(Large-size)
THE CARAVAN ROUTES
TO THE
OASIS OF KHARGA
The main roads from the oasis run to Assiut, Kawâmil near Sohag, Waled Hallaf near Girga, Karnak near Farshut, and to Rizagat, Esna, and Edfu, and their disposition may be seen on the accompanying plan.
The Assiut road, after leaving Kharga village, passes the hamlet of Meheriq and follows the line of wells to Ain el Ghazâl, which is the last place at which water-skins and tanks can be filled. From Ain el Ghazâl the most direct route ascends to the plateau by the Ramlia pass in the extreme corner of the depression, but the Yabsa exit is recommended as easier and very little longer. After crossing a tract of country with an abominably rough surface, the two tracks unite a few kilometres north of the depression, and about a day's march farther on the Zarâbi road takes off on the right. The main road proceeds direct to Assiut, descending the scarp about 8 kilometres before the town is reached, a by-path to the little village of Dronka having branched off beforehand.
From the summit of El Yabsa a separate road proceeds direct to El Ghennaim, a village on the edge of the desert to the north-west of Tahta. By these roads the distances from Kharga village to Assiut, Zarâbi, and El Ghennaim, are 210, 200, and 180 kilometres respectively.
El Refûf, the pass by which the Sohag (Kawâmil) road leaves the depression, is situated at the head of a gully, and offers an easy ascent to the plateau. A few kilometres beyond, the road passes to the north of El Shugera, a prominent detached block perched on end at the foot of the southern slope of a small limestone range. The road runs in a fairly steady direction 40 degrees north of east, striking the Nile Valley scarp 15 kilometres before Kawâmil, on the edge of the cultivated lands, is reached. About 33 kilometres before reaching the scarp a branch takes off and runs nearly due north to Guhêna, south of Tahta; this branch is, in fact, usually referred to as the Tahta road.
If the traveller, after leaving the Refûf pass, keeps to the south of El Shugera, he will find a branch road leading to El Tundaba, a deep shaft in the centre of the plateau, at kilometre No. 92 on the railway; a little farther east this track strikes the main road from the Abu Sighawâl pass. The shaft is sunk through a thick deposit of silt, which has filled a local depression in the plateau to some depth. The silt must be regarded as rain-wash from the surrounding country, possibly deposited in the time of prehistoric man. Flint implements are to be found scattered about, and from the presence of pottery and graves it would seem that the place had been inhabited in comparatively modern times. The pit was evidently sunk for water, although at the present time it is quite dry; given, however, a heavy thunderstorm within the catchment-basin, drainage-water would in all probability find its way to the bottom of the deposit, where it would be held up by the limestone, and might form a supply lasting possibly for many years.
The road leaving the depression by the Abu Sighawâl pass, and leading to villages in the neighbourhood of Girga and Farshut, is reckoned the best and shortest route between Kharga and the Nile Valley, and, by making a very short détour, caravans have the advantage of being able to water at the old Roman fort at the base of Jebel Ghennîma, 27 kilometres after leaving the village. The ascent of the pass was formerly very rough going, but a good road with an easy gradient has recently been cut for the transport of heavy boring machinery into the oasis. From the top of the Abu Sighawâl pass a well-marked track crosses to El Refûf and connects with the Sohag road, and care has to be taken by travellers for Waled Hallaf, El Elwania and Karnak not to make the initial mistake of getting on to this track.
For the first few kilometres the main road from Abu Sighawâl runs very straight over a level plain, on which fossil sea-urchins are so abundant as to attract the attention of the most casual observer; it then ascends a low escarpment, the Nagab el Jellab. The somewhat rough limestone country beyond is known as the Mishâbit, and then El Botîkh, with its countless millions of spherical chert concretions, is crossed. Beyond El Botîkh the road passes an isolated limestone hill called El Mograbi, where tradition has it that a Mograbi Arab from the west and his stolen oasis bride were overtaken and decapitated by the Kharga people. A little farther to the east there is a bifurcation, but the branches soon rejoin, and after passing El Masaâd the plain is fairly level, though covered with very angular blocks of crystalline limestone and cherty concretions. Farther on are the rocks of El Buraig, where large quantities of broken pottery indicate the site of one of the many water-stations maintained by the Romans along this road. Garat el Melh is so called from the occurrence of salt in the limestones of this locality. A few kilometres to the east of Garat el Melh the road passes El Suâga, an artificial heap of stones to which every self-respecting Bedawi is careful to contribute; and a couple of hours beyond, a fairly conspicuous limestone hill, called Garat Radwan, is reached.
