DISCOVERY 



177 



a splendid panoramic view of the oasis, with its pahn houses equally with the human inhabitants, and the 

 groves, wonderful blue lakes, and the two villages of smell exuding from the houses is excessively powerful. 

 Siwa and Aghourmi. The houses of the sheikhs and notables are distinguished 



I: 





i^i 



FlO 2.— THE WAIXS OF SIWA TOWN". 



The houses in Siwa are built upon the face of the from those of the ordinary inhabitants b\' ha\-ing broad 

 rock, one on top of the other, being broader at the base bands of whitewash painted across the front. 

 than at the roof, so that the houses have a conical Aghourmi, a village about two miles to the east, is 



Fig. 3.— siwa sheikhs .\xd xot.\bi,es. 



aspect. Mud and palm trunks are the materials for smaller than Siwa, but built on the same plan, or rather 



their construction, and doors and windows are just lack of plan. 



holes made in the walls. Many of the houses inter- Camels cannot live in Siwa owing to the existence of 



connect, and narrow passages winding in and out the " gaffar " fly, so that donkeys are the chief means 



form the roads. Goats, sheep, and chickens share the of transport, and they, with goats and sheep, abound. 



