THE GREAT AND LITTLE QASES. 



393 



is mainly attributed the profound ignorance of the natives respecting the wilder- 

 ness stretching westwards. For them the sandy shores of their islet are like those 

 of the trackless ocean on which no sail is seen. 



The small oasis of Farafreh lies exactly under the same parallel as Siut, but 

 180 miles in a straight line to the west. It is of little importance, and all of its 

 few hundred inhabitants might easily find a refuge within the enclosure of the 

 Kasr, which commands the chief hamlet. It has been only twice visited by 

 European explorers, Cailliaud in 1819 and Rohlfs with his companions in 1874. 

 Nor is Farafreh very well disposed towards the " Infidel," thanks to the brother- 

 Fig. 120. — Undergkound Passage at Mehendi, near Mahakkaka, Nubia. 



hood of the Senusi, who have here found a large number of adherents. These 

 Mohammedan missionaries, who arrived poor, are now the largest proprietors in 

 the oasis. They have in fact reduced the whole population to a state of serfdom, 

 in return for their enforced labour teaching them a few verses from the Koran. 

 In this way all the children have learnt to read and write. 



The Bakharieh Oasis, lying nearer to the Nile Valley and being better supplied 

 with springs than Farafreh, is also far more densely peopled. This is probably 

 the " Little Oasis " of the ancients, and here are still to be seen a few monuments 

 dating from the Roman period, including a noble triumphal arch, some under- 

 ground aqueducts and fortifications. 



