Hugh J. L. Beadnell — Flowing Wells, Kharga Ocau. 107 



as 50 per cent, higher than the large ones. In order to obtain the 

 average value of the qirat for streams of different size I had thirteen 

 of our new bores, with discharges varying from 23 to 233 gallons 

 a minute, measured by the local native measurers by their own methods, 

 I myself making direct measurements immediately afterwards. It was 

 found that below 2 the qirat has a value of 22 gallons per minute, 

 from 2 to 4 of 26 gallons per minute, from 4 to 5 of 33 gallons per 

 minute, and from 5 to 6 of 38 gallons per minute. 



Applying these values as far as possible to the old wells and adding 

 the known discharge of the score of new bores, we shall not be very 

 far from the truth if we estimate the total discharge of the whole 

 of the Kharga wells at 8,000 gallons a minute or 11 J million gallons 

 (53,000 cubic metres) a day. 



The numerous and often extensive remains of temples, forts, and 

 villages in many parts of the oasis, the abundant traces of ancient 

 cultivation, and the hundreds of old sanded-up wells have given rise 

 to a widespread belief that the oasis was in olden times far more 

 thickly populated and better watered than at the present day. That 

 this was to some extent the case is not to be gainsaid, but it must 

 not be forgotten that the remains in question belong to successive 

 generations, and that there is as yet no evidence to enable us to 

 determine how much of this land or how many of these wells, were 

 in use at one and the same time. 



When one considers the vast areas under which the water-bearing 

 sandstones are known to extend, and the comparatively small extent 

 of country over which the existing wells occur ; when it is remembered 

 that as yet the deepest bores have only penetrated the water-bearing 

 beds to* a depth of 400 feet; that the existing total discharge is 

 mostly made up of insignificant flows from a great number of very 

 ancient and comparatively shallow wells, which for centuries have 

 been subject to gradual decay ; that so far as observed, the flows 

 obtainable increase in volume as deeper beds are struck ; it does not 

 seem unreasonable to assume that the total discharge could be very 

 much increased, though to what extent this could profitably be done 

 is another question and one with which it is not the province of this 

 article to deal. 



Until such time as our knowledge of the region to the south of the 

 oases enables us to do better than label the whole country " Nubian 

 sandstone," and until more information is available as regards the 

 relative levels of the oases and different parts of the Nile Valley and 

 Libyan desert as far south as the more elevated regions of Kordofan, 

 Darfur, and Tibesti, any attempt to explain the origin of the 

 artesian waters of the oases must be regarded as little better than 

 speculation. Possible sources of origin lie in the rainy districts of 

 the Sudan, in the great swamps of the iipper Nile, in the Nile river 

 itself, in past accumulations of water absorbed from the extensive 

 lakes which covered parts of the oases and Nile Valley depressions 

 in the pluvial period which preceded the existing desert conditions. 

 The water may be entirely of meteoric origin, derived from one or 

 other of these sources, or it may be partly of magmatic or plutonic 

 origin, derived from the deeper-seated rocks underlying the country. 



