OASES. 
191 
ture of the soil. He determined the geographical 
position of Charje, its principal village, to be 
in N. lat. 26° '25\ E. long. 29° 49', and that of 
Mughess, its most southern village, to be situat- 
ed in N. lat. 25° 18', E. long. 29° 34^ He gives 
the names of three other villages, Aine Dize, 
Bulak, and Beiris.* The fertile tracts, interrupt- 
ed by sandy plains, extend over a space of one 
hundred miles in length, are productive of dates, 
and watered by excellent springs. The largest 
of the intermediate sandy plains is about twenty- 
eight miles in breadth. The descent of the 
Egyptian mountains is steep and rugged, and the 
hills ai'e chiefly composed of a coarse species of 
tufa. From the top of the declivity which de- 
scends into the Great Desert, the view extends 
over an unbounded plain covered with rocks and 
sand, but in the vicinity of the springs diversified 
with stunted shrubs and scattered date trees. 
The mountain, down the declivities of which the 
caravans of Egypt descend into the valley of the 
Oasis, is named Gebel Ramlie, and forms a part 
of that extensive range which runs parallel to the 
general course of the Nile, and bending to the 
west after it passes the Lesser Oasis, terminates 
on the shore of the Mediterranean, about fortv 
miles to the east of Parsetonium, in a position 
* Browne's Travels, p. 186* 