Shortly after passing Garat Radwan the most prominent landmarks met with on this road, in the form of two solitary crescent-shape sand-dunes, loom into sight; these are called El Ghart by the Arabs and are distant 55 kilometres from Abu Sighawâl. They form part of a belt of single isolated dunes which crosses this part of the desert in a N.N.W. and S.S.E. direction. The same line of dunes is passed by the railway at kilometre No. 100, and I have observed its continuation still farther north on the Sohag road, at a point 45 kilometres from the Refûf pass. These dunes mark the entrance to an area of very rough hummocky crystalline limestone known as El Zizagat, through which the track is not easily followed. On emerging from El Zizagat the road bears slightly to the north, and is here only a few kilometres south of El Tundaba. At this point it bifurcates, the northern branch proceeding direct to Waled Hallaf near Girga, the southern continuing over the easy level plains of El Ishab to the rocks of El Baglûli, and thence past those of Dilail el Kelb to the twin hillocks of Dubîya. Beyond El Dubîya the road crosses the shallow drainage-line of Rod el Ghanam, near the head of the Wadi Samhûd, down which it passes, and thence over the Nile Valley plains past El Hamera and Hagar Hawara to Karnak and Farshut.
It should be mentioned that at Rod el Ghanam, shortly before reaching the head of the Wadi Samhûd, a branch road takes off on the left-hand side and descends by a separate pass to El Elwania; and here again care has to be exercised to avoid taking the wrong branch, as the tracks cover a broad area, and the actual junction may be easily missed.
The Kharga-Waled Hallaf road, via the Abu Sighawâl pass, is the shortest route from the oasis to the Nile Valley, the distance being only 160 kilometres; that to Karnak, by the Wadi Samhûd, is somewhat longer, being approximately 174 kilometres.
The next pass of importance to the south lies east of the village of Bulaq, whence it takes its name. From the summit a road runs nearly due east, meeting a second, starting from Beris and gaining the plateau by the Jaja pass, after one and a half days' march. From the cross-roads, 'El Mafâriq,' routes run direct to Farshut and Rizagat. From Beris to Farshut, by the Jaja pass, the distance is approximately 224 kilometres; from Kharga, by the Bulaq pass, the roads to Farshut and Rizagat measure about 203 and 198 kilometres respectively. Another road from Beris leaves the depression by a pass to the east of the village of Dush; this bifurcates about two days' march from the latter, the left-hand track leading to Esna, the right to Edfu. Other roads lead from the south end of the oasis, via Nakhail, to Kurkur and Dungun, while the Derb el Arbaîn runs southwards to Selîma and thence on to the Sudan.
The road between the oasis and Assiut is best known as being the last and worst portion of the Derb el Arbaîn, or forty days' road, which, starting from Darfur, was originally one of the main lines of communication between Egypt and the Sudan. It was along this desert route that great numbers of slaves and large quantities of merchandise, such as ivory, gum, and other products of the Sudan, were imported into Egypt from the south. After passing the last spring in the oasis, caravans had still a little over 200 kilometres to cover before reaching the Nile Valley, with a steep ascent to the plateau at the outset, and thence for a considerable distance over the very worst surface imaginable-loose sand full of sharp angular blocks and fragments of flint and cherty limestone. Little wonder that, overladen and fatigued by the long distance already covered, the camels died in great numbers on this last stretch of road. Along most desert routes the dried bones of camels are of fairly frequent occurrence, but on the Derb el Arbaîn, between Kharga and Assiut, the skeletons of these poor beasts are met with in groups of tens and twenties, and must number hundreds and thousands. In many instances the skeleton still lies undisturbed, in the position assumed by the luckless animal in its death agony, the long neck curved back by muscular contraction so that the skull lies in contact with the spine. When one sees these remains, half buried in the sand, the bones bleached snow-white by a pitiless sun, with still adhering fragments of skin and muscle dried hard as adamant, one cannot but feel pity for those patient 'ships of the desert,' wrecked...
