﻿NO. I NATIVES OF KHARGA OASIS HRDLICKA 3 



tures negro admixture. The selection on the last mentioned basis 

 is of particular importance, for an inclusion of those who are visibly 

 part negro would necessarily vitiate the outcome of the observations. 

 Even with the precaution taken some individuals were doubtless 

 included who were not free from negro blood, but the influence of 

 such unrecognizable cases on the results must be small. The mixture 

 with the negro at the Oasis is on the whole less extensive than in 

 some parts of the valley. It is also in general more modern and 

 more easily eliminated. 



The women of the Oasis, regrettably, could not be studied, due to 

 the restrictions of the Mohammedan religion. 



2. GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE 



GREAT OASIS 



The Kharga Oasis lies x 130 miles west from Luxor, the ancient 

 Thebes ; the nearest point on the Nile, however, is less distant. For 

 the last four years it has been connected with the Nile valley by a 

 railroad ; before that time it was reached only by from three to five 

 days' journey across the desert with camels. 



The Oasis is a great but shallow and flat depression, over 3,000 

 square kilometers in extent, in the Libyan Desert, which in these 

 regions is absolutely barren. It extends roughly between the paral- 

 lels of 26 to 24 ° north latitude and forms the eastern portion of an 

 immense shallow natural excavation, the western part of which is 

 the Western or Dakhla Oasis (fig. 1 ) . 



The Kharga Oasis has been peopled since early dynastic if not 

 pre-dynastic times. It yields ancient stone implements, is mentioned 

 in some of the oldest Egyptian records, and contains the remains of 

 numerous old settlements as well as of several temples. It also has 

 the best preserved Coptic necropolis. 



At the present time, as probably always in the past, a great part 

 of the Oasis depression is desert. The habitable portions are those 

 that contain flowing, generally artificial wells. These parts, several 

 in number, are separated by the sands and barrens and are the real 

 oases in the great arid desert depression. 



Each of these smaller or larger watered areas is represented by 

 a village or town, the main of which, from north to south, are known 

 as Kharga, Gennah, Boulac or Bulaq, and Beris. In addition there 



1 Following, in the main, J. Ball, " Kharga Oasis : its Topography and 

 Geology." Geological Survey Report. Survey Department, Egypt, 1899; 8°. 

 Cairo, 1900; and Beadnell, H. J. L. — An Egyptian Oasis, 8°, London, 1909. 



