1909, £E.2,483, and was derived chiefly from a tax* on the date palms, which were 196,172 in number. The area of the low ground is about 97,617 acres. The population was 17,699 in 1917, and there were only 10 Christians in the whole district; in 1907 the population was 18,368. The entire water supply is derived from an underground bed of sandstone. The wells bored by the Romans are about 420, many of which are in working order; the modern wells are 162 in number. The temperature at Kaṣr Dâkhlah varies from 93 to 102.5 Fahrenheit. The Egyptian name of this Oasis was

Tches-Tcheset,

The capital of the Oasis

is Al-Kasr, with 3,241 inhabitants; here are springs of sulphur and other waters. The principal ruins are those of Dêr al-Hagâr, which have nothing to do with a monastery, as the name suggests, but with a temple of the Roman Period, which was dedicated to Amen-Rã, or Horus of Beḥutet, by Titus and other Roman Emperors. Of the history of the Oasis in ancient Egyptian times nothing is known, but the Romans kept an ala of soldiers here, and we may assume that they had some good reasons from a commercial point of view for doing so. This Ŏasis no doubt afforded a home for large numbers of Christian recluses and monks from the third to the fifth centuries of our era, especially as the leaves of the palm trees would afford abundant material from which they could weave mats and ropes for the use of the caravans, and so earn a living. In recent years Dâkhlah has exported a large quantity of dates each year, and the date trade must always have formed the principal source of income for its inhabitants. The name Dâkhlah means “Inner," as opposed to Khârgah, the "Outer " Oasis.

Until the year 1908 a journey to Khârgah Oasis from the nearest point on the Nile required about a fortnight; but now, thanks to the Western Oases Railway (2 feet 6 inch gauge), which was built by the Corporation of Western Egypt, Limited, and has now been acquired by the Egyptian Government, the traveller can reach Khârgah from Cairo in about 20 hours. This Oasis is the largest and most interesting of all the Oases in Egyptian territory, and should certainly be visited by all who can spare the time. The traveller may visit the Oasis any time between the middle of December and the beginning of

"A full-grown palm pays 1 piastres per annum, and each well 50 piastres per annum.

March; he should at all events be there before the Khamasîn winds begin to blow. In the winter months the air is clear and bracing, but the nights are cold, as in the Sûdân; the sky is cloudless and the days are hot. As there is much shallow water in the low-lying lands, and the air is hot and steamy above them, a particularly vicious species of mosquito thrives in the swamps and swarms in every part of the Oasis, especially when the wind blows from the south. Mosquito curtains should be carried by, or provided for, the visitors, for fever

The Oasis of Khârgah, showing the new Railway.

invariably follows a series of mosquito bites. Quinine and carbolic acid can be obtained at the dispensary in Khârgah village. The journey is made in a comfortable carriage with a double roof and provided with cane arm-chairs and racks on which light articles, books, field-glasses, hats, small hand-bags, etc., may be placed; at one end lavatory accommodation is found, and a good supply of fresh water is carried in large porous zêrs, or vessels which are familiar to every traveller in Egypt. Besides the ordinary glass windows, each window

frame is fitted with a wire dust screen and a window of tinted blue glass, a luxury which is greatly appreciated by those whose eyes have suffered from the merciless glare of the steely blue sky, and the blinding light and heat reflected from white rocks and scorching sand. The little train is hauled by a powerful though small locomotive, fitted with all the improvements which experience in the Sûdân has suggested to railway engineers, and both engine and train are fitted with strong air brakes. The need for these will be seen at once when the traveller begins to descend into the Oasis from the rocky plateau which separates it from the Nile. The railway telegraph runs by the line, and in the event of a breakdown on the plateau communication can be made with headquarters at either end of the railway. A luncheon basket is provided at ordinary prices, but restaurant cars have now been attached to each train, and it will be unnecessary to purchase one before starting.

