In the neighbourhood of the Corporation’s Headquarters a considerable area of the floor of the depression has been brought under cultivation during the last three years. This tract is exposed on every side, there being no protection whatever in the shape of natural features. Although occasional sandstorms are experienced from the south, and even from the east and west sides, practically the whole of the trouble encountered comes from northerly sandstorms and sand-laden winds. It was found quite impossible to raise crops unless the fields were protected by storm-walls or fences, the young plants being cut down as if by a scythe. So long as the reclamation of land proceeded from south to north at a fairly rapid rate, the accumulation of sand against these fences was of little moment, being, indeed, rather welcome than otherwise, as the sand was found to be of considerable value when spread out and ploughed into the heavy clay soil with which this area is superficially covered. When, however, a storm-wall remains for several consecutive months exposed to the open desert to the north, the accumulation of sand becomes a more serious matter, and care has to be taken to avoid the formation of dunes, which it might be afterwards difficult to get rid of. A fairly satisfactory mode of procedure is the planting of narrow belts of ‘sesban,’ or other quickly-growing shrub, along the northern limits of the newly reclaimed lands; a hedge of this description forms an efficient shelter to the fields, while at the same time it allows a good deal of the sand to filter through and become absorbed by the soil. [Illustration: THE CORPORATION’S HOMESTEAD (HEADQUARTERS).] Most of the dunes in the Gennâh district are more or less covered with tamarisk and other wild vegetation, but that their progression southwards has only been retarded, and not prevented, is evident from an examination of the country. Large areas of land have been abandoned owing to the invasion of the dunes, and the magnificent wells of Gennâh are threatened with destruction within a very short term of years, unless special measures are adopted to cope with the advance of the sand. The available land in the vicinity of the village has long been insufficient to utilize the water discharged by these wells, which has in consequence to be led by a channel of several kilometres in length to lower ground south-east of the Gorn el Gennâh. This channel is being constantly pushed to the south, and as the ground rises in that direction, it may eventually become impossible to maintain the conduit at a sufficiently low level to carry the water of the wells to this outlying district.