THE EEGION ABOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN. 145 



From the above quotation it will be easily made out that Fraas considers 

 that there is no avoiding the conclusion that the Mediterranean region — 

 the eastern portion of it, at least — has undergone a most decided climatic 

 change, not only in later geological times, but within the past 2,000 years. 



Professor Zittel, when speaking of one of the oases of the Libyan desert, — 

 that of Chargeh, — says : " In many places there are to be seen in this oasis, 

 where now all is sterile, old ruins of sacred and profane buildings, traces of 

 fields formerly under cultivation, wells which have caved in; — in short, a 

 host of proofs of a former much larger population of this region." * Profes- 

 sor Zittel takes, however, a much less disparaging view of the condition of. 

 things in this portion of Egypt than does Dr. Fraas, since the former believes 

 it not impossible that, if Artesian tvells could be successfully bored, the Libyan 

 desert might return to its former condition of prosperity. That condition, 

 however, if we may judge from the character and habits of the population 

 of that portion of the Sahara where such wells have, to a certain limited 

 extent, succeeded, would have but a very slight resemblance to what we are 

 now accustomed to consider as civilization. Wandering tribes living almost 

 exclusively on the fruit of the date-palm, such as they are described by 

 Desort and others, have little in common with the dwellers in coun- 

 tries better supplied with water. Nor is any instance to be found on 

 the face of the earth of a people living in prosperity and 3'et dependent 

 exclusively on Artesian water. Indeed, as appears clear to the present 

 writer, the Artesian wells of the Libyan desert have not run dry because 

 the country has been abandoned ; but the case is exactly the opposite of this, 

 — the water having given out, life is no longer possible except under con- 

 ditions in the highest degree unfavorable to prosperity. 



In regard to the extensive area to the west of EgA^pt, including Tunis, 

 Algiers, and the vast region of the Sahara, we have an abundance of obser- 

 vations, made within the most recent period, by eminent observers, all tend- 

 ing to prove, almost bej-ond possibility of doubt, that conditions similar to 

 those described as existing farther east, along the Mediterranean, and be- 

 yond it through Central Asia, prevail here, and on quite as extensive a 

 scale. As in the Libyan desert, and in Syria and Arabia, the whole aspect 

 of the surface is that of a region at no very distant time in the past quite 

 abundantly watered, l^iit now given over, in large pait, to almost hopeless 



* Briefe ans der Libyschen Wiiste. Jliinclieii, 1875. 

 t Aus Saliara iiml Atlas. 



