190 DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
Wahat, The Desert of the Wahs or Oases. The 
boundaries of this tract are quite imaginary, but it 
is described as extending about three hundred and 
fifty G. miles from N. to S., and one hundred and 
fifty from E. to W. Ibn al Wardi, and Leo, by 
whom it is termed Alguechet, class this district as 
a separate division of Africa between Barca and E- 
gypt. In this region of sterility and desolation, 
where the burning and vertical sun seems to sur- 
vey only the ashes of a world destroyed by fire, or 
the sands of a vast sea, from which the waters have 
retreated, the green and fertile Oases, the islands of 
the desert, emerge on the delighted eye of the tra- 
veller, like visions of enchantment. The contrast of 
the waste and desolate sea of sand with which they 
are surrounded, enhances the idea of their beauty ; 
and so powerful was its impression on the ancients, 
that they denominated them the Happy Islands. * 
The vicinity of the mountainous ridges by which 
these islands are generally surrounded, suggests 
the obvious manner of their formation. The co- 
pious dew which condenses on the tops of these 
mountains, after filtering through the rocks, emerges 
in springs amid the valleys beneath, and produces a 
luxuriant vegetation. The Egyptian Oases, which 
are two in number, consist of a long range of iso- 
lated spots of verdure, in the low and sandy desert 
* Herodotus, Thalia, 26, 
