Music Welcome to Snewscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep. Find us at snewscast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Water.

Tonight we'll read about desert oasis from a book written by H.J. Luellen Beetnell and published in 1909. In ecology, an oasis is a fertile area of a desert that sustains plant life and provides

habitat. In ecology, an oasis is a fertile area of a desert that sustains plant life and provides habitat for animals. Surface water may be present, or water may only be accessible from wells or underground channels created by humans. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths. When laboriously traversing the hot and arid plateau of the Libyan desert, our thoughts divided between the fertile plains of the Nile we have left behind and the still far distant oasis, it is difficult to realize the presence within a distance of a few hundred yards of an abundant supply of the purest water. Yet there is little doubt that the water-bearing beds underlie practically the whole of the the Libyan desert, though it is only on the floors of the depressions that they lie within accessible distance of the surface. On the high tablelands, the cost of sinking boars to reach the sandstones would be prohibitive, And without the aid of powerful and costly pumps, the water would not rise to the level of the ground. But although the subterranean waters of the great desert plateau cannot economically be made available at the surface, it must not be forgotten that the deeply buried sandstones of these regions must act to a great extent, as storage reservoirs capable of replenishing the beds underlying the oasis depressions, from which large volumes of water are continuously drawn by the numerous artesian wells. The essential conditions require to produce an artesian basin which, when tapped by borings, will produce self-flowing wells, are the presence of strata of sufficient porosity to carry water, enclosed above and below by beds of sufficient impermeability to prevent the escape of that water, the outcrop of the porous beds in some higher and distant region, with an adequate exposure to an abundant source of water, whether rain, river, or lake. And finally, the absence of an easy escape at a lower level, unless at a considerable distance from the sights of the wells. These requirements are well fulfilled in the Libyan desert, where the Nubian series at the base of the Cretaceous consists of highly porous sandstones subdivided by impervious beds of shale, overlaying by a great thickness of absolutely watertight beds, and underlaying by probably almost equally impermeable crystalline rocks. These porous sandstones rise gradually to the south, and presumably outcrop in Nubia and the Sudan. The weather, as we shall see later, they derive their water supplies from the Nubian reaches of the Nile, from the Great Swamp regions of the Sudan, or from the rains of Abyssinia or Darfur, is still to some extent an open question. It appears that the want of uniformity in the quality of the water is due to local causes, chief of which may be the relative abundance of fissures, the purity of the sandstone, and the presence or absence of mineralized shells. In those areas where the water is moving only slowly, where in fact it tends towards stagnation in the strata. It is probably liable to become more or less highly charged with mineral salts. Certainly the best qualities seem to coincide with relative abundance, and the largest supplies are undoubtedly found where the beds are traversed by fissures. In many parts of the oasis, perfectly sweet water is obtainable from the sandstones of this series, and this source, as an auxiliary to the artesian supplies obtained from deep borings, was taken full advantage of in olden times. The ancients constructed the most marvelous systems of subterranean aqueducts to tap these sources.

No more striking contrast can be imagined than that between the intensely cultivated valley of the Nile and the barren deserts on either side. There are arid waste in many parts of the world in Australia, in the western states of America, in Asia, but in point of desolateness in the absence of animal and vegetable life, there is probably nothing to rival the greater portion of the Libyan desert on the west side of the Nile.

In a single step one may pass from the richly cultivated alluvial soil of the Nile to the bare sandy plains which skirt the more rocky interior of the desert. Along the borders of the Egyptian wastes one one generally looks in vain for the Persian poets strip of Herbidge's throne that just divides the desert from the zone. Geographically, the Libyan desert is the eastern and most inhospitable portion of the Sahara, or great desert of Africa. With the exception of a narrow belt fringing the Mediterranean, the region is, to all intense and purposes, rainless, the occasional thunderstorms being extremely local, and seldom breaking over the same district in two consecutive years. In the more elevated deserts on the eastern side of the Nile, rains appear to be of sufficiently frequent occurrence to maintain a water supply in the isolated water holes and valley springs, and to allow of the growth of a fairly permanent, though scanty, herbage in the more favored areas. The eastern desert does therefore, to some extent, support a migratory human population. On the other hand, the greater portion of the Libyan desert is quite devoid of vegetation and waterholes, and is, in consequence, uninhabited even by nomad tribes. At the same time, the extreme barrenness of the region as a whole is in great measure counterbalanced by a number of isolated fertile oasis in which there is a permanent resident population, deriving its water supplies entirely from underground sources. The term oasis, an ancient Egyptian word signifying a resting place, in its strict sense means a fertile spot in the desert. But in Egypt has usually been applied to a depression as a whole, each individual cultivated area being known by the name of the well from which its waters derived.

