NO. I NATIVES OF KHARGA OASIS HRDLICKA 13 
ited, the latter consisting of the production of mats, baskets, a 
variety of cloth, and some pottery. Of trade there is but little, and 
buying and selling has been and is still mostly by barter. Yet there 
are now several stores in which simple necessities can be purchased 
for money, and regular trade with the Valley is increasing. 
The Kharga Oasis natives are not great workers, which, as will 
be seen further on, has its physiological and medical reasons. 
SOCIAL AND MEDICAL RECORDS 
As to social and medical matters, a few details were learned from 
the Omdeh (local head official), the Maowen (government head 
official) and the government physician. According to this informa- 
tion, there is in the Oasis scarcely any serious crime. The people do 
not like to fight and do not kill. They do not beat women or chil- 
dren. When anything is stolen, which is infrequent, a flag is put up 
as a sign that the property has been placed in the protection of a 
" sheikh," a dead holy man, in or near the place where the object 
was stolen, and this will often lead the thief to return the property. 
As to family life, girls are married from nine years onward. 
They commence to menstruate mostly at from eleven to thirteen, and 
generally bear children soon after. 
Marriage is not greatly binding. Among the poor they often 
marry when there are plenty of dates or other food ; when the food 
supply has run low or been exhausted and the man can no longer 
support his wife, they separate. Next year, the parties may re-unite 
or marry others. Plurality of wives is said to be rare, they can not 
be provided for. 
The number of children born is large (see Statistics), but there 
is also a high infant mortality. From the medical standpoint, the 
people, while not robust, can not be said to be very sickly. Only 
little, however, could be learned in this respect about the women, 
who are forbidden to associate t with or even show their face to 
strangers. 1 The government doctor is not called to confinements. 2 
He is not called to treat women at all. They are left when ill to 
nature, and their own devices. 
There are no native " doctors " and there is but little folk-medicine. 
Written passages from the Koran often take the place of medicines. 
Curiously enough, there are traces or remnants of some medical 
1 The only opportunity the writer had of seeing the women with faces un- 
covered and in a larger number was during funerals which they are in the 
habit of attending, in fact, conducting. 
2 There are several native midwives. 
