they would be able to draw their supplies from thousands of

square miles of country, within which, even in this arid desert,

they would be able to find plenty to live upon. In one place, too,

we found green _terfa_ bushes, from which they may perhaps have

obtained some nourishment, and possibly sufficient moisture from

the green portions of the plants to enable them to exist without

drinking—though an occasional journey of a hundred miles or so,

into an oasis to procure water, would be quite within the locomotive

powers of these extraordinary little creatures.

APPENDIX I

THE GEOGRAPHY AND WINDS OF THE LIBYAN DESERT

THE views on the geography of the Libyan Desert, current at the time

of my visit to the country, are summarised by Mr. F. R. Cana in the

valuable paper and map that he contributed to the “Geographical

Journal.”[19] Writing of this desert he says: “Some knowledge

of its character has been obtained where it borders the Nile, and to

the north along the edge of the Cyrenaican plateau . . . the general

character of the desert is that of rocky wastes in the north and east,

and a vast sea of sand in the centre.”

The rocky wastes begin on the north, immediately to the south of the

cultivable belt along the North Egyptian coast; the desert here rising

to form a plateau. This tableland is succeeded by a vast depression,

portions of which lie below sea-level. This hollow runs from Siwa

Oasis in an easterly direction towards the Nile. Reference will be

made to this huge valley later on.

The southern side of this depression has never, I believe, been

mapped, but, beyond it, the level of the desert rises again to a

limestone-capped plateau, that in places is over a thousand feet

above sea-level. The western limit of this has not, I believe,

been ascertained in its northern part, but towards the east it is

bounded by the Valley of the Nile, where it forms the towering cliff

on its western side that is familiar to all visitors to Egypt. About

the latitude of Qena the plateau narrows down to a width of about

a hundred miles, its western limit being the great escarpment that

bounds the oasis of Kharga on its eastern side.

The geography of this limestone tableland, and of the desert beyond

it up to the Egyptian-Tripolitan frontier, was tolerably well known

at the time of my arrival in Egypt; but, with the exception of Kufara

and the other oases in the same group, practically the whole desert

beyond it was a _terra incognita_, the domain of the Senussi, and,

as stated in Mr. F. R. Cana’s paper, considered to consist of an

impassable sea of enormous sand dunes.

I made altogether eight journeys into the desert to the south-west of

Dakhla, only some of which have been described. In addition to these,

and to the others into Farafra and elsewhere already referred to,

I made some to the north of ’Ain Amur, where I found a perfect

network of small depressions.

These little hollows, which were only about a hundred and fifty feet

in depth, mostly opened out of each other, and fairly honeycombed the

limestone plateau. Entrance to them was gained by a gap in the cliff

on the northern side of ’Ain Amur Valley, from which a small belt

of sand dunes issued. They were mostly only a mile or two in width,

though some of them were of considerable length, one in fact stretched

for some thirty-four miles from north-east to south-west. There was

one extraordinary little hollow that formed as it were an isolated

pot-hole, nearly circular in shape, in the limestone plateau, about

a hundred and fifty feet in depth with almost vertical sides. It

was difficult to see how it could have been formed. Judging from

the jagged skyline, shown by some of the cliffs surrounding these

hollows, there were probably several other depressions that time

did not allow me to explore.

A curious fact in connection with these little hollows was that,

although many of them were floored with clay, they contained

practically no vegetation. On the limestone plateau that surrounded

them, however, bushes and even small patches of scrub were not

infrequently seen.

The origin of the depressions in this limestone plateau has been

the subject of some dispute. The action of water, sand erosion

and folding of the strata have all been put forward to account for

them by various writers. It may be interesting in this connection to

mention that the southernmost of these little hollows to the north of

’Ain Amur contained the bed of a perfectly distinct watercourse,

containing well-rounded shingle, running towards the entrance into

the ’Ain Amur Valley.

In addition to these journeys I made one for three days to the

south of Belat, in Dakhla Oasis. On the edge of the oasis we got

into some very rough salt-encrusted ground, containing some patches

of rock salt.

Beyond this lay a large scrub-covered area known as Dhayat en Neml,

or sometimes as El Girgof, which was fairly thickly overgrown

with bushes.

On leaving this we got into the open desert, whose level here rose

fairly rapidly towards the south. Here we found traces of an old road,

which, however, we lost on the third day after leaving Belat. It

was probably only a branch of the Derb et Terfawi.

Early that afternoon our road led us to the top of a cliff about

two hundred feet in height. A few hours’ journey farther on and

a second cliff, two hundred and forty feet in height, was reached,

beyond which lay an expanse of level sandy desert, dotted here and

there with a few rocky hills. This second scarp was apparently the

eastern continuation of the cliff that forms the southern limit

of the sandstone plateau to the south-west of the oasis of Dakhla,

which, however, breaks down into a gradual slope to the south of the

town of Mut, on the western side of Dakhla, where the road from Mut

runs to Selima Oasis.

I endeavoured to make the most of the few opportunities that presented

themselves of gathering such information as I could of the unknown

areas beyond the Egyptian frontier. But opportunities of this kind

unfortunately were few. These parts were regarded by the Senussi as

being their particular reserve, and they did their best to keep them

closed to outsiders. It was consequently only members of this sect and

their friends who had any knowledge of the district, and the Senussi

were so extraordinary secretive about their country that it was with

the greatest difficulty that I was able to extract any information

concerning it. Enquiries, too, had to be conducted with caution, for

collecting data of this kind was apt to prove an unhealthy occupation.

Part of the map I was able to compile from the data given to me

has since been verified from other sources; as much of it has thus

been found to be correct, the remainder of it is presumably equally

reliable. The absolute positions, so far as latitude and longitude are

concerned, are, of course, considerably in error in most cases, but

the relative bearings and distances of each place to those surrounding

it are, in most instances, represented with reasonable accuracy.

A map based on native information can, of course, never hope to

compete in precision with one constructed by the methods of a

modern survey; but it need not be very far behind those produced

by the rough-and-ready methods of the geographers of a hundred, or

even fifty, years ago. Its object is to give a general idea of the

district it covers, and, more especially, to give future travellers an

objective, and sufficiently accurate information as to its position,

to enable them to find it.

No definite system of spelling was adopted in my map. Many of the

names are clearly not Arabic, but either those of the Tibbus or

Bedayat, whose alphabets—if they have any—have not, so far as I

know, been reduced to any system of transliteration. It was impossible

to get the spelling of even the Arabic names, as all my informants

were illiterate _bedawin_, so I have spelt them as nearly as I could

phonetically. Probably the pronunciation that I heard differs from

that in vogue in Sudan, so the comparison may be of use.

The information was collected as far as possible in the form of

through routes, joining places that had already been more or less

accurately fixed by previous travellers. The remainder of the data

was then fitted into these routes, or plotted from more or less

reliably fixed points on other maps.

The three main routes on which the map was based were as follows:[20]

Route I. From Tollab, in Kufara Oasis, to Bidau.

Three days south to the well of Bushara.

Four days south to Asara, or Sarra (a well only).

Six days from Asara, S.S.W., to Tikeru.

Half a day west from Tikeru to Erwully, a well.

Three days west to Guru.

Three days south-west from Guru to Ungoury.

One day S.S.W. to the village of Ertha.

One day west to Bidau.

Route II. From Tikeru to Abesher.

Three days south to Wanjunga Kebir. Another Wanjunga, known as

Wanjunga Sgheir—little Wanjunga—lies one day’s journey to the

east. Both are inhabited. This district is sometimes called Wanjungat.

Three days south to Bedadi, a well belonging to the Bedayat.

Three days south to a well called Funfun, belonging to the Bedayat

tribe.

One and a half (or two) days south to Wayta Sgheir.

A short day south to Wayta Kebir.

Five days south—I was also told four—to Mushaluba (Um Shaloba),

which has recently been fixed by the French. The route then continued

via Lughad and Aratha to Abesher.

Route III. From Wayta Kebir to El Fasher.

One day east to Um el Atham, a Bedayat well.

One day south to Baky.

One day south to the well of El Guttara.

Two days east to ’Ain el Baytha, a Bedayat well.

Two days east to Baou, a Bedayat well, or pool, in a fertile valley

inhabited by Bedayat.

One long day, or a day and a half, south to Kuffara, a valley with

plenty of water.

One day east to Medjoures, a valley containing many wells.

Three days and two “hours” east to Wady Howar. The road crosses

the Howar Wady, and, after leading for a two days’ journey

further east-south-east, it enters one of its tributaries—the

Wady Faruwiah. After crossing the wady, the road leads for two days

south-east to Musbut.

