BESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 191 
which lies beyond that western range of mountains, 
and runs parallel to the course of the Nile. These 
fertile tracts are separated by sandy plains of va- 
rious extent. The distance between the nearest 
extremities of the two Oases is about forty miles, 
an interval greater than that which separates any 
of the other islands, and which, as Rennell con- 
jectures, has caused the division of them into two 
great clusters, denominated the Greater and Les- 
ser Oases.* The Greater Oasis, commonly termed 
El Wah, is by Leo named Eloacath or Eloacheth, 
while the Lesser, termed El Wal-el Gerbe, re- 
ceives from that author the appellation of Gerbe.t 
The Arabian Jacuti, including Siwah or Ammo- 
nia, enumerates three Oases, which he arranges in 
three distinct lines, separated by ridges of moun- 
tains parallel to the course of the Nile, like the con- 
tinents of the earth in Indian geography. The 
Oasis Parva, which lies remote from the course of 
the African caravans, has never been visited by any 
modern traveller, and is almost unknown to the 
Egyptians themselves. It is placed by Ptolemy 
in the parallel of N. L. 28° 43', about seventy-five 
G. miles to the west of Bahnasa, the ancient Oxy- 
rinchus, a position which nearly corresponds to the 
distance of Bahnasa from Cairo, estimated at seven 
* Renn^JJ's Geography of Herodotus, p. 564. 
f Leo Africanus, p. 10. 
