The Hidden Oasis (74 page)

Wall Rat
Slang term for a rock climber.

Washington Column
A 350-metre prow-shaped granite rock tower in Yosemite National Park. Extremely popular with climbers.

Wilkinson, Sir John Gardner
English traveller, writer and Egyptologist, often referred to as the ‘Father of British Egyptology’. Lived 1797-1875.

Wingate, Major-General Orde
British adventurer and soldier. Launched a foot-expedition in 1933 to search for Zerzura. Lived 1903-1944.

Yosemite National Park
A spectacular, 3,081 sq. km national wilderness park in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. Contains many of the world’s great rock climbs.

Zabbaleen
A community of mainly Coptic Christians who collect and recycle Cairo’s garbage. Their way of life is currently under threat after city authorities brought in European contractors to take over Cairo’s waste disposal.

Zamalek
District of Cairo occupying the northern part of Gezira Island. Also the name of one of the city’s two great football clubs. Known as the White Knights, Zamalek enjoy a fierce and sometimes violent rivalry with Cairo’s other main team, El-Ahly.

Zawty
Modern Asyut. In ancient times it was the capital of the 13th
nome
(administrative district) of Upper Egypt.

Also by Paul Sussman

THE LOST ARMY OF CAMBYSES

THE LAST SECRET OF THE TEMPLE

and published by Bantam Books