Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/483

 is mainly attributed the profound ignorance of the natives respecting the wilderness stretching westwards, For them the sandy shores of their islet are like those of the trackless ocean on which no sail is seen.

The small oasis of Farafreh lies exactly under the same parallel as Siut, but 180 miles in a straight line to the west. It is of little importance, and all of its few hundred inhabitants might easily find a refuge within the enclosure of the Kasr, which commands the chief hamlet. It has been only twice visited by European explorers, Cailliaud in 1819 ard Rohlfs with his companions in 1874. Nor is Farafreh very well disposed towards the "Infidel," thanks to the brotherhood

of the Senusi, who have here found a large number of adherents. These Mohammedan missionaries, who arrived poor, are now the largest proprietors in the oasis. They have in fact reduced the whole population to a state of serfdom, in return for their enforced labour teaching them a few verses from the Koran. In this way all the children have learnt to read and write.

The Bakharieh Oasis, lying nearer to the Nile Valley and being better supplied with springs than Farafreh, is also far more densely peopled. This is probably the "Little Oasis" of the ancients, and here are still to be seen a few monuments dating from the Roman period, including a noble triumphal arch, some underground aqueducts and fortifications.