Mkx&nd«fJ^vt V MEMORIAL^-- COLLECTION Yale University Library JOURNEY THROUGH ARABIA PETR^EA, TO MOUNT SINAI, AND THE EXCAVATED CITY OF PETRA, the edom or the prophecies. by M. LEON DE LABORDE. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXVI. London: Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street- Sguare. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The work, of which the greater portion of the following pages forms a translation, must be considered as one of the most interesting and valuable accessions to archaiological literature, that have recently issued from the continental press. It presents to us ample living evidence of the fulfilment of prophe cies delivered nearly three thousand years ago, and at the same time discloses to our view scenes, ruins, manners, costume, still almost wholly scriptural in their character. Idumea, to which, from the rocky nature of its territory, later ages have given the name of Arabia Petrsea, was the cradle of the primi tive generations of mankind. There the sciences and arts were first cultivated; — there great commercial enterprises were carried on a 2 IV TRANSLATORS PREFACE. with success, before the merchants of Tyre or Sidon had emerged from the rank of fisher men; — there the true God was known and worshipped, and the creations of his hand were appreciated, and described in language that has not yet been rivalled, at a period when the Jews were in bondage, and idolatry and ignorance reigned in every other part of the peopled regions of the earth. Rut upon that once favoured land a malediction of the most awful description was pro nounced : from the height of worldly pros perity it was doomed to fall into the most abject state of wretchedness and desolation, — of desolation from which it is never to revive. As far as we can collect from the sacred text, the nature of the crimes which had called down from the Omnipotent this pe culiar and unalterable expression of his an ger, they would seem to resolve themselves into numerous acts of treachery and hostility, which the Idumeans, or the Edomites, as they are indiscriminately called, had commit ted at different periods against the descend ants of Jacob. The former, who were the posterity of Esau, by acting on many occa- TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. V sions as the bitter and unrelenting enemies of the Jews, thus incurred the guilt of fra tricide — a crime of which the Creator had already shown, in the punishment he inflicted on Cain, a marked and immitigable repro bation. Hence we read in Obadiah: — " For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. " In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers car ried away captive his forces, arid foreigners entered his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusa lem, even thou wast as one of them. " Rut thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger ; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction ; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress." a " And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them ; and there » Obadiah, 10—12. A 3 VI TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau." a So also we read in Ezekiel : — "Thus saith the Lord God, Because that Edom hath dealt against the house ofJudah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged him self upon them ; " Therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman ; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. b The same prophet thus further enlarges upon the same awful theme : — " Recause thou hast said, These two na tions, and these two countries, shall be mine, and we will possess it, whereas the Lord was there : " Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy, which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them ; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee. *¦ Obadiah, 18. *> Ezekiel, xxv. 12, 13. TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. Vil " And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the moun tains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume." a " As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee : thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it; and they shall know that I am the Lord."b " The Idumeans," says Keith, " often con tended with the Israelites, and entered into a league with their other enemies against them. In the reign of David they were in deed subdued, and greatly oppressed ; and many of them dispersed throughout the neighbouring countries, particularly Phoe nicia and Egypt. Rut during the decline of the kingdom of Judah, and for many years previous to its extinction, they encroached upon the territories, of the Jews, and extended their dominion over the south-western part of Judaea."0 The earliest token of hostility a Ezekiel, xxxv. 10 — 12. e Keith on the Prophecies, <> Ibid. 15. pp. 186, 187. A 4 VU1 TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. which the Idumeans showed to the Jews is that recorded in the book of Numbers. Mo ses had sent messengers from Kadesh, on the borders of Idumea, where the Israelites had then arrived on their way to the promised land, to the king of Edom, praying permis sion to pass through his territory. The an swer was, " Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. " And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way ; and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it : I will only (without doing any thing else) go through on my feet. " And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand." * Thus the king of Edom refused to give his " brother Israel*5" a passage through his ter ritory ; " wherefore," adds the sacred writer, " Israel turned away from him."** Thus, to the unnatural hatred existing on the part of the Edomites against the Jews, a Numbers, xx. 18—20. b Ib. 14. ° Ib. 21- TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. IX the former added the crime of blasphemy, in setting themselves up against the course of penance and final purification which the Creator had prescribed for his chosen people. It would even seem that the utter and irre coverable desolation to which the Idumean territory was condemned, was intended to prove to the Jewish people, that, notwith standing their crimes, their enemies were to be treated as the enemies of the Lord ; that he watched over the house of Israel with a jealous love which no errors could efface ; and that the very ruins which the descendants of that house may now behoJd in Arabia Pe- trasa, though destitute of hope for Edom, exhibit, in letters of light, the affectionate promise, that Judea is yet to rise from her misery to more than her primeval splendour. The emphatic contrast at this day actually subsisting between these two countries border ing on each other, — one sentenced to deso lation, from which it is manifestly never to recover, the other chastised by adversity which is as manifestly one day to have an end, — becomes one ofthe clearest, as well as the most wonderful, evidences of the truth of the holy writings, and of the divinity of TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. the Spirit by which the prophecies were dic tated. The coincidence found to exist be tween what the prophets foretold, and travellers and historians have witnessed or recorded, as to the condition of Edom, is still more decisive as to the origin of those terrible denunciations. Let the words of the prediction be compared with the reports of those who have borne testimony to its ful filment. Prophecy. " I will stretch out my hand upon Edom, — and will make it desolate from Teman." — Eze kiel, xxv. 13. " And he shall stretch out upon it (Idumea) the line of confusion, and the stones of • emptiness." — Isaiah, xxxiv. 1 1 . Fulfilment. " In many places it (Petrsea) is overgrown with wild herbs, and must once have been thickly inhabited ; for the traces of many towns and vil lages are met with on both sides ofthe Hadj road, between Maan and Akaba, as well as between Maan and the plains of Hauran, in which direction are also many springs. At present all this country is a desert, and Maan (Teman) is the only inhabited place in it." — Burckhardt' s Travels in Syria, p. 436. " On ascending the western plain (of Idumea), on a higher level than that of Arabia, we had before us an immense ex- translator's preface. XI Prophecy. " If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes ? If thieves by night, they will de stroy till they have enough. But I have made Esau bare." — Jeremiah, xlix. 9, 10. " And Edom shall be a de solation." — Jeremiah, xlix. 17. " Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. " I will lay thy cities waste." — Ezekiel, xxxv. 3, 4. " I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return." — Ezekiel, xxxv. 9. Fulfilment. panse of dreary country, en tirely covered with blackflints." — Burckhardt, Syria, p. 444. " The whole plain presented to the view an expanse of shifting sands, whose surface was broken by innumerable undulations and low hills." — " And the Arabs told me that the valleys continue to present the same appearance beyond the latitude of Wady Mousa (Petra). In some parts of the valley the sand is very deep, and there is not the slightest appearance of a road or of any work of human art. A few trees grow among the sand hills, but the depth of sand pre cludes all vegetation of herb age. The sand which thus covers the ancient cultivated soil appears to have been brought from the shores of the Red Sea, by the southern winds." — Burckhardt, p. 442. " The following ruined places are situated in Djebal Shera (Mount Seir), to the south and south-west of Wady Mousa (Petra), Kalaat, Djer- ba, Basta, Eyl, Ferdakh, Anyk, Bir el Beytar, Shemakh, and Syk. Of the towns laid down in D' Anville's map, (viz. Elusa, Tamara, Zoara, Thoana, Necta, xu translator's preface. Prophecy. u Thy terribleness hath de ceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwell- est in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill ; though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord." — Je remiah, xlix. 16. Fulfilmient. Phenon, Suzuma, Carcaria, Oboda, Berzumma, Lysa, Gyp- saria, Zodocata, Gerasa, Ha- vara, Presidium ad Dianum, CElana, and Asion Gaber,) Thoana excepted, no traces re main." — Burckhardt, pp.443,' 444. " The ruins of the city (Petra) here burst on the view, in their full grandeur, shut in on the opposite side by barren craggy precipices, from which numerous ravines and valleys branch out in all directions : the sides of the mountains covered with an endless va riety of excavated tombs and private dwellings, presented altogether the most singular spectacle we ever beheld." — Captains Irby and Mangles, p. 422. " The name of this capital, in all the various languages in which it occurs, implies a rock, and as such it is described in the Scriptures, in Strabo, and Al Edrissi." — Vincent, Com merce of the Ancients, vol. ii. p. 264. " The barren state of the country, together with the de solate condition of the city, without a single human being living near it, seem strongly to translator's preface. Xlll Prophecy. " I will make thee small among the heathen." — Jere miah, xlix. 15. M I will make thee despised among men." — Jeremiah, Ib. " Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent ? Is their wisdom vanished?" — Jeremiah, xlix. 7. Fulfilment. verify the judgment denounced against it." — Irby and Mangles, p.439. " When Mr.Bankes applied, at Constantinople, to have Ke- rek and Wady Mousa (Petra) inserted in his firman, they returned for answer, ' that they knew of none such within the Grand Seignor's domi nions.' " — Irby and Mangles, p. 336." The Arabs, who show through their monotonous life little feeling for the vicissi tudes of empires, have given this ruin (of a temple) a ridiculous, indeed an indecent name, which has no connec tion whatever with its original destination, and yet seems not ill applied to it in its state of decay : to prove the utter fra gility of our works, besides the injury capable of being wrought by time, only one thing more is wanting — the ridicule of mankind." — La- borde, pp. 155, 156. " But if the question now be asked, Is understanding perished out of Edom ? the answer may be briefly given. The minds of the Bedouins are as uncultivated as the deserts they traverse. The simple XIV translator's preface. Prophecy. " And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof." — Jeremiah, xxxiv. 13. " The owl also and tlie ra ven shall dwell in it." — Isaiah, xxxiv. 11. Fulfilment. but significant fact, that the clearing away of a ' little rubbish, merely to allow the water to flow ' into an ancient cistern, in order to render it useful to themselves, ' is an undertaking far beyond the views of the wandering Arabs,' shows that understanding is indeed perished from among them." — Keith, p. 221. " They look," continues Keith, " upon a European traveller as a magician, and believe, that having seen any spot where they imagine that treasures are deposited, ' he can afterwards command the guardian of the treasure to set the whole before him.' " a " It was truly a strange spectacle, — a city filled with tombs, some scarcely begun, some finished, looking as new and as fresh as if they had just come from the hands of the sculptor; while others seemed to be the abode of lizards, fallen into ruin, and covered with brambles." — La- borde, p. 157. " The screaming of the eagles, hawks, and owls, who soaring above our heads in con siderable numbers, seemingly * Burckhardt, p. 429. translators preface. XV Prophecy. " And there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau."— Obadiah, 18. Fulfilment. annoyed at anyone approaching their habitation, added much to the singularity of the scene." Irby and Mangles, p. 41 3. " The Idumeans were soon after the commencement of the Christian era mingled with the Nabatheans. In the third century their language was disused, and their very name, as designating any people, had utterly perished"; and their country itself having become an outcast from Syria, among whose kingdoms it had long been numbered, was united to Arabia Petreea, while the pos terity of Jacob had been ' dis persed in every country under heaven,' and are ' scattered among all nations,' and have ever remained distinct from them all ; and while it is also declared that ' a full end will never be made of them ; ' the Edomites, though they existed as a nation for more than seventeen hundred years, have, as a period of nearly equal duration has proved, been cut off for ever ; and while Jews are in every land, there is not any remaining, on any spot of earth, ofthe house of Esau." — Keith, p- 231. * Origen, lib. iii. in Job. XVI translators preface. " Whereas Edom saith : ' We are impoverished — but we will return and build the desolate places ;' then said the Lord of Hosts : They shall build, but I will throw down f And your eyes shaU see, and you shall say, The Lord will be mag nified from the borders of Israel." — Malachi, i. 3, 4. " The order of the archi tecture shews that the citizens of Petra did build after the era of the prophets, while the fragments of ruins of Grecian and Roman architecture, as well as of more ancient date, which are strewed over the ground, shows that those buildings, whose doom was pronounced before their erec tion, have, according to the same sure words, been thrown down." — Keith, p. 212. " It is surprising to reflect that monuments of so vast a scale should be executed sub sequent to the Roman conquest. In the approach to this tomb there were arched substruc tions of great extent, now fallen into ruins." — Irby and Mangles, p. 430. These are but a few of the parallel passages which might be cited from the prophets and the pages of travellers and historians with reference to Idumea. The reader, as he pro ceeds in the perusal of the following work, will be enabled to collect from it other traits of scenery, marking the terrible desolation to which the whole of that devoted territory is condemned. " When the whole earth re- translator's preface. xvii joiceth," says Ezekiel1, "I will make thee desolate." The observations of M. de La- borde show that there is in fact no hope left for that part of Asia ; that it is at present a complete wilderness, stricken with barrenness and misery of every description ; that the few natives to be found there are wretched in the extreme, covered with disease, and actuated by a propensity to plunder, which must deter travellers, who cannot afford to be well escorted, from visiting that region. M. L£on de Laborde is the son of the Count Alexandre de Laborde, well known for his sumptuous and valuable works on Spain, Austria, &c. M. Leon de Laborde has distinguished himself equally as an enter prising traveller, a diligent antiquarian, and a skilful artist, since not only are the greater part of the Illustrations taken from his own drawings, but many of the engravings in the original work are executed by his own hand. M. de Laborde's book, which was published in Paris, in the year 1830, is in a large folio > xxxv. 14, a xvm translator s preface. size. It is very elegantly printed; and the illustrations, about seventy in number, by which it is accompanied, are extremely well executed. Of these the greater number are lithographed ; the others are wood cuts ; and the volume is highly creditable to the French press. It is, however, from its unwieldy size and its expensive form, inaccessible to gene ral readers. The volume now before the reader differs from that of M. de Laborde in several par ticulars. In the first place, I found it neces sary to prefix to his matter two chapters comprising an account of ancient Idumea, as far as I could collect it from authentic sources ; and a summary of the remarks made upon Petra by the few travellers who had preceded Messrs. de Laborde and Li- nant in the toil of examining the marvellous remains of that once magnificent capital. Secondly, I have endeavoured to exhibit, in one continuous narrative, the whole of the details which the author had scattered through a preface, an introduction, an explanation of the plates, and a sort of itinerary, which is confined to the route from Suez to Akaba. TRANSLATOR s preface. XIX This narrative I have occasionally illus^ trated by notes from the interesting pro ductions of Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles", and Sir F. Henniker. Some incidental dis sertations not intimately connected with the main object ofthe publication, I have omitted or abridged, with a view to render the work somewhat more attractive to the general reader than it probably would have been, had I confined my labours to a mere version of the original. *&* But I should not have done justice to M. de Laborde, had I concluded this preface without acknowledging, that to him we are indebted for the only minute account of the ruins of the Idumean capital which has been as yet presented to the public — an account obtained by him under many serious difficul ties and no ordinary privations and dangers. The enthusiastic spirit of enterprise by which he was led to explore that country cannot be a The Letters of Captains Irby and Mangles have never been published, though they have been printed and privately circulated for several years. They are very valuable composi tions, characterised throughout by a degree of modesty which sheds around them a peculiar grace. /^ C '?:h*'l*A- fa/CC(-AsQCl\X-oC a 2 xx translator's preface. too warmly applauded. It well entitles him to be ranked among the most courageous, as well as the most instructive, of modern travellers. The Translator. London, Uth May, 1836. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Oriental Civilisation. — Arabia Petreea. — Prohibition against entering it. — Remarks of Volney. — The Nabatheans. — Idumea. — Its former Splendour. — Idumean Sovereigns. — Passage refused to the Israelites. — Primeval State of Idumea. — The War Horse. — Knowledge of the Idumeans. — Their Notion of the Deity. — Their Religion. — Their Power Geography of Idumea. — Its Capital. — Ancient Authors. — Pliny's Account of Petra. — Vincent's View of its Commerce ----- Page 1 CHAP. II. Modern Travellers in Idumea. — Burckhardt. — His Account of Petra. — Suspicions of the Natives. — Seetzen, Joliffe, Henniker, Mr. Bankes, Irby and Mangles. — Account of their Journey. — Preparations for their Tour. — Their Negot iations. — Their Reception at Hebron. — Arrival at Shobek. — Approach to Wady Mousa. — Tombs at its Entrance. — Defile leading to Petra Arch across the Ravine. — Ap pearance of Petra Monuments. — Sudden Departure 19 CHAP. III. Different Routes to Petra. — Modes of travelling in the East. — Advantages of each. — Author's Preparation for Journey. — Instructions for Travellers. — Travelling Costume. — Equip- XX1J CONTENTS. ment. — Provisions. — Presents. — Scientific Instruments. — - Letters of Introduction. — Plan of Journey. — Kihaia Bey's Office. — Departure from Cairo. — Games of the Djerid - - - Page 38 CHAP. IV. Arab Encampment Canal of the Nile. — Plans of Napoleon. — Tel Mayrouta. — Province of Goshen. — Joseph and his Brethren. — Moses. — Approach to Suez. — A Caravan. — Arabian Costume. — Arrival at Suez Description of the Town. — History of Suez. — Variety of its Inhabitants — ¦ Rendezvous for Guides. — Departure from Suez Arabian Independence - - - - - -55 CHAP. V. Springs of Moses. — Ruhat Mountains. — Wady Wardan. — Wady Wisset. — Rock of the Pilgrims. — Tombs of Sarbout. — Niebuhr. — Mines of Sarbout. — Ruins. — Turquoise Stones. — Tribe of Oualed Said. — Reveries. — Author's Caravan. — Gigantic Defile. — Stone of Moses - - 73 CHAP. VI. Mount Sinai. — Wady Zackal. — Midian of Jethro. — Isle of Graia. — Appearance of Graia. — Tradition concerning Abra ham. — First View of Akaba. — Reception at Akaba. — Garrison. — Despatch to Abou Raschid. — Departure of Messengers. — Excursions. — Dangers of the Desert. — Ex pedition to Graia. — Oyster Bed Wady el Henek - 88 CHAP. VII. Mount Sinai. — The Gazelle. — Botany of Arabia Petrsea. — Expedition to Graia. — Description of the Island. — Cisterns. Arabic Inscription Return from Graia. — The Governor of Akaba Description of the Fortress Evening Scene. — Albanian Minstrel. — A Chase in the Desert 104 CONTENTS. XXlll CHAP. VIII. Ennui. — Watering Places. — Mountain Streams Scorpions. — Return of Messenger. — The Alaouins. — Arrival of Chiefs. — Aboudjazi. — Appearance of the Chiefs Supper. A Divan. — Negotiations. — Discussions. — Arrangements for Journey to Petra. — Burckhardt. — Fear of the Fellahs. — Bed of the Alaouins - - Page 120 CHAP. IX. Preparations for Departure. — Wady Araba. — An Arabian Tale. — Tenderness to Animals. — Scorpions of the Wilder ness. — Pedestrian Hunt. — Wady Garandel. — Night Scene. — Approach to Petra. — Visit of Mr. Banks. — Arabian Policy. — Encampment of Peasants. — First View of Petra. i — Prophecy of Jeremiah. — Monuments - 134 CHAP. X. Plan of Petra. — Tomb in two Styles. — Isolated Column. — Tomb left unfinished. — Ruins of a Temple. — Monumental Residence. — River of Petra. — Triumphal Arch. — Colossal Temple. — A Theatre. — Defile of Petra. — Greek Inscrip tion. — The Khasne. — Treasury of Pharaoh. — Interior of the Khasne. — View ofthe Arch from the Ravine 152 CHAP. XI. The Fellahs. — Petra from the Ravine. — Corinthian Tomb. — Latin Inscription. — Stairs in the Mountain. — El Deir. — View from EI Deir. — Acropolis. — Spiral Stairs. — Interior of a Tomb. — Departure from Petra. — Tomb of Aaron 174 CHAP. XII. Mount Hor. — Wady Sabra. — Ruins. — Naumachia. — Pano rama. — Predicted Desolation. — Summits of Hor. — Naba- thean Agriculture. — Old Road to Mecca. — Idumean Grapes. XXIV CONTENTS. Locusts. — Prophecies. — Aqueduct of Gana. — Ameime. — Curious Excavation. — King of the Negroes. — The Simoom - Page 194 CHAP. XIII. Valley of Jetoum. — Return to Akaba. — Arabs of the Desert. y— Their Arms. — Character of the Arabs. — M. Linant. — Hussein. — " Old Stones." — Visit to supposed Sarcophagi. — Disappointment. — Wady Barabra. — Pastoral Hospitality. — Mountaineers. — Wady Hebran. — Town of Tor. — Con vent near Tor. — Elim of Seventy Palms. — Level of the Red Sea. — Ras Mohammed. — Scene at a Fountain. — Wild Palm Tree Convent of St. Catharine. — Church of the Convent. — Grand Mosaic - - - 21 1 CHAP. XIV. Window of St. Catharine's Visit to Mount Sinai. — Road of the Pilgrims. — Summit of the Mountain. — The Stone of Moses. — Djebel Serbal. — Herd of Gazelles. — Gazelle Shooting. — Wady Mokatteb. — Inscriptions of Mokatteb Inscriptions. — Unintelligible Characters. — Designs. — View of Wady Mokatteb. — Wady Magara — Hieroglyphics Mara of Scripture. — Attack on a Caravan. — Lower Egypt. — Mehemet Ali. — Tohrat Kindness - - 238 CHAP. XV. Construction of Arabia Petrsea. — Sodom and Gomorrah Wady Araba. — The Red Sea. — Ancient Names of the Red Sea. — Origin of the Epithet " Red." — The two Gulfs. — The ancient Tribes. — The Nabatheans. — The Saracens. — Expeditions against the Nabatheans. — Their Organisa tion. — Roman Province Early Pilgrimages - 259 CONTENTS. XXV CHAP. XVI. Phenician Commerce. — Origin of Trade. — Building of Towns. — Trade of the Arabians. — The Midianites. — Progress of Phenician Trade. — Sidon Phenician Civilis ation Proposals to King David Gold of Ophir. — Huram and Solomon. — Trade of the Red Sea. — Solomon's Expedition. — Ophir and Tarshish. — Expedition of Jeho shaphat - - - Page 275 CHAP. XVII. Commerce of the Nabatheans Intercourse of Phenicia with Egypt. — Trade of the Nabatheans. — Decline of Nabathean Commerce. — Ruin of Petra. — Navigation of the Red Sea. — Origin of Navigation. — Sesostris. — Ancient Vessels. — Canal of the Red Sea Filling up of the Canal. — The Venetians. — Effect of the Discoveries of the Portuguese. — Abandonment of the Red Sea. — Communication with India Character of Arabia Petraea. — Travellers in Arabia Petraea. — Pilgrimages - - 295 CHAP. XVIII. Pilgrimages to Sinai. — Mahometan Invasion Fall of Jeru salem. — Increase of Pilgrims. — Privileges of Pilgrims. — Trade in Relics. — Pilgrim Tax. — Early Route of the Pil grims. — The consecrated Fire. — Route through Hungary. — Narratives of Pilgrims Pierre de Suchen Duties of Christian Knights. — Toleration of the Saracens The last Crusade. — Hospitality towards Pilgrims. — Their Inns. — Saracen Protection. — Travellers in the Holy Land. — Un- changeableness of Oriental Manners - - - 313 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of the Author in the Arab Dress - - Title vignette. u Map of Arabia Petraea - opposite Page 1 - Former Osmanli Costume - - - \ - Feiran - 18 "- Writer in the Kihaia Bey's Office - - - 38 *" Pipe Bearer - - - - 50^ Head of a Dromedary - - - - 52 -** Throwing the Djerid - - 54 Poor Bedouin Arab - - - -55 Staff borne by the Bedouins a - - - - 60 ^ Springs of Moses - - - - 72 ^ Tombs of Sarbout el Cadem - - - - 73 -^ Egyptian Hieroglyphics at Sarbout el Cadem - - 79 * Distant View of the Tombs of Sarbout el Cadem - - 82 ¦/ Summit of Mount Sinai - - - - - 88 ~ The Wilderness of Sinai (the Ouadi Zackal) - - 89 - Isle of Graia - - - - 103^ The Oueber - - - - - 104 - Coast of the Isle of Graia - - - - 111 — Caravan from Mecca entering the Fortress of Akaba - H& " Greyhound of the Desert - - - -119^ Egyptian Slave - - - - 128 i Tohrat Arabs - - - - 133"" Mount Hor (Aaron's Tomb) - - - 143 ' Isolated Column ... 