ABSTRACT
The broad belt of broken country separating the Mediterranean from the Sahara and extending from Tripoli in the east to the Atlantic in the west has come to be loosely termed Barbary. Whether there has been any material change in the climate of the Sahara in historical times is therefore a question of great importance to the student of history. Scattered throughout the country are the ruins of reservoirs, cisterns, and wells which the Romans constructed to provide water for man and beast and for the irrigation of crops. The modern traveller in North Africa sees little which accords with his preconceived ideas of the Granary of Rome. Deserted oases are common incidents of travel, and tales of others which have been lost are only less frequent. To the small sedentary cultivators of the oases the nomads have always been a constant menace.
