THE WESTERN OASES. 323 



separated by a limestone wilderness, partly covered with shifting sands, from the 

 oasis of Farafreh, which is situated 120 miles to the north-west. The labyrinth 

 of rocks occupying the intermediate space between Dakhel and Farafreh is one of 

 the most remarkable formations of the kind in the whole world. The narrow 

 fissures winding along and intersecting each other at variuos angles amid the still 

 preserved upright rocky masses resemble the streets of some weird city lined with 

 fantastic monuments, pyramids, obelisks, triumphal arches, sphinxes, lions, and 

 even statues faintly reproducing the outlines of the human figure. One of the 

 natural gates on the north side of this uninhabited city has by Rohlfs been named 

 the Bab-el- lasmund, in honour of a fellow-countryman, A still more colossal gate- 

 way, which stands at the outlet of the labyrinth facing the Dakhel oasis, is known as 

 the Bab-el-Cailliaud, in memory of the first European traveller who in recent 

 times has penetrated into these inhospitable regions. 



Several oases of smaller size are scattered round about the Wah-el-Farafreh, 

 forming an archipelago which is prolonged in a north-easterly direction by the 

 oasis of Bakharieh, probably the "Little Oasis" of the ancients. It is one of those 

 lying nearest to the Nile, being situated not more than 90 miles from the plains of 

 Minieh in the fluvial basin. But in this district the series of depressions ramifies 

 in two different directions. One branch continues to develop itself parallel with 

 the Nile, while the other follows the line of the Mediterranean seaboard west of 

 Alexandria. Its axis intersects the depressions of the Bahr-Belâ-mâ, or " Water- 

 less Lakes," and other dried-up lacustrine basins, ultimately terminating in the 

 oasis of Siwah, formerly consecrated to Jupiter Ammon. 



North of the Siwah depression rise the rocky escarpments of the plateau of 

 Cyrenaica, while towards the south an isolated system of coarse limestones is 

 encircled by lofty sand dunes. In this region bordering on the sea and already 

 comprised within the zone of winter rains, the water develops vast lacustrine 

 basins, all saturated with salt. Amongst them is the extensive Lake Sittra, which 

 floods the lowest part of a depression lying midway between the Bahr-Belâ-mâ 

 and the Siwah oasis. But this " sparkling sapphire set in gold," as it has 

 been described, merges in one direction in dreary morasses. Other cavities are 

 now empty. Excavated in the form of wells to a depth of from 60 to 150 feet, 

 they still retain at the bottom a deposit of mud mixed with salt and gypsum. 

 Springs even continue to bubble up in some ; but the banks of these saline waters 

 are everywhere destitute of vegetation. In the dried-up lacustrine hollows 

 nothing is seen except a little scrub in places where the saline efflorescences have 

 been overlaid by a thick layer of drifting sands. 



Not far from Lake Sittra stretches the now-abandoned oasis of El-Araj, which 

 is being gradually swallowed up in the sands. The outer zone of plantations has 

 already partly disappeared ; the half -choked -up wells now contain nothing but a 

 scanty supply of brackish water ; and the time is rapidly approaching when the 

 only evidence of the former residence of man in this district will be tombs in the 

 Egyptian style excavated in the neighbouring cliffs. 