The Libyan Desert is primarily divisible into two entirely different parts, distinguished by the presence or absence of surface accumulations of blown sand or dunes. The Egyptian Oasis are deep and broad hollows or depressions in the Libyan Desert Plateau. In position they appear to coincide with areas where rocks of comparative softness become exposed at the surface during the gradual lowering of the country by denudation. At such points the general rate of weathering must have become greatly accelerated with the result that those vast oppressions which form such conspicuous features in the configuration of the country at the present day were eventually cut out. Underlying the great part of the Libyan desert are porous sandstones, and these, when pierced by deep foreings, put down from the lower lying parts of the floors of the depressions, yield abundant supplies of water, of remarkable purity. Little is known of the early history of the Oasis, though the remains of ancient towns and cemeteries are abundant, and only await systematic excavation by Egyptologists to to bring our knowledge of this part of Egypt into line with that of the Nile Valley. That the Oasis were inhabited in prehistoric times is evident from the occurrence of flint implements of paleolithic types, both on the margins of the surrounding plateau and within the depressions, though there is not at present sufficient evidence to enable us to affirm that the makers and users of these flints were contemporaneous with Paleolithic man in Europe. Impliments of Neolithic type, often of finished workmanship, are, moreover, common in places on the floors of the depressions, but it is probable that there were in use well into the historic period. In the Oasis of the Libyan Desert, there is a very close connection between population and water supply. No water is intentionally allowed to run to waste. Every drop being utilized to raise the crops of rice, dates, barley and wheat, which form the staple food supplies of the inhabitants. Cut off by a waterless desert, these people have little intercourse with the outside world, except for a few weeks in the early winter months, when they dispose of their surplus date crop to the Bedouin traders who cross the desert with with droves of camels from the Nile Valley. The dates are usually paid for in cash, ready, money being required in order to meet the annual taxes levied by the Egyptian government. Practically the only food stuffs imported consist of such commodities as tea, coffee and sugar, which are used sparingly and regarded as luxuries even by the better classes. It is evident, therefore, that the inhabitants rely almost entirely for subsistence on the products they are able to raise by their own toil and industry. Owing to their being no rainfall, the acreage of land which can be put under crops depends absolutely on the amount of water available for irrigation by wells. The total yield of the ladder has, we know, fluctuated to a considerable extent at different

times. irrigation by wells. The total yield of the ladder has, we know, fluctuated to a considerable extent at different times, and one may surmise that, could figures be obtained giving the number of inhabitants and the volume of the water supply for different periods during the last 5,000 years, a remarkably constant ratio would be observable between the two. With the exception of the Doclah peasants, then habitants of the Oasis differ entirely from the phyllahine of the Nile Valley. The original inhabitants were Libyan or Berber tribes, but after annexation to Egypt there was considerable immigration from Nubia and other parts of the Nile Valley. Nevertheless, in the Oasis of Kaga, the physiognomic type of the burbers is still predominant.

El Carga, the chief village of the Wases, containing about 4,500 inhabitants, is situated in a broad belt of cultivated lands and palm groves running centrally down the depression from the Southern Extremity of Jebel Terre. The village consists of a picturesque compact conglomeration of houses, built of sun-dried bricks, and of every shape and size. The streets meander in a very remarkable manner, and are to a large extent in partial or total darkness, owing to their being for the most part roofed over and covered by upper stories. Without the aid of a guide, it is almost impossible to find one's way through the intricacies of the underground passages. Luckily, the inhabitants are most peaceably inclined. In some parts of the village, the streets are actually cut through the solid rock. They are generally clean and cool, even on the hottest and dustiest of days.

And as a rule, the few wayfarers, one meets, scuddle like startled rabbits into the dark recesses on either side, from the depths of which, and through chinks in the wooden doors and windows, they can gave in safety at the unwanted spectacle of European visitors. Viewed from the outside, say, from the ridge of sand which hems in the village on the east side, one sees a vast array of walls, surmounted by screens of dried palm branches, bound together to form compact hedges affording protection and privacy to those portions of the houses open to the sky. Two minaret's rise above the general level, while all around are palm groves and gardens with the open desert rising to the western horizon. Almost the whole of the population is engaged in agriculture, and as in some cases the wells are situated far from the village, many of the peasants daily ride considerable distances to and fro on their sturdy but diminutive donkeys. There are two or three small shops in the village, but nothing in the nature of bazaars. The chief business transacted being the retailing of Nile Valley goods, such as draperry and groceries. The Native women are adepts at basket and mat making and mention must not be omitted of the very attractive spherical baskets made of palm leaves and fiber ornamented with colored walls and manufactured in every conceivable size and design. Pretty circular trays are made from the same substances. In fact, the number of uses to which the waste materials from the date, poems, can be put is little short of marvelous. Everything connected with the village is of the most primitive description, and until a very short time ago, few of the inhabitants had been beyond the limits of their own fields. The advent of the railway caused no little commotion and stir in the oasis and awakened trading instincts

