THE LIBYAN DESERT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19695, 23 January 1926, Page 12

THE LIBYAN DESERT.

THE OASIS OF SIWA, TEMPLE OF JUPITER AMMON. PEOPLE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN. CFeom Ode Own Cobbespowdxdt.) LONDON, December 4. Some 4000 years ago Cambyses the Great over-ran Egypt, and he sent out into the desert a mixed expedition _of Persians and Egyptians. The expedition never came back. It is suggested we may look for the descendants of these ancient people in the city of Siwa to-day. Siwa is 450 miles west of the Nile and almost 200 miles inland from the Mediterranean. It lies in an oasis some SO miles long and sis miles wide, and is 72ft below sea level. In the oasis are about 200 wells of varying size and depth, many of them perfectly circular in shape, and faced to a depth of many feet with blocks of dressed stone by an ancient civilisation which lived here hundreds of years ago. The first known incident in the history of Siwa occurred when it was visited by priests from Thebes about 1385 8.C., and the Temple of Jupiter Ammon was founded in the oasis. The ruins of this temple arc to be seen to-day, though the greater part of it is covered by the drifting sands of the intervening centuries. Siwa town itself has a population of 1500 people, and another 2000 people ara to be found in the surrounding villages. Of the people little is known. They are not of Arab or negro stock, many of them being fair-haired and blue-eyed, but mixture with the Sudanese who come through, in occasional caravans is producing a darker type. The language, too, is o£ unknown origin, though it bears some resemblance to a Berber dialect. Two hundred years after the priests of Thebes had built their temple Raineses 111 colonised the oasis, and it became known for the most famous oracle in the world. So famous did it become that the Athenians kept special galleys to proceed to Mersa Matruh, from where expeditions were made across the desert to consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, on questions of importance, and Alexander the Great went there to find out if he were descended from the gods. As his presents were valuable, his deistio origin was easily established. It is estimated that in modern times not more than 50 white traders have visited thte interesting place. Recently, However, there has been aw expedition to Siwa led by Major Biaka. Four motor-cars crossed the desert. The party included two ladies, and, of course, kinema photographers. The picture ha* been produced for the first time at a trade exhibition this week, and Major Blake himself delivered an accompanying lecture. It was an exceedingly interesting story he Jiad to tell, and the picture prf*' duced by the United Films, Limited, wns a credit to this enterprising British company. The Libyan Desert over which the motorcars passed from the coast of the Mediterranean is practically without vegetation. It is not the entirely flat surface that a desert is often supposed to be. There are low ranges of hills and isolated peaks. The roadless waste is rough, but the surface is hard enough to ensure a fair rate of progress. It was only when the party approached the oasis that they found tracks. These are made and kept in re pair by convicts. An evil doer is sentenced to work on the roads. This is the only form of punishment, and not only does the malefactor himself deyote himself to this form of work, but his whole family foes out to help him. As there bad lately een two murders the English visitors found the tracks in the oasis in a fair state of repair. There had been rain during the previous winter, the first time for very many years, and the mud town appeared as though it had suffered a bombardment Siwa itself is built over a rock. The houses are of mud and palm trunks, and are placed one on top of the other without plans of any kind. The streets are narrow passages which wind among the mud hovels, and many of the passages are in complete darkness. Chickens, goats, and sheep share the habitations * equally with the human beings, and as there is no attempt at drainage the filth and smell is over-powering. Most of the houses are without windows an.d inside complete darkness reigns. The people are kindly, unspoiled. and hospitable, but they hare remained in the most primitive state for many centuries. Women, for instance, are regarded as of less value than donkeys, goats, and sheep. A wife costs about 245. and men change their partners with startling rapidity. Girls marry at 10 years of age ano boys at 14, and the average man marries about 20 times in his lifetime. They are very punctilious, however, about divorcing a wife before they take over the next. Dogs, rats, cats and any other animal that is not too valuable are used as food, but tlie date and olive palms grow in the oasis in abundance and supply the bulk of the. dailv diet. There are 10,000 donkeys in the settlement, the majority of whom have fixed times for ' (waving. and the clamour is naturally overwhelming. Donkeys are used for trending out the corn, a custom that dates back from time immemorial. Olive presses are made of two stones. The most primitive weaving ■» done, the material used being goats and camels’ hair. In fact, life is altogether primitive. All the country is well irrigated, and the wells are more in the nature of small lakes. In every case the water is beautifully clear and one can see the bubbles coming up from the depth. Bathing is a common practice, the water being warmer than the air, and almost exhilarating. It bubbles up around the bathers and fizzles like soda water when disturbed. Apart from modern life there i« _ an archaeological interest in this mysterious oasis, .rev era! of the groat sandstone hills have been used as burial places in the long distant past. There are thousands of ancient tombs, some of them simple holes cut in the rook, others chambers opening one out of the other, and in some cases painted with red. yellow, and blue hieroglyphics. Those bodies investigated by the exploration party hare been embalmed, bat when touched they crumbled into powder, leaving only the bones. Many of the tom be have already been opened by tne present inhabitants and the stone coffins taken away for water troughs. Major Blake has not by any means finished with Siwa. He has obtained assistance from the British Museum, and he intends to go back and start excavating the Temple of Jupiter Ammon. It was built about the year 1175 8.C., and it has certainly never boon disturbed since it fell into decay. It is Major Blake's intention to have every important step of the excavation filmed for the benefit of the public. The present film showed a part of the temple walls exposed above a great mound of sand, so that not a greet amount of excavation should be necessary before soma interesting tilings are revealed.