Musbut and Faruwiah are both said to be large wadies containing many

wells. Musbut is said to be on the Derb el Arbain, the old “forty

days” caravan road from the Sudan by which slaves used to be taken

to Egypt.

Two “hours” south from Musbut to Buhuruz, two days south-east

from Buhuruz, the road reaches Formah, a Zaghawa well.

Two days farther east, and it arrives at Kafut, a village in a

wady of the same name, which, half a day to the south, receives a

tributary known as the Wady Kobay. Wady Kafut itself, some seventy

miles farther north, unites with the Wady Kuttum to form the Wady

Meleeat, itself a tributary of the great Wady Howar.

Mr. Boyce’s survey shows a short section of the Wady Kuttum

running east and west. Mr. Sarsfield-Hall shows Kuttum on his

map as a village, situated upon an unnamed wady—presumably the

Wady Kuttum—of which only a short section, running north-east to

south-west is shown. But farther north he shows a large unnamed wady,

discharging to the north, that corresponds well with the description

I was given of the Kuttum-Meleeat Wady.

Three days farther east the road ends at El Fasher.

These routes were all taken as starting from Tollab, and when plotted

on the basis of a day’s journey of twenty miles in a straight line,

closed with the following errors, from the positions of their termini

as shown on the maps: Bidau, 95 miles 34° from the true position, on

a route from Tollab of about 430 miles as plotted—in other words,

with an error of about 22 per cent of the total route. Abesher, 95

miles 98° from the true position, on a route of about 680 miles,

i.e. about 14 per cent of the total distance; El Fasher, 160 miles

59° from the map position, on a fifty days’ journey of 1,000

miles, or 16 per cent of this distance. Considering the nature of

the material upon which the routes were mapped, this compares not

unfavourably—except in the case of Bidau—with a probable error

in a prismatic compass traverse of about 10 per cent.

But this data may perhaps be misleading, for Colonel Tilho—a

very accurate observer and equipped with a wireless installation

for getting longitude by means of the signals from the Eiffel

Tower—found that Nachtigal’s positions for some of the places

in Tibesti were as much as fifty miles in error; so presumably

his position for Bidau is not to be greatly relied upon. Rohlfs’

positions for Tollab, and other parts of Kufara Oasis, also remain

to be checked by modern and more accurate methods than were available

at the time of his journey.[21]

In constructing the maps, the routes were treated first as being

three separate roads, joining Tollab to Bidau, Abesher and El

Fasher respectively, and were adjusted separately by the ordinary

graphic method, to their respective termini. This gave three separate

positions for Bushara, Asara and Tikeru. These three positions in each

case were meaned and accepted as correct, and from the position of

Tikeru thus found the route to Bidau was plotted afresh and adjusted

to Nachtigal’s position.

The routes south to Abesher and El Fasher were again plotted from

the new position thus found for Tikeru, and were again adjusted to

the map positions of Abesher and El Fasher, as two separate routes

running to those places from Tikeru. This gave two separate positions

for Wanjunga Kebir, Bedadi, Funfun, Wayta Sogheir and Wayta Kebir.

The mean of these two positions was taken as correct, and from this

mean position for Wayta Kebir, the roads to Abesher and El Fasher

were plotted and finally adjusted to their termini. Many of the

places on these routes were consequently adjusted five times.

Route IV. Dongola to the Howash Valley.

From Dongola a road runs five days south-west to Bu Senata—a well

belonging to the Kebabish tribe.

Four days farther west-south-west, and Jebel Maydob is reached. From

there, five days due west, and the road comes to Bu Zibad, and,

three days farther west, reaches the Howash Valley.

It was not until long after I had been given this route that I heard

of the existence of old Dongola, which lies some sixty-five miles

about south-south-east of the better-known new Dongola.

When plotted on a twenty-mile-a-day basis from either of these

places, the road is considerably in error, if the position of Maydob

can be relied upon. The route starting from old Dongola closing,

however, much better on to Maydob than the one from new Dongola. The

positions on the map are those found by plotting the information,

without adjustment from new Dongola. Upon this route, too, depends

the portion of the Wady Howash, lying to the north of Kowora (q.v.).

The description given to me of the Wady Howash was extremely

interesting. It was said that the sides of the wady in places were

covered with coloured paintings, and that it contained numerous ruins

of burnt brick, probably Meroitic in origin, and in addition many

statues—colossi apparently—and pits in the ground containing

ashes covered with stone slabs—possibly these were funerary pits

containing human remains. The Bedayat country generally was reported

as containing many stone-built ruins (_ders_), and to have numerous

rock inscriptions and “Roman”—i.e. artesian—wells, like those

in the western oases of Egypt, and seems likely to prove a valuable

field for future archæologists.

Among the remaining places shown on the map the following may be

mentioned. My informants were all Arabs, or Sudanese living in Egypt,

so the names are those in use among the Arabic-speaking _bedawin_

and may differ from those used by tribes speaking another language,

such as the Tibbus, Bedayat and other Sudanese races.

Dendura: This is Rohlfs’ alternative name Zerzura—“the oasis

of the blacks.” I concluded that Zerzura, if it exists at all, is

a different place from Dendura. The latter was described as being as

large as Dakhla Oasis, and as lying just to the west of an enormous

longitudinal dune that is almost impassable, seven days due west

from Bu Mungar (see also Zerzura).

Dunes: All the dune belts of the Libyan Desert are said to run

from north to south. In the neighbourhood of Dakhla Oasis they were

found to run 352° mag., and if, as I heard, they run parallel with

the Tollab-Tikeru road, the belts appear in reality to converge

slightly towards the north. Possibly the prevailing wind blows from

a more easterly quarter as one proceeds westwards from Egypt, as the

influence of the hot air rising from the Arabian deserts would be less

felt in the western part of the Libyan Desert. Towards the Central

Sudan it appears to approximate to the direction of the north-east

trades normally found in these latitudes, for Commandant Tilho found

the prevailing wind in Borku to blow from this direction. A dune

belt that is easy to cross is said to commence about two hours to

the west of Erbayana, near Kufara Oasis, and to extend for three

days—I was told four—to the westward, and to die out before

reaching the latitude of Bushara. A belt was also reported to exist

about two hours to the west of Erwully. This belt, though about the

same width as the one farther north, lying to the west of Erbayana,

is perhaps only sand banked up by the Tibesti hills, though from its

position it looks like the continuation of the belt near Kufara, with

which it is exactly in line; Tilho’s paper confirms the existence

of a great dune field as far as Ertha and Borku, and also to the

south of Wady Dom. The line of dunes following the Tollab-Kufara

road is said to start close to the west of Kebabo, and to be about

a day’s journey in width from east to west. The belt is said to go

to the Sudan, and to die out in the vegetation of Wanjungat. Between

Wanjunga and Demi, Tilho found a “little chain of sand dunes,

about fifty feet high, stretching from north-east to south-west,

and extending from five to six miles in breadth,” which appears

to be the end of the belt described by my informant.

The dune belts form a useful check upon the accuracy of the data given

me. One I saw at the end of our journey to the south-west of Dakhla,

near Jebel Abdulla, is apparently the northern continuation of that

which runs from El Atrun to “the Egyptian Oasis.” The southern

portion of the line of dunes lies farther west than the part that

I saw; but a map constructed from native intelligence can hardly be

expected to be very accurate, and, assuming the prevailing wind in

the neighbourhood of El Atrun to blow from a direction approximating

to north-east, as found by Tilho in Borku, the line of dunes would

be certain to curve round somewhat towards the west at its southern

extremity. The belt near Dendura is almost exactly in line with the

one reported in the neighbourhood of Owana; so, too, is the wide

belt to the west of Erbayana with the similar dune-field west of

Erwully. Sand-free intervals in these sand belts are not uncommon,

and the dying out of this belt about the latitude of Bushara that

was reported to take place, may only be the commencement of one of

these gaps, the line of dunes becoming continuous again farther to

the south.

“Egyptian Oasis”: An Ebday (i.e. one of the Bedayat tribe) who

was a friend of one of my guides, told him he had once ridden from

Merga (q.v.) with two _hagins_ (i.e. riding camels) for five days

north, following the dune belt (I was also told that the distance

was ten long days from Merga with an ordinary caravan). He had then

climbed a very high black hill lying in the dune belt and had seen

in the distance under a cliff a huge oasis, containing a number

of olive trees and much _terfa_. He was too far off to see if it

were inhabited, and was afraid to go in, because he said it was an

“Egyptian Oasis,” and he feared that he would be killed if he did

so. Another Arab told me that a cousin of his was riding along the

top of a scarp about eight days somewhere to the south of Dakhla,

when he saw below him a very large oasis, containing a number of

olive trees, palms and wells. There was one very big ruined town

that did not seem to be inhabited and a few _ezbas_ (i.e. hamlets),

in which a few people were to be seen. I was also told that this

place was from seven to ten days from Dakhla Oasis.

