volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

37^ Palm Sunday in the Great Oasis.
interesting of all the Oases in Egyptian territory), in
eight or nine hours. In April, 1909, accompanied by
Hajji Muhammad, a son of AI-Hajj Muhammad Muhassib
Bey of Luxor, I set out to visit Khargah. We left
the main line train at the new station of Muwaslat
al-Khargah (Khargah Junction) and proceeded to Al-
Kar'ah, which stands on the edge of the western desert.
We passed the night in a small, very clean house, the
property of the Corporation. We left Al-Kar'ah at
an early hour, and ascended the Wadi Samhud, which
runs in a south-westerly direction, and so reached the
rocky plateau which divides the Oasis from the Nile. At
Tundubah, fifty-seven miles from Khargah Junction, we
saw a deep shaft, which was probably at one time a well.
The line then traversed a bare, stony region, which
presented a scene of indescribable desolation, and in due
course we came to Rafuf, about twenty-five miles from
Khirgah Oasis. Here we began the descent into the great
depression in which the Oasis is situated, and on the
way down we passed through scenery of a very wild and
picturesque character. We crossed the plain at the foot of
the pass and came to Maharik, and then we proceeded to
the headquarters of the Corporation at Makanat {i.e., the
place of the machines), and the line came to an end a
few miles further on at a place quite close to the Temple
of Darius, about 125 miles from the Nile. The village
of Khirgah lies about six miles further to the south.
We passed the night in one of the wooden houses which
the Corporation had built for the use of travellers (near
the Temple of Darius) and appreciated the forethought
which had also provided a kitchen and a mess room.
The following day (Palm Sunday) we rode to the
modern town of KhS.rgah, and the " Omdah," Shekh
Mustafa Hanadi, received us into his house and showed
us great kindness. I, of course, led the conversation
as soon as possible to the subject of antiquities, and
he told me that " gawran," or scarabs, were sometimes
found among the ruins of the Temple of Darius
and in the rubbish lying round about the small Romano-
Egyptian temples. He promised to make inquiries