Oases

Oases (through Latin and Greek from the Coptic), fertile spots in a desert, due to the presence of wells or of underground water-supplies. The best known and most historically famous are those of the Libyan Desert and the Sahara; they occur also in the deserts of Arabia and Persia, and in the Gobi. The French have created many oases in the Algerian deserts by sinking Artesian Wells (q.v.). The chief vegetation of the African oases is palms—especially date and doom palms; with barley, rice, and millet, when the fertile area is large enough to admit of settled occupation. In the Libyan Desert are the oases of Siwa (where was the temple of Jupiter Ammon; see AMMON) in the north, Farafa, Bahriya, Dakhel, and Khargeh (the oasis magna, 120 miles W. of Thebes). In the western Sahara Tuat, 1000 miles SW. of Tripoli, is the best known; in the eastern Sahara are Fezzan (q.v.), Gadamès (q.v.), Bilma (q.v.), and Air (q.v.) or Asben. See DESERT.