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.

Ko’or Wady: Lies six days west of Erbayana.

Kowora: An important Bedayat district. To the east of Kowora, after

one day’s journey the road is all level sand, west of which it is

all rock.

Merga: The so-called “_hattia_ of the Bedayat,” of the _bedawin_

of the Egyptian deserts. It was described as being about the size

of the Tenida-Belat district in Dakhla Oasis—say ten miles each

way. It contains a pool, about an acre (_feddan_) in extent, fed by

a spring, or _’ain_ (artesian well), which is surrounded by many

palms, around which again is a belt of scrub—_argul_ and _terfa_. It

lies two and a half days north-west from El Atrun and three to three

and a half—I have also heard four—days west from Lagia. Two and

a half days to the south-west from Merga there is a high cliff with

a _negeb_ (i.e. pass) leading up on to the plateau on the top.

After rather more than half a day’s journey over the plateau another

pass is reached, leading down into the “Valley of the Bedayat”

(q.v.). Merga is not regularly inhabited, but the Bedayat come there

in the season to gather the dates. They also use it as a base from

which to raid the caravans of Egyptian _bedawin_ who go down to El

Atrun to gather natron. A road runs from Merga to Kufara, Owanat

(q.v.) being half-way along it. There are no Bedayat to the north

of Merga. This is perhaps the place that Miani calls Ptolemy’s

“lake of the mud tortoises.”

Colonel Tilho’s native information on the question of this _hattia_

agrees very closely with that I received. He, too, was told of

the road from Merga to Kufara via Owanat, and also heard the place

described as a pool surrounded by palms. He estimates the position

as being “between the 25th and 26th degrees of longitude east and

18th and 19th degrees of latitude north.” This estimate agrees

well with my information so far as the latitude is concerned, but,

according to my intelligence, it should be at least a degree farther

east than he puts it.

No’on Lake: Belongs to the Bedayat and is about three miles

across. It lies close to the hill of the same name. There is

cultivation on the south-east and south-west sides. It lies one day

west from Jebel Kuttum. A road runs south and another east from the

lake (? destinations).

Owana: A place half-way along a road from Merga to Kufara, consisting

of a well, with no vegetation in the immediate neighbourhood, but

much green grass in the district after rain, on which wild asses and

“bekker el wahash” (probably Barbary sheep) feed. North of the

well is a cliff with a pass that takes two hours’ easy travelling

to traverse, and on the top is a high level oasis, the landmark for

which is two rocky hills that look like one from the north; the scarp

runs north-north-west and south-east from the well. Jebel Abdulla is

reported to be visible from near here. The whole of this district is

known as Owanat (plural of Owana). A dune belt comes down close to it

from the north and dies out about two days farther to the south.[22]

Zerzura: Possibly only a generic name applied to any mythical or

undiscovered oasis. I have heard it applied to Rohlfs’ Zerzura

(Dendura?) (q.v.)—also to the “Egyptian Oasis” (q.v.), to an

oasis supposed to exist eight days somewhere to the south of Dakhla,

and to a stone temple I heard of about eighteen hours’ journey

west of Jedida in Dakhla Oasis. The map on native information here

reproduced originally appeared in the R.G.S.J., Sept., 1913. But

then it was somewhat altered and a considerable amount of material

was introduced into it, for which I was in no way responsible. The

map is here reproduced in its original form.

The following are the principal roads that traverse the Libyan Desert:

One starting from Giza, near Cairo, runs in a westerly direction

through the Wady Natrun and the Wady Moghara, follows the course

of the reported Wady el Fardy to El Qara, and then proceeds via

Siwa, Jaabub, Jalo and Aujila to the oasis of Abu Naim and on into

Tripoli. Farther to the south a caravan route, starting from the

Fayum, crosses the desert to the northern end of Baharia, and just

before entering the oasis is joined by roads from Wady Natrun and

from Maghagha. Other routes, leaving the Nile Valley at Bahnessa and

Minia, enter the oasis farther to the south, and combine to form a

caravan route leaving the western side of the oasis and going, via

Lake Sitra and Araj, to Siwa Oasis. A road also runs northward from

Baharia, via Wady Moghara, to Alexandria, while another leads in a

south-westerly direction, by way of ’Ain el Wady, to Qasr Farafra.

Farafra is connected with the Nile Valley by a road that runs through

Kairowin _hattia_ to Beni Adi, near Assiut. A route that was used by

the Senussi runs towards the south-west, past ’Ain Sheykh Murzuk

and to the _hattia_ of Bu Mungar and thence, across a field of big

dunes, to Kufara. It is said to pass on its way through a large

oasis. To the north-west there is a road from Farafra, crossing a

small detached limestone plateau, known as El Guss Abu Said, to a

well called Bir Labiyat, and then proceeding via the little oases

of Iddaila and Bahrain to Siwa. Another road leads to the south

from Iddaila, and passing through a little oasis, known as Nesla,

leads to Bu Mungar, and on to Dakhla Oasis, running along the foot

of the cliff immediately to the east of Bu Mungar. A second leads

from Iddaila, over El Guss Abu Said, direct to Dakhla, along the

top of the cliff above Bu Mungar.

The usual road, however, between Farafra and Dakhla runs south-east

from Qasr Farafra to Bir Dikker, and then follows what is known

as a _gassi_, or path swept by the wind free from sand, through a

field of biggish dunes, and enters Dakhla Oasis in its north-western

corner. This road emerges from the southern side of Dakhla Oasis at

the town of Mut, in the form of the Derb el Terfawi, leading to Bir

Terfawi and Selima Oases.

Two other roads enter Dakhla Oasis from the north—the Derb el

Tawil, or “long road,” that leaves the Nile Valley at Beni

Adi, and, after crossing the limestone plateau, descends the cliff

that bounds the oasis on the north by a pass known as El Agaba,

in the eastern part of the oasis, and leads to Tenida; the other is

a little-used road, called the Derb el Khashabi, that runs direct

from the north-western corner of the oasis to some point in the Nile

Valley to the south of Beni Adi, or perhaps goes direct to Assiut.

There are two roads in regular use between Dakhla and Kharga

Oases—the northernmost leads to the well ’Ain Amur, high up on the

northern side of a small detached limestone plateau, and the other,

the Gubary road, runs along the foot of the cliff on the southern

side of this plateau. The latter is waterless and rather longer than

the ’Ain Amur road, but runs over the level, and is consequently

the one most used, as the ’Ain Amur road necessitates a laborious

climb up to the plateau, with a correspondingly difficult descent. It

has, however, the advantage of having a well of rather bitter water

about midway along it, and in consequence is occasionally used by

small parties, especially in the hot weather. Several branch roads

split off from the Gubary road, and lead to Beris and the places in

the south of Kharga Oasis; but they are hardly ever used.

Dakhla Oasis is bounded on its western side by a field of dunes. The

traces of several old roads are to be seen leading in this direction

and, before the dunes came down to this part, were probably used

by caravans proceeding to Kufara; but these are now, I believe,

never followed. Traces of the disused road from Mut, via Owanat,

to the Central Sudan has already been mentioned.

Several roads lead over the eastern cliff of Kharga depression;

from the southern end of the oasis one goes, via the little oasis of

Dungun, to Tumas, near Derr; a second goes, via the small oasis of

Kurkur, to Aswan; a third leads in a north-easterly direction to Esna;

while a fourth makes across the desert to Farshut. Esna can also be

reached from the centre of the oasis by a road starting from Qasr

Zaiyan. From Kharga village, in the north of the oasis, roads run

to Sohag, Girga, Farshut, Qena, Luxor and Esna. But the main road

running to Kharga is the Derb el Arbain, or “Forty days” route

of the old slave traders, which leaves the Nile Valley near Assiut

and enters the oasis at its northern end, runs through it from north

to south, and then proceeds, via the wells of Shebb, Selima Oasis,

Lagia and Bir Natrun, to Darfur.

The other great caravan road traversing the Libyan Desert from

north to south is that starting from Benghazi, and proceeding, via

Jedabya, Aujila and Jalo, to the Kufara group of oases—this was

practically the route followed by Rohlfs’ and the Forbes-Hassanein

expeditions. From Kufara it continues, via Bushara, Asara and Tikeru,

into Wanjunga and on into Central Sudan.

It will be noted that most of the roads traversing the Libyan

Desert run roughly from east to west. This is unfortunate, as it

necessitates their crossing the sand belts which run approximately

at right angles to them, the direction of these belts being due to

the strongly predominant character of the northerly winds.

The winds of the Libyan Desert are a rather interesting problem. The

prevailing direction from which they blow lies slightly to the west

of north, which is not quite the quarter to be expected.

