The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎368r] (88/232)

THE OASES OF THE MUDIRIEH OF ASSYUT.
661
RUINED TEMPLE, SMINT EL KHARAB.
not, as stated by Rohlfs, entirely absent. The number of camels which
visit the oasis in the date season is estimated at two thousand.
The history of Kharjah and Dakhilah can be traced from very early
times by the aid of the ancient inscriptions and documents, and the
writings of Herodotus, Strabo, Plato, Ptolemy, Ulpian, Procopius, and
the Arab geographers. Three of the latter, El Makrisi, El Istakhri, and
Ibn Haukal, seem to have thought that the oases were actually aban
doned at their epoch, but this would seem to be an error. What is
probably true is that they had lost much of their importance by the
closing of the desert roads to the west, which appear to have led to
Ghanat, Fezzan, and even Marocco. According to El Masudi, Marwan,
the last Umaiyad Khalif of Damascus, was slain at Abu Sir, near
Mallawi, as he was preparing to proceed west to Marocco across the
desert. The oldest official paper in the possession of the inhabitants
which I have seen is dated 1180 a.h. A tradition quoted by Rohlfs,
to the effect that the western roads were made impassable by a force
of Mamluks, who stopped the wells in order to repel the raids made
from that direction, appears to be demonstrably without founda
tion. From all we know of their history, we may deduce that the
oases have never been places of great importance. That they were
in a higher state of cultivation in the ancient Egyptian times than at
present is unquestionable, and there is evidence that they were flourish
ing in the early days of the Roman emperors. It seems likely that
No. YI. —December, 1900.] 2 y