Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/41

 TOPOGRAPHY. 25 Topography. In the part of the territory lying south of the Barka plateau, there are neither towns nor permanent villages, except in the group of oases occupying the depres- sions in the desert below the level of the Mediterranean. In a bee-line the distance is at least 130 miles between the Aujila oases and the point on the Gulf of Sidra where formerly stood Ajabia, the old outlet for the caravan trade of the interior. The track usually followed by caravans across the desert still reaches the coast at the same point. On an average, travellers take about ten days to cover the distance between Aujila and the seaboard. During the journey they have to traverse vast solitudes, " where even the flea forsakes the wayfarer," and where the only procurable water is a nauseous and brackish fluid often refused by the camel itself. In many places the traces of preceding caravans are soon covered bv the sands. Here the only indication of the proper route to follow are the so- called al/emSf or heaps of stones raised at intervals as landmarks. On the eastern route, towards the Faredgha oasis, the sands conceal the dried bodies of forty travellers, who perished of thirst after being abandoned by their guide.* The eastern oasis of Aujila, which during the Hellenic epoch gave its name to the whole group, is neither the largest nor the most populous. Some 12 miles long with a breadth of little over half a mile, it is developed in the form of a crescent with its convex side facing eastwards. A solitary spring, as in the time of Herodotus, wells up in this depression, which is enclosed on all sides by the stony terraces of the serirs. The Jalo oasis, which occupies the centre of the group, is perhaps ten times more extensive than that of Aujila ; it is about the same length, but in some places has a width of from 6 to 7 miles. But it is absolutely destitute of fresh water, possessing nothing but a saline fluid, which serves to irrigate the palm groves; hence all the drinking water has to be brought from the almost uninhabited oasis of the wady Ijang farther east. The western part of the group of oases is the most thickly peopled, and in proportion to its extent Aujila is one of the most densely inhabited districts in the whole world. Jalo presents extensive waste spaces and ranges of dunes interrupting its palm groves. Batofl or Battifal, lying to the south-east, at the southern extremity of the wady, forms a badly watered depression, dotted with a few camping-grounds, and fringed with reeds on which the camels browse. But beyond this point the whole zone of eastern depressions has been abandoned, except the small oasis of Leshkerreh, which is isolated amid the moving sands. Vegetables raised in the gardens of the oases, cereals, and dates, form the chief food of the inhabitants, who however also keep a few flocks of sheep and goats, some poultry and pigeons. But they have neither asses nor oxen, and not more than half a dozen horses. The dog, although rare, is not unkno^Ti in the country. The tribes occupying the Aujila oases do not belong all to one stock. The Wajili, who claim to be aborigines, and who descend perhaps from the Nasamons 84— AV
 * Bohlfg, " Von Tripolis nach Alexandrien," ii., p. 68.