which had lain dormant since Roman times. Many of the villagers now travel to and fro between Carga and the Nile Valley. And the Omda took an early opportunity of obtaining leave of absence from his onerous duties and proceeded to Alexandria for a course of seabaths. Outside the village, with the exception of the antiquities, to which we shall call attention in a separate chapter. There is little of general interest beyond the wells and gardens, among which there are many picturesque spots. At one location a few kilometers to the north, a primitive form of corn mill may be seen working, the grinding stones being driven by the water of the well by means of an undershot wheel. It may be mentioned here that with very few, if any, exceptions, the different streams which collectively make up the water supply of the oasis, find their way to the surface through artificially constructed passages. The great majority of these are boars of ancient construction, though a few have been sunk with modern plant during the last 50 years. In cases where a modern bore has been specially sunk to replace an ancient well, the two words are used in conjunction. The position of each well is nearly always conspicuously marked by a thick clump of acacia's, from which, more especially in the isolated settlements in the northern part of the depression, the main irrigating channel generally runs in a southerly direction, the cultivated lands This of triangular form, with the apex at or near the source of the water, and raise little, if at all, above the general level of the surrounding plane. By this disposition, the fields present the least possible front to the north, from which side comes the bulk of the sand which is such a curse to these outlying settlements. Carga village being snugly situated among palm groves is well protected from the fierce sand, laden winds, which so frequently scour the depression from north to south. The poor little hamlet of Meharik on the other hand, set on the open plain some 20 kilometers to the north, is exposed to every wind that blows, with the result that the sand has accumulated to such an extent that most of the palms have been buried, and many of the houses have been overwhelmed. The advancing dunes are, in fact, steadily pushing the Hamlet southwards.

At frequent intervals, the occupants of the most northerly houses move their goods and chattels, and be take themselves to new quarters erected at the southern extremity. This periodical migration has, indeed, become so ingrained to habit that it is now

regarded as of little moment. It is only when their wells and trees are threatened and destroyed that the people call on a law to stay his hand and protect them. farther to to the North lie a number of isolated wills with small areas of cultivation, and at some of these there are settlements consisting of one or two families. There is one little hamlet rendered more conspicuous than most of these outlying settlements by the presence of a chic's tomb surmounted by a rather pointed dome. A third important dependency of Carga is situated a days' journey to the north. This place is of exceptional interest in that its water supply is not derived from wells, but from extensive tunnels driven into the hills. It is interesting to speculate on the conditions which obtained in Kharga before the first borings were made. As at the present day, we cannot point so far as I am aware to a single natural efflux of water on the floor of the depression. Surface water, of quite a different character from the deep-seated water, is met with at comparatively shallow depths in various localities, and may either represent drainage water from the flowing wells and cultivated tracks, or be water which has escaped from the underground sandstones and found its way to the surface through fissures. Probably it is derived from both sources. In prehistoric times, natural springs fed through fissures may have existed here and there within the depressions. And in any case, it is probable that prehistoric man obtained sufficient supplies by sinking wells into the upper sandstones, which in some parts of the oasis occur at or near the surface, and contain large quantities of subsurface or sub-artesian water. Nothing is known as to when flowing wells were first obtained, or by whom the original deep pourings were made, and no traces of the implements used have been discovered. Many of these ancient wells, frequently over 120 meters in depth, continue to flow at the present day, although in most cases with a greatly diminished output. A few however are still running day and night at the rate of several hundred gallons a minute. In some parts of the Oasis, water bearing sandstones occur at or near the surface, and from these beds the Romans obtained additional supplies by the excavation of underground collecting tunnels. Subterranean works of this description are found in all the oasis. They are frequently of great length, cut throughout in solid rock, and connected with the surface above by numerous vertical air shafts. Many of the latter measure from 30 to 50 meters in depth,

so that the construction of these and the horizontal carrying channels must have involved in a immense amount of labor.

In Roman times, water stations appear to have been maintained at frequent intervals

on the desert roads between the Oasis and the Nile Valley, and a great development of the water supply took place. The floor level of the Oasis varies considerably, but in general the cultivated lands lie between 30 and 120 meters above sea level. The exact area under cultivation is only known very approximately, but it is certain that with an increased water supply, it could be very much augmented.

The existing water supply is totally insufficient to irrigate the available lands and such portions of the ladder as are tilled are generally left-fallow in alternate years. And in many cases, our only undercrops once every four or five years. Now that an attempt is being made to restore the Oasis to their former prosperity, the question of ownership of land has become of the greatest importance. As a general rule, the wells are owned collectively. The different proprietors, having the right to utilize the flow for periods corresponding to the extent of their holdings in the well. Individual shares may amount to as much as one-third or one-half of the well, or be only the nearest fraction. In the latter case, the small holders combine, so as to obtain control of the flow for an appreciable period. Frequently, the whole of the land irrigated by a well is cultivated collectively. The crop on reaping being divided among the owners and portions corresponding to their shares of the water. question of ownership is further complicated by there being persons who own water, but no land, and by others who claim land, but own no water. Water. you