﻿NO. I NATIVES OF KHARGA OASIS — HRDLICKA 5 



than 2000 years B. C. 1 It narrates that " Ikudidi, a steward of 

 Sesostris I., was dispatched by him to the great oasis of El Khargeh 

 on the west of Abydos, whence the caravans started thither " ; which 

 would seem to indicate that the Oasis already formed a component 

 part of upper Egypt and was in frequent communication with that 

 country. 



There is in existence, however, a much earlier and very suggestive 

 record, which possibly implies a still more ancient suzerainty of 

 Egypt over the southwestern settlement, and may contain a clew to 

 the ethnic derivation of the early inhabitants of the Oasis. It dates 

 from the reign of Mernere, of the 6th Dynasty, or from about 2500 

 years B. C, and speaks of a general of that king dispatched to the 

 " distant Yam," which is identified by Egyptologists as a part of 

 Nubia lying between the second and third cataracts. 2 Arriving in 

 Yam, Harkhuf, the general in question, " found its chief engaged in 

 a war with the southernmost settlements of the Temehu tribes, related 

 to the Libyans, on the west of Yam. Harkhuf immediately went 

 after him and had no difficulty in reducing him to subjection." 3 



If the tribes west of the Yam people were of the Temehu, related 

 to the Libyans or Berbers, then it is quite probable that the Kharga 

 Oasis people, dwelling approximately 300 miles more northward of 

 the Yam country, in the Libyan desert and in the line of migration 

 from the Libyan lands in the north, were of the same extraction. It 

 is even possible that the mention referred directly to the southern 

 Oasis (Kharga and Dakhla), in which case the record would also 

 imply that the Oasis inhabitants were at that time subjects of Egypt 

 and as such received protection. 



As to references in foreign authors, Herodotus writes (Thalia) 

 that the Persian troops of Cambyses " who were sent against the 

 Ammonians, leaving Thebes, followed their guides, and appear to 

 have reached the city Oasis, which those Samians, who are said to 

 be of the Aeschrionian tribe, inhabit, distant from Thebes seven days' 

 journey across the sand." This can, its seems, refer only to the 

 Great Oasis ; but it is not clear who were meant by the Aeschrionians. 



Edmonstone 4 mentions a passage from Josephus contra Apionem, 



1 Breasted, J. H. : Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. 1, Chicago, 1905, pp. 524- 

 528; A History of Egypt, 2d ed., 8° N. Y., 1909, p. 182. 



2 See map at the end of the volume in Breasted's History of Egypt, cited 

 in the preceding foot-note. 



3 Breasted, J. H. : Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. 1, pp. 333-336; History of 

 Egypt, 1909, p. 138. 



1 Edmonstone, A.: A Journey to Two of the Oases of Upper Egypt. 8°. 

 London, 1822, pp. 133-134. 