152 ? Plan ofthe City of Petra - - - 152 r Tomb left unfinished at Petra - - 156^ Ruined Temple called Palace of Pharaoh - - 158 * _ Incorrectly named cobbous : for a description of it see p. 126. XXV111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Ruins ofa Triumphal Arch - - Page 160 *< Triumphal Arch, with the Palace of Pharaoh in the Distance 161 i View of Petra from the Top of the Theatre - - 163 • Tomb in Front of the Theatre - - -164- Ravine leading to Petra, and the Tomb with the Greek Inscription - - - - 165 ' South-east View of the Khasne - 167 " Front View of the Khasn6 - - - -168- Section of the Khasne - * - - - 169" Interior View of the Khasn6 - - 171 " Pyramidal Tombs - - - - - 174 Tomb surmounted by an Urn - • - - 176 - Corinthian Tomb - - - 177- Ground Plan of Corinthian Tomb - - - - 177 - Great Tomb with Tliree Rows of Columns - 178 - Tomb with Latin Inscription - - - -180- ElDeir - - - 182- Tomb with Flight of Steps - - - -185- Interior of a Tomb - - - - - 188" Range of Mount Hor - - - - 198- Grapes of Kerak - - - 204 Locust half the Size of Life - - - 205 . Tor on the Red Sea - - - 211 - Arabs ofthe Desert - 214- Wilderness of Sinai, a Valley near Ouadi Outir - - 216" Red Sea, and Promontory of Ras Mohammed - - 225" Wild Palm Tree - - - 227** Mount Sinai — Convent of St. Catharine from above - 228 Interior of the Convent - ... 232 Mosaic in the Church of the Convent - - - 235 El Bourg - - ... 238 Convent of St. Catharine from the North - 239 Mount Sinai, with the Tomb of Elisha - - 241 Staircase in Mount Sinai ... 241 Stone of Moses - - 244 Wady Mokatteb - - 253" Hieroglyphic Tablets at Ouadi Magara, and Tel el Masrouta 254 Punishing a Slave - 257~ ARABIA PETR^A. FORMER OSMANLI COSTUME. CHAPTER I. ORIENTAL CIVILISATION. — ARABIA PETRiEA. — PROHIBITION AGAINST ENTERING IT. REMARKS OF VOLNEY. THE NABATHEANS. IDUMEA. — ITS FORMER SPLENDOUR IDUMEAN SOVEREIGNS. — PASSAGE REFUSED TO THE IS RAELITES. PRIMEVAL STATE OF IDUMEA. THE WAR HORSE. — KNOWLEDGE OF THE IDUMEANS. — THEIH NOTION OF THE DEITY. THEIR RELIGION. — THEIR POWER. — GEO GRAPHY OF IDUMEA. ITS CAPITAL. — ANCIENT AUTHORS. PLINY'S ACCOUNT OF PETRA. — VINCENT'S VIEW OF ITS COMMERCE. The lover of Oriental manners and costume no longer derives, from a sojourn at Cairo, the same 2 ORIENTAL CIVILISATION. entertainment which he might have experienced there some few years ago. Innovation has al ready pervaded every order of society. The eco nomist may, indeed, feel satisfaction in observing that the city of the caliphs, connected with so many historical and traditional associations, has resumed, after many centuries of wretchedness and degradation, some appearance of its former wealth and splendour ; and that its inhabitants are return ing once more to those sciences and arts, for the cultivation of which they were, in past ages, so eminently distinguished. But the traveller of un sophisticated imagination beholds, with any feeling rather than that of delight, the changes wliich our modern inventions have wrought in that country ; the magnificent; palm trees, so characteristic of Egypt, cut down, in order to afford sufficient space for camps and military evolutions ; or their bril liant foliage deprived of all picturesque effect, by being intermixed with our newly imported forges, bellows, and anvils. To him it would afford no satisfaction to find the once stately Turks surren dering their venerable beard, exchanging for the shapeless red cap their ample turbans, and pre ferring the round jacket or frock-coat of the Franks, in which they strut about so awkwardly, to their own ancient robes, that fell around the figure in such graceful and majestic folds. All these changes may, indeed, lead the way to civilisation. Nevertheless, I have seldom passed through the streets of Cairo without regretting that any circumstances should have compelled the ARABIA PETR.EA. 3 wild Arabian, whose mantle seemed suspended in air, while he galloped across the desert before some noble cavalier ; those sheiks, clothed in long silk pelisses and woollen cloaks, who with so much ease seated themselves on their divans ; those fine Os- manlis whose costume I wore at Aleppo and Damascus, but which was already superannuated at Cairo ; to substitute, for their rich and becom ing attire, the curtailed and disfiguring apparel which the introduction of our military organisation necessarily demands. In truth, it is only at Da mascus or Bagdad, at Orfa or Konieh, that the Oriental character and costume are now to be found ; Cairo presenting a general appearance almost as European, in these respects, as Constantinople itself. Before my arrival in Egypt I had explored all Asia Minor, as well as the most interesting parts of Syria, intending, if possible, to discover a prac ticable route from the latter country to Arabia Petraea, the great object of all my labours. I tried in vain to find my way thither from Bosra, in the Hauran, and also from Jericho, in company with the fine tribe of the Adouans. They were, unfor tunately, then at war with the Benisakers, which raised insuperable obstacles to my further progress in that quarter. Having resolved to see what could be done on the side of Egypt, I established myself for a while at Cairo, to study the Arabian language, and to wait the chance of some favourable oppor tunity for effecting my purpose, either through the b 2 NABATHEANS. kind interposition of the Pacha, or the assistance of some of the neighbouring tribes, whom I hoped to propitiate in my favour. The expedition was one that required not only some nerve, but much prudent preparation. The district comprehended within the proper boundaries of Arabia Petraea may be considered as the cradle of the world. Until a few years ago it had been almost entirely forgotten. Vague traditions only had diffused the belief that a city still existed there which surpassed in extent and magnificence the queen of the desert, the celebrated Palmyra. The tribes who dwelt at some distance around it, in fluenced by absurd prejudices which they had in herited from their forefathers, cautiously abstained from visiting it themselves, and absolutely forbade its approach to others. The prohibition announced by Edom to Israel, " Thou shalt not go through," seemed destined never to be removed. Even in the time of Volney Arabia Petraea had not been visited by any traveller. The Arabs of Bakir, and the inhabitants of Gaza, who frequently traversed the road of the pilgrims to Maan and Kerek, reported that within three days' journey to the south-east of the Dead Sea, there were upwards of thirty ruined towns absolutely deserted. Some of these towns they described as distinguished by large edifices, decorated with numerous columns. Upon rare occasions the Arabs, it was said, made use of those buildings as places of refuge for their cattle, but in general they avoided them, on ac- REMARKS OF VOLNEY. 5 count of the enormous scorpions with which they swarmed. The country thus described was once the resi dence of the Nabatheans, also called Idumeans, the most powerful of the Arabians, who, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, were almost as numerous as the Jews. Josephus informs us, that, on the first rumour of the march of Titus against that capital, thirty thousand Idumeans in stantly assembled, and threw themselves into that city for its defence. This number of efficient sol diers presupposes the existence of a very consider able population. It appears, moreover, as Volney adds, that the district in question, from the earliest times, enjoyed a tolerably good government, and a large propor tion of the commerce of Arabia and India. As far back as the time of Solomon, the cities of Esion- Gaber, and Eloth, were highly frequented marts. The latter still retains its name on the neighbour ing gulf of the Red Sea, and the former is pre sumed to be identical with El Akaba (the end of the sea), where there is still a small fort, now in the possession of the Pacha of Egypt. The Idu- mean ports, which were occasionally taken posses sion of by the Jews, appear to have furnished them with great wealth, and to have been ex tremely populous. The Idumeans rivalled even the Tyrians in commercial enterprize. The latter possessed a town, the name of which is unknown, on the coast of Hedjaz, in the Desert of Tih ; also, the city of Feran, and, it is believed, El- Tor, on the b 3 t) LDUMEAN SOVEREIGNS. eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez, whence caravans might reach Palestine and Judea, through Idumea, in eight or ten days ; or Bassorah, by a route infi nitely shorter than that which was universally adopted from Aleppo to the Gulf of Persia. The evidence thus collected by Volney, there fore, distinctly shows, as Keith very well observes, that the Idumeans were a populous and powerful nation, long posterior to the delivery of the very remarkable prophecies concerning them recorded in Scripture ; that they possessed a settled go vernment *. that Idumea contained many cities ; that these cities have long been absolutely deserted, and have swarmed with enormous scorpions ; that Idumea was eminent as a commercial nation ; and that, although it offered a much shorter route to India from the Mediterranean than the one ordi narily adopted, yet it had not been visited down to his (Volney's) time by any traveller. This literal fulfilment of the prophecies, even according to the unconscious testimony of a writer who dis believed in the Revelation, leads one, with no small degree of curiosity, into a more extensive review of the ancient state of Idumea, as we find it recorded in history. We learn from Genesis \ that, " before any king reigned over Israel," no fewer than eight kings had succeeded each other in the government of the " Land of Edom," or Idumea ; and that these kings were followed by eleven dukes, the descend- ¦*> Gen. xx-.v'. 31 — 43. PRIMEVAL STATE OF IDUMEA. 7 ants of Esau, " the father of the Edomites." The fertility of its territory was announced in the bless ing given by Isaac to Esau : " Behold thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above."*1 Its highly cultivated state appears, moreover, from the description given of it by the messengers of Moses, when they requested permission for the Israelites to pass through Edom, in their way from Egypt to the promised land : — " Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country : we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink ofthe water ofthe wells : we will go by the king's highway .• we will not turn to the right hand, nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. And the children of Israel said Unto him, We will go by the highway : and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then will I pay for it. I will only (without doing anything else) go through on my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border : wherefore Israel turned away from him. " b The great wealth possessed by Job, an inhabitant of that country, at a period probably still more re mote even than the visit ofthe Israelites, proves that Idumea had then been long settled. Indeed, the 1 Gen. xxxvii. 39. b Numbers, xx. 17 — 21. B 4. 8 PRIMEVAL STATE OF IDUMEA. whole of the beautiful composition in which his trials are recorded, displays a state of society in which a gradation of classes was acknowledged, the sciences were cultivated, the fine arts were not unknown, luxury prevailed to a very considerable extent, the operations of war had been reduced to order, commerce by sea and land had been carried on with foreign countries, and almost all the or dinary mechanical trades, with which we are now acquainted, afforded occupation to numerous fa milies. Fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand asses, not only bespoke the princely rank of Job, but also indicated his extensive territorial posses sions, oxen being principally employed, in the East, in ploughing the soil and treading out the corn. We learn from the calamities which that virtuous man suffered in the early period of his* life, that at one time Uz, or Idumea, his native place, was subject to the incursions of the Sabeans and Chal deans ; but, from a variety of circumstances, we may infer that, with such occasional exceptions, the country in general enjoyed tranquillity and a high state of prosperity. The year and the months were regularly defined. Kings and other great men had been accustomed to build for themselves splendid tombs.'1 They possessed great wealth in gold and silver.1* Traditions even then prevailed concerning treasures anciently concealed in the earth/ The vicissitudes of famine brought on by a Job, iii. 14. *> iii, 15. c iii. 21. KNOWLEDGE OF THE IDUMEANS. 9 war, which prevented the people from attending to their usual agricultural pursuits, were not un familiar to the age.*1 They were acquainted with the use of scales b, and the weaver's shuttle ** ; they made cheese from milk d ; their gardens were pro tected by ground traps and snares ° ; they were ac customed to cut inscriptions on tablets, which were fixed with lead in the faces of rocks f ; they had steel bows for their archers B ; their arrows were kept in quivers \ and they bore in battle the spear and shield **, as well as the sword.' The combat was animated by the sounds ofthe trumpet. The war horse of Idumea, in those days, is finely described as having " his neck clothed with thunder." " Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : he goeth out to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear, and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.1" He saith among the trumpets, Ha ! Ha ! ; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shoutings."1 Idumean history consisted principally of oral traditions ; hence the phrase for reference to it a Job, v. 20. "> vi. 2. c vii. 6. d x. 10. e xviii. 9, 10. f xix. 24. E xx. 24. h xxxix. 23. ' xxxix. 22 k xxxix. 24. 1 xxxix. 20—25. 10 KNOWLEDGE OF THE IDUMEANS. was, " Enquire of the former age, search of your fathers." a That they had already turned their at tention to astronomy appears from their being acquainted with the names of several ofthe con stellations, such as Arcturus, Orion, the Pleiades b, and the crooked serpent. c The regions of the sky below their latitude they mystically described as " the chambers of the south." d In natural history they were acquainted with the habits of the lion, the eagle, the hawk, the peacock, the ostrich, the grasshopper, the spider, the elephant (Behe moth), the whale (Leviathan), and other animals. They were conversant with the arts of mining, by which they extracted from the earth gold, silver, and iron.' They also manufactured brass f, and set a high value on the topaz of Ethiopia s, coral, pearl, and rubies, crystal, the onyx, sapphires, and other precious stones11, as well as the gold of Ophir, which is supposed to have been a port in the Red Sea on the coast of Africa. They manufactured oil and wine.' The soil was deemed of sufficient value to be divided by land-marks.1" They were ac quainted with the extremes of wealth and poverty • ; and amused themselves with dancing to the sound ofthe timbrel, harp, and organ.1" They had regular tribunals for the trial and punishment of offences.1* They were acquainted with the use of money.0 ** Job, viii. 8. •> xxxviii. 31, 32. <* xxvi. 13. d ix. 9- e xxviii. 1, 2. f iii. 12. ** xxviii. 19. h Xxviii. 6. 16, 17, 18. ' xxiv. 11. k Xxiv. 2, 1 Xxiv. 4. m xxi. 11, 12. " xii. 17. 27. ; xxix. 7. » xiii. 11. THEIR NOTION OF THE DEITY. 11 They had even advanced so far in the ways of luxury as to have ointments a, to wear gold ear rings b, and to possess looking-glasses formed of polished metals. *¦ They had a clear idea of a fu ture world of happiness and of punishment d ; and amongst no people do we find such sublime descrip tions ofthe works and majesty of the Omnipotent, as amongst the Idumeans. " Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not ; he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. He doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. He spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves ofthe sea. He com- mandeth the sun, and it riseth not ; and sealeth up the stars. He shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." e " Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds ; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens : his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of his ways ; but how little a portion is heard ¦» Job, xii. 31. b xii. 31. <¦ xxxvii. 18. " xi. 8. e xix. 12 RELIGION OF THE IDUMEANS. of him ? but the thunder of his power who can un derstand ? " a The poem from which these notices of the prim eval condition of Idumea, and these descriptions of the Almighty power are extracted, is admitted by all commentators and critics to be the most ancient composition extant. It is manifestly an inspired production, and its very preservation amongst the Edomites shows not only their respect for the doctrines it contains, but that they were in fact the most intellectual, and, in every respect, the most civilised nation then in existence upon the earth. They had brought down to their day the true doctrines of religion, such as they were prac tised in the very infancy of the world. The maxims of morality announced in the poem under consider ation are very little short of those inculcated in the Gospel. It expresses a belief, not only that there is a God, but that he will reward those who dili gently seek him. " I know," says Job, " that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." The Creator is fre quently described, not only as the Supreme Being, but also as omnipresent, eternal, boundless in wisdom, irresistible in power, of inflexible justice, infinite goodness, and indescribable glory. Moreover, the government of the world by the perpetual and superintending providence of God is noticed in several passages ; and it is always assumed that that government is carried on by the ministra- J Job, xxvi. THEIR POWER. 13 tion of a heavenly hierarchy, composed of various ranks and orders of the " sons of God." The angelic fall enters also into the system of the Idu- mean religion ; the power given to Satan to tempt men, and for that purpose to walk constantly " to and fro " upon the earth, is the very groundwork of the sufferings of Job. Original sin, and the cor ruption of human nature in consequence thereof, are frequently alluded to. Prayer and sacrifice to God, by way of expiating transgressions, are strongly inculcated; and there are abundant expressions to show their belief in a day of future resurrection/ In no work whatever, whether sacred or profane, do we meet with so many, or such sublime, notions of the Deity as in this composition. If we could suppose it to be merely a human effusion, then we might infer from it a kindred elevation of senti ment throughout the community which preserved it as a national treasure. Taking it to be, as it is, the work of Divine inspiration, still the same in ference follows : it was addressed to a people ca pable of appreciating it ; worthy of it, at the time, by their virtues ; and marked out, by that special intercourse with heaven, as the most favoured of the primeval nations. The history of the Israelites shows that the Idu means had often contended against them, either single-handed or in conjunction with other powers. " In the reign of David they were, indeed, sub- ¦l See Introduction to the criti- Holy Scriptures, by Thomas Hart- cal Study and Knowledge of the well Home, M.A., vol. iv. p. 99- 14 GEOGRAPHY OF IDUMEA. dued and greatly oppressed ; and many of them even scattered throughout the neighbouring coun tries, particularly Phoenicia and Egypt. But dur ing the decline of the kingdom of Judah, and for many years previous to its extinction, they en croached upon the territories of the Jews, and extended their dominion over the south-western part of Judea." a Nor was Idumea without the praise of the Roman poets : — " Primus Idumeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas." Virg. Georg. iii. 12. " Arbustis palmarum dives Idume." Lucan. Phars. ii. Strabo, and after him Ptolemy, considered Ara bia as commensurate with the peninsula which extends between India and the Red Sea, compre hending the Desert as far as the Euphrates ; and the whole of that territory they divided into three parts, Arabia Felix, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Petraea. The latter, which may be said to be identical with the Idumea of the Scriptures, is bounded on the west by Egypt, on the north by Judea and the Dead Sea, on the south by the Red Sea, and on the east by the Great Desert, which varies its limits according to the disposition of its population. This third division of Arabia was called Petraea, from its capital of the same name. It was not un natural that this great entrepot, towards which were directed all the journies and enterprises of ** Keith, p. 186-7- ITS CAPITAL. 