NO. I NATIVES OF KHARGA OASIS HRDLICKA 5 
than 2000 years B. C. 1 It narrates that " Ikudidi, a steward of 
Sesostris I., was dispatched by him to the great oasis of El Khargeh 
on the west of Abydos, whence the caravans started thither " ; which 
would seem to indicate that the Oasis already formed a component 
part of upper Egypt and was in frequent communication with that 
country. 
There is in existence, however, a much earlier and very suggestive 
record, which possibly implies a still more ancient suzerainty of 
Egypt over the southwestern settlement, and may contain a dew to 
the ethnic derivation of the early inhabitants of the Oasis. It dates 
from the reign of Mernere, of the 6th Dynasty, or from about 2500 
years B. C., and speaks of a general of that king dispatched to the 
" distant Yam," which is identified by Egyptologists as a part of 
Nubia lying between the second and third cataracts. 2 Arriving in 
Yam, Harkhuf, the general in question, " found its chief engaged in 
a war with the southernmost settlements of the Temehu tribes, related 
to the Libyans, on the west of Yam. Harkhuf immediately went 
after him and had no difficulty in reducing him to subjection." ' 
If the tribes west of the Yam people were of the Temehu, related 
to the Libyans or Berbers, then it is quite probable that the Kharga 
Oasis people, dwelling approximately 300 miles more northward of 
the Yam country, in the Libyan desert and in the line of migration 
from the Libyan lands in the north, were of the same extraction. It 
is even possible that the mention referred directly to the southern 
Oasis (Kharga and Dakhla), in which case the record would also 
imply that the Oasis inhabitants were at that time subjects of Egypt 
and as such received protection. 
As to references in foreign authors, Herodotus writes (Thalia) 
that the Persian troops of Cambyses " who were sent against the 
Ammonians, leaving Thebes, followed their guides, and appear to 
have reached the city Oasis, which those Samians, who are said to 
be of the Aeschrionian tribe, inhabit, distant from Thebes seven days' 
journey across the sand." This can, its seems, refer only to the 
Great Oasis ; but it is not clear who were meant by the Aeschrionians. 
Edmonstone * mentions a passage from Josephus contra Apionem, 
1 Breasted, J. H. : Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. I, Chicago, 1905, pp. 524- 
528; A History of Egypt, 2d ed., 8 N. Y., 1909, p. 182. 
2 See map at the end of the volume in Breasted's History of Egypt, cited 
in the preceding foot-note. 
3 Breasted, J. H. : Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. I, pp. 333-336; History of 
Egypt, 1909, p. 138. 
4 Edmonstone, A. : A Journey to Two of the Oases of Upper Egypt. 8. 
London, 1822, pp. 133-134. 
