256 The Little Oasis El Wah [1897 



for the hap of a dead beast, the foxes for dropped dates. We passed 

 a place where foxes had been gathering scraps at the site of an encamp- 

 ment. At Balbal yesterday there were fresh gazelle tracks, besides 

 larks singing and wagtails quite at home. There are no Bedouins in 

 these deserts as there is no water and little pasturage. The thorn trees 

 are consequently uncut, and the nossi grass of last spring stands un- 

 eaten. Balbal is a beautiful spot. The Bahr is much less interesting, 

 being merely one of 'those long serpentine depressions so common in 

 the desert. This one being 350 feet above sea level cannot have ever 

 been a mouth of the Nile. Its bottom is of limestone without a trace 

 of Nile mud. A caravan carrying dates was just setting out from 

 the spring as we arrived. 



' 17th Feb. — We have moved camp to a spring just north of Bawiti, 

 which is the last village of the Little Oasis westwards. 



' Last night I had a long ride alone to get a look at the Oasis, climb- 

 ing on Yemama to the top of the Harra which stands like an island in 

 its midst. The top of it is level ground, smooth enough to canter on 

 from end to end, one of the loneliest places I ever saw, for I crossed no 

 single track of beast or bird or reptile, nor was there trace of men hav- 

 ing ever been there, though so near the villages. It is apparently vol- 

 canic. One gets a good bird's-eye view from it of the palm groves and 

 the four villages, Sabu, Mandija and the double village of Kasr and 

 Bawiti. It is clear that much more land was cultivated formerly. The 

 ithel and tamarisk clumps must have been private property. They are 

 being fast destroyed now. There is a deal of rough camel pasture in 

 the Oasis, so that we grazed as we went. 



" I met a man cutting palm leaves to-day to make matting and asked 

 him to get us a guide to Siwah, as neither Beseys nor Haj Abderrah- 

 man, nor yet Minshawi know the road any farther. I was riding alone 

 in front on Udeyha, and having stopped was sleeping under a palm 

 tree outside Bawiti when I was wakened by a man greeting me. He 

 was a Berber from Farafra who offered to be of use and showed us 

 the spring hard by. Now we have sent Minshawi and Salem in to 

 market and are camped in the sand hills. 



" In the evening I rode round the Oasis with Minshawi, but did not 

 enter the village, as the Government Chiauss has been inquisitive about 

 me, and I think it prudent to run no risks. There is nice half a grazing 

 here. Everywhere there are bunches of palms with springs more or 

 less in use for gardens, some of which are beautiful with large olive 

 trees, esshaar, sont, and safsaf (willow). The palms are the most 

 vigorous I ever saw, having, as the saying is, ' their feet in the water, 

 their heads in the fire.' We passed the ruins of a building, probably 

 Roman. 



" iSth Feb. — Haj Abderrahman has left us to go home. He would 



