After leaving the wells belonging to Bulaq the traveller has to cross a stretch of desert about 40 kilometres in width before reaching the first well and cultivated land of the southern group of villages. On this expanse water is only found in one locality—at Ain Girm Meshîm, a pool with a very small flow. There is little doubt that this was at one time a very good well, as traces of irrigating channels extend outwards to a considerable distance; moreover, a large salt-pan is still visible to the west, and this could only have been formed at a time when there was far more water running to waste than at present. The immediate neighbourhood is picturesquely dotted with doum-palms, some of those near the well being magnificent trees. Agûl el Douma, lying 17 kilometres south-west of Ain Girm Meshîm, on the opposite (west) side of the belt of dunes, is a place which, previous to my inspection, had probably never been visited by Europeans, although known to a few of the Bedawin. Surface-water can be obtained by digging to a depth of a few feet near one of the doums. The place, marked by a small area of scrub and a doum-palm or two, was formerly used to some extent by Arabs carrying contraband from the south, as by watering here they were able to pass through the oasis unobserved. The most northerly of the southern villages are Jaja and Dakhakhin, but 6 kilometres to the north lies an isolated group of doum-palms, known as Ain el Douma. At the present time the place is uninhabited, the old well being completely sanded-up, though water may be obtained by digging out the centre. Both north and south of Ain el Douma occur smooth plains of alluvial clay, in the latter direction extending to the villages of Dakhakhin and Jaja. Jaja is visible from a distance of many kilometres on account of a thick clump of dark green acacias, growing on the summit of an eminence. Dakhakhin, on the other hand, is hidden, being on the south side of a sandy hill covered with short scrub only. A low-lying portion of the alluvial-covered plain separates the two villages, which are situated close together on an east and west line.