All along the North African coast lies the Mediterranean. The

temperature of an area of water of this size and depth changes very

slowly, and would not be appreciably affected by one or two days’

sunshine. In the absence of wind, the heat of the atmosphere lying

over the sea is largely controlled by that of the water itself.

On the other hand, the Libyan Desert, owing to its lying nearer

the equator, is subjected to a much hotter sun. Its intensely arid

character prevents it from being cooled in any way by evaporation,

and it is entirely unshaded by any vegetation. Under the heat of the

tropical sun, the stones and sand of which it is composed very rapidly

heat in the sun’s rays. The air overhanging it consequently gets

greatly heated in its turn, becomes lighter and so rises, and the

colder, denser air from the Mediterranean has to rush in and take

its place.

A very similar state of things occurs in the Atlantic and Pacific

oceans, where the cold air rushes in towards the equator from both

north and south to form the trade winds. These winds, however, do not

blow at right angles to the equator, for the earth in its rotation

slips away, as it were, from under the surrounding atmosphere,

with the result that the trade winds blow from the north-east and

south-east, in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively.

But instead of blowing from the north-east, as would be expected

from the character of the trade winds, the wind in the Libyan

Desert comes from slightly to the west of north, which at first

sight appears rather puzzling.

The explanation of this peculiarity lies, I believe, in the fact

that to the east of Egypt—across the Red Sea—lies a like track of

country to the Libyan Desert in the shape of the Arabian Desert, where

very similar conditions prevail. The Red Sea, which separates the two,

being too narrow to greatly affect the situation, the air overhanging

the eastern part of the Mediterranean has also to take the place of

the heated atmosphere rising from Palestine and a considerable part

of Arabia, and consequently tends to draw in that direction.

Various phenomena of light and electricity, seldom or never seen

in other climates, are to be found in the desert. I several times

saw what appeared to be a large star suddenly flash up and disappear

immediately. This I believe to have been not a meteor, but some form

of electrical phenomenon, as I usually saw it after a sandstorm,

when the air was full of fine electrified sand.

Solar phenomena are sometimes very conspicuous in the desert, the

zodiacal light that follows the sunset being often very clearly seen,

in the form of a semi-elliptical portion of the sky showing brightly

above the horizon, after the sun had disappeared, and shining with

sufficient strength to give quite an appreciable light.

There was another phenomenon that I saw in this desert that I

have never seen alluded to by other travellers. Sometimes at sunset

luminous lines would appear in the eastern sky radiating from a point

opposite to the setting sun. These lines were never very pronounced,

but at the same time were quite clearly visible. On one occasion,

instead of luminous lines, dark ones appeared instead.

Another peculiarity of this part of the desert was the way in which

a sandstorm would sometimes spring up without any appreciable change

in the strength or direction of the wind. I concluded this to be

due to a change in the electrical condition of the atmosphere.

The connection between the winds of this desert and its geography is

so close that I have included them both in this section. The chief

effect of the wind on the desert sands is, of course, to be seen

in the dunes. In addition to those mentioned when dealing with the

native information I collected, there is a large area in the Farafra

depression covered with sand hills and those in the neighbourhood

of Bu Mungar which have been previously mentioned.

Several narrow belts of dunes are also to be found starting in

the great depression between Siwa and Cairo. These belts, too,

run roughly from north to south; but with one exception they all

die out before reaching the latitude of Farafra Oasis.

The effects of the violent desert gales was everywhere to be seen. On

the limestone plateau, on the way to Kharga Oasis, and on the Derb

el Tawil very fine examples of sand erosion are visible.

Mr. H. Ll. Beadnell,[23] who carried out a series of weather

observations over a considerable time in Kharga Oasis, estimated

that the sand blew from a northerly direction for five days out of

six in this district. Violent sandstorms are unpleasantly common,

by far the greatest number of them coming from the predominating

northerly direction. The result of this uniformity in the direction

of the winds is clearly seen on the plateau. The swirling clouds

of sand, driven by the furious desert gales, have in many places

not only shaped the hard limestone into long ridges running up

and down wind, but have even cut grooves in the ridges themselves,

as though with a gigantic gouge, forming a type of desert known to

the natives as _kharashef_. These ridges rise sometimes twenty feet

above the level of the plateau, but more usually are only three or

four feet in height, producing a surface somewhat resembling a rough

sea—a very uncomfortable type of desert to have to cross with a

caravan. A diminutive form of this—_kharafish_—in the shape of

small ridges, often with a cutting edge, is also frequently seen,

and works havoc with the soles of the soft-footed camels. Besides

these forms a flat rock surface with very shallow groves, known as

_rusuf_, is occasionally met with.

Some of the limestone boulders lying on the surface of the plateau

are perforated in the most extraordinary way. The driving sand

apparently eats its way into the softer portions of the stone,

boring holes into its surface. Small pebbles are often to be seen

which have been blown into these holes. These fly round and round in

the excavation under the influence of a strong wind, and presumably

continue the erosion of the sand blast, in the same way as a stone

wears a pot-hole in a stream. In course of time the whole boulder

becomes so riddled with holes as to resemble a gigantic sponge.

In several places are large patches of desert more or less closely

covered with round boulders up to a foot in diameter, a type of

erosion known to the natives as _battikh_, or water-melon desert.

In other places in the desert perforated rocks and small natural

arches are to be seen; while near Farafra village were a number

of fine “mushrooms” and table stones cut out of the chalk

by wind-driven sand. Similar “mushrooms” of sandstone were,

moreover, met with near the centre of the desert.

In Kharga Oasis there is an area several square miles in extent

covered by curious clay ridges. These, which seemed all to be under

twenty feet high, were evidently formed by the erosion of the earth

by the wind-driven sand, for they all ran roughly from north to south,

in the direction of the prevailing wind.

Apparently, as the sand wore away and lowered the surface of

the desert, it encountered here and there harder portions of the

clay which resisted its erosive action. These consequently remained

protruding above the surface of the desert as the surrounding clay was

eaten away by the sand blast, and consequently acted as a protection

to the earth immediately to leeward of them, which remained intact

above the level of the desert in the form of a ridge running in the

direction of the prevailing northerly wind. I have found similar

forms to the west of Dakhla and in that oasis itself.

While in the central part of the desert in my first season, I found

embedded in a sand dune two short pieces of dried grass much frayed

and battered;[24] so, as has already been mentioned, on leaving the

camp next day, we followed the line of the sand belt, to the north

as showing the direction of the prevailing wind, and so found the

place from which the dried grass embedded in the dune had come.

The occurrence of this grass so far to windward of the piece I had

picked up among the dunes is only another illustration of the great

part the strongly predominant character of the northerly wind

plays in this desert. Had we continued marching towards the north,

along the same bearing as we had during the day, we should have

found the oases, or _hattias_, of Bu Mungar, Iddaila and Sitra,

all on the same line. The original seed, of which the grass we

found were the descendants, were probably specimens carried by the

wind from Sitra to Iddaila, where they took root and produced seed

that was similarly carried to Bu Mungar and from thence—perhaps

through another _hattia_, or oasis—to the place where we found

it growing. Very probably the line of plantations of the grass may

even reach to the Sudan, should there be any places along it where

the seed could germinate.

[Illustration: ERODED ROCK, SOUTH-WEST OF DAKHLA.]

It is not only in the distribution of the vegetation that the agency

of this predominant wind is apparent. The sand belts follow the

same direction, so, too, do the clay ridges in Kharga and elsewhere;

even the hills in the desert show in many cases a distinct tendency

to have their longest diameter pointing up and down this north to

south line. The predominant character of the northerly winds even

has an effect upon the caravan roads; that, for instance, that runs

from Farafra Oasis to Dakhla lies along a hollow among the sand

dunes that occupy a large area in the centre of Farafra depression,

that is kept permanently free of sand by the northerly wind that

continually sweeps along it, so affording an easy path through what

would otherwise be a most difficult dune-field to cross.

Once at ’Ain Amur I experienced a curious storm. It was a windy

morning and I had been out after gazelle. On returning towards the

camp, I saw in the distance what looked like very heavy rain falling

in the ’Ain Amur Wady, so hurried back to the well to gain the

shelter of the ruins in its neighbourhood.

The rain, however, turned out to be only a fog—or perhaps,

since the well is 1,680 feet above sea-level, it would be more

correct to say cloud—only a few drops fell; but for nearly an

hour the whole district was enveloped in a thick white fog, while

a furious wind sprung up and blew with great violence. At the end

of that time the fog cleared off, the wind suddenly dropped and a

sunny and unusually hot day followed. Fog, it is needless to say,

is not a common occurrence in the desert.

