adds to the beauty and freshness of the scenery. The cliffs were perforated with caves and holes, where eagles, hawks, and owls find safe nesting places; and possibly beasts of prey, a secure retreat during the hours of day. To the left rose the sandstone terraces, culminating in the summit of Mount Hor. They have a gentle "dip" or inclination eastwards towards the Wady Mdsa. Presently, on having crossed the "Nagb," a pass between the Wadies Haroun and Mfisa, we came to some ruins of ancient buildings; and on the left the faces of the sandstone cliffs were sculptured around doors, or entrances, into interior chambers. These were the suburbs (as it were) of the ancient capital of Arabia Petrsea; and, when we came within view of a solitary column standing on the top of a ridge, we felt that we had entered the city itself, with its ruined temples, theatres, palaces, rock-hewn dwellings and tombs, and possibly Christian churches.[1]
It is not my intention to attempt any description of this wonderful city of the past, of which Laborde has left an excellent plan within reach of all,[2] and which has been already well described by previous travellers. I will only here observe that the styles of architecture and sculpturing remind us of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman works; secondly, that in the destruction of these ancient structures, there have been three kinds of agencies in action; for not only has the hand of man and the "hand of time"—as represented by frost, heat, and tempest—been here, but the shocks of earthquakes have evidently been a powerful factor in the work of demolition. This is evinced by the peculiar characteristics of the damage done in some places. We see not only the stones of columns partially dislocated, and turned out of their original positions, but also in the case of some buildings, such as "the Great Temple," those of the walls partially thrust out from their beds into the air. Similar phenomena have been recognised as the results of earthquake movements both in Italy and Egypt.[3]
When gazing, now at the stupendous walls of rock which enclose the winding valley of Wâdy Mûsa, now at the architectural ruins, the work of the hand of man, I became profoundly impressed with the conviction that in
- ↑ Petra was the seat of an Archbishop early in the 5th century, according to Carl Ritter. "Palestine and Sinai," Eng. Edit. 1866. Vol. 1. For a history of this remarkable city, see Quatremère "Mem. sur les Nabathéens." Journ Asiat. Soc. 1835, T. xv, p. 31.
- ↑ See Baedeker's and Murray's Guides.
- ↑ By Lyell in his "Principles of Geology," &c.
