The principal villages of Baharia are four in number, all situated near together in the north part of the oasis in N. lat. 28° 21′ to 28° 22′. They are separated into two groups by a large hill (Jebel Mandisha), El Qasr and Bawitti lying to the west, and Mandisha and Zubbo to the east. The Government officials reside at Bawitti and El Qasr. According to the last census,[31] the population of the oasis in 1897 was 6,081 divided among the four villages as follows:— El Qasr 1.712 Bawitti 1.713 Mandisha 1.798 Zubbo 858[32] The males slightly outnumber the opposite sex. The villages are small uninteresting collections of mud hovels, surrounded by gardens, palm-groves, and cultivated lands. Besides the cultivated tracts existing close around the villages, there are others at points more or less distant from them, tilled by men from the villages. Such are seen, for instance, west of Zubbo; at Ain Bayum, a spring with a small cultivated area, among the sand-dunes 4½ kilometres north-east of Zubbo, where a clump of date-palms forms a conspicuous landmark; Ain Sini and Ain Murun, 7 kilometres north-east of El Qasr; also some small tracts west of, and a large area south-west of, Bawitti. Ain Auena, El Ayun, and other points marked on Ascherson’s map, are probably within this last area. Taking the whole cultivated land, inclusive of palm-groves, at 11 sq. kilometres, the area per individual of population works out to about 0·43 feddans; this figure is somewhat lower than Kharga (0·56 feddan) and considerably less than that of Dakhla (1·49). While Kharga exports practically nothing, Baharia does a considerable export trade with the Nile Valley, principally in dates, although not on so large a scale as Dakhla. In and near the villages springs are extremely numerous; the water is met with at shallow depths, and does not require, as in Kharga and Dakhla, deep-bored wells. It is led from its sources along underground aqueducts, which date from the Roman occupation; a description of these will be found in the chapter on antiquities (p. 73-80). No attempt was made by the survey to map or number the wells and springs within the vicinity of the villages; they are mostly concealed in the palm-groves and gardens. The water is slightly ferruginous, and frequently warm, bubbles of carbon dioxide rising with it. At Bawitti, the largest spring is cold, but one close by it is warm, although none approach the high temperature of the Dakhla wells. One of the principal sources of water in Mandisha, is a well, situated near the cemetery, 7 metres deep and timbered with palm trunks; the temperature of the water is 26° C. (air 12° C.), and when freshly drawn it is turbid with bubbles of carbon dioxide.[33]