The word oasis is unfortunately a very vague one, to which

varying meanings are applied in different parts of the world. The

dictionaries usually define it as a “fertile spot in a desert.”

So far so good. The difficulty comes in when one attempts to apply

this definition, for one is at once faced with two problems: what

constitutes “fertility” and what is the size of a “spot”?

The Wad Ghirh district, for instance, in the south of Algeria,

runs for some ninety-five miles from north to south, contains about

forty villages, with their palm plantations, and a population of some

fifteen thousand inhabitants. Each of these villages, with its palm

plantations, is regarded as one oasis. The whole Wad Ghirh district

being considered a group of oases.

Kharga and Dakhla Oases, which are separated from each other by

about seventy-five miles of waterless desert, were considered by

the ancient writers to form one oasis, known as the “great oasis.”

Kharga Oasis, according to Dr. John Ball, who surveyed it for the

Egyptian Government, is about a hundred and forty miles long from

north to south, contains some fifteen villages and has a population

of seven thousand eight hundred odd. All this is considered even

now to form one oasis.

To the north-west of Kharga lies a little place known as ’Ain Um

Debadib, where there is a considerable area of scrub, with a few

palms and _sunt_ (i.e. acacia) trees. A certain amount of ground is

cultivated here by a family from Kharga village, who, however, do

not always reside there. This is usually considered a separate oasis.

In the eastern part of the Farafra depression is an area, some

sixteen miles by twelve, covered with scrub, among which a few date

palms, which seemed to be to some extent cultivated, are also to

be seen. This place is known as Kairowin. There are no permanent

houses or inhabitants, though frequently _bedawin_ living in tents,

or brushwood huts, are to be found there with their camels. The

place contains several wells, and is sometimes described as an oasis,

though the natives more usually allude to it as a _hattia_.

At ’Ain Amur, half-way between Kharga and Dakhla, is a well, some

ruins, a patch of scrub and a palm or two. This, however, never

has any residents—the well being only used by travellers between

Kharga and Dakhla. This place is usually described as a _hattia_,

though I have heard even this called an oasis.

From places such as this there is a regular gradation through

scrub-covered patches containing water, but no palms, scrub-covered

areas containing no water, and mere patches of half a dozen bushes

clustered together in the desert, called by the Arabs _roadhs_, to

places that remain sufficiently damp after one of the rare desert

showers to allow a few widely scattered blades of grass to grow,

which the _bedawin_ call _redirs_.

It is very difficult to see where to draw the line. The system adopted

in Algeria of describing places like Kharga and Wad Ghirh as groups of

oases—or oasis-archipelagos, as they are sometimes called—seems

preferable to the Egyptian plan of alluding to them as a single

oasis. It would seem advisable to confine the term oasis to a place

which is actually cultivated, whether continuously inhabited or not,

and to use the word _hattia_ for “fertile spots” in the desert

where no cultivation exists. The dividing-line, however, between a

_hattia_ and a deserted oasis would not be very sharply drawn.

The western oases of Egypt were known to the ancients, for some reason

not very apparent, as “the Islands of the Blest”—a name that

to a modern visitor has an air of being somewhat ironical.

They are usually said to lie in depressions of the plateau. So far as

Baharia is concerned this is an accurate description, for it is almost

entirely surrounded by cliffs; but in the case of Farafra and Kharga,

the scarps of the limestone plateau only partly hem them in, and they

would be more correctly said to be situated at their base. Dakhla,

in the same way, lies at the southern foot of the chalk plateau that

forms the floor of Farafra Oasis, and gradually rises in level as it

proceeds southwards from Qasr Farafra, until it breaks down in the

huge cliff that bounds Dakhla Oasis on its north and east. The little

oasis of ’Ain Um Debadib, lying slightly to the west of Kharga, is

also only bounded on the north by the cliff. Kharga towards the east,

north and north-west is hemmed in by cliffs and hills. The cliff in

places, on the eastern side, is nearly eight hundred feet in height,

but is considerably lower at the northern end.

Starting from the north, on the western side of the oasis, a jumbled

mass of hills, cliffs and sand dunes extend for about thirty miles

towards the south to form its boundary. South of this, a long

north and south belt of dunes runs parallel with the eastern scarp,

and cuts off the oasis from the open desert lying to the west. At

its southern end, the oasis merges into the desert without any

well-defined boundary.

To anyone standing, say, on the eastern scarp and looking down on

to the floor of the oasis, it would appear as flat and almost as

featureless as the surface of the sea when viewed from the summit of

a high cliff. Two huge flat-topped hills rise abruptly from the level

oasis floor, near the eastern cliff, to the height of the plateau

above it; they are known as Jebel Ghennihma and Jebel Um el Ghenneiem,

and stand about thirty-five and forty miles respectively from the

northern end of the oasis. Almost facing them on its western side

stand Jebel Taaref and Jebel Ter. With the exception of these four

hills and the smaller conical peak known as Gorn el Genna jutting

up from the centre of the oasis floor, there are no conspicuous

elevations to break its level monotony.

The amount of land under cultivation is extremely small compared

with the total area of the oasis. Dr. Ball estimated the latter to

extend to considerably over three thousand square kilometres, but

states that out of this only nineteen square kilometres are under

irrigation. The cultivated portions consist in some cases of patches

merely an acre or two in extent. Only in the neighbourhood of Kharga

village is there a really large area of continuous cultivation. Here,

a long strip, some four miles from north to south, by about two-thirds

of a mile from east to west, covering altogether about a thousand

acres, forms a practically continuous grove of palms and cultivated

land. The size of the average patch of cultivation may be taken as

being some sixty-five to seventy acres. Each plot is usually known

by the name of the well that irrigates it, or in cases where it

contains more than one, by the name of the principal well.

The irrigation is effected entirely by means of artesian wells,

some of which date back to a remote period, and are said by the

native to have been the work of the Romans.

These wells and the modern native ones, which are modelled on them,

are sunk by means of primitive boring appliances and lined with

acacia-wood pipes. They are usually all owned by several proprietors,

among whom the flow of water is distributed by methods that probably

date back to a remote past. When a crop—such as rice—is being

grown that requires continuous irrigation, the yield of water is

divided up by means of what is known as a rice gauge. This consists

of a board with a series of notches in its upper edge, through which

the water flows—each proprietor being entitled to the amount that

runs through a notch, whose width corresponds with the proportion of

the yield from the well to which he is entitled. When intermittent

irrigation is required, the owners of the well draw their water in

rotation in accordance with a most complicated system. The moment

at which each is to commence taking his share is ascertained by a

most ingenious and intricate method of telling the time, in which

one of the men converts himself into a kind of human sundial.

[Illustration: A STREET IN KHARGA.

The housetops are a favourite resort of the women. To ensure

privacy a row of palm leaves is stuck upright into the top of the

wall. (p. 313.)]

In addition to Kharga village, which is the principal centre in the

oasis, a few other villages and hamlets lie scattered at intervals

near the wells sunk within the oasis area.

These villages are divided into two main groups, the principal,

taking them in order from north to south, are Meheriq, Kharga, Gennah

and Bulaq in the northern group. South of these lies a stretch of

desert for a long day’s journey, containing no village and only

two or three isolated wells. After this, Jaja and Dakhakhin, the two

northernmost settlements of the southern group are reached. Jaja being

to the east of Dakhakhin and two or three miles away. Some ten miles

farther south lies Beris—the chief village of the southern group,

followed by Maks Bahry (Northern Maks), and Maks Qibly (Southern

Maks); five miles to the east of the latter lies the village of

Dush. This constitutes the southern group.

Kharga village, though surrounded by some fine palm plantations,

is a wretched, squalid place. As is often the case in desert towns,

the streets in many places run through tunnels, formed by the upper

stories of the houses being built out over the roadways. In Kharga,

however, this peculiarity is carried to an unusual extent—many of

the tunnels being so low that it is impossible to stand upright in

them, and of such a length as to be completely dark. The natives

say they were constructed in this manner for defensive reasons,

in order that an enemy gaining access to the town should lose his

way in the darkened streets.

The houses were all, so far as I saw, constructed of the usual

sun-dried mud bricks, the roofs being supported on palm-trunk

rafters. They were, however, peculiar in having the parapet

surrounding the flat housetop surmounted by a sort of fence of palm

leaves set into the top of the wall, in order apparently to heighten

it and make the housetop more private, without incurring the expense

of the additional brickwork. In some of the better houses the inside

of this fence was plastered with clay to form a sort of wattle

and daub, through which small windows were often cut so that the

inhabitants could look through without being seen themselves. When

a house was built beside an open street, balconies supported by an

extension of the rafters were sometimes projected over the road and

walled in with the usual fence, to allow the inmates of the house

to get a view up and down the road.

