SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 
VOL. 59 
are several settlements of minor importance, and a number of places 
that are occupied only for a time each year, during the growing or 
gathering of crops. 
The total number of the present inhabitants of the Great Oasis, 
including some Bedouins, is somewhat less that 10,000. Their 
28' Longitude mit from 30 c Gnanwlch 
FIG. i. Sketch map of Egypt, showing the position of the oases. (After 
Ball.) 
ethnic origin and the time of their immigration into the Oasis are 
both uncertain. The earliest record thus far discovered relating 
directly to the Oasis dates from the Xllth Dynasty, or a little less 