15 the surrounding tribes, should give its name to a district of which it was itself the most important part, the most fertile, also, as well as the most populous. Some modern authors conceived that they found in the word Petraea an explanation of the geological character of the country, and have described it as the stony Arabia. Doubtless Petra derived its appellation from this circumstance, being encompassed, in fact, on all sides, by rocks. It is for a similar reason that the Mussulmans have translated it by the word Hedjaz. With respect to Arabia Petraea, scarcely any information is to be found amongst the Greek authors. Ptolemy alone mentions a chain of heights, which he calls the " Black Mountains." He does not indicate their position ; and there are no two maps which agree in giving them the same place. It is probable that he alluded to the range of rocks which juts out from Syria towards Mount Sinai, and separates the Red Sea into two gulfs. There are also some black mountains in the neighbourhood of the port of Cherm ; and a little hill of the same colour over Ras Mohammed. As his notions of the country were founded on the reports of navigators, it is possible that, after having remained for a while at Cherm, such ad venturers preserved a lively recollection of the dark rocks from amongst which they obtained their sup ply of water ; and that, on their return home, they spoke of the peculiar appearance of these moun tains, as distinguished from the general colour of those in all other parts of the country, which, when 16 COMMERCE OF PETRA. seen even at a distance, always exhibit a roseate hue. Diodorus represents the whole district as a coun try every where bristling with rocks, difficult of access, separated from the neighbouring nations by deserts impassable to all persons but the natives. The springs, he says, are usually found in spots which they carefully conceal from their enemies ; and the latter, overcome by the heat and the want of water, speedily become the victims of their own temerity. Such is the sum of the information furnished to us by the ancient geographers con cerning Arabia Petraea. As to the capital itself, Pliny states that " The Nabataei inhabit a city called Petra, in a hollow somewhat less than two miles in circumference, surrounded by inaccessible mountains, with a stream running through it. It is distant from the town of Gaza, on the coast, 600 miles ; and from the Persian Gulf 122." " Strabo says, " The capi tal of the Nabataei is called Petra ; it lies in a spot which is in itself level and plain, but fortified all round with a barrier of rocks and precipices ; within, it is furnished with springs of excellent qua lity, for the supply of water, and the irrigation of gardens : without the precincts, the country is in a great measure desert, and especially towards Judaea. Jericho is at the distance of three or four days." b The Nabatseans are considered by Strabo to be the same people as the Idumeans.' a Pliny, lib. vi. c.28. *< Lib. xvi. p. 779., ed. Paris, <* Lib. xvi. p. 760. ] 620. VINCENTS VIEW OF ITS COMMERCE. IJ Dr. Vincent, in his " Commerce of the An cients,"" describes Petra as, "the capital of Edom or Seir, the Idumea or Arabia Petraea of the Greeks, the Nabatea considered both by geogra phers, historians, and poets, as the source of all the precious commodities of the East." " The cara vans, in all ages, from Minea in the interior of Arabia, and from Gerrha on the Gulf of Persia, from Hadramaut on the ocean, and some even from Sabea in Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre ; and from Petra the trade seems to have again branched out into every direc tion, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Ar sinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, and a variety of intermediate routes that all terminated on the Mediterranean. There is every proof that is requisite, to show that the Tyrians and Sidonians were the first merchants who introduced the pro duce of India to all the nations which encircled the Mediterranean : so is there the strongest evidence to prove that the Tyrians obtained all their com modities from Arabia. But, if Arabia was the centre of this commerce, Petra was the point to which all the Arabians tended from the three sides of their vast peninsula." b At a period subsequent to the commencement of the Christian era, there always reigned at Petra, according to Strabo, a king of the royal lineage, with whom a prince was associated in the government.0 It was a place of great strength in the time of the Romans. Pom- ** Vol. xi. p. 263. '' Ib. 260—262. <¦ Strabo, p. 779. c 18 VINCENT S VIEW OF ITS COMMERCE. pey marched against it, but desisted from the attack ; and Trajan afterwards besieged it. It was a metropolitan see, to which several bishoprics were attached in the time of the Greek emperors, when Idumea was included in the third Palestine." » Keith, p. 181—189. '/Sr 19 CHAPTER II. MODERN TRAVELLERS IN IDUMEA BURCKHARDT. HIS AC COUNT OF PETRA. — SUSPICIONS OF THE NATIVES. — SEET- ZEN, JOLIFFE, HENNIKER, MR.BANKES, IRBY AND MANGLES. ACCOUNT OF THEIR JOURNEY. PREPARATIONS FOR THEIR TOUR. THEIR NEGOTIATIONS. THEIR RECEPTION AT HEBRON. ARRIVAL AT SHOBEK. APPROACH TO WADY MOUSA. TOMBS AT ITS ENTRANCE. DEFILE LEADING TO PETRA. — ARCH ACROSS THE RAVINE. — APPEARANCE OF PETRA. MONUMENTS. SUDDEN DEPARTURE. The modern travellers who have visited the capital of Idumea were prevented, by a variety of untoward circumstances, from exploring its mag nificent ruins with any degree of minuteness. Mr. Burckhardt, under the assumed name of Sheikh Ibrahim, in the year 1811, made an at tempt to reach Petra, under the pretext of having made a vow to slaughter a goat in honour of Aaron, whose tomb is situated on the summit of Mount Hor. He hoped that in his way thither he might see the valley at the foot of the mountain, where the ruins of Petra, of which he had heard the coun try people speak in terms of great admiration, are to be found. The natives call the valley Wady Mousa, or the Valley Moses. Upon arriving at Eldjy, where the antiquities of Wady Mousa begin, c 2 20 BURCKHARDT. he was obliged cautiously to abstain from taking any notes ofthe objects which presented themselves to his view. " I knew well," he observes, " the character of the people around me : I was without protection, in the midst of a desert where no tra veller had ever before been seen ; and a close ex amination of these works ofthe infidels, as they are called, would have excited suspicions that I was a magician in search of treasures. Future travellers," he adds, " may visit the spot under the protection of an armed force ; the inhabitants will become more accustomed to the researches of strangers ; and the antiquities of Wady Mousa will then be found to rank amongst the most curious remains of ancient art." * Burckhardt then notices a variety of sepulchres, which he observed on his entrance into the valley, through the extraordinary winding and narrow defile that leads to the site of Petra. After tra versing this almost subterraneous passage for nearly an hour, he beheld in the main valley an exca vated mausoleum, " the situation and beauty of which," he justly remarks, " are calculated to make an extraordinary impression upon the tra veller. It is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity existing in Syria ; its state of preservation resembles that of a building recently finished, and, on a closer examination, I found it to be a work of immense labour." b The traveller gives a full and, Burckhardt's Travels in Sy- b Burckhardt, p. 424. ria, &c, 4to. p. 421, 422. HIS ACCOUNT OF PETRA. 21 so far as it goes, an accurate description of the mausoleum in question, which the natives call Pharaoh's Castle, believing it to have been the resi dence of a great prince. " Great," he adds, " must have been the opulence of a city which could dedicate such monuments to the memory of its rulers." After hastily passing through several of the most remarkable sepulchres, Burckhardt obtained a glance at the remains of a theatre, entirely cut out of the rock. His attention was particularly at tracted by a stately edifice, styled by the natives " the palace of Pharaoh's daughter ;" but when he was proceeding towards it, his guide exclaimed, " I see now, clearly, that you are an infidel, who have particular business amongst the ruins of the city of your forefathers ; but depend upon it that we shall not suffer you to take out a single para a of all the treasures hidden therein, for they are in our territory, and belong to us." The traveller re plied, that it was mere curiosity which prompted him to look at the ancient works, and that he had no other view in entering the valley than to sacri fice to Haroun (Aaron) ; but the guide was ob stinate, and Burckhardt deemed it imprudent to irritate him by too close an inspection ofthe palace. He consequently made the best of his way towards the summit of Mount Hor, but was contented to make his sacrifice half way up the ascent, whence he returned to Eldjy. b * A small Eastern coin. b Burckhardt, 428. c 3 22 SEETZEN. — JOLIFFE. — HENNIKER. " It is very unfortunate," observes this enter prising traveller, " that the idea of treasures being hidden in ancient edifices is so strongly rooted in the minds of the Arabs and Turks. Nor are they satisfied with watching all the stranger's steps ; they believe that it is sufficient for a true magician to have seen and observed the spot where treasures are hidden (of which he is supposed to be already informed by the old books ofthe infidels who lived on the spot), in order to be able afterwards, at his ease, to command the guardian of the treasure to set the whole before him. It was of no avail to tell them to follow me and see whether I searched for money. Their reply was, ' Of course, you will not dare to take it out before us ; but we know that, if you are a skilful magician, you will order it to follow you through the air to whatever place you please.' If the traveller takes the dimensions of a building or a column, they are persuaded that it is a magical proceeding." a In the year 1807, M. Seetzen, a German, travel ling under the name of Moosa, made an excursion in Arabia Petraea, as far as what he calls the fron tiers of Idumea ; but he did not approach the ruins of the capital.1* Mr. Joliffe found that part of the country altogether " impracticable." Sir Frederick Henniker was equally unsuccessful. He was induced to attempt it, however, although he had learned that the Cavaliere Frediani, whom he •> Burckhardt, 428, 429. where he died. — Sir Frederick b Ib. 533. He is supposed to Henniker s Travels, note, p. 227. have been poisoned at Akaba, BANKES. IRBY. MANGLES. 23 had met in Egypt, and who entertained a similar intention, was, after five weeks of exertion, even tually compelled to relinquish his design. Sir Frederick, by means of entreaties and bribes, pre vailed on some guides to agree to conduct him by the desired route ; but they misled him through the desert to Gazafi Mr. Bankes, in company with Mr. Legh and Captains Irby and Mangles, have the merit of being the first persons, travelling as Europeans, who succeeded to any extent in making researches at Petra. Mr. Bankes and the two latter gen tlemen had, in the first instance, attempted " to penetrate by the north and eastern coast of the Dead Sea to Wady Mousa. They had crossed the Jordan, and entered into a negotiation with the powerful tribe of Benesakarb Arabs, who, for a reward of 1500 piastres, had engaged to conduct them to Wady Mousa, but, on the receipt of the money, were found unable to perform their promise ; and the travellers, after suffering great privations from the want of food, effected a most masterly retreat from Salt, escaped the tents of the treacherous guides, recrossed the Jordan, and returned to Jerusalem. Though their first attempt had failed, they w*ere not to be dis heartened by this disappointment."0 " To give you an idea of the difficulties which the Turkish government supposed there would be for an Englishman to go to Kerek and Wady Burckhardt, p. 268. c M'Michael's Journey, p. 188. b " Sons of a tree." c 4 21- ACCOUNT OF THEIR JOURNEY. Mousa, it is necessary to say, that, when Mr. Bankes applied at Constantinople to have these places inserted in his firman, they returned for an swer, that ' they knew of none such within the Grand Seignor's dominions ; ' but as he and Mr. Frere, the British minister, pressed the point very much, they at length referred him to the Pacha of Damascus, who (equally averse to have any thing to do with the business) passed him on to the governor of Jerusalem. This latter tried all he could to dissuade us from the undertaking, though Mr. Legh gave him a handsome spy-glass to induce him to assist us." ** Mahommed Aga, the governor of Jaffa, was next applied to by the travellers ; he, however, not only evaded the affair altogether, but, by way of putting a stop, if possible, to their journey, ordered back even some horses which he had lent them. An other visit to the governor of Jerusalem seemed to promise as little as the preceding : a former mot- sellim, who had been twenty-four years in office, and who happened, at the moment, to be sitting with the governor, assured them that the Arabs were a most savage and treacherous race ; that they thought Franks' blood a good medicine to cure their women with when sick ; and that they would not hesitate to make use of the blood of the Englishmen for that purpose. At length the party, finding that none of the public authorities would lend them any assistance, a Letters of Captains Irby and Mangles, 336. PREPARATIONS FOR THEIR TOUR. 25 resolved to trust to their numbers and force, and to try their fortune with the sheikh of Hebron. As the work in which Messrs. Irby and Mangles describe their expedition to Petra has been printed only for private circulation, the following extracts from it will probably be new to most of the readers of this volume: — " Each of us procured a Bedouin Arab dress of the most ordinary description, and we all bought horses for the journey, except Mr. Bankes, who was already provided with them. Our party con sisted of Mr. Legh, having with him an interpreter, a Tartar from Constantinople, and a seyes (hostler). Mr. Bankes had with him a soldier of the Pacha of Egypt, and ourselves a Christian Arab servant. We had for our guide a cultivating Arab, dwelling near Jericho, named Mahommed, and a man be longing to Hebron. We took the precaution of having as little baggage as possible with us, send ing the greater part to Acre with one of Mr. Legh's servants. Our dress consisted of a frock and drawers of very coarse linen ; the frock being fastened round the waist by a red leathern girdle, about four inches broad. The head-dress was a handkerchief of mixed silk and cotton, coloured with broad stripes of alternate red, green, and yel low : this was doubled into a triangular form, and thrown over the head, to which it was attached by a double girdle of brown worsted rope. One corner of the handkerchief hangs down over the back of the neck, and the remaining two cover the ears, and come down over the shoulders : these 26 THEIR RECEPTION AT HEBRON. latter, when the weather is cold, the Arabs tuck up under the chin, and cover the whole face with the exception of the eyes. Over all we had the woollen abba, which we had long worn, and which we procured at Jaffa. For arms we had amongst us six muskets, one blunderbuss, five brace of pistols, and two sabres. Our money, consisting of small gold coins, was concealed in leathern belts round the waist, next the body."" The travellers left Jerusalem on the 6th of May, 1818, two hours before dark in the evening, and proceeded to Bethlehem. The next day they pur sued their course towards Hebron ; which, ac cording to Moses, was built " seven years before Zoan, in Egypt." b Josephus considers Hebron older even than Memphis ; and it is, moreover, remarkable as the place where Abraham, his wife Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca, were buried.0 The sheikh of Hebron received the travellers very kindly, and at first made no difficulty about their proceeding to Wady Mousa. "It was an easy matter, and he would undertake it." It turned out, however, not to be quite so " easy a matter" as he had promised, as there was a great deal of shuffling amongst the subordinate authorities, with a view to extract from the travellers as much as possible in the shape of presents. Nevertheless, they were eventually supplied with a guide for Kerek, and departed from Hebron in a south easterly direction. In the evening they reached » Irby and Mangles, 339. c Genesis, xxiii. 2., xlix. 81. b Numbers, xiii. 22. THEIR NEGOTIATIONS. 27 a Jellaheen camp of thirty tents, and were hos pitably received. " May 9. We wished to make a bargain with the Jellaheens for conducting us to Wady Mousa ; but nothing would induce them to consent. After much bargaining, they agreed to take us to Kerek, if we would give seventy-five piastres to the chief, and ten to each of five guides, who were to accom pany us with muskets. Though these people had, for a long time, refused to accept this sum, still, when it was agreed to, they all began fighting who should go. After we had descended from the camp, we offered 500 piastres if they would con duct us to Wady Mousa ; but nothing would in duce them to consent. They said they would not go if we would give them 5000 piastres." " They ceased to press the subject. Still persevering in their resolution, against all obstacles, the travellers made good their way to Kerek ; which, upon its capture, Godfrey of Boulogne called Mons Regalis. The sheikh Yousouf, who received them with great civility, not only gave them a safe conduct for Wady Mousa, but also pledged himself to accompany them through the whole journey, and supplied them with horses. They set out in the afternoon (14th May), to the south ward, passing though a narrow ravine, on each side of which there are caverns and wrought tombs. In one of thene, which had all the appearance of a natural grotto externally, they observed places » Irby and Mangles, 349- 28 ARRIVAL AT SHOBEK. for sarcophagi ; the ravine, probably, having been the burying-place of the ancient town. Thence they ascended into a country of downs, with ver dure so close as to appear almost turf, and with corn-fields at intervals : the rock did not appear much, though the surface was sprinkled over with stones. "The whole of the fine plains in this quarter are covered with sites of towns, on every eminence or spot convenient for the construction of one. As all the land is capable of rich culti vation, there can be little doubt that this country, now so deserted, once presented a continued pic ture of plenty and fertility." " This, probably, is the region alluded to by the Arabs who reported to Volney, " that there are, to the south-east ofthe Dead Sea, within three days' journey, upwards of three hundred ruined towns absolutely deserted." " This," says Josephus, " was the country of the Nabatheans, the most potent of the Arabs ; and of the Idumeans, who, at the time of the de struction of Jerusalem, were almost as numerous as the Jews." On the 17th the travellers reached the hill upon which Shobek stands, like a gigantic mound : at its foot the ground is terraced out in gardens, and thickly planted with figs. There are numerous caves in the sides of the hills. They ascended to the town by a zig-zag path, which seems to be the only one leading to it. It appeared, in ascending, that almost all that side of the castle-hill had once » Irby and Mangles, 370. APPROACH TO WADY MOUSA. 2¦;.>-¦- RUINS. S3 the isolated pillar as before, and the mountain of Tih in the distance. These two views embrace the whole of the ruins, as well as the general aspect of the country observable at that height : the impression derived from them would be more satisfactory if it were practicable to transfer to paper the sombre barren ness that prevails over the scene. I wandered for some time amidst the heaps of ruins that lay around, and sketched many of the details, in order that nothing should escape my attention. But they were in such a state of disorder, that I found it difficult to obtain an accurate idea of the forms in which they appeared, when fresh from the chisel of the sculptor. I have copied from them, how ever, two sets of hieroglyphics, which may, per haps, serve to fix the date of these monuments.*1 * " I then turned my thoughts to Sarbat al Kardem, and having sent the camels forward, we pro ceeded thither on foot. After two hours' march we arrived at a water-course ; by this we ascended with much difficulty to the top of the mountain, and here we found a temple and a variety of upright stones ; the tout ensemble resem bling a church and churchyard. The temple was never remarkable for size, design, or execution ;, it has likewise not been spared by the evil genius of Egypt; its paltry remains are almost over whelmed by sand ; labour and curiosity have laid open the wrecks of a few small chambers, and un covered the fragments of a statue, and the diminutive mimicry of an Egyptian pillar. The monumen tal tablets are only two feet wide, eight inches thick, and from six to nine feet high. On the eastern and western sides of all are hiero glyphics, and even on the four sides of some of them ; but the destroying power has caused the ' east wind to blow/ so that the hieroglyphics which were exposed to its effects are defaced. There is no beauty whatever on the spot, either in art or nature, but it is peculiarly interesting. — The hieroglyphics in this place ap pear to me in some measure vary ing from those of Egypt, and in termixed with the Persepolitan character. The pillar,, like those 2 84 TURQUOISE STONES. Hussein attended me during my labours, and in order to find occupation for the time that to him ap peared tedious in the midst of heaps of rubbish which he deemed so insignificant, he searched amongst the ruins for turquoise stones, which are found here in great abundance, being brought to the surface by the rains. He gave me five of these stones, which were of considerable size, parting with them with out the slightest reluctance. The Arabs of the pre sent day attach no value to the turquoise, though in former ages it was much sought after in the East, the most extraordinary medicinal qualities having been ascribed to it. Teifaschi, in his treatise on precious stones, thus speaks of it : " Sadi gives us to understand, that it was highly esteemed in Persia. A person spending a few days on this mountain, where he will be exposed to no danger, and which is not more than six days' jour ney from Cairo, might make a large collection of turquoises, which, though not to be ranked among the best of precious stones, nevertheless possess a certain value." From this interesting mountain we shaped our course towards the junction of Wady Feiran with Wady Cheick. The tribe to which our guides belonged, the Oualed Said, was encamped in its neighbourhood. The route we followed passed of Dendera, represents the head Ionic order is said to be con- of Isis ; but in this instance the ceived from the same idea ; Isis hair forms a curl on either side is the same as Io." — Henniker, of the neck ; this is the more re- pp. 249, 250. markable, as the volute of the REVERIES. 85 through a series of ravines, the direction of which it would have been impossible for us to have ascer tained, without incessant attention from one mo ment to another. Amid the long valleys succeeding each other in that part of the country, nothing occurs to divert the mind from those agreeable reveries, to which the fine climate and the singularity of our mode of travelling were so well calculated to give birth. It was to me, therefore, a real pain, which, how ever, I had to undergo fifty times a day, to dissi pate these delightful day dreams, and apply myself to my prosaic labours. Whenever I found that our route was tolerably straightforward I stopped, dismounted from my dromedary, who set up the most piteous cries on being kept behind his com panions, observed by my compass the direction of a mountain peak, the course of a valley which we had just quitted, or of that in which we were entering, sketched the aspect of the country, and noted remarks in my journal. The caravan, which never tarried, was, by the time I had finished, always at a distance, and as my dromedary was anxious to rejoin his companions, he set off as quickly as possible. But my toil did not end here ; I had still to overtake Hussein, who, keeping his place in front of the caravan, was probably singing one of his native airs, which every ravine and gorge of the mountains repeated in their deep echoes. Deafened as he was by the noise which he made, I was obliged to pull him by his long sleeves to draw his attention to my questions. g 3 86 GIGANTIC DEFILE. He answered them at once as well as he could, and was often candid enough to admit, that he knew nothing whatever with reference to the subject of my inquiries. Whenever he gave me a satisfac tory answer, I stopped to note it down. Hussein then continued his march and his song. It was in this manner that I filled my journal, thus increasing not a little the fatigue of our tedious journey in the desert. After having spent two days in the tents of the tribe connected with our guides, we departed (6th) for Akaba, re-ascending Wady Cheick, and descending towards the Red Sea, or rather, the Elanitic gulf, by the great Wady Zackal. While returning by Wady Cheick we traversed, at the em bouchure of a ravine, a narrow passage formed by an isolated rock in the middle of the valley. This place is called El JBoueb. The sides of the valley make a transition from limestone and chalk to granite, and become wider as they get lower, dis closing to view a high primitive mountain, through which there is no passage except a narrow opening between two perpendicular walls of great height. At an angle made by two turnings of this gigantic defile, the point where its seclusion protects it from the rays of the sun, and the voice of man and the cry of the camel are reflected back in sonorous echoes, stands a remarkable isolated rock seven feet in height. Our Arabs dismounted silently from their camels, and approaching it, passed the right hand over its surface, which is rendered smooth by the frequency of these touches, and STONE OF MOSES. 87 then drew it back again to the forehead, crying out, " El Fatha," the usual invocation during journeys and dangers of any description. Our cattle having stopped, as if they had been accus tomed to the ceremony, we followed the example of the Arabs ; and our gravity during this religious formality pleased them much. The spectacle of our caravan halting in the midst of this magnificent defile, representing as it did a striking trait in the manners of the desert, was highly picturesque ; but it was a scene which demanded a more skilful pencil than mine to paint it to advantage. Tradition relates that Moses rested on this stone, while he was still a shepherd, meditating his pro jects for the deliverance of his brethren, and the conquest of an entire country, and that he was disturbed from his reflections by one of the goats of the herd of Jethro, which happened to be stray ing about. Another version of the story fixes upon this stone as the resting-place of Mahomet, while he was still a camel driver, and on his way to Syria, to sell some perfumes conveyed by the camels of Cadiga, the first female who adopted his doctrine. Here also he is said to have composed some verses of that book which was destined to electrify a whole people, and to have invented the religion which was afterwards to captivate that quarter of the world. We could not refrain from dwelling with a lively curiosity upon a spot, where we could trace to their simple origin events of so prodigious a character. g 4 88 SUMMIT OF MOUNT SINAI. CHAPTER VI. MOUNT SINAI. — WADY ZACKAL. — MIDIAN OF JETHRO. — ISLE OF GRAIA. — APPEARANCE OF GRAIA. — TRADITION CONCERNING ABRAHAM. — FIRST VIEW OF AKABA.