assistant, Mohammed Said, an Egyptian agriculturist of wide practical experience, have formed a very high opinion of the utility of lucerne in the reclamation and fertilization of raw and new desert soils. In ancient days the vine was extensively cultivated in the oases, and under the Romans there appears to have been a considerable trade in wine. At the present day excellent oranges, as well as apricots, mulberries, and olives, are grown in both Kharga and Dakhla, but only in comparatively small quantities, though the soil and climate appear to be eminently suited to the cultivation of fruit-trees. Cotton cannot be said to be cultivated in the oases, as the very occasional plots one meets with are evidence that its culture is not understood by the natives, who aim at the production of wood rather than fibre. Experiments made at Headquarters, however, show that many Nile Valley crops not hitherto grown in Kharga, such as cotton, sugar-cane, and beans, can be successfully raised without difficulty. There exists in the possession of His Excellency Johnson Pasha, formerly of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, a curious old Arabic document, purporting to describe the so-called Wadi el Molûk, or Valley of the Kings, a depression or valley in which, according to tradition, large quantities of gold, silver, and other precious metals exist. The place is described in true Oriental fashion, and the manuscript relates in detail how the route, starting from an old monastery in the neighbourhood of Esna, proceeds. According to the information given, the Wadi el Molûk would appear to lie somewhere within the desert triangle between the points Esna, Aswân, and Beris, but although a number of more or less serious attempts have been made to discover its whereabouts, this El Dorado has not yet been located. Judging by the geological conditions—so far as they are known in the area in question—one might, with equally good chances of success, search for metalliferous deposits of gold and silver in the Weald of the South of England. Earthy minerals exist in the oasis of Kharga, and appear to have been extensively mined by the ancients in some localities. Deposits of ochre occur near several of the wells to the east and south-east of Kharga village, notably to the west of Ain Aid, to the west of Ain Khalîl, and to the north of Ain Girgâwi. The best occurrences are to the south of the Gorn el Gennâh, in which district the ferruginous waters of certain wells have deposited thick banks of ochre along their channels.