﻿8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



literature is given in the bibliography. A few data of especial interest 

 are as follows : 



Browne, who passed through the Oasis in 1793, 1 mentions the 

 acquiring by the inhabitants of Nubian negro slaves (p. 261) : 

 " When we came to Beiris we were met by a Cashef , who welcomed 

 the Ielabs with an exhibition of fireworks ; on this occasion he treats 

 the chief merchants with coffee, and presents to each a benish of 

 coarse cloth, worth about a guinea, expecting, however, in return a 

 slave from each, worth at least ten guineas." 



Quatremere, 2 in 181 1, mentions a new devastation of the Great 

 Oasis by the Blemmyes. 



In 1835, the Kharga Oasis was visited by Hoskins, and in the. 

 description of his journey, published in 1837, 3 the author says (p. 

 81) : " The inhabitants of this town (Khargeh), and indeed of all 

 the Oasis, have (with some exceptions), not such strongly marked 

 features as the Arab of the Nile, and their complexion is lighter 

 than that of the peasants of Egypt in the same latitude. But they 

 are chiefly remarkable for the pallid and unhealthly hue of their 

 countenances, just such a tint, or rather expression, allowing for 

 the difference of color, as distinguishes the inhabitants of the Pon- 

 tine marshes ; a languid and sickly appearance ; a listlessness in their 

 manner ; a sluggishness in their movements ; a total want of energy 

 and vivacity — all proofs of the insalubrity of the climate, and the 

 wretched effects of a baneful malaria. This pallid hue is most remark- 

 able in their children and women ; the men, exposed to the influence 

 of a tropical sun, have an appearance somewhat less unhealthy." 

 On pp. 82-83 Hoskins mentions the presence at the Oasis of malaria 

 and ophthalmia ; on pp. 86-88 he says " the women are not obliged 

 to cover their faces or live in the seclusion of harem " — conditions 

 now quite changed. The women, he thinks (p. 87), with their 

 " pale complexion " are better looking than those of the Valley and 

 have more regular features. Finally, on page 89, he estimates the 

 population of the whole Oasis at 4,300, of Kharga alone at 3,000. 



Caillaud, Schweinfurth, Brugsch, Golenischeff, and Ball give 

 valuable data on the archeology of the Kharga Oasis, and the last 



1 Browne, W. G. : Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria. 4 . 2d ed., London, 

 1806. 



2 Quatremere, E. : Memoires geographiques et historiques sur l'Egypt, etc., 

 2 Vols., 8°, Paris, 1811. 



3 Hoskins, G. A. : Visit to the Great Oasis of the Libyan Desert. 8°, Lon- 

 don, 1837. 