— RECEP TION AT AKABA. — GARRISON DESPATCH TO ABOU RAS CHID. DEPARTURE OF MESSENGERS. EXCURSIONS. DANGERS OFTHE DESERT.— EXPEDITION TO GRAIA.— OYSTER BED. — WADY EL HENEK On quitting this passage, which is mentioned by Breydenbach, Lowemstein, the superior of the Franciscans, and all the pilgrims, the traveller per- 5 o fe 3 WADY ZACKAL. 89' ceives Mount Sinai, whose prominent point is over hung by the mountain of St. Catherine, which is more rounded in its form. They were both then capped with snow, and their dark bases seemed to bring out their whitened summits in bolder relief upon the azure ground of the sky. We emerged from Wady Cheick, and after having crossed the ridge of a mountain, which forms a grand point of intersection between two declivities, we descended into the valley of Zackal, which continues on to the gulf of Akaba. The route on which we now entered was the most singular that the imagination can picture. The valley, shut in within a width of about fifty paces by masses of granite, of from a thousand to twelve hundred feet in height, which often rose like perpendicular walls even to their very tops, exhibited the appear ance ofa Cyclopean street, the ravines branching out from which, on each side, seemed to be adjoining streets, all belonging to some ancient and aban doned town. The extraordinary shapes and im mensity of the masses accumulated on the right and left were calculated to terrify, and almost over whelm the mind ; an effect which was not a little augmented by the enormous fissures that occurred here and there, presenting huge fragments which had tumbled from the summit of the mountain. The silence prevailing all round us was that of the grave : the wind was unheard amidst these al most subterraneous passages, the sun touched with its golden hue only the most elevated points, and the tranquillity of the place would have been un- 90 MIDIAN. disturbed, had not every step and every sound of our voices been re-echoed from the steeps on each side as we pursued our way. This curious passage, of which it is difficult to write an intelligible description, leads by a gentle continued declivity to the coast of the Red Sea, amidst the palm trees of Dahab \ which without * " In one hour and a half we reached Dahab, a more extensive cluster of date trees than I had before seen on this coast ; it ex tends into the sea upon a tongue of land about two miles beyond the line of the shore; to the north of it is a bay, which affords anchorage, but it is without pro tection against northerly winds. Dahab is, probably, the Dizahab mentioned in Deut. i. 1. There are some low hummocks covered with sand close to the shore of the low promontory, probably oc casioned by the ruins of build ings. The plantations of date trees are here enclosed by low walls, within many of which are wells of indifferent water ; but in one of them, about twenty-five feet deep, and fifty yards from the sea, we found the best water I had met with on any part of this coast in the immediate vici nity of the sea. About two miles to the south of the date groves are a number of shallow ponds into which the sea flows at high tide ; here the salt is made which supplies all the peninsula, as well as the fishermen for curing their fish ; the openings of the ponds being closed with sand, the water is left to evaporate, when a thick crust of salt is left, which is col lected by the Bedouins. Dahab is a favourite resort of the fisher men, who here catch the fish called Boury in great quantities. " The date trees of Dahab, which belong to the tribe of Me- zeine and Aleygat, presented a very different appearance to those of Egypt and the Hedjaz, where the cultivators always take off the lower branches which dry up an nually ; here they are suffered to, remain, and hang down to the ground, forming an almost im penetrable barrier round the tree, the top of which only is crowned with green leaves. Very few trees had any fruit upon them ; indeed date trees, in general, yield a very uncertain produce, and even in years when every other kind of fruit is abundant, they are some times quite barren. We met here several families of Arabs who had come to look after their trees, and to collect salt. In the midst of the small peninsula of Dahab are about a dozen heaps of stones irregularly piled together, but showing traces of having once been united ; none of them is higher than five feet. The Arabs call them Kobour el Noszara, or the tombs of the Christians, a name MIDIAN. 91 any assistance from cultivation are constantly in creasing in number, at a point where the sand and the rocks driven down through the valley by the winter torrents form a boundary to the sea. This place I take to be the Midian of Jethro. It is now inhabited only by four poor Arabs, and now and then visited by a few wretched caravans, which come to its well for water. The Arabian coast from Dahab is bordered by mountains, which, lofty in the distance, decline into low hills as they approach the sea. They afford no traces of vegetation. We observed from hence the mountains to the north, and the outlines of the coast, which we were to traverse on our way to the fortress of Akaba. The coast bristles with rocks, which leave between them gulfs and creeks without number. We passed near the palm trees of Nouebe, found in groups along both sides of the promontory which the torrents of Wady Outir have formed when disgorging themselves into the sea in the rainy season ; otherwise that part of the coast is entirely barren and uninteresting. We at length descended into Wady Taba. This valley runs towards the north-east, and becomes very wide on its approach to the sea. It is planted with a considerable number of tamarisks, and low bushy palms crowd the shore. On making a hollow in the sand, we easily found tolerably good water. Turning round the rock which forms the boundary given by them to all the nations fore the introduction of the Is- which peopled their country be- lam." — Burckhardt,^. 5ZS, 524. 92 ISLE OF GRAIA. of this valley on the coast, we perceived the isle of Graia a, a solitary rock in the midst of the sea, looking like a dolphin just showing his back. The ruins which are conspicuous upon this island seemed* from the spot whence we observed them, to have belonged to some large building, the cha racter or style of which, however, we could not then ascertain. In the view which I took ofthe island and its ruins, as will be seen in a subse quent plate, I combined also the palm trees of Akaba, which are distinctly seen on the right. The position of the mountains and their relative heights are sketched in the distance. On quitting Wady Taba, we proceeded along the coast, which is much indented with gulfs, to Wady Emrag, where we approached much nearer to the island of Graia. The buildings upon it here presented a very indifferent aspect, altoge ther disappointing the expectations we had formed of them. A long embattled wall, interrupted at intervals by square towers, runs all round the higher part of the island. On the shore, we per ceived the ruins of another wall, which appeared a " My guides told me, that in parts, Ayd, who had been here the sea opposite to the above- several times, had never been able mentioned promontory of Ras to take any close view of them ; Koreye, there is a small island ; they are described as extensive, they affirmed that they saw it and built of hard stone, and are distinctly, but I could not, for it called El Deir, ' the convent,' a was already dusk when they point- word often applied by Arabs to ed it out, and the next morning a any ruined building in which thick fog covered the gulf. Upon they suppose that the priests of this island, according to their the infidels once resided." — statement, are ruins of infidels, Burckhardt, pp.511, 512. but as no vessels are kept in these ISLE OF GRAIA. 93 to have formed a first line of defence. Beyond these walls there is no appearance of any more ancient buildings, nor of a more interesting style of architecture. Nevertheless, as a fragment of a cornice, or the remains of an inscription might give a new value to what appeared to us parts of a fortress entirely modern, we resolved to visit the island at the earliest opportunity. As we followed the windings of the coast, we lost sight of the palm trees of Akaba a for a while, a " Akaba was not far distant from the spot from whence we returned. Before sun-set I could distinguish a black line in the plain, where my sharp-sighted guides clearly saw the date trees surrounding the castle, which bore N. E. 1 E. ; it could not be more than five or six hours distant. Before us was a pro montory called Ras Koreye, and behind this, as I was told, there is another, beyond which begins the plain of Akaba. The castle is situated «t an hour and a half or two hours from the western chain, down which the Hadj route leads, and about the same dis tance from the eastern chain, or lower continuation of Tor Hes- ma, a mountain which I have mentioned in my journey through the northern parts of Arabia Pe traea. The descent of the western mountain is very steep, and has probably given to the place its name of Akaba, which in Arabic means a cliff or a steep declivity ; it is probably the Akabet Aila of the Arabian geographers ; Mak- rizi says that the village Besak stands upon its summit. In Num bers, xxxiv. 4., the ' ascent of Akrabbim ' is mentioned, which appears to correspond very accu rately to this ascent of the west ern mountain from the plain of Akaba. Into this plain, which surrounds the castle on every side except the sea, issues the Wady el Araba, the broad sandy valley which leads towards the Dead Sea, and which I crossed in 1812, at a day and a half or two days' journey from Akaba. At about two hours to the south of the castle the eastern range of moun tains approaches the sea. The plain of Akaba, which is from three to four hours in length, from west to east, and, I believe, not much less in breadth north ward, is very fertile in pasturage. To the distance of about one hour from the sea it is strongly impregnated with salt, but farther north sands prevail. The castle itself stands at a few hundred paces from the sea, and is sur rounded with large groves of date 91 ABRAHAM. but soon again distinctly beheld them, to our great satisfaction. He alone who has traversed the desert can comprehend the gratification which the traveller experiences from gazing on these masses of verdure, after the frightful desolation by which he had been so long surrounded. Here, however, we began to feel a little anxiety as to the kind of reception which we were likely to meet with at Akaba, dependent as we were upon the influence which the letter of the Kihaia Bey might exercise, at the distance of 150 leagues from the capital. Henceforward we could reckon no longer upon the law of nations, and however great was our con fidence in our guides, it served us to little purpose. Once within the walls of the citadel, we should be at the mercy of the garrison, and beyond the walls we should be exposed to all the malevolence of the neighbouring tribes. At the extremity of the gulf there is a rock about four feet in height ; on this rock is accumulated a quantity of small stones, each of which has been thrown on the heap by persons passing by. This custom, coeval almost with the world, and to which we owe the greater number of the tumuli of anti- trees. It is a square building, good water, in deep wells. The with strong walls, erected, as it Pasha of Egypt keeps here a gar- now stands, by Sultan el Ghoury rison of about thirty soldiers, to of Egypt, in the sixteenth cen- guard the provisions deposited for tury. In its interior are many the supply of the Hadj, and for Arab huts; a market is held there, the use ofthe cavalry on their which is frequented by Hedjaz passage by this route to join the and Syrian Arabs; and small ca- army in the Uedja.z."—Burck- ravans arrive sometimes from hardt, pp. 509, 510. Khalyl. The castle has tolerably AKABA. Q5 quity, has a Mahometan allusion to the narrative of the Bible. Mussulmen pretend that Abraham, when conducting his son to the place of sacrifice, here threw some stones to the devil, who wished to prevent him from performing this act of obedience. In pursuance of this tradition, they deposit small stones in certain localities, in order to indicate their good intentions, and their wish to drive away the evil temptations of the demon. Many similar piles are found on the route of the pilgrims to Mecca. The rock just mentioned serves as a line of de marcation between the Bedouins of the peninsula of Sinai and all the Arabs of the north. The mo ment we passed this frontier, the protection of our guides was of no use, except in so far as they might assist personally in defending us ; and they de pended much more upon our guns and pistols for the safety of their dromedaries, than upon their own prowess. We turned the two bends of the gulf, and leav ing on our right the palm trees which border the coast, we came within sight of the fortress of Akaba. A part ofthe garrison and the inhabitants of the castle were drawn out to receive us. The appearance of our dromedaries in the desert was sufficient to excite the attention of this idle little world, and to give birth to all sorts of suppositions. With the exception of the grand caravan of Mecca, some few troops of camels laden with wheat and beans, and driven by Arabs on foot, are the only visiters who occasionally animate these melancholy solitudes. Hence, two gentlemen, arriving on 96 GARRISON. their dromedaries in full trot, appeared to the inhabitants to be no less than hadgis, or the bearers of some important tidings. We dismounted in order to give the usual salute to these people ; but we were not a little surprised on receiving from each of them the embrace usually reserved for pilgrims, and in being treated by them with an unexpected degree of veneration. We plainly saw, by the astonishment painted on their countenances, and by the etiquette displayed in their salutations, that they entertained no suspi cions about us. Our costume being exactly that of the Arabs of Syria, our arrival by the route of Cairo, and not by that of the pilgrims, seemed to baffle all their conjectures. In order to satisfy their curiosity they followed us to the governor's residence. Hassan Aga, the governor of the fortress of Akaba, and, in consequence of this title, the humble servant of Mehemet Ali, was already decked out in his splendid scarlet mantle, which he had thrown over his tattered and filthy silken robe. He was prepared to receive us on a small terrace, and had collected around him all the ragged dignitaries of his small garrison. These consisted of the gunner, a little shrivelled man in Moorish costume ; the secretary, an old Arab of Cairo, apparelled in the Turkish fashion ; and the captain of the troops, muffled up in a singular mixture of Egyptian and Wahabite attire. All these gentry received us standing; when the embraces were over, and each took the place where he was to sit DESPATCH TO ABOU RASCHID. 97 down, we arranged ourselves in the usual Turkish attitude. Pipes and coffee were then brought, which filled up the pauses of silence usually attending these exhibitions. My dragoman delivered to the governor the letter of Abib Effendi. The secretary, being the only person in the fortress who knew how to read, was desired to come forward ; and he deciphered, in a loud voice, the intentions and wishes of his High ness's minister of the interior. The moment we became known, we declined considerably in im portance. As the feelings of respect and fear gave way to a patronising air of benevolence, there was a play of expression on their countenances, which we should have found an interest in observing, if the uncertainty of our situation had not engaged all our thoughts. After a few moments' hesitation, it seemed as if the fear of disobeying an order on the one hand, and the hope of a little gain on the other, induced them to lend us their assistance. Familiarity and good nature having thus replaced the gravity with which we were at first received, we had only to congratulate ourselves on the change. A letter, dictated aloud by our dragoman to the secretary of the garrison, was placed in the hands of a negro of the tribe of Alaouins, who undertook to convey it to his chief, Abou Raschid. We informed this redoubtable sheick, who had filled the whole country round with the reputation of his valour, that we had an important affair to negotiate with him, and that it would be necessary H Missing Page Missing Page 100 DANGERS OF THE DESERT. ing the gunner and two other persons approaching us with a grave air, and endeavouring to render their looks as forbidding as possible. They sent away the people who were in our chamber ; and the gunner solemnly commenced an address, the substance of which was that they owed it to the respect which they entertained for the Pacha and his Kihaia bey, as true believers, to inform us that they had strong fears for our safety, if we should proceed to Calaat and Nackel. We had announced that such was our intention, in order to mislead those who might have been disposed to throw any impediments in our way. They ar gued, that to travel in the desert was quite a dif ferent thing from travelling in Egypt ; that in Egypt we might lay our purse down in the morn ing in the middle of the high road, and that on returning in the evening we should be sure to find it in the same place untouched ; but that in the desert, especially on the route which we pro posed to take, they were convinced we should be pursued by vagabond Arabs who would attack us in the night-time. They therefore strongly advised us to abandon our intention. We replied, that, well armed as we were, and accustomed to keep watch in turn during the night, we had no thing to fear, but that at the same time we thanked them for their advice. They heaved a sigh, and wished us a safe journey, declaring aloud, that they, for their part, had done their duty, and acquitted themselves of all responsibility. The whole garrison of the fortress got under EXPEDITION TO GRAIA. 101 arms, and, with a standard flying, arranged them selves on each side of the gate. Hassan Aga and the gunner accompanied us as far as the tombs ; and as we trotted away from this oasis of the desert, we were followed by the most kindly 'salu tations of the inhabitants. These particulars may afford some idea of the advantages which we gained from the mode of travelling we had adopted. We set out on the 13th of March at a sufficiently early hour of the evening to enable ourselves before night to get out ofthe direction in which those Arabs might have followed us, to whom the gunner al luded. We halted between the palm trees and an isolated rock to the north-east of the island of Graia. We kindled no fire, lest it might indi cate the spot where we had rested : a little bread which we brought with us from Akaba, together with some onions and a few dates, formed our repast. Our arms were charged, and in readiness, and we agreed to keep watch in turn. After having thus taken all necessary precautions, each slept in his cloak, trusting to the vigilance of the sentinel. The night passed over quietly ; and in the morn ing, to compensate for our frugality the evening before, we made some bread, and breakfasted be fore we proceeded on our journey. While these preparations were going on, I wandered on the coast, which is characterised by numerous creeks and small promontories. The mountain chains accumulated on the coast, and advancing into the sea, form the promontories, which leave between H 3 Missing Page Missing Page 104 EI, OUEBXK. CHAPTER VII. MOUNT SINAI. — THE GAZELLE. BOTANY OF ARABIA PE- TR-EA. EXPEDITION TO GRAIA. DESCRIPTION OP THE ISLAND. CISTERNS. ARABIC INSCRIPTION. RETURN FROM GRAIA. THE GOVERNOR OF AKABA. DESCRIPTION OF THE FORTRESS. EVENING SCENE. — ALBANIAN MIN STREL. A CHASE IN THE DESERT. In the different commentaries which have been written on the Bible, the question whether vol- canos have ever appeared in the peninsula of Sinai has been the subject of grave discussion, inas much as if it could be answered in the affirmative, it might be supposed to assist the rationalists in explaining, in a material sense, the interview of Moses with the Deity on the summit of the mountain. MOUNT SINAT. 10.5 " And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. " And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God ; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. " And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a fur nace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." ** The reports of different travellers are almost unanimous, as to the entire absence of any volcanic traces, not only in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai itself, but also throughout the peninsula. M. Ruppel, one of the most recent visiters of that region, whose acquaintance with natural history enabled him to give a sound opinion on the sub ject, arrived at a similar conclusion, which he founds upon the total absence of titanite of iron along the coast in which the valleys have their em bouchures. Although my different excursions across the peninsula inclined me to adopt the same opinion, nevertheless, I must agree with those who think that the absence of titanite of iron, near the sea, as well as of scoriae, and of all that light and spongy sort of material usually expelled from volcanos, by no means establishes the truth of such an opinion. The violence of the torrents a Exodus, xix. 17 — 19- 106 THE GAZELLE. would afford a sufficient explanation of their dis appearance. Farther, among the specimens which I collected on the coast, several have appeared to me to be of volcanic origin. I have submitted them to skilful mineralogists, who thought so too. In order, however, to ascertain the spot where the eruption had taken place, by which those speci mens were discharged, it would have been neces sary to trace to their sources the valleys at the mouths of which they were found. But my journey having been undertaken principally with the view of making archaiological researches, I could not afford the time requisite for following up this inquiry with success. I am disposed to believe that the specimens, to which I allude, may have proceeded from a part of the peninsula to the south of Djebel Tih. Hussein and Bicharie, two of our guides, set out -upon an excursion, their guns on their shoulders, saying " that they would go to hunt the gazelle," an animal commonly met with in this part of the mountain. Ascending the valley they proceeded to the right, and in the course of a few hours they returned, bringing with them something wrapped up in their cloaks. We saw by the merriment displayed on their countenances, that they had not been unlucky. They immediately produced four gazelles, which they had found in their lair, being the whole of the family, the father and mother and two little animals a fortnight old. These creatures, who are very lively in their move ments, endeavoured to bite when they were caught : THE GAZELLE. 107 their hair is a brown yellow, which becomes pale and long as the animals grow old. In appearance, on account of the great vivacity of their eyes, the head being close to the shoulders, and the buttocks being drawn in, and without a tail, they resemble the guinea-pig. Their legs are all of the same height, but the form of their feet is peculiar ; in stead of nails or claws, they have three toes in front, and four behind, and they walk like rabbits on the whole length of the foot. The Arabs call it El Oueber, and know no other name for it. It is common in this part of the country, and lives upon the scanty herbage with which the rain in the neighbourhood of springs supplies it. It does not burrow in the earth, its feet not being cal culated for that purpose ; but it conceals itself in the natural holes or clefts which it finds in the rocks. The gazelle, though humble be its retreat and modest its appearance, has given rise to many profound researches. Bochart, in a long dissert ation, quotes several passages from Arabian authors, which relate to the oueber. " They represent it," he says, " as something between a cat and a weasel, having a small tail, feeding on herbage, and capable of being domesticated." Bochart evidently thought that the oueber must have been a species of field rat. Prosper Allin speaks of the same animal, when he describes it as "a small creature not unlike a rabbit, which they call the lamb of the children of Israel." Shaw, who cites 108 THE GAZELLE. this author, adds, that it is found on mount Liba- nus; " that its fore feet are as short, and its hind feet as long, in proportion, as those of the jerboa (which is a mistake) ; which induces me to believe that it is this animal rather than the jerboa that ought to be understood as the saphan of Scripture. No one can inform me whence comes the modern name of daman Israel." Buffon adopted this opinion.