Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker.

Date:
1885-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    87/628 (page 63)
    oases, particularly those of Dakhel and Khai-geh, are remarkable for their fossil wealth. The soil of the deep depressions in which these oases lie, partly below the level of the Nile, consists of the variegated clayey or sandy strata of the upper chalk. The ground is so strongly impregnated with alum at places that it was thought worth while about thirty years ago to erect manufactories for its preparation, but the un- dertaking was afterwards abandoned owing to the difficulties of transport. Numerous thermal springs well up from the upper strata of the chalk, and the soil thus irrigated is luxuriantly clothed with vegetation (see p. 64). The barrier of Nubian sandstone which abuts on the valley of the Nile at Selseleh extends far into the Libyan desert. It forms the south- western boundary of the oases of Khargeh and Dakhel, beyond which it stretches for an unknown distance into the heart of the desert. This for- mation contains silicified wood and iron and manganese ores in abundance. About six days1 journey to the W. of the oases begins a complete ocean of sand. As far as the eye can reach we discover nothing but a vast expanse of loose yellow sand, which generally forms itself into ranges of sand-hills, many miles in length, and occasionally rising to a height of 300 ft. or upwards above the level of the plain. The oasis of Farafra lies in a recess eroded in the nummulite lime- stone , and enclosed by precipitous slopes, except on the S. side where there is an opening. To the N. and W. of Farafra extends the eo- cene limestone plateau as far as the neighbourhood of Siwa, between which oasis and Bahriyeh it is remarkable for its numerous basin-shaped and sharply defined depressions. These basins, especially those which are filled with salt-lakes, impart a peculiarly attractive character to the scenery. The whole of the desert around the Oasis of Ammon consists of recent tertiary deposits, the fossil wealth of which was once extolled by Herodotus and Eratosthenes. Approximately speaking, the Libyan Desert consists of Nubian sand- stone , the upper chalk, the nummulite limestone, and the more recent tertiary formations, arranged in this sequence, and extending in broad successive strips from S.S.E. to N.N.W. The Oases (by Prof. P. Ascherson). In the midst of the Libyan De- sert, the most bleak and desolate part of the whole of the African Sa- hara, at a distance of several days1 journey to the W. of the Nile, there have existed since hoar antiquity a number of highly favoured spots, which are abundantly irrigated by subterranean supplies of water, and richly covered with vegetation almost vying in luxuriance with that of the vailey of the Nile. The Coptic word ‘Wah1, according to Brugsch, is of ancient Egyptian origin, and signifies an inhabited station 5 in its Greek form ‘oasis1 (properly Odaao; or Adams), the word is used as the geographical term for irrigated and cultivable spots, or islands of vege- tation, in the midst of the stony and sandy ocean of the desert. Four of the five Egyptian oases lie in a somewhat curved line drawn from S.E. to N.W., and converging at the S. end to the valley of the Nile: — (1) Wah el-Kh&rgeh, i.e. ‘the outer oasis1 (already so named by Olympiodorus in the 5th cent. A.D.), or Oasis Major of antiquity, situated 3-4 days journey from Thebes or from Girgeh on the Nile. (2) Wdli ed-Ddkheliyeh, or more commonly D&khel, i.e. the ‘inner oasis1 (also so named by Olympiodorus), 3 days1 journey to tlie W. of Khargeh, and aboxxt 6 days1 joxirney from the valley of the Nile near Sint. (3) Fardfra (i.e. the bubbling springs), about 5 days1 journey to the N.N.W. of Dakhel, and 8-10 days1 journey from the valley of the Nile near Sidt. (4) Siwa, anciently the celebrated oasis of Jupiter Ammon, 16 days1 journey to the W.S.W. of Alexandria and about 14 from Cairo. The direct route from Siwa to Farafra (traversed by Rohlfs and Zittel in 1874 in 10'/2 days) is little known as yet, as most European travellers make the long circuit towards the E. via — (5) Wdh el-Bahriyeh, i.e. ‘the northern oasis1, or Oasis Minor of antiquity, situated 6*/2 days1 journey to the S.W. ofMedinet el- Fayum, about 4 days1 journey from Behneseh in the valley of the Nile, 9 days from Siwa, and 5 days from Farafra.