Here and there some attempt was made to decorate the exterior

of the house by rough painting round the windows—this usually

taking the form of radiating lines of whitewash. One house had a

sort of trefoil arch over the doorway surmounted by a projecting

window, the front of which was pierced by a number of small square

holes—apparently in imitation of the _meshrebia_, or lattice work,

of the Nile Valley towns.

A considerable amount of rushwork is manufactured in Kharga in the

form of panniers for donkeys and mats for covering the floor. The

latter are made on a primitive loom stretched out upon the ground. No

shuttle is used, the rushes being woven across the strings that form

the basis of the mat by hand.

Kharga Oasis is richer in archæological remains than any of the

others. In early times the place was evidently of greater importance

than it is at present, and probably supported a larger population.

It is known to have been inhabited at a very remote period, even

as far back as the reign of Thothmes III (1503-1449 B.C.). In early

days it seems to have been used mainly as a place of exile. This is

a use to which it seems to have been frequently put, and continues

to be to this day. In A.D. 435 the Bishop Nestorius was banished to

Kharga on account of his revolutionary views. Here he founded a Coptic

Colony. A large Christian Necropolis, at Nadura, near Kharga village,

and several mud monasteries, constructed much in the form of castles,

evidently as a defence against their enemies, still remain in very

fair preservation as mementos of his exile.

Ruins of ancient mud-built towns and villages are to be found

in several places, notably those of Hibis to the north of Kharga

village, in the neighbourhood of the temple of that name, and those

of Tchonemyris, near the temple of Qasr Zaiyan. There are also the

remains of the old town of Kysis lying close to the temple of the

same name, which is now known to the natives as Qasr Dush.

The Romans, during their occupation of the oasis, built several forts

and castles, the exteriors of which bear a striking resemblance to

the old Norman Keeps to be found in England.

The most important of these forts, a building for some reason known

to the natives as Ed Der—the monastery—lies in the northern part

of the oasis close to the north foot of Jebel Ghennihma. It consists

of an enclosure some sixty yards square, surrounded by mud-brick

walls ten feet thick and about thirty in height, with a circular

tower at each corner and two semicircular turrets projecting from

each of its sides. From its position it was evidently intended to

guard the entrance to the oasis down the wady, through which the

railway now runs. The fort at present is merely an enclosure, and

no trace remains of any buildings in its interior.

Here and there in the oasis are to be seen small mud-brick buildings,

the interiors of which have their walls honeycombed with the little

cubical niches eight inches in each direction. These are usually

found at some distance from any village or existing remains. They

are generally considered to have been dovecots; but it has also been

suggested that they were intended to contain cinerary urns.

By far the most interesting ruin, however, to be found in the oasis

is that of the sandstone Temple of Hibis, a short distance to the

north of Kharga village. This, which is the only temple or public

building of any importance to be found in Egypt dating from the time

of the Persian dynasty, was begun by Darius I, and completed in 424

B.C. by Darius II, as Brugsch has shown from the hieroglyphics.

About a mile to the south-east of the Temple of Hibis, conspicuously

placed on some high ground, are the ruins of a small sandstone

building, known as the Temple of Nadura.

A mile or two to the south of the hill known as the Gorn el Gennah

is a small temple known as Qasr el Guehda—a name often locally

pronounced Wehda. It consists of a small sandstone building, measuring

about eleven yards from north to south, by twenty from east to west.

The temple itself lies in an enclosure of mud bricks, possibly of

later date, entered on the eastern side through a stone gateway.

About three miles farther to the south lies the small temple known

as Qasr Zaiyan, a much smaller building than Qasr Guehda. Like it,

it seems to have been surrounded by a wall of mud bricks, forming

an enclosure filled with small mud-built buildings.

I did not visit the Temple of Kysis, or Qasr Dush, as the natives call

it, which lies in the extreme south of the oasis. For a description

of this, and for a fuller account of the antiquities of this oasis,

the reader is referred to the works of Schweinfurth, Brugsch,

Hoskins and Dr. John Ball.

’Ain Um Debadib, the little oasis already mentioned, is situated

about twenty-two miles farther west.

Still farther to the west, the next oasis—if such it can be

called—is that of ’Ain Amur, of which mention has already been

made. It lies about twenty-four miles W.S.W. of ’Ain Um Debadib,

close to the top of a precipitous cliff facing the northern boundary

of a portion of the detached limestone plateau to which reference

has already been made.

’Ain Amur stands some 1,680 feet above sea-level. The existence of

a well at such a high altitude, in an excessively arid region like

the Libyan Desert, is something in the nature of a phenomenon. Its

presence, however, is easily explained: the top of the plateau

is covered with a layer of limestone, below which is a bed of

clay. Showers of rain are not quite unknown, even in this desert,

and occasionally, according to the natives, there is a regular

downpour. Some of the water falling on the flat limestone surface

certainly finds its way through it by way of the numerous cracks to be

seen on its surface. The downward progress of this water is stopped

on reaching the clay, through which it can only penetrate extremely

slowly. Where the strata are not absolutely horizontal, the water

flows along the upper surface of the clay, protected from evaporation

by the overlying limestone, until it comes to the surface at the

edge of the plateau, a little distance below the summit of the cliff.

The Arab word _’Ain_, strictly speaking, means a flowing well

or spring. The well at ’Ain Amur, however, did not, so far as I

could see, flow at all. It consists simply of an ordinary vertical

well-shaft, the water in which lies about eight feet below the ground

level, and is reached by an inclined path, or stair, leading down

to it from the eastern side.

The well stands near the foot of a single scraggy palm tree. A certain

amount of wild palm scrub is to be seen near the well, and a short

distance away is a patch of green rushes, where I was told there had

formerly been another well; but this was quite filled up—probably

by the wind-blown dust—at the time of my visit. The water in the

well was dirty and rather bitter, but otherwise quite potable.

Water could perhaps be found at other places in the neighbourhood,

as there is a long strip of green camel thorn—_argul_—running

horizontally along the cliff below the plateau, at the level of the

well, which lies near its western end.

Formerly ’Ain Amur must have been a place of some importance. Close

to the well are the ruins of a small stone temple still showing

traces of paint, and situated, like many of the temples in Kharga

Oasis, in the centre of a walled enclosure of sun-dried bricks,

possibly intended as a defence. The well is placed within this

enclosure—little of which now remains.

About forty miles west from ’Ain Amur lies Dakhla Oasis. Like

Kharga it is really a group of oases, with spaces of desert between

them—or perhaps it would be more correct to say two groups, for

the Belat-Tenida district on its eastern side is quite distinct from

the remainder of the oasis, from which it is separated by several

miles of waterless desert. The inhabitants of Belat and Tenida are

consequently of a slightly different type from those of the rest

of the oasis, and though only a few miles away from them, speak a

rather different dialect—the hard K = Q being strongly pronounced

at Belat and in the eastern group of oases, while it is slurred over

in the western part and pronounced as it is in Cairo.

Dakhla Oasis differs somewhat from Kharga in that the villages are

less scattered and, so to speak, more closely packed together. Owing,

too, to the better water supply it is very much more fertile. Dakhla,

too, is more favourably situated than Kharga, as it nestles at the

foot of a great east and west cliff, three or four hundred feet

in height, that protects it to a great extent from the prevailing

northerly winds. Kharga, on the other hand, runs from north to south,

with the result that the tearing desert gales sweep down upon it from

the north with their full force. Dakhla runs east and west—with an

extension towards the north at its western end, where the sheltering

cliff forms a deep bay towards the north-east, measuring about six

miles from north to south. The south-western portion of the oasis,

in which the capital town of Mut is placed, is consequently more

exposed to the prevailing winds.

Mut itself—the last place to the south-west—lies about eighteen

miles from the escarpment, while most of the other villages are

within five or six miles of the sheltering cliff, which form the

boundary of the oasis on its northern and eastern sides. On the

south the oasis merges gradually into the higher desert beyond,

while to the west it is hemmed in by a huge field of dunes.

The eastern group of oases in Dakhla, in addition to the villages of

Tenida and Belat, includes a number of _ezbas_ (farms or hamlets),

each consisting of a well or two with the surrounding palm plantations

and cultivation and a few houses. Generally the whole _ezba_ is

owned by one individual, or at any rate by a single family.

In addition to a number of _ezbas_, the western group contains the

following small towns and villages: Smint, Masara, Mut, Hindau,

Qalamun, Gedida, Mushia, Rashida, Budkhulu and Qasr Dakhl—the

last lying in the extreme north-west of the group, close under the

shelter of the scarp. These villages vary greatly in size. Qasr Dakhl,

the largest, with the _ezbas_ that go with it, being estimated in

1898 to have a population of 3,758, with 3,428 _feddans_ (acres)

of cultivated land and 49,758 palm trees. Budkhulu, the smallest

village, with its dependencies, had a population of 583, with 893

_feddans_ of land under cultivation and 12,302 palms.