*1 I have already said, that the Arabs know it by no other name than the oueber : they have no traditions connected with it. Forskal mentions amongst the animals of Arabia, which he had not met with, the TJabr, which he describes as " resembling a cat without a tail, feeding on herb age, a native of the mountain ;" adding, that " its flesh is eaten by the inhabitants." Burckhardt falls into a grave error when he says, " The Bedouins talk much of a beast of prey called Wober, which inhabits the most retired parts of the peninsula : they describe it as being of the size of a large dog, with a pointed head like a hog." b Professor Ritzch, cited by Genesius (note 863. p. IO76.), gives to this animal the name of Hyrax Syriacus, by which it is called in the Berlin Museum, where there were several in 1826, which were brought over by Messrs. Ehrenberg and Emprisch, and also in the Museum at Frankfort, presented by M. Ruppel in 1828. The latter traveller calls it Waber, — a difference which proves merely an error » Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, hard., however, frequently speaks t. xiii, p. 148. of the gazelle, which he had often b Burckhardt, p. 534. Burck- seen. — Translator. BOTANY OF ARABIA. 109 in the interpretation of the vowels. I had the pleasure of sending two of these gazelles to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. My time was thus pleasantly occupied in sketch ing the scenery of the valleys, in forming collections of its minerals and animals, and in classifying and arranging the plants I found on its surface, and the shells which I picked up on the shore. Al though archaiology and topography were my prin cipal objects, nevertheless I availed myself of every opportunity of extending my acquaintance with the country. Botany, indeed, of all the sciences, is the most difficult to be pursued amid these deserts; for the aridity of the sands and rocks prevents the growth of plants : their herbage is miserable in the extreme. The few plants which are found here and there seem to struggle for existence between the humidity of the night, which nourishes them, and the burning heat of the day, by which they are withered. In some parts of Arabia Petrasa, however, the vegetation is better, especially where springs happen to be combined with protection from the sun. The time for the return of the messenger whom we had despatched to the chief of the Alaouins was approaching, and we had still to make our expeditiori to the isle of Graia. The camels were therefore loaded, and we set out, with a store of bread, intending to breakfast in the neighbour hood of the gulf where we had found the oysters. I observed upon its shore different species of shells, such as I had never met with elsewhere. 110 GRAIA. We returned to Wady Emrag, which is oppo site to the island, and found there undisturbed some palm trees which we had already collected for the construction of a raft. We added to them branches which we had gathered in Wady Taba, and bound the whole together with strong cords. Palm branches which we had cut off close to the tree served us for oars. After leaving the beach, the rocks which abound on the coast cease so sud denly that, notwithstanding the crystal clearness of the water, the bottom cannot be seen. Seet- zen's guides misinformed him when they stated that they could walk across to the island when the tide was out. No European had visited this island since the time of the crusades. Neither had any ofthe natives set foot upon it ; unless, indeed, a fisherman, having nothing else to do, might have been tempted to such an enterprise by the hope of finding treasure there. An Arab could be in duced by no other motive to encounter any risk in attempting to explore its ruins. Our voyage was not wholly free from danger, as none of us were sufficiently practised in swim ming to venture out a mile at sea. We all assisted, however, in guiding our frail skiff, and were care ful to maintain its balance. Our Arabs remained on the shore watching the result of our enter prise, in which we completely succeeded. We landed to the left of a bastion which overlooks a valley ; but before going farther into the island we took in our raft over the wall to guard against accidents. COAST OF THE ISLE OF GRAIA. 112 GRAIA. We had brought with us a large flag, which we resolved to plant on the highest bastion of the island ; and leaving on the right a small tower, we passed through the ruins of the outer wall : I then found, that I had committed a serious mis take in leaving my sandals behind. Accustomed as I was to walk barefooted on the burning sands, I had not given a thought to the sharp-pointed fragments through which I was now obliged to tread my way amidst these remains of a former age ; but it could not be remedied ; and I passed on as well as I could, amongst fallen stones, by a rapid descent towards an opening which we per ceived in the inner wall. It would be difficult for the reader to imagine the strange and savage ap pearance which M. Linant and I presented, while I carried the flag, and my friend marched on be fore me, as if we were going to storm this fortress of the desert, now become a desert itself. We entered by the right of a ruined bastion, through a small square which led to the middle of the fortress. I then drew forth from my tarbouch (a Greek cap which I wore under my kefieh) a sheet of paper, a pencil, a penknife, and a compass, and proceeded to draw the plan of the island as accurately as my limited means allowed. With respect to the history of Graia, it may be sufficient here to say, that after having been a sort of suburb to Ela from the earliest period of the navigation of this gulf, and a defence of that port against tribes whom it was difficult to subdue, it became the theatre of Christian valour in the time CISTERNS. 113 of the crusades, and was wholly abandoned about the fourteenth century. The little square in which we now found our selves seemed to be the court of the principal edifice, which rose on the south to our right, and which I called the Governor's palace. A small passage leads to a large square, whence we dis cerned the eastern coast of Arabia. From this point we beheld on our left, extending to a con siderable distance, a series of vaulted buildings consisting only of one story : their narrow divisions, and the manner in which they communicated with each other, indicated that they were intended for the troops of the garrison. We proceeded to the north, leaving on our left a large excavation in the rock, which appears to have been used as a reservoir for water, after having furnished part of the materials for the walls and other buildings in its neighbourhood ; and we reached another excavation, which turned out to be a remarkably fine cistern. I judged it to be about twenty-five feet in depth. From its being well cemented, and supported by large pillars, I presumed it to be of an age anterior to the con struction of the fortress. I observed no steps into it ; the water must therefore have been drawn out through an opening made in the top. Gutters skilfully laid along the adjacent buildings and courts conducted the rain water into this great cistern ; and when this was once filled, the over flow passed into the reservoir. This arrangement shows the great abundance of rain which fell here 114 ARABIC INSCRIPTION. during the season : at the same time it is not difficult to imagine the precarious situation of the garrison in years of drought, if it had no other means to rely upon for the supply of water. It is not im probable that whatever power was mistress of the island was mistress also of the sea, and was en abled to make up any deficiencies which might arise in that respect by means of vessels from the wells of Akaba, Ouesch, or Nouebe. On pacing round the island, I found its circum ference to be about 1650 feet. While proceeding along the outer wall of the bastions to the west, I found encased in it a white stone covered with an Arabic inscription. It was very imperfect, as the stone was a good deal worn away. The cha racters appeared to be of the fourteenth century, an epoch which agrees with the date of the other buildings. Towards the south there is a small tract of land covered with grass and birchwood, which, how ever, seems to be occasionally invaded by the sea. In its neighbourhood is a large marsh formed by the waves which break over the walls in tempes tuous weather. We planted our standard on the highest rock in that part of the island, and took possession of it in the name of France. If the vio lence of the winds have not yet overthrown that ensign, the next traveller who succeeds us may perhaps behold it with pleasure as a remembrance of those who, like himself, lately wandered on that shore. A breeze rising suddenly in the north, which GOVERNOR OF AKABA. 115 threatened to cut off our retreat, compelled us to finish our labours. I put up all my papers and instruments in my cap, and returned to the bastion, where our raft was drawn up. It was forthwith launched again, and we returned without loss of time to terra firma. My feet were so much lace rated that it was with great difficulty I could reach my sheepskin, on which I lay down, and slept till next morning. There was nothing now to detain us in this barren valley, as we had examined the ruins of the island ; we therefore set out for Akaba, hoping that we should find our messenger returned, or that at least we should not have long to wait for him. We were received at the fortress as old acquaintances, without any etiquette, and in a most friendly manner. We found Hassan Aga as gloomy as ever. The ramadan had commenced ; and he had no longer his hours of repast, his coffee and pipe, to interrupt the usual monotony of his life. Time seemed to oppress him with its weight : he counted on his watch the minutes as they passed, every minute appearing to him an hour. Tbe gunner still preserved his airs of self-impor tance : he would have us lodged in his house, and he treated us most hospitably. The following day, I made a view of the fortress of Akaba. The soldiers of the garrison, far from obstructing my labours on this occasion, on the contrary, gave me all the assistance in their power: they helped me to measure with my tape in all di rections, and desired no other reward for their I 2 11(3 FORTRESS OF AKABA. exertions than the pleasure of watching my oper ations, which they did not understand, and of handling my instruments, which, without great vigilance on my part, they would have speedily destroyed. The fortress of Akaba is built on a regular plan, and exhibits the same arrangement and system as all those which have been constructed for the pro tection of the caravan from Mecca. It is at present, externally at least, in a sufficiently good state to resist the inroads of the neighbouring tribes, who, though not deficient in courage, have no means for enabling them to assail it with success. With in the fortress several good habitations have been suffered to fall into decay, while others have been constructed of mud in a most slovenly manner. The governor has taken to himself the south western bastion, and enlarged it considerably. The gunner, who is the military chief, inhabits the bastion to the south-east, and, like a veteran ar tillery man, sleeps by the side of a cannon. This gun, a twelve-pounder, and another which is planted in the north-eastern tower, are the only pieces capable of being discharged in case of an attack, — an event, however, of which happily there is little danger. The gunner adds to his warlike occupations the more peaceable pursuits of a merchant : he has converted a ruined mosque into a warehouse. A well lately excavated, and a palm tree, are the only objects which attract attention in a court indifferently levelled, and surrounded by ruinous buildings blackened witli smoke. EVENING SCENE. II7 A few mud huts belonging to Arabs, who live on the small profits they derive from selling butter and other provisions to the soldiers of the garrison, some tombs of former inhabitants of the fortress, and of pilgrims arrested on their pious expeditions by that malady which a sight of the prophet's se pulchre would have cured, occupy the northern borders of the fortress : on the east, hills of sand, forming part ofthe ranges of Djebel el Akaba, de scend even to its walls. The mogreb3 at length approached : the emotion which the arrival of that hour excited in the for tress and its neighbourhood had already subsided, and the sun, like a disk of fire, was about to dis appear behind Mount Mahammar, gilding with its last rays the prominent rose-coloured points of the granite rocks. The people belonging to the fortress were returning within its precincts, some to answer the roll-call, some to enjoy their repast after the abstinence of the day, all to seek pro tection behind the gate from the alarms of the desert. An Arab soldier, who was returning from the chase, bore a long gun, incrusted with mother of pearl, on his shoulders : he had in his hand a hare and two aquatic birds, which afforded a pretty good proof of his success. A little further on, a fisherman was trudging homewards, his net, which was slung over his shoulder, filled with fish of dif ferent colours, violet, vermilion, and the hue. of the poppy. Our Bedouins were driving on be- a Sunset. 1 3 118 ALBANIAN MINSTREL. fore them their dromedaries, which had just been watered : a herd of small black goats was following them; and some Arab women carrying children in their arms, others with vases of water on their heads, closed the line of this procession. Their antique-looking forms, clothed in light drapery, appeared and disappeared amongst the tufts of the palm trees, like those shadows which the sun when setting so rapidly produces and effaces. Tran quillity reigned all around ; and I was retiring to wards my retreat for the night, when a sonorous, though somewhat nasal voice, accompanied by the vibrations of an instrument, attracted my attention. I approached the shore whence it proceeded, and beheld a still more interesting picture than that I had just witnessed. In the distance were the set ting sun and azure sea, and rose-coloured moun tains ; while on the peaceful shore, beneath the shade of some beauteous palms, an Albanian, a stranger, like myself, in that country, was soothing his sorrows by recalling the songs of his childhood, and the melodies of his native mountains. Some goats grouping near him forgot the hour of repose ; and even the Bedouin, as he passed, seemed not inaccessible to a touch of sympathy. Our days passed on tediously enough : at night we had long conversations. In the morning we made excursions in the eastern valley, to see a stone with inscriptions on it, or to hunt hares, attended by a greyhound of the desert, an animal extremely slender in form and fleet in movement, strongly resembling those which are seen in Egyptian paintings. A CHASE IN THE DESERT. 119 GREYHOUND. The hare bounded over the sands, the hound pursued it closely, and our dromedaries, with ex panded nostrils, with nose on high, and stretched out neck, threw out their long legs, and seemed to split the air. The arid desert, the naked moun tains, a broiling sun, our little troop moving through that boundless solitude, and our shouts, which, enthusiastic as they were, made scarcely any impression on the surrounding silence, associated strangely together, • during our sports. When we returned to Akaba with our prey, every body was alarmed at our long absence. The whole popula tion, accustomed to be shut in between four walls, tremble when any one goes out to any distance. They tell you, that you should go always well at tended to visit the palm trees or the gardens beyond the walls : they have no idea of security except within their battlements. Theirs must, indeed, be a wretched kind of life, since they are thus deprived of the only privilege these barren sands can afford — independence, — which alone can render the de sert endurable. i 4 120 CHAPTER VIII. ENNUI. — WATERING PLACES. — MOUNTAIN STREAMS. — SCOR PIONS. RETURN OF MESSENGER. THE ALAOUINS. ARRIVAL OF CHIEFS. ABOUDJAZI. APPEARANCE OF THE CHIEFS. SUPPER. A DIVAN. NEGOTIATIONS. DIS CUSSIONS. ARRANGEMENTS FOR JOURNEY TO PETRA BURCKHARDT. FEAR OF THE FELLAHS. BED OF THE ALAOUINS. The governor usually came in the afternoon to interrupt our occupations, and solely with a view to pass away the time, which abstinence from the pipe and from his usual meals rendered insupport able to him. An hour before the mogreb he left us, to ascend the terrace of the bastion which overlooks his house. There his large figure might be seen every evening, his eyes alternately watch ing the pointers of his watch and the descending sun, the disappearance of which he awaited with infinite impatience. Sometimes we joined him ; and placing our watches by the side of his, we gave him one employment more, his limited mind being quickly absorbed in comparing their relative indications of the progress of time. I went down to the shore, and took a view of the fortress at that interesting moment when day was just fading into night. In the foreground are seen the palm trees which encircle the site of the ancient Elana or Aila, and also the high mountains of Mahammar, which were about to conceal the sun WATERING PLACES. 121 behind their tops, giving, at the same time, the signal to the fisherman, seated on a raft of palm trees, to draw himself to the coast by the cord which was made fast there. On returning, 1 met our people, who brought out the camels to water near the sea ; I followed them, to examine the source whence they drank, and to see if the water were good. Judge of my surprise when I beheld the Arabs making hollows with their hands in the beach which the sea had covered but a few moments before : they penetrated to a foot in depth, when the hollow was immediately filled with excellent water. The camels drank of it profusely. The pure element may be obtained in this man ner all along the coast below the palm trees ; and although it is separated from the sea only by the sands on the surface, nevertheless, it will be found quite sweet after the first ebullition passes away, for in the beginning it is mixed with the salt water, with which the sands are impregnated. The hollows are filled in less than one minute. The whole of the neighbouring coast, when the tide is out, is excavated in this way, to supply the wants of the fortress. When the tide returns, the inequalities thus formed are soon made level by the action of the waves. These fountains, from their novelty, excite the stranger's astonishment ; but they are easily explained by the nature of the coast. A layer of sand extending from the em bouchures of the valleys covers the mass of rocks, which are found gradually descending to the 122 SCORPIONS. borders of the sea, where they appear shelvy at low water. The springs of the different valleys to the east, as well as the rains which fall there, have no outlet except that which they can find between the layer of sand and the solid bed of rock ; hence they descend towards the sea, passing through the palm plantations, which they irrigate : they ap pear at the same level wherever a hollow is made, either within the walls of the fortress, or among the palm trees, or on the edge of the sea, where they are obtained with the least degree of labour. The following morning we were about to take our coffee, when a little black urchin belonging to the go vernor, who was running about barefooted through the chambers and passages, set up the most inhuman cries. It appeared that on going out of our apart ment, he was stung by a scorpion which he had trod upon. He must have suffered excessive pain ; for although of a race wliich bears every thing with remarkable patience, he rolled on the ground, grinding his teeth, and foaming at the mouth. We knew of no remedy by which we could afford him relief. The people of the fortress put a bandage on the wound, which, like most of their remedies, produced little effect. After three long quarters of an hour of suffering, he complained less, but he could make no use of his foot, which was very much inflamed. Our friends, who had been ac customed to accidents of this kind, looked upon it as an ordinary affair, but advised us, at the same time, to be on our guard, as the animals in question abounded in the walls. RETURN OF MESSENGER. 123 A visit to the site of the ancient town which gave its name to the Elanitic Gulf occupied our morning. Its ruins consist, at present, only of a few mounds of earth and rubbish, amongst which a single block of white marble appears to be the only remarkable object. Nevertheless, this total absence of vestiges of the town did not destroy the interest we felt in a site which, from the time of Solomon, has found a place in our records. We should have despaired of the return of our two envoys, if we had not been informed at noon, that an Arab had been perceived on a dromedary in a plain to the north of the fortress. He turned out to be one of our messengers ; and although, on one hand, the pleasure may be imagined with which we received this intelligence, on the other, we felt no slight anxiety on observing that he returned without any escort to conduct us. He dismounted from his dromedary as soon as he came up to us, saluted us in the usual form, but did not utter a syllable which had any reference to his journey. It was not until he was alone with us in our own apart ments, where he had nothing to apprehend from the indiscretion of his hearers, that he related all that had happened to him. After three days of forced marches he reached the camp of Akmed- Raschid; but the chief was absent, he having proceeded to the encampment of the Benisackers, in order to obtain satisfaction for a robbery com mitted on a herd belonging to one of the Ala ouins. Our Arab was not able to go after him so far ; he found, however, in the same encampment, 124 ARRIVAL OF THE CHIEFS. a brother and four nephews of Akmed-Raschid, with whom he might have treated, but not having felt assured of the respect which these relatives of the chief of the Alaouins could command, he negotiated at the same time with Aboudjazi, the chief of a portion of that important tribe, and who, according to the report of the Arabs, would have great influence over the Fellahs of Wady Mousa. These six chiefs of the encampment, relatives or allies of the principal chief, came after him mounted on dromedaries, and attended by two men on foot. Our Tohrat mingled with his narrative a description of the astonishment which he felt on seeing the horses, the tents, and the numerous herds of that rich and warlike tribe, and also of the eloquence and address which he made use of in order to induce the chiefs to aban don fora while their tents and their own interests, and to come and be our guides. In spite of the ex cellence of these arrangements, we were dissatisfied at not having Akmed-Raschid with us, of whose good faith, and of whose power over these tribes, which are bound together by the most fragile bonds, we had heard so much. Under his guid ance we should have been free from all alarm ; whereas, under the protection of the others, we could not be without feelings of distrust. About three o'clock the Alaouins were an nounced. We went up to the governor's in order to receive them with greater form. From his terrace we saw them enter the court, where they made their dromedaries lie down, leaving them at ARRIVAL OF THE CHIEFS. 125 the same time to the care of two pedestrian attendants. There was, in the arrival of these chieftains, in the appearance of their simple and tattered garments, their expressive features, the fantastic and gaily coloured ornaments of their camels, and in the respectful salutations of all the people of the fortress, who collected around them, something antique and scriptural. Jacob and his sons, on their way to Egypt, the Magi arriving from remote regions, or those kings of Arabia so often mentioned in the Bible, seemed to be pic tured in these chiefs of the desert. They hastened, the eldest leading the way, towards our bastion. We received them at the top of the steps after the fashion of the Bedouins, that is to say, taking their right hand, and raising it to the forehead : when we were all properly placed, we then squatted on the ground. The governor, who had gone to put on his best red benisch, a kind of large pe lisse, came and joined us, and saluted each in turn. During these first forms of custom between the parties arriving and receiving — forms sufficiently in sipid and fatiguing — I examined, with some atten tion, the figures and features of our guests, in order to satisfy myself as to the sort of people to whose care we were about to intrust ourselves. At first sight, the impression which they made was by no means favourable : there was something savage and haggard in their appearance, which offered a disad vantageous contrast even to that of our Tohrats and of the people of the fortress. What struck me most 126 ABOUDJAZI. was the astonishing resemblance between these per sons and all the Arabs of Syria whom I had yet be held. They appeared to be all members, in fact, of the same family. He who appeared to be treated with the greatest respect, who advanced at their head, was spokesman on all occasions, and from his age alone would have attracted attention, was Aboudjazi, the chief of a great part of the tribe. He was a little old man with a white beard, whose delicate features and cheerful look indicated great benevolence. His costume was characterised by all the simplicity of the desert : the only thing he wore by way of refinement was a piece of white muslin round his kefieh. He held in his hand a staff of that ancient form which may be - found among the hieroglyphics, and which is still so com monly used by the Bedouins of Syria, that at Damascus the preparation of these staffs is a trade of itself, and has a separate bazar. After Aboudjazi, came Omar Abou-Raschid, bro ther of Akmed-Raschid. His dress differed from that of the others, and closely resembled the cos tume usually worn among the inhabitants of towns. His dark beard and eyebrows, as well as his coarse and prominent features, were indicative rather of cold malignity than of any other sentiment. An other, who was named Ackmed, added to a mild expression of countenance frank manners, and a chivalrous air, which from the first moment pre possessed us in his favour. The others were dis tinguished by no striking peculiarities. Squatted SUPPER. 