1 J HORNEMAN. 



lempt or suspicion, he soon followed the example of tlM 

 rest, and became his own cook. 



There are as usual oases, or verdant spots, in this im- 

 mense waste. Ten days brought the caravan to Ummeso- 

 geir, a village situated on a rock, with a hundred and twenty- 

 inhabitants, who, separated by sucli immense deserts from 

 the rest of the world, pass a peaceful and hospitable life, 

 subsistinor on dates, the chief produce of their arid soil. 



Another day's journey brought them to Siwah, a much 

 more extensive oasis, the rocky border of which is estimated 

 by Homeman to be fifty miles in circumference. It yields, 

 with little culture, various descriptions of grain and vege- 

 tables ; but its wealth consists chiefly in large gardens of 

 dates, baskets of which fruit form here the standard of va- 

 lue. The government is vested in a very turbulent aristo- 

 cracy of about thirty chiefs, who meet in council in the vi- 

 cinity of the town-wall, and, in the contests which frequently 

 arise, make violent and sudden appeals to arms. The chief 

 question in respect to Siwah is, whether it does or does not 

 comprise the site of the celebrated shrine of Jupiter Ammon 

 — that object of awful veneration to the nations of antiquity, 

 and which Alexander himself, the greatest of its heroes, 

 underwent excessive toil and peril to Adsit and to associato 

 with his name. This territory does in fact contain springs, 

 a small edifice with walls six feet thick, partly painted and 

 adorned with hieroglyphics. There are also antique tombs 

 in the neighbouring mountains ; but as the subsequent dis- 

 coveries of Belzoni and Edmonston have proved that all 

 these features exist in other oases scattered in different di- 

 rections along the desert borders of Egypt, some uncer- 

 tainty must perhaps for ever rest on this curious question. 

 The route now passed through a region still indeed bar- 

 ren, yet not presenting such a monotonous plain of sand as 

 intervenes between Egjpt and Siwah. It was bordered by 

 precipitous limestone rocks, often completely filled with 

 shells and marine remains. The caravan, while proceeding 

 along these wild tracts, were alarmed by a tremendous 

 braying of asses ; and, on looking back, saw several hun- 

 dreds of the people of Siwah armed and in full pursuit, 

 mounted on these useful animals. The scouts, however, 

 soon brought an assurance that they came with intention* 

 perfectly peaceable, having merely understood that in the 