In addition to date palms a considerable number of other fruit

trees are cultivated—oranges, tangerines, lemons, sweet lemons,

limes, figs, mulberries, bananas, olives and almonds being planted

under the shade of the palms. About one-fourteenth of the cultivated

land is under fruit trees—principally palms—the remainder being

devoted to field crops, chiefly wheat, barley, rice, clover and

vegetables. Similar fruit trees and field crops are grown in Kharga.

Goats, sheep, donkeys, cattle and a few horses are kept in addition

to pigeons, fowls, a few rabbits and a considerable number of

turkeys. The cattle of the oases are a rather noted breed, not

unlike our Channel Islanders in appearance. Buffaloes are either

few, or non-existent. Camels—with the exception of about half a

dozen owned by the Senussi _zawias_ (monasteries) and used by the

sheykhs in their visits to their headquarters in Kufara—are not

kept permanently in Dakhla oases, as a fly makes its appearance in

the spring whose bite is as fatal to these beasts as the tsetse fly

is to horses in other parts of Africa. During the winter months,

however, large herds of camels are sent by the _bedawin_ of the Nile

Valley to pasture in the scrub-covered areas lying on the eastern

and southern sides of the oasis; but these are removed before the

camel-fly appears in the spring.

Practically the whole population of the oasis is engaged in the

cultivation of the land. The only manufactures of which the oasis can

boast are the making of a little rough pottery and a few baskets. The

women also spin small quantities of wool by means of a primitive hand

distaff and spindle, and embroider their robes with the thread they

produce. A small quantity of oil is also extracted from the olives,

and, I believe, occasionally exported to the Nile Valley.

The buildings and villages closely resemble those in Kharga Oasis,

though owing to the more wealthy character of the inhabitants the

houses are frequently on a larger scale; but, as in the case of

Kharga, the dwellings of the poorer natives are little better than

hovels. Many of the villages are surrounded by a series of small

walled-in yards into which the cattle are driven at night, and which

play the part generally of farm buildings in other countries.

In some of the villages—notably Mushia, Gedida and Qalamun,

which lie on the western side of the oasis, on the edge of the

dune belt—the sand hills and drift sand are encroaching on the

cultivation, burying the palm groves, swamping the wells and doing

an immense amount of damage.

Though the depression to the north of Dakhla, in which the oasis of

Farafra lies, is far larger than those in which Kharga, Dakhla and

Bahariya are situated, Farafra is a miserable little place containing

only about twenty wells all told, with only two oases permanently

inhabited. Of these, Qasr Farafra, the larger, has a population of

only about 550; while the smaller—’Ain Sheykh Murzuk—contains

only one or two houses and a small Senussi _zawia_, the number of

inhabitants probably not much exceeding twenty. At the time of my

visit practically all the natives of this oasis were affiliated to

the Senussia—and a most surly unpleasant lot they were.

Baharia, the next oasis to the north, is said to be of similar type

to Kharga and Dakhla; but I did not visit it. It is peculiar owing to

the large number of small isolated rocky hills to be seen scattered

about the floor of the depression. Neither did I visit the oasis

of Siwa, still farther north in the Wady el Fardy. It has, however,

been frequently described.

NOTE

Since this Appendix was written, Hassanein Bey has visited and fixed

the positions of Arkenu and Owenat (Owanet). My information upon

Owanat seems to have been fairly accurate. The well at the base of

the cliff, the pass leading from it, the high-level oasis above,

the vegetation and the sand dunes in the district, and even the

Barbary sheep, have all been verified. The position I gave it, too,

from my native information was reasonably correct, being only about

twenty-one miles out, as compared with an error of about twenty-five

miles in the position of Kufara as fixed by Rohlfs’ expedition by

astronomical observations.

My estimate, however, of the nature of Jebel el Owanat—the high

land above the well—seems to have been wrong. But this, I think,

is due to misunderstanding on my part and not to any error on the

part of my informant. “Jebel”—the term he used to describe the

high land at Owanat, means literally mountain, but is a term used

in the western desert of Egypt to signify the high flat tablelands

of which the desert in that part is mainly composed. The oases in

this district all lie near the foot of the precipitous scarps that

bound these tablelands; so, as he mentioned a cliff in the proximity

of the well at Owanat, I assumed the “Jebel” to be of the same

character as in the neighbourhood of the Egyptian oases.

Hassanein Bey fixed the western limit of this elevated ground and also

its northern and southern boundaries, but though he made a survey

of some twenty-five miles to the east of the well, he was unable to

fix its eastern extension. So far as it is possible to judge from

his description and photographs, this elevated land seems to be of

much the same flat-topped character as the “jebels” round the

oases of Western Egypt, but so far as is at present known its limited

area makes it correspond more to Colonel Tilho’s estimate of its

character of a detached massif than to a tableland strictly speaking.

It is to be hoped that future travellers before long will revisit this

district and fix the eastern limit of Jebel el Owanat. Similar high

ground was reported to me as lying to the north of “the Egyptian

Oasis,” some 130 miles to the east of Owanat, and it is possible,

if this information is to be relied upon, that these two places are

connected by some hill feature, of which the high land at Owanat is

the western limit.

The accurate mapping of Owanat, with its permanent water supply by

Hassanein Bey, should be of great assistance to future travellers,

as it affords a most useful base for further exploration.

The difficulty, however, is to reach it. The old road that I surveyed

to the south-west of Dakhla Oasis for some 200 miles unquestionably

leads to Owanat; but it is very doubtful whether it is practicable

with camels at the present time. The distance from Dakhla to Owanat

in a straight line is some 375 miles, or at least fifteen days’

hard travelling by caravan. A small well-mounted party travelling

light, even in the most favourable part of the year, would find

this an extremely formidable journey, without the use of some sort

of depot or relay system.

This road has been disused probably for centuries, as in most places

all traces have been completely weathered away. But from its size in

the few sheltered places where it is still visible it obviously at

one time was one of the main caravan routes of the desert. Moreover,

there were indications upon it that it had been largely used by the

old slave traders.

It can, I think, be assumed with absolute certainty that no main road

of this kind can have existed that contained a waterless stretch of

375 miles—especially one over which large numbers of slaves were

forced to travel, as the water supply in these caravans was always

a most serious problem.

We are consequently forced to the conclusion that an intermediate

well, or oasis, once existed between Dakhla and Owanat. It may

have been only a well with an ordinary vertical shaft, which has

long since been sanded up and obliterated; but it may be the oasis

containing olive trees, on which the palm doves I found migrating

from this direction into Dakhla had been feeding. The direction

from which they came, viz. 217° Mag.,[25] I discovered afterwards

to be almost exactly the bearing of Jebel Abdulla from Mut and so

of the old road that we followed to reach it. Justus Perthes’

map on a scale of 1/4.000.000, published in 1892, and also the

1/2.000.000 map, revised to 1899, published by the French Service

géographique de l’Armée show an unnamed well, or oasis, by a

high steep hill and another oasis to the east of it. The German map

describes the oasis as being uninhabited, while the French states

it to be inhabited. It has been suggested that Arkenu represents the

well by the hill and Owanat the oasis farther east, and there can be

little doubt that this Arkenu-Owanat district is the one to which they

refer. But neither Arkenu nor Owanat can claim to be oases strictly

speaking—they would both be more accurately described as wells:

so it would appear that one of them—probably Owanat—represents

the well and that the oasis has yet to be found. Very likely the

failure of the water supply at this point led to the road becoming

abandoned. A road running up from the Central Sudan, as this does,

towards Cairo and the other wealthy towns of the northern part of

Egypt, where slave traders could find the best possible market for

their wares, must have been so convenient that it would not have

been abandoned without very good cause. If this road could again be

made serviceable by the restoration of this water supply, it might

still prove to be one of great value.

From what I saw of that part of the desert, I feel certain that

this intermediate oasis, or well, is not nearer Dakhla than Jebel

Abdulla—my farthest point along the road—nor can it be much

farther. It is certainly not in the immediate vicinity of that hill,

but it cannot, I think, be more than 50 or, at the outside, 75 miles

farther on. It probably lies rather to the east of the direct line

joining the hill and Owanat, as the road seemed to be trending rather

in that direction.

