Though dates are the only fruit exported, olives, apricots, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, and figs are grown in great numbers, and about 600 feddans are cultivated with rice, wheat and barley crops. Clover is sown after the rice crop is gathered. The area of land cultivated for cereals is said to be slowly diminishing year by year, having been 900 feddans fifteen years ago; the decrease is put down to a diminished yield from the springs, owing to their becoming sanded and choked up, but for this the inhabitants are themselves largely to blame, as they do not take sufficient measures to keep the wells free. It may be that water has been diverted to the palm-groves, these furnishing the saleable article. It will be apparent, from the figures already given, that palm-groves cover the greater portion of the irrigated land around the villages. The public health of the oasis is far from good. Though free from the opthalmia which is so prevalent in the Nile Valley, the inhabitants suffer much from fevers and gastric disorders, and according to the Government doctor virulent epidemics of small-pox occasionally visit the place. The low standard of health is partly attributable to the bad quality of the water, but is probably highly aggravated by the swampy ground found in many localities. It is also noticeable that no trouble is taken to protect the drinking-water from contamination. Besides the four principal villages already mentioned, small settlements exist at Mandisha Aguza, 2 kilometres east by south from Mandisha; at Harra, a tiny hamlet 14 kilometres east of Mandisha; at Ain Jafarra, 6 kilometres south of Mandisha; and at Ain el Haiss, in the south part of the oasis. The populations, etc., of these outlying settlements are included in the figures given above for the chief villages. Mandisha Aguza consists of a group of mud dwellings aggregated round a low sandstone eminence, surrounded by a small cultivated tract. Ascherson records that in 1876 the inhabitants still spoke the Siwa dialect among themselves. Cailliaud had already remarked in 1820 that the spot was peopled by colonists from Siwa. Harra consists of about half a dozen hovels, sheltering a population which cannot exceed fifty, with several springs and palm-groves, and a small tract of cultivated land. The principal spring is marked by a large pool of clear water, about 40 metres in diameter, lying in a slight depression to the south of the houses; the water has a temperature of 24° C. (hotter than the air). There is plenty of water at this place, and more can easily be got by digging to a small depth. At Ain Jafarra there is only one house, tenanted by a single family. At least two springs exist here, one being near the house and the other at a distance of some 700 metres to the east; the water from the latter spring is led by a long canal to the small palm-grove and patch of cultivated land near the house. The water, though somewhat saline, is drinkable.