﻿NO. I NATIVES OF KHARGA OASIS HRDLICKA 1 3 



ited, the latter consisting of the production of mats, baskets, a 

 variety of cloth, and some pottery. Of trade there is but little, and 

 buying and selling has been and is still mostly by barter. Yet there 

 are now several stores in which simple necessities can be purchased 

 for money, and regular trade with the Valley is increasing. 



The Kharga Oasis natives are not great workers, which, as will 

 be seen further on, has its physiological and medical reasons. 



SOCIAL AND MEDICAL RECORDS 



As to social and medical matters, a few details were learned from 

 the Omdeh (local head official), the Maowen (government head 

 official) and the government physician. According to this informa- 

 tion, there is in the Oasis scarcely any serious crime. The people do 

 not like to fight and do not kill. They do not beat women or chil- 

 dren. When anything is stolen, which is infrequent, a flag is put up 

 as a sign that the property has been placed in the protection of a 

 " sheikh," a dead holy man, in or near the place where the object 

 was stolen, and this will often lead the thief to return the property. 



As to family life, girls are married from nine years onward. 

 They commence to menstruate mostly at from eleven to thirteen, and 

 generally bear children soon after. 



Marriage is not greatly binding. Among the poor they often 

 marry when there are plenty of dates or other food ; when the food 

 supply has run low or been exhausted and the man can no longer 

 support his wife, they separate. Next year, the parties may re-unite 

 or marry others. Plurality of wives is said to* be rare, they can not 

 be provided for. 



The number of children born is large ■ (see Statistics), but there 

 is also a high infant mortality. From the medical standpoint, the 

 people, while not robust, can not be said to be very sickly. Only 

 little, however, could be learned in this respect about the women, 

 who are forbidden to associate with or even show their face to 

 strangers. 1 The government doctor is not called to confinements. 2 

 He is not called to treat women at all. They are left when ill to 

 nature, and their own devices. 



There are no native " doctors " and there is but little folk-medicine. 

 Written passages from the Koran often take the place of medicines. 

 Curiously enough, there are traces or remnants of some medical 



1 The only opportunity the writer had of seeing the women with faces un- 

 covered and in a larger number was during funerals which they are in the 

 habit of attending, in fact, conducting. 



2 There are several native midwives. 



