The character of the people at the present day—a curious mixture of stupidity, apathy, and shrewdness—seems to reflect in great measure their past history, as well as the peculiar conditions under which they still live. A history of the inhabitants since the withdrawal of the Roman garrisons would resolve itself into an account of an endless combat with Nature, which, with sand and wind as its chief agents, has never abated its efforts to recover those tracts which the Ancients, by the exercise of much skill and industry, wrested from the desert. As a member of the Geological Survey of Egypt from 1896 to 1905, I spent nearly nine years in survey and exploration work in the Egyptian deserts, and for the past three years I have been in charge of extensive boring and land-reclamation operations in the particular oasis with which this book deals, so that I have had exceptional opportunities of studying at first hand a region of peculiar interest. Among other questions dealt with are the vast systems of subterranean aqueducts constructed by the Romans; the extensive lakes which occupied the floor of the oasis-depression well into historic times; the rate and mode of movement of desert sand-dunes; the formation and gradual elevation of the cultivated terraces by the constant accumulation of wind-borne material; and the deep-seated water-supplies, a subject which, in view of recent discussions as to the origin of the artesian waters of arid regions, is of more than local interest. Some portions of the book, more especially those dealing with geology and water-supply, have already been published in somewhat different form in the Geological Magazine, and I am indebted to Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., for permission to reproduce them, as well as the plate showing Bore No. 39 and the geological section across the oasis. The illustrations are reproduced from photographs taken by me at different times during the last few years. The maps, showing the relative positions of the oasis and the Nile Valley, the caravan roads, and the geology, have been compiled from all available published material, chiefly the work of Dr. John Ball and myself. Some portions of these, as well as the plan showing the subterranean aqueducts of Um El Dabâdib, are now published for the first time. The caravan routes, while shown with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes, have not been surveyed with the same degree of exactness as the other details shown on the maps. H. J. LLEWELLYN BEADNELL. LONDON, _March_, 1909. CONTENTS