Though more abundant in Baharia than in any other of the Egyptian oases, doubtless on account of the relatively shallow depths at which water is there reached, these Roman levels are not peculiar to Baharia, several existing in Farafra,[70] one of which was noticed by Ascherson (_l.c._ p. 137); other examples have been found at Ain Um Dababib and near Gennah in Kharga.[71] It appears, too, that underground aqueducts of the same nature exist abundantly in the oases of the Algerian and Moorish Sahara. (_c_) COPTIC ANTIQUITIES. Some 4 kilometres E.S.E. from Mandisha are the ruins of a Coptic[72] village, which appear to be those described and figured by Cailliaud, although he gives the position as “est 35° nord de Zabou” Cailliaud characterises these remains as “miserable ruins,” but mentions specially, besides the fort referred to, two ruined churches, larger than the other structures. The first of these is 11·1 metres long, 6·50 metres wide, and has walls still 6 metres high; a principal door opens to the south, while another smaller door is situated on the north side. The interior presents only one room, with a niche in the wall; there are three windows on each of the two longer sides. The second ruin is of about the same size; on each of its longer sides are nine niches in the wall, and higher up are six small openings for light. The building appears to have been vaulted. The ancient habitations which form the remainder of the ruins are of a uniform type—low vaulted dwellings surmounted by terraces, access to which is got by steps. The entire village has a circumference of about 520 metres. The name of the locality where these ruins exist is not without interest. Ascherson quotes it as “Denise,” while Wilkinson gives “Bayrees;” the name, like that of Beris in Kharga Oasis, doubtless comes from the old Egyptian root “rs” (the south). Another Coptic village existed in the south-east part of the oasis, in a district now called Uxor, some 10 kilometres east of Ain el Haiss. The principal ruin is that of a church, built of crude brick, 19·8 metres in length.[73] The exterior displays only four bare walls, battered, with two doors in the east part opening respectively north and south. In the interior is a nave, and on each side are three arcades forming small chapels; in the centre is a niche ornamented with small columns with volute capitals. Above the chapels a gallery runs round the building. The columns of the nave have capitals rudely modelled on the plan of the lotus-flower of the ancient Egyptians. The remains of fresco paintings can still be traced on the walls, with Greek crosses and fragments of inscriptions. Ascherson records that he visited this ruin in 1876 and found it in about the same state as Cailliaud narrates, though he was unable to discover the inscriptions on the walls which that author and Wilkinson refer to.