x l INTEODTJCTION. 
place in February 1818. They approached it from Assiut, and were nearly five days 
crossing the desert, which is at first a vast level plain, but as the route advances the 
desert varies much, and in some places occur hills of considerable magnitude ; the sand 
is rarely deep except when drifted into dunes. The day before Edmonstone reached the 
oasis he saw " coveys of partridges " (probably sand-grouse migrating), 70 to SO miles 
distant from vegetation of any kind, and he states that lions and tigers ! (leopards ?) 
were said to be not uncommon in his day in the Oasis of Dakhel. 
Drovetti \ who visited this oasis about the same time as Edmonstone and Cailliaud, 
describes the district contiguous to the village of Besendi as well watered by two 
streams, bordered with very ancient and beautiful trees of Acacia niloiica. 
The thermal springs of this oasis, some of them impregnated with sulphur and having 
a temperature of 27° to 36° Cent., may be said to be situated in a great plain about 
100 to 110 metres above the sea, and which rises to the west and north-west, and in 
the former direction from Kasr Dakhel stands an isolated mountain, Jebel Edmon- 
stone, the name being gi\en by Eohlfs in honour of the British traveller. It is a 
prominent object in the landscape, and to the west of it the region of sand begins to 
show itself. The escarpment (Introd. PL VI.) which defines this depression to the 
north rises in bold cliffs that shelter it somewhat from the cold north winds. 
Three species of reptiles were obtained by the Kohlfs Expedition in this oasis, Varanns 
qriseus, Scincus officinalis, and Cerastes comutus, and one batraehian, Bvfo viridis; 
but as the Dakhel oasis abounds in springs and ditches, the moist soil around them 
being clothed with a variety of verdure, reptilian and batraehian species are probably 
better represented in it than in any of the other oases. It is rich in vegetation, as 
Acherson collected more than two hundred species of plants, comprising some Western 
Saharian forms, but, curiously enough, to the exclusion of the widely spread Plantaga 
major present in the oases of Farafreh and Ivhargeh. 
Kohlfs and his companions, Zittel and Jordan, attempted to penetrate the desert to 
the west of Dakhel, but when they had reached a point about 450 metres above the 
level of the sea they were compelled to abandon the attempt by reason of the immense 
sea of sand-dunes which they encountered. They therefore directed their course to 
the N.N.W., and proceeded towards the oasis of Siwah along a route previously 
unexplored. On this journey they had their first experience of a continuous rain 
in the Libyan desert. It began at 6 a.m. on the 2nd of February and lasted until 2 P.M. 
on the 4th February ; 1G mm. fell, and the rain penetrated the sand to a deptli of 
17 cm. They afterwards ascertained that nearly quite as much rain had fallen at 
Dakhel and at Khargeh, but that only a little had been observed at Farafreh, while 
none had fallen at either Baharieh or at Siwah. On account of the rain that had fallen, 
they named the place Ilegenfeld. Beyond, the route descends gradually from 450 metres 
above the sea to 30 metres on the southern escarpment of the oasis of Siwah. Their 
1 Phillips's New Voy. and Travels, (3) vol. vii. 
