Note 30 — 8. “Lost” Oases—“Zerzura.”

In my paper on ‘Recent Determinations of Geographical Positions in the Libyan Desert,’ published in Cairo in 1919, I gave (p. 14) the approximate position of the hill as lat. 24° 28′, long. 27° 45′. The position given above is from a more accurate determination which I made on revisiting the place with Prince Kemal el Din in 1923. On this latter occasion the excavations made by the Prince in the sand around the foot of the hill revealed the existence of hundreds of additional jars, many of them intact, set in regular order in the sand and obviously forming a water-dump. The majority of the jars bore clearly incised markings, which Prince Kemal el Din was able later to identify positively as being tribal marks of the Tebus, the marks being in fact exactly the same as those used by the Tebu tribes of the present day.