127 in such a manner that they allowed neither their hands nor their feet to be seen, their figures were hidden beneath the fragments of their kefiehs, and nothing was distinguishable except their pene trating eyes. Altogether they exhibited a grave and mysterious appearance, caused in some degree by the embarrassment which they felt in finding themselves within the walls of a fortress, and in the presence of strangers. Old Djazi told us that he was a good deal fatigued, that he had travelled almost constantly day and night, and that the heat and the ramadan had rendered the journey one of difficulty to him. They were asked if they had met any Arab or seen any encampment on their route. Nothing was talked of at first except trivial matters, which had no connection whatever with the real object of their arrival. This reserve was practised on both sides, with a view not unnecessarily to awaken attention to the only subject of real importance to us, and to prevent discussions and complaints concerning those sorts of arrangements in which particular interests and ill-defined rights frequently come into collision. At sunset an enormous dish of rice was served in the governor's gallery, together with a sheep, which we had ordered to be cooked in different ways, and to be served on several dishes. The slave who bore them reminded us, by his features and attitudes, of the graceful paintings seen on the Egyptian monuments. 128 A DIVAN. The charm of this resemblance was far from injuring the originality of the picture. Fifteen persons sat down in a circle, and from the moment the first sound of the Bismillah was pronounced, the new-comers might be easily distinguished by their peculiar voracity. The oblique position which, in consequence ofthe number ofthe guests, each person was obliged to assume, offered no impediment to the rapid movements of their right arms, which seemed to increase in number while they were constantly plunging into the pilau. When the repast was over, an adjournment took place to the governor's wainscotted gallery, which was lighted by a few lamps. The governor, Aboudjazi, and we were seated at the extreme end ; the different chiefs of the Alaouins, our Toh rats, some other Arabs, and the people of the fortress, followed, forming a circle round the cham ber ; the door was crowded by persons who could find no other place. My dragoman took his seat in the middle of the circle, in order to explain to us such words as we did not understand, and to assist when our knowledge failed to supply us with the expressions of which we stood in need. It NEGOTIATIONS. 129 was in this manner that we formed what was called a divan, and that we proceeded to negotiate the conditions upon which our journey was to be per formed. The first question was put on our side, our ob ject being to know if we could go to Wady Mousa mounted on our dromedaries. Aboudjazi assured us that we could ; adding, at the same time, that he would be answerable for them, and would look upon them as his own. We would, undoubtedly, have been perfectly satisfied with this promise ; but our Tohrats forthwith proceeded simultaneously to exclaim, and to protest that they would not enter a territory where they had no guarantee for their safety. On the other side, the Alaouins voci ferated that they had nothing to fear, inasmuch as engagements were made in their behalf in the presence of the governor and the topschi (the gunner). "And," cried out Hussein solemnly, standing up at the same time, " if one of our party be killed, we shall have two Alaouins in exchange." Upon this the clamour became still louder ; each man was anxious to take part in the discussion, and ranged himself on one side or the other. We knew not how to obtain a hear ing ; and to put an end to this uproar, as our Tohrats no longer listened to us, we arose and returned to our apartments, doubting whether some obstacles to the completion of our journey might not pro ceed from our own guides. They followed us ; but judge of our astonishment when we were alone, on seeing them break out into a burst of K 130 ARRANGEMENTS. laughter, saying that all this clamour was nothing more than a ruse, in order to compel the Alaouins. to pay strict attention to their promises, and to establish, before setting out, all the conditions of the bargain in the most positive manner. They added, that they had quitted Cairo to accompany us during our journey, and that they, risked not only their dromedaries but their heads if it failed. We paid no further attention to the submissiveness which they showed on this occasion ; they had already accustomed us to it, and we had no rea son to think it insincere. It only remained for us to admire the tactics by which they contrived to conceal their real fears under the mask of simulated passion throughout this discussion. The whole of this comic scene, so characteristic of the manners of these tribes, served as a lesson to us for the future, teaching us to extract all the benefits we could from the " hubbub wild" of these Arabs. We then returned with all due gravity to the divan, having, as we wished it to be supposed, succeeded in persuading our guides to come to terms ; and it was arranged that we should go to Wady Mousa, to Mahan and Shobek, in short, to every place under the authority ofthe Alaouins. Old Djazi seemed, however, dissatisfied with our wishing to visit Shobek ; alleging that he was un willing to conduct us thither, as his people had killed one of its inhabitants the year before, and he was apprehensive of reprisals. We were, never theless, upon the whole, well pleased with the BURCKHARDT. 131 frankness and civility which these people exhi bited on this occasion ; and we had nothing more to insist upon, except a clear understanding as to the time we were to remain at Petra. We were re solved on having this point fixed beforehand, and to make it one of the conditions upon which the liberality of our reward should depend when we returned. A sojourn for any time in the valley of Mousa was denied to all our predecessors ; but it was the only means by which we could hope to render our journey useful. We did not intend merely to see Petra, but also, as our Arabs said, to carry it away in our portfolios. This matter was attended with as little difficulty as the others. " Please God," exclaimed old Djazi, " you shall remain there twenty days — a month if you like ! " No bargain was made as to the amount of pecu niary compensation we were to give : that was left over for future settlement, according to the dis cretion of each party. Our departure was fixed for the next day. A conversation arose about the travellers who had preceded us to Wady Mousa. We ques tioned our new friends as to Burckhardt's visit : they did not remember having seen or heard of any Frank at that period. We the more admired the circumspection of that celebrated traveller, who had thus succeeded so well by his costume and manners in deceiving a people who are always ou the watch for strangers. We next spoke of the Europeans who had penetrated ten years before into the mysterious valley, under the guidance of k 2 132 THE FELLAHS. their relative Akmed-Raschid. We alluded to the journey of Mr. Banks and his companions, of whom we were anxious to hear some details. But we no sooner entered on this subject, than we found it was peculiarly disagreeable to the Ala ouins. There was a confusion in their replies, which clearly gave us to understand that they wished we should pass to some other topic. They seemed to be in the presence of witnesses before whom they were desirous of keeping their mouths shut. Djazi himself made no answer at all. We did not discover the reason for this mystery until afterwards. We terminated the conversation by alluding to the visit of Messrs. Strangways and Anson to the ruins. We learned that these two travellers reached Wady Mousa under the guid ance of a single Arab from Gaza, and that they had not been at all annoyed by the peasants of the place, except for the purpose of procuring presents from the strangers (baxisch). This information led us to hope that we should meet with no difficulties on our journey : never theless, when we interrogated our new friends as to the character of the Fellahs, the inhabitants of Wady Mousa, they did not conceal their opinion, and it wasobvious that, under an air of affected contempt, they really felt a strong apprehension of the evil disposition of that people. The pro digious number of their guns was again and again adverted to in the replies which we received. It was late when we retired. We proposed that the chiefs of the Alaouins should sleep in our BED OF THE ALAOUINS. 133 apartments, but they all declined our offer, and went down to the court, where they lay down be side their camels. This simplicity of manners, preserved without change through so many ages, could not but excite our admiration, when we reflected that these chiefs, who exercise dominion over a vast tract of territory, who by merely pro nouncing an order might cause the caravans of Mecca to be stopped or plundered, nevertheless travelled like the most humble camel-drivers, sleep ing on the bare ground of the court, in the midst of the chambers which were offered for their use. k 3 134 CHAPTER IX. PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. — WADY ARABA. --— AN ARABIAN TALE. TENDERNESS TO ANIMALS. SCORPIONS OF THE WILDERNESS. PEDESTRIAN HUNT. — WADY GA- RANDEL. NIGHT SCENE. APPROACH TO PETRA. — VISIT OF MR. BANKS. ARABIAN POLICY. ENCAMPMENT OF PEASANTS. FIRST VIEW OF PETRA. — PROPHECY OF JERE MIAH. — MONUMENTS. The loss of time which was caused by the tardy journey of our messengers involved us in increased expenses, which it was impossible for us to dis charge with the money we then possessed. I therefore sent Mohammed, one of our guides, to Cairo, to whom I gave an order on M. Pacho, my banker, the amount of which he was to receive partly in Spanish dollars, partly in Venetian se quins. We calculated that Mohammed would require eight days to go, and as many to return ; and that allowing for other delays which he might meet with, he would probably be back at the for tress by the time we should ourselves return. Early the next morning M. Petit-Jean and my dragoman undertook to obtain provisions for us from the topschi. One would have supposed, from the injunctions, given to us on that subject by Aboudjazi, that we were to prepare for a voyage to the Indies. He assured us that we could not count on finding any resources whatever on the WADY ARABA. 135 way, because it would be necessary to avoid com municating with any of the inhabitants whom we might meet, as the plague was making frightful ravages amongst them. We were consequently obliged to purchase a large store of beans, flour, rice, butter, coffee, in short, every thing neces sary for the subsistence of eighteen men and fifteen camels for a period of twenty days, or, in other words, for a journey of two hundred leagues. The gunner, who sold us these provisions at a suf ficiently dear rate, evinced, however, every dis position to facilitate our arrangements. He agreed to receive nothing until the Arab should return whom we had sent to Egypt, contenting himself with our signature to a bill payable at Cairo, in case of death, which he demanded in a mere business like way, for the amount we now owed him. All our friends in the fortress embraced us in the kindest manner, wishing us a safe return; and the clamour occasioned by the cries of the camels, mingled with the discussions that usually arise during preparations for departure, did not subside until, arranged in a line, we set forth on our ex pedition. We soon left behind us the palm-trees, and on the left, the ruins of Elana, and a channel through which ran the waters of some neighbouring valleys. We then entered into Wady Araba, the plain of Elath and of Ezion Gaber, the' Scriptural route of the Red Sea, the usual road of the commercial caravans towards the entrepots which formed the communication between Aila and Syria. This k 4 136 ARABIAN TALE. extensive valley is as barren as the desert ^ never theless, at this time of the year, not yet long after the rainy season, a little verdure remjained on the small patches of earth which were formed here and there in the midst of the sand. We left on our right Wady Jetoum. Aboudjazi, who led our caravan, gave the signal for halting, by making his camel lie down not far from the extremity of the great valley of Cherif- Hadid. We had hitherto treated our guides with a certain degree of ceremony and respect ; but we now began to grow more familiar on both sides* and they gradually conformed to our manners. As the first mark of confidence which they reposed in us, they related, while we were all taking our coffee, a singular story which had some connection with the name of the neighbouring valley. The place where we were assembled, the starry heavens above us, a brilliant fire which gleamed on the auditory, and the form of the narrative, which I by no means pretend to imitate, bestowed upon the whole scene a peculiar charm. The tenor of the story was, that in the time of the Emir Diab there lived a Christian named Hadid, who occupied Wady Jetoum and the coun try to the east of it. He was at war with the tribes of Wady Araba, and erected in the middle of the valley a high wall to shut up the passage against his enemies. In addition to his splendid arms, his garments, and his plume of white feathers, Hadid possessed a beautiful horse, on which he descended by the valley, and suddenly attacked his enemies, TENDERNESS TO ANIMALS. 137 massacred and plundered them ; and after loading himself with booty, fled with all the rapidity which his courser could command, that animal being the only one in existence which could leap over his wall. The valley was soon filled with blood, and desolation began to spread around. It was for this reason that the Emir Diab came to the assist ance of the Arabs of the valley, and captured Hadid as soon as he reached the ravine, where we were now encamped; he then had his head cut off, and thenceforth the valley was called Cherif- Hadid. When this tale was over, the endless details of which I have omitted, each drank a cup of coffee, and having smoked a pipe, rolled himself up in his cloak and went to sleep. The night passed over quietly, and the cold of the morning had warned us to rise, when we found beneath the carpet which formed our bed a large scorpion of a yellow colour, and three inches in length. When he was detected, he endeavoured to effect his escape, though not with a rapidity suffi cient to ensure his safety : but our Arabs did not wish that he should be killed. I had already observed, on other occasions, a singular feeling of benevolence amongst these people ; but I did not imagine that it extended to such obnoxious ani mals. It is remarkable, that a religion fraught with enthusiasm, founded by the force of arms, by con quest and the effusion of blood, and which main tains itself by its fanatical and warlikfe spirit, should have adopted and preserved principles of so much amenity. In a country where the life of man 138 SCORPIONS. weighs so lightly in the scale of power, one is - astonished to meet with so much tenderness towards the inferior animals, even those which religion pro scribes, or which are troublesome, and sometimes dangerous from their habits of attacking every thing that comes in their way. The Alaouins told us that scorpions and serpents abound in this part of the desert. When the Israelites were defeated by the Amalekites and the Cananeans, and refused admis sion into the country of the Edomites, they de scended into Wady Araba, the way from the Red Sea, in order to turn Idumea. Already wearied by the continued privations which they experienced during an expedition that appeared at first so invit ing, from the fertility of the countries they passed through, on arriving in this valley their sufferings were still farther augmented by the multitude of serpents which assailed them on all sides. The fact thus recorded in the Scriptures is fully confirmed by the report of the Arabs, as well as by the vast numbers of those reptiles which we found two leagues to the east of this place, on our return to Akaba. These reptiles are expressly mentioned in Deu teronomy : — " Who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water t who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint ?"a 8 viii. 15. SCORPIONS. 139 In the book of " Numbers " mention is made of Mount Akrabbim, that is to say, of the mount of scorpions, situated to the south of the Dead Sea : — " And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin." The same name occurs in Joshuaa and in the book of Judges. b The mountain took its name from the quantity of serpents found in its neighbourhood. It is not necessary to go into any detail here as to the various researches of which the serpent has been the subject : it will be sufficient to state, that the " fiery serpents" are so called in a metaphorical sense, from the burning effect of their bites. While pursuing our course through the bottom of the valley, in order to avoid the rocks collected at the mouths of the ravines which opened into it, we passed near a marshy place, where we observed a group of palm trees, an Arabian cemetry, and other tokens of former cultivation. As this spot afforded some resources to the traveller, it was probably a halting place on the road from Aila to Jerusalem, Gaza, and Rhinocolura. Its position corresponds to that of the Gerassa of Ptolemy, and also to that of Rasa, set down in the tables of Pentinger as at the distance of thirty-two miles from Aila. Having left behind us the valleys and the moun tains, wrapped our heads in our cloaks, and passed the Kefieh over the mouth, we braved the heat, proceeding silently, and in regular order one after another. Aboudjazi led the way, I was the second a xv. 3. b i. 36. 140 PEDESTRIAN HUNT. in the line ; and after having taken some notes, I became sleepy, being almost overcome by the burn ing sun, when I was suddenly roused from my reverie by Djazi, who leaped down from his camel and cried out " A hare, a hare! " In less than a second our Arabs were all on their feet, running, leaping over rocks, and following the windings which the unhappy animal made to effect its escape. The less active by degrees dropped off, and gave up the chace, which was left eventually to the care of Hussein, and one of the Alaouins who journeyed on foot, a sort of savage, whose name was Djideid. They kept on, flinging at the hare stones which they picked up as they ran along. After a course of about a quarter of an hour Hussein struck the poor fugitive with a stone, and immediately seized him, much to the delight of the Tohrats, who re joiced that one of their tribe had the advantage of the others. Order was soon restored, and the camels resumed their usual pace. On entering Wady Garandel a we halted. This » " The Wady Gharendel, two Moses first gave his followers the hours beyond Howara, where are sweet substance gathered in the wells among date trees, seems morning, which was to serve them evidently to be the station named for bread during their long wan- Elim, which was next to Marah, dering ; for the route through and at which the Israelites found Wady Taybe, Wady Feiran, and ' twelve wells of water, and three- Wady el Sheikh, is the only open score and ten palm trees.' And and easy passage to Mount Sinai it is remarkable that the Wady from Wady Gharendel ; and it el Sheikh, and the upper part of requires the traveller to pass for the Wady Feiran, the only places some distance along the sea shore in the peninsula where manna is after leaving Gharendel, as we gathered from below the tamarisk are informed that the Israelites trees, accord exactly with that actually did, on leaving Elim." — part of the desert of Sin, in which Burckhardt, Pref. p. xiii. WADY GARANDEL. 141 valley exhibited by its verdure a most welcome contrast to the desolate wastes around it. A stream which descends from the heights, and loses itself at the distance of a few paces, nourishes a bed of rushes, some shrubs, and two palm trees.a a " At the end of three hours we reached Wady Gharendel, which extends to the N. E., and is almost a mile in breadth, and full of trees. The Arabs told me that it may be traced through the whole desert, and that it be gins at no great distance from El Arysh, on the Mediterranean, but I had no means of ascertaining the truth of this statement. About half an hour from the place where we halted, in a southern direc tion, is a copious spring, with a small rivulet, which renders the valley the principal station on this route. The water is disagree able ; and if kept for a nightin the water skins it turns bitter and spoils, as I have myself expe rienced, having passed this way three times. " If we admit Bir Howara to be the Marah of Exodus (xv. 23.), then Wady Gharendel is probably Elim, with its wells and date trees ; an opinion entertained by Niebuhr, who, however, did not see the bitter well of Howara on the road to Gharendel. The non-existence, at present, of twelve wells at Gharendel must not be considered as evidence against the just-stated conjecture; for Niebuhr says that his compa nions obtained water here by dig ging to a very small depth, and there was a great plenty of it when I passed; water, in fact, is readily found by digging, in every fertile valley in Arabia, and wells are thus easily formed, which are quickly filled up again by the sands. " The Wady Gharendel con tains date trees, tamarisks, acacias of different species, and the thorny shrub Gharkad, the Peganum re- tusum of Forskal, which is ex tremely common in this penin sula, and is also met with in the sands of the Delta on the coast of the Mediterranean. Its small red berry, of the size of a grain of the pomegranate, is very juicy and refreshing, much resembling a ripe gooseberry in taste, but not so sweet. The Arabs are very fond of it, and I was told that in years when the shrub produces large crops, they make a conserve of the berries. The Gharkad, which from the colour of its fruit is also called by the Arabs Hom- ra, delights in a sandy soil, and reaches its maturity in the height of summer when the ground is parched up, exciting an agreeable surprise in the traveller at finding so juicy a berry produced in the driest soil and season. Might not the berry of this shrub have been used by Moses to sweeten the waters of Marah ? The words in Exodus, xv. 25., are : ' And the Lord showed him a tree. 142 NIGHT SCENE. To the right of the valley, and on the southern side of its embouchure in Wady Araba, there are some ruins, the character of which it is difficult to determine. Every thing around them led me, however, to believe that they belonged to some fortress which defended on that side the entrance to Petra, and at the same time served as a protec tion to some establishment founded there for the convenience of commerce. We left this place in the afternoon, and for some hours travelled through a bleak wilderness. Night fell upon this miserable-looking country, as if to veil its desolation, when we halted. The caravan, already for some time much fatigued, was expecting impatiently the signal of repose. Djazi stopped ; and each man having caused his camel to lie down, and having relieved it from its burthen, chose on the sand the spot where he was to sleep. In a few minutes the animals formed a circle, in the middle of which we all lay down. A breeze which which when he cast into the wa- the Eedouins whether they ever ters, the waters were made sweet.' sweetened the water with the juice The Arabic translation of this of the berries, which would pro- passage gives a different, and, bably effect this change in the perhaps, more correct reading: same manner as the juice of pome- ' And the Lord guided him to a granate grains expressed into it. tree, of which he threw some- The bottom of the valley o£ thing into the water, which then Gharendel swarms with ticks, became sweet.' I do not remem- which are extremely distressing ber to have seen any Gharkad in both to men and beasts, and on the neighbourhood of Howara, this account the caravans usually but Wady Gharendel is full of encamp on the sides of the hills this shrub. As these conjectures which border the valley." — did not occur to me when I was Burckhardt, pp. 473, 474. on the spot, I did not inquire of MOUNT HOE.— AARON'S TOMB. APPROACH TO PETRA. 