The scrub-covered area of Ain el Terfai is about 25 kilometres south of Beris. To the south the surface gradually rises, and is absolutely devoid of vegetation, the oasis-depression having given way to the true desert. The next available water is at a place called Nakhail, 60 kilometres to the S.S.E.; the water there is good, but only exists in small quantities, obtainable in one or two spots by digging to a depth of a couple of metres. CHAPTER VII THE OASIS UNDER PERSIAN AND ROMAN RULE Previous Descriptions of Archæological Remains — Mr. Lythgoe’s Excavations — Dr. Ball’s Report — Article by Professor Sayce — Prehistoric Period — Earliest Historical Records — Persian Domination — The Army of Cambyses — Temple of Hibis — Græco-Roman Period — Qasr el Ghuâta — The Roman Emperors — Proclamations on the Temple of Hibis — Qasr Dush — Nadûra — Ruins at Ain Amûr — Qasr Zaiyan and the Town of Tchonemyris — Roman Fortresses — Dêr el Ghennîma — Qasr Lebekha and Um el Dabâdib — Monasteries — Watch-Tower in Bellaida — Introduction of Christianity — The Christian Necropolis — Representations of Biblical Scenes and Personages — Embalming — Celebrities banished to the Oasis — The Columbaria — Olympiodorus describes the Fertility of the Oases under the Romans. The archæological remains of the oases have been referred to, and in some cases described in more or less detail, by most of the travellers who have left any records of their journeys in the Libyan Desert. Among the latter may be mentioned Cailliaud, Hoskins, Schweinfurth, and Brugsch. At the same time, compared with the antiquities of the Nile Valley, those of the oases have received scant attention; indeed, it is only within the last year or two that any systematic excavations have been undertaken. At the present time Mr. Lythgoe, assisted by Mr. Winlock, is excavating in the neighbourhood of the Christian Necropolis, for Mr. Pierpont Morgan, on behalf of one of the American museums, and the results promise to be of the greatest interest and importance. It is to be hoped, therefore, that, in a few years, we shall be in possession of a detailed and authoritative account of the history of the oasis during the last few thousand years, as it must be admitted that the only information available at the present day is woefully scrappy and in many respects unreliable. Ball, in his report on Kharga published in 1900, gave an excellent summary of all that was at that time known concerning the antiquities, together with a number of useful plans of the chief buildings. Since that date, with the exception of a press article by Professor Sayce, little, if anything, has been published. Without making any pretensions to special archæological knowledge, I shall attempt to give a brief sketch of the past history of the oasis, at the same time drawing the reader’s attention to the distribution and general characters of the more important remains.