But the most promising side from which to reach Owanat seems to

be from the east, using Bir Natrun, Legia, Selima or Terfawi as

a jumping-off point. My information as to Merga was derived from

several informants whose intelligence—with one exception—all

agreed in the distance and bearings from Bir Natrun and Legia,

so, assuming these two places to be correctly placed on the map,

the position of Merga is not likely to be very far in error. The

“Egyptian Oasis”—if it exists—would make a still better

starting-point. Assuming that it does, there should be no difficulty

in discovering it, as it would only be necessary to follow the line

of the sand dunes until it was sighted.

APPENDIX II

INSECTS COLLECTED IN THE LIBYAN DESERT

THE collections of insects made in my first two seasons in the

Libyan Desert were presented to the Natural History Museum, South

Kensington, who in return very kindly undertook to “name” the

specimens. Unfortunately, however, they were dispersed among the

different departments of the museum before they had been identified,

and I am told that the specimens cannot now be traced. This is to

be regretted as no other collections have been made anywhere near

the parts from which they came, and it would have been of great

interest to see how far the influence of the strongly predominating

northerly winds of the desert had affected the distribution of the

various species.

The list given below is that of the insects collected in my last

season. Unfortunately the conditions under which the journey was

made prevented many specimens from being obtained from the more

central parts of the desert.

The majority of those here mentioned are now in the Tring Museum,

where they were most kindly identified for me by Lord Rothschild. The

remainder of them are in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington,

to the staff of which I am indebted for their kindness in naming them.

Some of the specimens, however, sent to this museum are not included

in the list, as owing “to their condition or for some other

reason” they could not be identified.

I. IDENTIFIED AT TRING

ARCTIIDÆ

_Utetheisa pulchella_ (Linn.). Farafra, 20/4/12.

NOCTUIDÆ

_Chloridea nubigera_ (Herrsch.). Camp IX, Libyan Desert, 5/4/12.

_Euxoa spinifera_ (Hubn.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra, 12/4/12.

_Agrotis ypsilon_ (Rott.). Bu Gerara, 4/4/12.

_Cirphis loreyi_ (Dup.). Bu Gerara, 3/4/12.

_Athetis flava_ (Oberth.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12.

_Laphigma exixua_ (Hubn.). Camp IX, 4/4/12; Bu Gerara, 3-4/4/12;

Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12.

_Phytometra gamma_ (Linn.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra, 12/4/12. Camp

XI, Farafra, 6/4/12; Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12.

_Leucanitis kabylaria_ (Bang, Haas.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra,

10-12/4/12.

_Hypoglaucitis benenotata moses_ (Stdgr.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra,

12/4/12.

_Anumeta hilgerti_ (Rothsch.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra, 12/4/12.

PYRALIDÆ

_Ommatopteryx ocellea_ (Haw.). Camp XII, 17/4/12.

_Syria Kingi_ (Rothsch.). (_spec. nov._) Fifteen miles south of Bir

Kairowin, 14/4/12.

_Syria variabillis_ (Rothsch.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17-23/3/12;

Camp II, 23/3/12.

_Syria Libyca_ (Rothsch.). (_spec. nov._) Kairowin Hattia, Farafra,

12/4/12.

_Heterographis adustella_ (Rag.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra, 12/4/12.

_Heterographis verburii_ (Butl.). Camp II, 23/3/12.

_Heterographis samaritanella_ (Zell.). Kairowin Hattia, Farafra,

12/4/12.

_Heterographis conversella_ (Led.). Camp II, 23/3/12.

_Nomophila noctuella_ (Schiff). Camp IX, Libyan Desert, 4/4/12;

Bu Gerara, 3-4/4/12; Camp XI, Farafra, 6/4/12; Camp XII, 7/4/12;

Camp IV, 25/3/12; Camp V, 26/3/12; Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12.

PYRAUSTIDÆ

_Cornifrons ulceratalis_ (Led.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12; Camp

II, 23/3/12.

_Noctuelia floralis_ (Hmpsn.). Camp II, 23/3/12.

II. IDENTIFIED AT SOUTH KENSINGTON

TINEINA

GELECHIADÆ

_Aproærema mitrella_ (Wlsm.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17-18/3/12;

Camp II, Libyan Desert, 23/3/12; Negeb er Rumi, Libyan Desert,

4/4/12. Seven specimens. (Tests J. H. Durrant.)

_Phthorimæa eremaula_ (Meyr). Dakhla Road, Libyan Desert, 26/3/12;

Bu Gerara, Libyan Desert, 2-4/4/12. Three specimens. (Tests

J. H. Durrant.)

PLUTELLIDÆ

_Plutella maculipennis_ (Crt.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 16-23/3/12; Camp

II, Libyan Desert, 23/3/12; Dakhla Road, Libyan Desert, 26/3/12;

Bu Gerara, Libyan Desert, 3-4/4/12; Negeb er Rumi, Libyan Desert,

4/4/12; Farafra Depression, Libyan Desert, 6/4/12; south of Bir

Kairowin, 10/4/12. Fifty-three specimens. (Tests J. H. Durrant.)

TINEIDÆ

_Trichophaga abruptella_ (Wlstn.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17-18/3/12. Two

specimens. (Tests J. H. Durrant.)

DIPTERA

MYCETOPHILIDÆ

_Macrocera_ (?) _nana_ (Macq.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 20-23/3/12. Three

specimens. (Tests F. W. Edwards.)

CHIRONOMIDÆ

_Chironomus tripartitus_ (Kieff). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17-23/3/12. Two

specimens. (Tests F. W. Edwards.)

SYRPHIDÆ

_Syrphus corollæ_ (Fabr.). Bu Gerara, Libyan Desert, 2-4/4/12. Two

specimens. (Tests E. E. Austen.)

MUSCIDÆ

_Musca analis_ (Macq.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 16-20/3/12. Four

specimens. (Tests E. E. Austen.)

_Musca angustifrons_ (Thoms.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 16-18/3/12. Two

specimens. (Tests E. E. Austen.)

TACHINIDÆ

SARCOPHAGINÆ

_Disjunctis nuba_ (Wied.). Bu Gerara, Libyan Desert, 4/4/12. One

specimen. (Tests E. E. Austen.)

ANTHOMYIDÆ

_Fannia canicularis_ (L.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 16/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests E. E. Austen.)

TRYPETIDÆ

_Urellia stellata_ (Fuessl.). Abu Harag, Libyan Desert, 26/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests E. E. Austen.)

PLANIPENNIA

CHRYSOPIDÆ

_Chrysopa vulgaris_ (Schneider). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12; Camp

II, Libyan Desert, 23/3/12; Dakhla Road, Libyan Desert, 26/3/12; Abu

Harag, Libyan Desert, 26/3/12; Bu Gerara, Libyan Desert, 2-3/4/12;

Negeb er Rumi, Libyan Desert, 4/4/12. Twenty-five specimens. (Tests

H. Campion.)

HEMIPTERA

REDUVIIDÆ

_Reduvius palliles_ (Klug). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 18/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests C. J. Gahan.)

JASSIDÆ

_Chlorita flavescens_ (Fabr.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 20/3/12. Three

specimens. (Tests F. Laing.)

COLEOPTERA

CARABIDÆ

_Stenolophus marginatus_ (Dej.). Camp II, Libyan Desert, 23/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests G. J. Arrow.)

DERMESTIDÆ

_Dermestes frischi_ (Kug.). Bu Gerara, Libyan Desert, 2/4/12. One

specimen. (Tests G. J. Arrow.)

SCARABÆIDÆ

_Aphodius hydrochæris_ (F.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests G. J. Arrow.)

_Aphodius granulifrons_ (Fairm.). Camp II, Libyan Desert, 23/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests G. J. Arrow.)

_Aphodius sp_ (?). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 20/3/12. One specimen. (Tests

G. J. Arrow.)

TENEBRIONIDÆ

_Ocnera hispida_ (Forsk.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 20/3/12. One

specimen. (Tests K. G. Blair.)

ORTHOPTERA

GRYLLIDÆ

_Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa_ (L.). Meir, Dirut, Egypt, 17-21/3/12. Two

specimens. (Tests B. Uvarov.)

APPENDIX III

ROCK INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE LIBYAN DESERT

THE graffiti shown in the accompanying plates were collected in the

Libyan Desert. The majority of them occurred on the Gubary road,

between the oases of Kharga and Dakhla, or in the _hattia_ through

which this road runs, immediately before entering the oasis of Dakhla,

in its south-east corner.

In many places these rock scribings were extraordinarily

numerous. It is no exaggeration to say that at some of the recognised

halting-places on the Gubary road, where it is the custom for caravans

to rest during the midday heat, or at the end of the day’s journey,

the rocks are so thickly covered with graffiti that it is almost

impossible to walk without treading on them.

The collection does not pretend to be in any way a complete one,

for the signs were mostly copied during a hurried journey in the

hot weather of 1909; there are consequently a considerable number

that have been overlooked.