The early history of Baharia is shrouded in an obscurity greater even than that surrounding the history of Kharga. That it was inhabited at a very early date is shown however by a stela of the reign of Thothmes II (about B.C. 1600-1500) found there by Ascherson, by a tomb of the 19th dynasty (B.C. 1300) and fragments of two temples, one dating from the reign of King Apries (B.C. 588-570) and the other from the reign of Amasis (B.C. 569-526), discovered by Steindorff in 1900, and by the references to it in the Ptolemaic inscriptions of the temple of Edfu. The oasis of Baharia is referred to in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of its newly-discovered temples as “the northern oasis of Amenhotep,” and as “the oasis Huye”; by Strabo it is called δεύτερα “_the second_” and by Ptolemy ὄασις μικρὰ “_the small oasis_.” The Romans have left traces of their occupation of Baharia in an arch near the village of El Qasr[1] and other ruins, as well as in numerous wells and underground aqueducts, which latter are still used by the present inhabitants. Fragmentary ruins of churches and a Coptic village attest the fact of the occupation of the place during Christian times. At present Baharia, along with the neighbouring oasis of Farafra to the south, is administered as part of the Mudiria of Minia, and is fairly prosperous, though lacking in enterprise to an even greater extent than is shown by the two southern oases of Dakhla and Kharga. The first European traveller to reach the oasis of Baharia appears to have been _Belzoni_,[2] who reached it from Beni Suef on May 26th, 1819, and after spending some eleven days there returned by the same route. Though his observations appear to have been correctly made, the description of his travels is largely coloured by imagination, and his map appears only to have been a rough sketch. He erroneously confused Baharia with the oasis of Jupiter Ammon, whose temple he imagined he had found in the remains of the Roman arch near El Qasr, the chief village of the oasis. It is hardly necessary to remark that the oasis of Jupiter Ammon is really that now known as Siwa, situated some 340 kilometres west-north-west of Baharia. The earliest connected modern account of the oasis of any value is that of _Cailliaud_,[3] who with Letorzec visited the place in 1820 on his way from Siwa to Farafra, and during a stay of about six weeks examined and mapped some of its principal features. He drew attention to its antiquities and gave a careful description of the hot springs and ancient aqueducts, besides taking a number of observations of latitude and noting some of the topographical and geological features, such as the occurrence of volcanic rocks in the oasis. Cailliaud records his meeting in Baharia with Hyde, an English traveller, who, however, does not appear to have published any account of his wanderings.