The Western Oases Railway leaves the main line at Khârgah Junction (Muwaşlat al-Khârgah), a new station which has been built to the north of Farshût, and passing over a strong timber bridge runs along the top of an embankment, which divides two great irrigation basins, to Al-Kar'ah (a), which stands on the edge of the desert. Here are a

set of offices of Oases Railway Administration, and a number of small, clean houses, wherein the traveller can find board and lodging. Everything is very clean. Soon after leaving the cultivated land of the Nile Valley the railway proceeds in a south-westerly direction up the Wâdf Samhûd, at the end of which it reaches the plateau. The geologist will find much to interest him as he passes up from the valley to the plateau. It then continues its course in the same direction to AlTundûbah, 57 miles from Khârgah Junction. Here there is a deep shaft, which at one time appears to have been a well. The railway then follows the old Rafûf road until it reaches Rafûf, about 28 miles from Khârgah, when it begins its descent into the Oasis. Across the plateau not a trace of vegetation is to be seen, and there is no sign of life of any kind; the plain is strewn with large circular boulders, which are all that remain of the layers of stone which have disappeared. The writer noticed one solitary small bird perched on a rock about halfway across, but it may have travelled with us on the roof of the carriage. In descending the pass the

scenery became wild and picturesque, though in places it was severe, if not grim and savage. From the bottom of the pass the line runs across the plain to Maḥarîk, which is about 100 miles from the Nile, and then on to the headquarters of the Corporation of Western Egypt, Limited, at Makanât, "the place of the machines," which lies due south of Maharîk. Here also are small clean houses for the use of travellers. A few miles further on, at a place quite close to the temple of Darius, are a few wooden houses for the use of travellers, a kitchen and mess room, etc., and the line comes to an end about 3 miles further to the south, about 1 miles from the

village of Khârgah. On looking around the traveller will see that he is standing in a depression, the north and east sides of which are walls of stone which rise to a height of from 600 to 1,000 feet. To the west are low hills, and near them and to the south are the remarkable sand dunes, which have evoked the interest and curiosity of every traveller. Their appearance suggests the work of man, but their shapes and curves baffle all attempts to describe them with exactness. Looking towards Khârgah village a number of shêkhs' tombs are seen, and beyond these are groves of palms which stand near pools and channels of living water. The contrast between the green

colour of the palm leaves and of the vegetation which clusters about them is very striking, and though for beauty the Oasis scenery is not to be compared with that of the Nile, it nevertheless possesses a charm of its own which grows on the beholder, and makes him feel that he did well to visit Khârgah. History. The Oases have belonged to Egypt from time immemorial, and classical writers have always assigned them to Egypt. Strabo mentions three-Sîwah, one to the west of Khârgah, and Khârgah. The hieroglyphic and Greek inscriptions of Khârgah prove that both the Ptolemies and the Romans included them in their Empire. Arab writers also unanimously regard the Oases as a province of Egypt. The region of the

Oases is called in Egyptian UaḤ &&

had its special name; Khârgah was

*

and each Oasis

the "Southern

Oasis," as distinguished from the Oasis in the north which classical writers called Oasis Parva. Khârgah was certainly inhabited in pre-dynastic times, and some writers assert that men lived there in the Neolithic and even in the Paleolithic Period. It is tolerably certain that great kings like Seneferu (IVth dynasty) made the Oases send him gifts, and Pepi I and Pepi II (VIth dynasty) had them in subjection. The stele of the official Aquaa at Berlin proves that in the reign of Usertsen I (XIIth dynasty) the Egyptians were masters of the "Oasis dwellers " Under the XVIIIth and

XIXth dynasties the Oases paid tribute regularly and did a good trade in dates, wine, herbs, etc., and there was no doubt an Egyptian governor, or official, in each Oasis. The Oases have not yet been excavated, but when they are we shall probably find that they were governed by Egypt in exactly the same way as the Sûdân and Sinai. Darius the Great (500 B.C.) understood the importance of Khârgah, and built a temple to Amen there, ruins of which exist at the present day. The Ptolemies also built temples at various places in the Oases, and the Romans followed their example, and established halting places and dug wells on the plateau between them and the Nile. In the early centuries of the

The Coptic word for “oasis” is O&&€, and is the same as Uaḥ of the hieroglyphs; the Arabic word is waḥ, and is derived from the old Egyptian. "Oasis" is a Græcized form of the same word,