143 slightly agitated the surface of the desert, and the sound of the animals quietly ruminating around us, scarcely disturbed the magical stillness of the scene. We set out the next morning for the mysterious valley of Petra, that destination towards which all my hopes had been directed for nearly two years. Notwithstanding the security which we enjoyed, and the perfectly good understanding that prevailed between us and our guides, a singular uncertainty still existed as to the success of our enterprise, and as to the possibility of our experiencing that freedom from interruption so necessary to the ac complishment of our object. Every thing seemed to depend on the good or evil dispositions of the Fellahs of Wady Mousa, whose habits of life, at once submissive and tyrannical, looked upon with contempt and yet with fear, appeared to us un intelligible. At nine o'clock the tomb of the prophet Aaron was pointed out to us on the summit of Mount Hor, as well as the rocks adjacent to it, which overlook Wady Mousa. They are more jagged, and higher than the others, and seem to be the crest of the whole mass. The traveller pro ceeding from the south should distinguish between two peaks; that which contains the tomb ofthe prophet is higher, but at the same time less striking than an isolated peak to the west of it, overhung by a tree which is apt to deceive the observer with the idea of its being an edifice. From that moment we were no longer in Wady Araba. . We had already entered on a small plain 144 VISIT OF MR. BANKS. much intersected by channels formed by torrents in the rainy season. Our guides requested that we should halt here until the heat of the day should pass over : we consented the more willingly, as we had remarked some architectural remains on the top of a rock called El Aas6 ; but on examination they offered no object of any interest, save the trace of a tomb formed very much on the plan of those which we afterwards saw at Petra. It was probably the tomb of some distinguished inha bitant of a town, the ruins of which still exist in Wady Pabouchebe. We were at length about to take our departure for Petra, when an accident which occurred to M. Linant's camel, detained us until the next day. We took up our berths for the night beneath some rocks which projected so as to protect us from the dews. After dinner, and while Djazi was chatting with Omar, the three nephews of Akmed-Raschid came to while away the time with us. They attentively examined our instruments, our pencils, pens, and penknives, and, like so many children, were amused and astonished by the most insignificant objects. We took advantage of Djazi's absence to speak to them of the passage of Mr. Banks through these mountains, and of the resistance which he met from the Fellahs of Wady Mousa. The following are the details which they gave us on this sub-. ject, to which they would never allude in Djazi's presence. " That Christian," said Akmed in a low voice, he accompanied so well by his animated coun- VISIT OF MR. BANKS. 145 tenance, "came one day from Karak to the tents of my uncle, and said that he wished to go to Wady. Mousa to see the old buildings. Akmed-Raschid said in reply, that he would conduct him thither, and that he might remain there as long as he pleased. Old Aboudjazi, however, who at that time commanded nearly the half of our tribe, and was not upon good terms with us, learned at Gaza, where he happened to be, that Akmed was about to accompany an European to Wady Mousa. Having resolved on preventing Akmed from doing any such thing, he quitted Gaza, induced the Fellahs to join him, and persuaded them that the only object which the Frank had in view was to take away the treasures which he might find in the place, to dry up all the wells, and to prevent the rains from ever falling there again. They were thus prevailed upon to oppose his entrance into the valley ; even our uncle was told that he should not put his foot within Wady Mousa. Seven days passed in discussions upon this subject, in de mands on one side, and refusals on the other. At length the Christian said to Akmed-Raschid, ' They have guns, so have you ; let us see who is the stronger, and let us go on.' Our uncle com plied with his suggestion ; he directed all our horsemen to mount their horses, and we forced an entrance into the valley in spite of the guns of the Fellahs and their hollow rocks. But as we were continually annoyed by the inhabitants as well as by Aboudjazi's people, we were under the neces sity of quitting the valley the day after, and we 146 ARABIAN POLICY. brought away the Christian with us, who regretted our premature departure very much." I asked Akmed how long it was since they had. been reconciled to Aboudjazi; he replied that. they had been friends for some years, but that it was a political friendship, as at bottom they de tested each other cordially. We hoped that this good apparent understanding would last as long, at least, as we should be associated with them, and we congratulated ourselves on our good fortune in being about to visit Petra and its magnificent ruins. under the protection of the very person who had driven away our predecessors. Our fire arms were put in order; our camels were loaded, and our caravan proceeded, being resolved to force our way against the resistance which we expected to meet, but at the same time to avoid a collision, if we could, of which our guides were as apprehensive as ourselves. The valley of Pabouchebe grew narrower as we pro ceeded, its bed being deliciously shaded with large laurels, amongst which the heads of our camels, which were decorated with woollen ornaments of various colours, occasionally appeared and dis appeared. A spring, and some ruins resting on walls erected to support the original building, but which are undermined and impaired from year to year by the waters of the ravine, are observable on the right. The road becomes at every step more difficult, in consequence of its passing over the borders of the ravine, in which there are during the rainy season several magnificent waterfalls. ENCAMPMENT OF PEASANTS. 147 An encampment of three tents in front of us at tracted our attention ; the people to which they belonged fled the moment they saw us, but they soon returned on perceiving that we intended to do them no injury. They were under the impression that we were peasants from Gaza, which was at that period ravaged by the plague. Their apprehen sions gave us confidence ; we sat down amongst them, and purchased from them a kid. According to their report, there were no Fellahs in Wady Mousa ; the whole tribe confined themselves to their tents, on account of the violence of the plague. Of five hundred of them seventy had already fallen victims to the pestilence. Ours was rather a singular situation, the malady being an additional danger on which we had not calculated, and yet that danger was to be in fact one of the guarantees for our encountering no interruption. We wound round a peak, surmounted by a single tree. The view from that point exhibited a vast frightful desert — a chaotic sea, the waves of which were petrified. Following the beaten road, we saw before us Mount Hor **, crowned by the tomb of a " About the beginning of after their arrival, ' at the time May, in the fourteenth month of the first ripe grapes,' or about from the time of their departure the beginning of August, spies from Egypt, the children of Israel were sent into every part of the quitted the vicinity of Mount cultivated country, as far north Horeb, and under the guidance as Hamah. The report which of Hohab, the Midianite, brother- they brought back was no less in-law of Moses, marched to favourable to the fertility of the Kadesh, a place on the frontiers land, than it was discouraging by of Canaan, of Edom, and of the its description of the warlike desert of Paran of Zin. Not long spirit and preparation of the in- L 2 148 MOUNT HOR. the prophet, if we are to credit the ancient traditions preserved by the people of that country. Several habitants, and of the strength of the fortified places ; and the Is raelites having in consequence re fused to follow their leaders into Canaan, were punished by that long wandering in the deserts ly ing between Egypt, Judea, and Mount Sinai, of which the sacred historian has not left us any de tails, but the tradition of which is still preserved in the name of El Tyh, annexed to the whole country; both to the desert plains, and to the mountains lying be tween them and Mount Sinai. " In the course of their resi dence in the neighbourhood of Kadesh, the Israelites obtained some advantages over the neigh bouring Canaanites ; but giving up at length all hope of pene trating by the frontier, which lies between Gaza and the Dead Sea, they turned to the eastward, with a view of making a circuit through the countries on the southern and eastern sides of the lake. Here, however, they found the difficulty still greater; Mount Seir of Edom, which under the modern names of Djebal, Shera, and Hesma, forms a ridge of moun tains, extending from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea to the gulf of Akaba, rises abruptly from the valleys El Ghor and El Araba, and is traversed from west to east by a few narrow Wadys only, among which the Gheoyr alone furnishes an entrance that would not be extremely difficult to a hostile force. This perhaps was the ' high way,' by which Moses, aware of the difficulty of forcing a passage, and endeavouring to obtain his object by negotiation, requested the Edomites to let him pass, on the condition of his leaving the fields and vineyards untouch ed, and of purchasing provisions and water from the inhabitants. But Edom ' refused to give Israel passage through his border,' and ' came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.' The situation of the Israelites, therefore, was very critical. Un able to force their way in either direction, and having enemies on three sides, (the Edomites in front, and the Canaanites and Amalekites on their left flank and rear,) no alternative remained for them but to follow the valley El Araba southwards, towards the head of the Red Sea. At Mount Hor, which rises abruptly from that valley, ' by the coast of the land of Edom,' Aaron died, and was buried in a conspicuous situa tion, which tradition has pre served as the site of his tomb to the present day. Israel then ' journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to com pass the land of Edom,' ' through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongeber,' until ' they turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab, FIRST VIEW OF PETRA. 149 large and ruinous excavations, which are seen in the way, may arrest the attention of a traveller who is interested by such objects, and has no notion of those still concealed from his view by the curtain of rocks which extends before him. But at length the road leads him to the heights above one more ravine, whence he discovers within his horizon the most singular spectacle, the mostenchantingpicture, which nature has wrought in her grandest mood of creation, which men influenced by the vainest dreams of ambition have yet bequeathed to the generations that were to follow them. At Palmyra nature renders the works of man insignificant by her own immensity and her boundless horizon, within which some hundreds of columns seem entirely lost; here, on the contrary, she appears delighted to set in her own noble frame-wrork his productions, which aspire, and not unsuccess fully, to harmonise with her own majestic yet fantastic appearance. The spectator hesitates for a moment as to which of the two he is the more and arrived at the brook Zered.' gulf. The Israelites then issued It may be supposed that they into the great elevated plains crossed the ridge to the south- which are traversed by the Egyp- ward of Eziongeber, about the tian and Syrian pilgrims on the place where Burckhardt remark- way to Mekka, after they have ed, from the opposite coast, that passed the two Akabas. Having the mountains were lower than to entered these plains, Moses , re- the northward ; and it was in this ceived the divine command part of their wandering that they ' You have compassed this moiin,- sufFered from the serpents, of tain long enough, turn you north- , which our traveller observed the ward.' " — Burckhardt, Preface traces of great numbers on the pp. xiv. xv. xvi. opposite shore of the __Elanitic L 3 150 PROPHECY OF JEREMIAH. to admire — whether he is to accord the preference to nature, who invites his attention to her match less girdle of rocks, wondrous as well for their colour as their forms, or to the men who feared not to intermingle the works of their genius with such splendid efforts of creative power. This would be a proper place for the introduc tion of details concerning the history of Petra, the vicissitudes which that entrepdt of a former world has undergone, and of its fall from a state of the utmost splendour to one of complete desolation ; but the subject is too interesting to be disposed of in a few hasty notices, and the developement which it would require would not be consistent with the limits of this work. I shall here merely remind the reader of the eventful prophecy of Jeremiah : — " Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock ; that holdest the height of the hill : though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, said the Lord." The excavations in the rocks and the character of the sepulchral monuments of Petra are calcu lated to excite a good deal of attention. Examples of similar constructions are to be found, however, in other countries. India and Egypt exhibit many temples and tombs of great extent wrought in a graceful and magnificent manner. Asia Minor, Syria, Cyrene, Greece, and the whole of the ancient world, furnish various combinations of works of this description ; we may even find them MONUMENTS. 151 amongst modern communities who have no idea of the fine arts. A hollow in a rock becomes their earliest abode : some external ornament marks their first step towards the attainment of style. But the monuments of Petra are now before us, and, perhaps, the best commentary upon them will be a succinct description of the principal objects which will be found represented in the plates. L 4 152 ccTxx ]':r\^cmM'-'- ISOLATED COLUMN. CHAPTER X. PLAN OF PETRA. TOMB IN TWO STYLES. — ISOLATED COLUMN. TOMB LEFT UNFINISHED. — RUINS OF A TEMPLE MONU MENTAL RESIDENCE. RIVER OF PETRA. TRIUMPHAL ARCH. COLOSSAL TEMPLE. — A THEATRE. DEFILE OF PETRA. GREEK INSCRIPTION. — THE KHASNE. TREA SURY OF PHARAOH INTERIOR OF THE KHASNE. VIEW OF THE ARCH FROM THE RAVINE. J- he reader should place before him the map of Petra, in order that he might the more clearly comprehend the mode in which we spent our time there. We arrived from the south, and descended PETRA. 153 by the ravine which presents itself near the border or margin below. By advancing a little in that direction we commanded a view of the whole city covered with ruins, and of its superb enclosure of rocks, pierced with myriads of tombs, which form a series of wondrous ornaments all round. Astonished by these countless excavations a, I a " Some hundred yards be low this spring begin the out skirts of the vast Necropolis of Petra. Many door-ways are vi sible, upon different levels cut in the side of the mountain, which towards this part begins to as sume a more rugged aspect; the most remarkable tombs stand near the road, which follows the course of the brook. The first of these is on the right hand, and is cut in a mass of whitish rock, which is in some measure insu lated and detached from the general range. The centre re presents the front of a square tower, with pilasters at the cor ner, and with several successive bands of frieze and entablature above ; two low wings project from it at right angles, and pre sent each of them a recess, in the manner of a portico, which con sists of two columns, whose capi tals have an affinity, with the Doric order, between correspond ing anta_; there are, however, no triglyphs above. Three sides of a square area are thus en closed ; the fourth has been shut in by a low wall and two colossal lions on either side of the en trance, all much decayed. The interior has been a place of sepulture for several bodies. On the front are little niches and hollows cut, as if for the recep tion of votive offerings. Farther on, upon the left, is a wide facade of rather a low proportion, loaded with ornaments in the Roman manner, but in a bad taste, with an infinity of broken lines and unnecessary angles and projec tions, and multiplied pediments and half pediments, and pedestals set upon columns that support nothing. It has more the air of a fantastical scene in a theatre than an architectural work in stone ; and for unmeaning rich ness, and littleness of concep tion, Mr. Banks seemed to think, might have been the work of Boromini himself, whose style it exactly resembles, and carries to the extreme. What is observed of this front is applicable, more or less, to every specimen of Roman design at Petra. The door-way has triglyphs over the entablature, and flowers in the metopes. The chamber within is not so large as the exterior promises ; it has a broad, raised 154 TOMB IN TWO STYLES. dismounted from my dromedary, and sketched a tomb which seemed to me to combine in itself two characters, each of which may be found separately in those by which it is surrounded ; the upper part being in the Syriaco-Egyptian style, the lower part decorated in the Graeco-Roman fashion. To the right of this monument, and at a short distance from it, are found two tombs entirely de tached from the rock of which they originally formed a part. Behind that which terminates in a point there is a sculptured stone in the form of a fan, and which appears, though at some distance, to be an ornament belonging to the first, for I could discover no other to which it could apper tain. These monuments are more particularly connected with the mode of excavation in use among the Indians. platform round three sides, on which bodies were probably dis posed. Immediately over this front is another of almost equal extent, but so wholly distinct from it that even the centres do not correspond ; the door-way has the same ornaments. The rest of the body .of the design is no more than a plain front, with out any other decoration than a single moulding. Upon this are set, in a recess, four tall and ta per pyramids ; their effect is singular and surprising, but com bining too little with the rest of the elevation to be good. Our attention was the more attracted by this monument, as it presents, perhaps, the only existing ex ample of pyramids so applied, though we read of them as placed in a similar manner on the sum mit of the tomb of the Macca bees, and of the Queen of Adia- baene, both in the neighbouring province of Palestine. The in terior of the mausoleum is of moderate size, with two sepul chral recesses upon each side, and one in form of an arched alcove at the upper end ; a flight of steps leads up to the narrow ter race upon which it opens." — Irby and Mangles, pp. 405, 406, 407. ISOLATED COLUMN. 155 Still proceeding along the bottom of the ravine towards the north, we observed on our left an un interrupted line of elevated rocks, the numerous excavations in which, wrought in a variety of styles, continued at every step to excite our astonishment. On quitting the ravine which turns on the left into the mountain, we ascended by a gentle acclivity ; when we arrived at the top, we discovered another series of magnificent monuments, but at the same time in a condition nearly resembling the mass of ruins which cover the ground beneath. Before descending to the bottom of the valley, let us look back for a moment at the road which we have just traversed, beginning with the isolated column which appears to be a part ofthe ruins of an ancient temple, some of the columns and the out ward wall of which are still distinguishable. The long wall of rock extending on the right, of which hardly any notion can be formed from the necessarily limited view of it in the engraving, excited our wonder more and more by the pro digious number of* (ombs that ornamented its divisions. It is impossible to describe the impres sion which this picture, in its natural state, pro duces on the mind, surrounded as it is on all sides by the stillness of death. The Arabs, who show through their monotonous life little feeling for the vicissitudes of empires, have given this ruin a ridiculous, indeed an in decent name, which has no connection whatever with its original destination, and yet seems not ill applied to it in its state of decay : to prove the 156 TOMB LEFT UNFINISHED. utter fragility of our works, besides the injury capable of being wrought by time, only one thing more is wanting — the ridicule of mankind. Wav$s3 v*vK\ * - k«. TOMB LEFT UNFINISHED AT PETRA. We searched amongst this multitude of tombs, now open to every visiter, for one which might afford us a convenient place of residence. We had thus before us a complete picture of life: a journey — its halting place, the grave. While pass ing along these rocks, we perceived, at a short distance from the ruined temple, an excavation, the unfinished state of which attracted our attention. It afforded a clue to the plan which was pursued in the construction of the other monuments. The TOMB LEFT UNFINSHED. 157 rock was at first cut down in a perpendicular di rection, leaving buttresses on each side, which pre served their original form. The front, which was thus made smooth, was next marked out, according to the style of the architecture adopted for the pur pose ; and then the capitals of the columns were fashioned. Thus the monuments of Petra, so pe culiar in their appearance, and so different in many respects from other ruins of antiquity, are still more strongly characterised by the extraordi nary mode in which they were constructed, the workmen beginning at the top and finishing at the bottom. It was, in fact, necessary to proceed in that way, by separating from the rock the upper part of the column in the first instance, allowing the weight of the material to rest on the ground until the monument was completed. With respect to the tomb in question, it seems probable that the great expenee of the work, ex ceeding perhaps the means of the family to which it belonged, caused them to give up the idea of completing it externally. A large door, however, was opened at the bottom, where an entire chamber was excavated ; and the places for bodies which were formed in it show that in its actual condition, whether good or bad, it was made use of for the reception of the dead. It was truly a strange spectacle, — a city filled with tombs, some scarcely begun, some finished, looking as new and as fresh as if they had just come from the hands of the sculptor ; while others seemed to be the abode of lizards, fallen into ruin and covered with brambles- 158 RUINS OF A TEMPLE. One would be inclined to think that the former popu-» lation had no employment which was not connected with death, and that they had been all surprised by death during the performance of some funeral solemnities. Descending by a declivity, where all sorts of debris were mingled together, we passed by the south-eastern angle of a temple, the remains of which, though not in good preservation, attract the more attention, inasmuch as it is the only build-, ing among all the edifices of the place which con tinues standing. The point of view from which M. Linant has sketched it appeared to me inte resting, because it presents a frieze and cornice in very good taste, which may give an idea of the style. The other details, with which the interior of this building was overloaded, were in stucco plastered on the wall. These have been destroyed by time. Some traces of the ornaments are dis cernible, but they are too imperfect to furnish the subject ofa drawing. I sketched the same temple, placing myself in front of it, so that I might represent the details of the cornice, and the disposition of the peristyle. A paved way, which is well preserved in many- places, though in others it has yielded to the plough, extends to some distance to the east of this temple, along the border ofthe brook of Wady Mousa. The Arabs have called this ruin the Palace of Pharaoh ; indeed they have named the whole of the ruins of this ancient city from the generic appellations of the great kings. __ .= RUINS OF A TEMPLE. 15*. r **-*¦_._•_ INTERIOR OF THE KHASNE. 171 with oxyde of iron. Its preservation is due to the protection which the adjacent rocks and up per vault afford it against the winds and rains. The statues and the bases of the columns alone ex hibit signs of deterioration, caused by humidity, which corrodes the parts that are most in relief or are nearest to the earth. It is to this influence we are to attribute the fall of one of the columns, which was attached to the pediment ; it would have drawn down with it the whole monument if it had been built, and not hollowed out from the rock. Hence only a void has been occasioned, which does not impair the general effect. The prostrate fragments were rather useful to us in their fallen state, inasmuch as they enabled us by the dimensions of the shaft and capital to ascer tain the probable height of the column, which we could not otherwise have fixed with any pre cision. On beholding so splendid a front, we expected that the interior would correspond with it in every respect; but we were disappointed. Some steps lead to a chamber, the door of which is seen under the peristyle : although regularly chiselled and in good proportion, the walls are rough ; the doors, have no frame- work ; the whole, in fact, seems to have been abandoned as soon as it was executed. There are two lateral chambers ; one of which, to the left, is irregularly formed ; the other presents two hollows, which appear to have been intended for two coffins, perhaps those of the founders of the monument, which were placed provisionally in 172 ARCH OVER THE RAVINE. this little rock, until the more magnificent recep tacle which they had in their vanity intended for themselves should be completed. The brook, which flowed with a gentle murmur at the foot of this wonderful effort of human la bour, reminded us that we had still to explore the ruins which surround its source and border its current on both sides. Our guides went before us, occasionally calling out attention to the large slabs, indicating here and there the ancient pave ment, which conferred upon the ravine, though at present so savage in its appearance, and incum bered by ruins, the character of a fine avenue created by nature, and improved to magnificence by the skill and industry of man. After making many turns through this almost subterraneous street, the rocks at the top nearly touching each other, and after having already felt a degree of admiration which seemed incapable of being ex ceeded, we were enchanted by the view of an obj ect which I should in vain endeavour to describe. A grand triumphal arch, erected over the ravine after the fashion of the ancients, who usually con structed similar arches at the entrance to their cities, boldly spans the two lofty walls of rock on each side. The savage wildness of the situation has no parallel. The impression which it produces at the moment of entering this almost covered way is inexpressible."1 a A view of this arch on the ravine is given in the Landscape Illustrations to the Bible. ARCH OVER THE RAVINE. 173 The novel arrangement of this arch induced me at first to suppose that it served as a bridge from one side of the ravine to the other, or as a conduit for the waters to an aqueduct which was formed along the face of the rocks. I ascended to it by a steep and rugged path with great difficulty ; but I found nothing to justify the idea that the arch had been intended for any other purpose than as an ornament to the capital. 174 PYRAMIDAL TOMBS. CHAPTER XI. THE FELLAHS. PETRA FROM THE RAVINE. — CORINTHIAN TOMB. — LATIN INSCRIPTION STAIRS IN THE MOUNTAIN. — EL DEIR.. — VIEW FROM EL DEIR. — ACROPOLIS. — SPIRAL STAIRS. — INTERIOR OF A TOMB. DEPARTURE FROM PETRA TOMB OF AARON. While I was engaged in drawing, our guides acted the part of sentinels ; apprehensive every moment of discovering a band of those Fellahs whose fire arms and turbulence of disposition were the continual theme of conversation. To these ap prehensions was added the fear of the plague ; and as we were now approaching their habitations, it was no slight token of fidelity on the part of our guides to accompany us in this advanced recon- PETRA FROM THE RAVINE. 175 naissance. We found in the course of our expe dition a funereal monument surmounted by some small pyramids or obelisks, the only example of the kind we had observed among the ruins of Wady Mousa. We still went on amidst excavated rocks ; but the ravine gradually opened, the wall on each side became lower, and the brook irrigated a verdant pasturage intermingled with herbs, flow ers, fig-trees, and laurels. It would have been in teresting to trace to their fountain head those waters which issued forth to lave the feet of so many splendid monuments : at such sources the an cients were accustomed to erect altars dedicated to the nymphs. But to have gone any farther in that direction might have endangered our stay in the valley, and have attracted us to unprofitable re searches from the great monuments which we had as yet barely glanced at. We returned therefore by the way we went, the ravine every where offer ing us inexhaustible subjects for admiration : we examined the ancient pavement, Some small niches for urns, and an aqueduct wrought with great skill in the steep sides of the rock. The waters fol lowed a regular descent, more gentle than that of the ravine itself; and at an elevation of about thirty feet they passed through pipes of baked earth, partly broken away, but which might be repaired at a trivial expense if fresh inhabitants were to es tablish themselves in the valley. While thus returning, we could easilyimagine the impression which the Khasne seen for the first time would produce on those who arrive in the 176 , CORINTHIAN TOME. valley by its proper entrance **, and not as we did by steep ravines and clandestine ways ; then comes the view of the theatre, succeeded by a general prospect of the whole line of monuments majesti cally supported by the mountains. The monument which is first seen on the right does not present itself advantageously except from this point of view : I could not therefore have given it more in detail. What should be remarked especially in this tomb is the indefatigable labour which must have been expended on cutting away the declivity of so enormous a rock until a suf ficiently extensive surface could have been obtained for the execution of the plan on which the archi tect intended to proceed. In order to preserve in front of this monument a platform which might resist the effect of running waters, a wall was erected, and the terrace was extended by means of several ranges of arches. These two monuments, which are seen one after the other, and especially the first, appear to me to partake partly of the Egyptian style. A little farther on we observed in the mountain a monument of the Corinthian order, and beyond that a tomb with three tiers of columns, offering a singular series of ornaments, which constantly increase in height, dimensions, and boldness of style. This monument appears to be a bad imitation of the funereal edifice which the Arabs have called the Khasne. The dome in the middle and the pedi- a See a view taken from Mr. Banks's sketch — Landscape Illus trations of the Bible, vol. i. § 3 n : !' ' ' , " ,.l CORINTHIAN TOMB. 177 ment both exhibit a somewhat fantastic, though not disagreeable character. Being exposed to the inclemency of the weather, the rock must have been a good deal injured by it ; in fact, the waters have found their way through this tomb, and brambles have grown about it almost as high as its upper range of columns. Parasitical plants, lichens, and briars are at work to conceal from the eye these remains of human industry, forming, as it were, a winding sheet which nature spreads over our frail creations. At Petra man seems to have distrusted her rivalry, and therefore he formed his monu ments out of single blocks attached to a mountain. Nevertheless the bramble sometimes oversteps the summit of his edifice, extends itself over the cor nices, and covers the base of the columns, while the corrosion of the waters tends to hasten the pro gress of decay. GROUND PLAN OF THE CORINTHIAN TOMB. The interior of the tomb in question shares in 178 CORINTHIAN TOMB. the irregularity of its fa9ade ; the funereal chambers are rough, and without any traces of ornament. It has three tiers of columns. A little farther on a mass of rocks is excavated for receptacles of the dead. The same plate contains a view of a large monument of three rows of columns, which is seen behind the Corinthian tomb, and which it would have been interesting to have represented more in detail. The excavation of such a monument is a sin- gular spectacle : one cannot, however, but regret that so much labour should have been bestowed on a style of architecture so defective. And nevertheless, one should not judge of this monument by its present condition : it must have been formerly more elevated, for traces of erections which indicate its continuation to a greater height are still visible. One grand line connects these three tiers of columns, bestowing on them an as pect of combined grandeur, which compensates, perhaps, for the want of proportions, and for the irregularity of its different parts. The interior is divided into four chambers ; one of these was pre pared for four tombs, which are formed under an alcove: although unfinished, some traces of stucco seem to indicate that the chambers were ornamented. The exterior also shows in many places that the mo nument had been originally painted a white colour, though now it is yellow. This mode of embellish ment is explained by the circumstance that the rock from which the monument is excavated, though in itself one unbroken mass, is far from possessing the same uniform colour. The oxyde GREAT TOMB. WITH THREE ROWS OF COLUMNS. (No. 5 iii the Plau 1- Pkiha. TOMB WITH LATIN INSCRIPTION. 179 of iron, in filtrating through the freestone, forms large violet and bluish coloured veins, which run horizontally through the columns, interrupting their right line, and diverting the attention of the ob server from their architectural arrangement. Proceeding towards the north by the line of rocks, we descended by a gentle declivity to the foot of a ravine, which collects all the waters of this part of the valley, and conducts them to the brook of Wady Mousa. In this season of the year it was dry ; but some rocks collected at its mouth, the sands and the plants brought from the higher part of the ravine, show that in the rainy season its current is sufficiently rapid. The ancient inhabitants of Petra have availed themselves of a sort of rocky promontory, which stands between the plain and a small ravine, in order to form in it one of those tombs with which they have encircled their city. Its position is not its only merit, as the style in which it is constructed exhibits some graceful details. M. Linant designed another view of this tomb, rather nearer than mine. He has accurately represented the arrangement of the monument sustained by the mountain, and presenting, as a landing place, a terrace which is bordered by two flights of stairs, and which is reached by several steps. We found here a Latin inscrip tion in three lines, carved on a tablet, the only inscription we discovered at Petra. It is of im portance, as it gives the name of the officer, Quin- tus Prastextus Florentinus, who died in this capital N °Z 180 TOMB WITH LATIN INSCRIPTION. while he was governor of this part of Arabia. It appears to be of the time of Adrian, or of Anto ninus Pius. The sepulchral chamber does not contain, like the others, any kind of ornament, having been apparently intended not for a single individual, but for a whole family. TOMB WITH A LATIN INSCBIITION. Continuing our progress to the north, and as cending the small ravine above mentioned, we found several tombs, which call for no particular remark. On turning to the left we encountered a massive rock, entirely excavated and formed into tombs. Some exhibited external ornaments, the details of which I noted ; but they are in general EL DEIR. 181 less picturesque than those we observed in other parts of the valley. We returned by the Palace of Pharaoh, the site of the town, and the ruins of its buildings; and admired, as we passed, the arrange ments which had been made in order to render the declivities useful, as well as to facilitate the ascent and descent of the ravines. To finish our examination of the valley we had still to pursue our researches in the north-west, the west, and the south. Our guides conducted us at first to the north, by a ravine which at the open ing was wide, and planted with magnificent laurels ; it soon, however, became narrow, and was incum bered by rocks of enormous size. We should have found it impossible to go on, had it not been for the footways we discovered at every step, wrought by the indefatigable industry of the ancient inhabit ants. Nothing appeared to them too laborious that was calculated to facilitate access to the splendid funereal monuments which they found near the summits of the mountains. Roads suf ficiently wide were cut in the rocks, cascades were divested of their ruggedness, and a superb stair case extended over a space of more than fifteen hundred feet, in order to lead to the great tomb, which the Arabs call El Deir, or the Convent. No traveller had yet approached this monument. Burckhardt appears to have known nothing of it. Mr. Banks and his friends were unable to visit it a, * " There is no part of the light than the crags of Mount landscape which the eye wanders Hor itself, . which stand up on over with more curiosity and de- every side in the most rugged N 3 182 EL DEIR. and were obliged to content themselves with having seen it at the distance of half a league through a telescope. We were, therefore, the first to explore this astonishing work of art. Sculptured in relief on the rock, it exhibits a compact mass, a monolithe monument, in fact, of enormous dimensions, by way of ornament in front ofthe mountain. Its preservation is perfect; it would be difficult to say as much for its style. The vastness of its dimensions, however, compen sate in some degree for its defects ; and even the fantastic character which it presents is curious with reference to the history of the arts, when com pared with the different edifices which were con structed about the time of their revival. It forms a link between their decline in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and their restoration in the and fantastic forms ; sometimes the glass we made out the facade strangely piled one on the other, to be larger to all appearance than and sometimes as strangely yawn- that of the temple at the eastern ing in clefts of a frightful depth, approach, and nowise inferior to In the midst of this chaos there it in richness and beauty. It is rises into sight one finished work, hewn out of the rock, and seemed distinguished by profuseness of to be composed of two tiers of co- omament, and richness of detail, lumns, of which the upper range It is the same which has been de- is Ionic ; the centre ofthe monu- scribed as visible from other ele- ment is crowned with a vase of a vated points, but which we were gigantic proportion ; the whole never able to arrive at ; it bears appeared to be in a high state of north-east half north from this preservation ; it may perhaps be spot, but the number and intri- an ornament to the northern ap- cacy of the valleys and ravines, proach to the city, similarly situ- which we supposed might have ated to that on the eastern side led us to it, baffled all our at- from Mount Hor." — Irby and tempts. No guide was to be Mangles, pp. 438, 439. found. With the assistance of VIEW FROM EL DEIR. 183 fifteenth. Upon examination, one would be in clined to conclude that the projectors of this work, inspired by a purer taste than belonged to their age, had recourse not indeed to the fountain head ofthe arts, nor even to the beauties of some ofthe monuments which they might have found at home, and which might have served them as models, but only to that stage at which the architects went astray from the true and only path that conducted to perfection. Hence they made but a half step towards it, taking the scale of the art, not from its highest but its lowest degree ; thus returning to wards purity of style through the same gradations by which it had descended at the period of its de cline. While I was copying this grand architectural pro duction, M. Linant took its measurements ; we then examined its environs. In front of it there is a lofty rock, to which an artificial ascent is formed ; we found on the top, on a level platform, a line of columns, the bases of which are still in their places, and a subterraneous chamber, at the bottom of which there is a niche, sculptured with great care, though in an extremely defective style. From this platform we enjoyed a most extensive view ; the eye commanding, on one side, the monument of El Deir and the valley of Mousa, and on the other, the chaos of rocks which are piled at the foot of Mount Hor. The ravine, cut out into a staircase by the ancient inhabitants, was the only way by which we could return to the town : on all other sides, the rocks n 4 184 ACROPOLIS. are either precipitous, or rendered impassable by the wafers which run over them. Some peasants approached us ; but our fears of the plague pre vented us from seeking any information from them, of which, moreover, we observed very little promise in the discontented expression of their counte nances. We returned, therefore, by the way we came> except that we deviated into a ravine, in which our guides told us we should find another monument. A number of loose rocks brought down by the torrents, rendered the access to this tomb difficult We reached it, however ; and, although neither its size nor its form served to distinguish it particularly from the myriads of excavations which surrounded the city, we copied it, because the herbage in its neighbourhood, and, especially, a large tree in the foreground, impart to it a character somewhat different from that of the tombs generally seen in the valley. We made another detour in re turning, which enabled us to discover a road cut in the rock. We followed it for some time, but our guides assured us that it led only to different excavations, less remarkable than those which we had visited. Our course to the west, as we descended by the brook of Wady Mousa, introduced us to no object worthy of attention. We made the tour of the isolated mass of rock upon which the acropolis, or, at least, the strongest fortress intended for the de fence of the valley, was constructed. On the other side, the river regularly pursued the direction of APPROACHES TO THE MONUMENTS. 185 the ravine, amidst the most magnificent vines, laurels, and fig-trees. We had still to explore to the south of the town, which had been as yet beyond the pale of our ex>- cursions. Ascending by the current we passed in front of the theatre. We observed here the same indefatigable at tention, every where so remarkable, to the means for securing approaches to the monuments, which from their situation would have been otherwise inaccessible. An uninterrupted staircase is formed in the rock, through the different windings I have indicated in the following drawing with the TOMB WITH A FLIGHT OF STEPS. most minute care. We arrived at the top of the mountain on one side of the bastions of a fort, which formerly served to defend the city in that direction. The fort is in ruins ; it is built of stone ; and is uninteresting, except in so far as it affords an explanation of a small pyramid which we per- 186 SPIRAL STAIRS. ceived in the valley. Following the example of workmen, who, when excavating the earth, leave portions of it standing at intervals, the per sons engaged in building the fort, on quarrying the stone from the nearest matrix, have left a shapeless mass standing, as if to mark the height of the rock, from which they had taken their materials. The summit of this mountain is very high, and the prospect from it commands the mass of rocks through which the principal ravine extends, the village of the Fellahs, and the source of the river. While wandering about here, we came to the brow of another ravine, where we discovered a stair case, not only outside the rock, but also in its interior, in a spiral form. On leaving this we entered another ravine, and reached a small funereal monument, the disposition of which was remark ably simple ; there are steps to a little terrace, which leads to the peristyle ; we then entered a sepulchral chamber, which was lighted by a win dow formed in the roof. A strong wall has been constructed on the right, as a protection agamst the winter torrents, as well as against the enlarge ment of the ravine on that side, which would other wise have speedily undermined the monument. The patches of soil which have been collected behind it have been taken advantage of for the plantation of some trees,and the formation ofa small garden, which still exists, although without any aid from cultivation. To the left of the monument, the waters have hollowed for themselves a narrow INTERIOR OF A TOMB. 187 and precipitous bed, through which they find their way to a second stage of this new avenue of mo numents. The ancient inhabitants had formed a staircase and a gutter, in order to render this passage more easy; we profited of it, and thus discovered a tomb, the proportions of which appeared defective ; the columns are too large and too high to sustain so low a pediment. Some niches decorated with bas-reliefs representing warriors appeared worthy of notice. These niches have been filled with several layers of a kind of stone, different from that of the monument; and it is upon this inlaid wall that the three figures have been sculptured. Are we to con clude from this, that the monument passed from one family to another, and that it became necessary, in consequence, to alter the decorations ; or that it was deemed desirable to secure for these sculp tures a greater certainty of preservation, by select ing for them a species of stone of the most durable quality ? The latter opinion is rendered the more probable, inasmuch as in several monuments the cornices were thus inlaid. There is nothing worth notice in the interior. In front of this latter monument, and without anything to indicate it, except some irregular and broken openings, we found a tomb, the interior of which is calculated to excite attention, because it is unique in the valley, where, as I have already remarked, the monuments in general, however rich externally, present nothing in the interior except coarsely chiselled walls. It is unnecessary for me 188 INTERIOR OF A TOMB. INTERIOR OF A TOMB. here to explain the merit of the architectural de tails of this excavation ; the drawing gives a suffi ciently exact idea of them to render every other description superfluous. Through the openings, which time had considerably enlarged, we per ceived the monument with bas-reliefs formed in the rocks, which composed the other wall of the ravine. When the Fellahs descend into the valley, this tomb, which is easily closed, serves as a stable for their herds. Such are the uses to which these costly monuments of human vanity have been converted ! MONUMENTS OF PETRA. 189 The ancient inhabitants had constructed a wall to support the soil on a level, and thus to preserve a large and handsome terrace before these two mo numents. It was solidly built, for a part of it is still preserved ; and when the rains inundate the natural channels of the ravines, the waters leap in cascades over this barrier raised by the hand of man. After passing it, we obtained a more exten sive view ; the rocks gradually retired, and the valley opened ; on the right, however, we observed another monument, the style of which, however, is mediocre. If my object were simply to exhibit the most eminent of the objects which attracted our atten tion during our expedition, I should have felt a plea sure in selecting from the innumerable monuments of Petra those only which by their style were cal culated to gratify the admirers of the beautiful ; but I thought it right, during a tour through Arabia Petrasa, and especially through its capital, which formed the great object of our journey, to present a series of monuments in different styles, dating from different epochs. I pass over the difficulties we experienced during our sojourn in the valley, which we protracted in spite of warnings from some of the Fellahs, and menaces from others, who, besides the sinister intentions they openly avowed, threatened us with the contagion. Our Arabs, terrified by the idea of the plague, and moreover not finding amongst these ruins any thing of that interest which they 190 DEPARTURE FROM PETRA. had for us, seemed to be of opinion that they had amply fulfilled their engagements by having enabled us to make a stay of eight days in the valley. They then declared that it was time to go away; and we consented, on reflecting that we had accurately sur veyed this great labyrinth of ruins, and that to make any further delay would only endanger our acquisitions, and injure, by abusing it, the authority which we still preserved over our guides. The camels having accordingly been assembled around our funereal habitation, they were loaded ; and the whole of this strange caravan of curious tra vellers, who had encamped for eight days in the mystic valley of tombs, departed furtively in the evening, apprehensive, as it were, of disturbing the silence which dwelt amongst them. The isolated column projected its shadow to a distance, and we had scarcely reached the top of the ravine when the sun was gilding, with his last rays, the higher rocks and their singular ornaments. By degrees the ruins were concealed in the increasing shade, then the more elevated monuments and their more prominent points, until the whole disappeared in the darkness of night, leaving behind them that painful impression of melancholy on our minds, which is always felt at the moment when a sublime spectacle vanishes from the view. On ascending a small plain towards the south, we perceived the lofty mountain that commands all the neighbouring heights, on the summit of which tradition has preserved an ancient recollec- DEPARTURE FROM PETRA. 191 tion. " The Scriptures have the following pas sage, speaking of the sojourn of the Israelites in the desert : — * " No where is the extraor dinary colouring of these moun. tains more striking than in the road to the Tomb of Aaron which we followed, where the rock some times presented a deep, some. times a paler blue, and some times was occasionally streaked with red, or shaded off to lilac or purple; sometimes a salmon-co lour was veined in waved lines and circles, with crimson and even scarlet, so as to resemble exactly the colour of raw meat ; in other places there are livid stripes of yellow or bright orange, and in some parts all the different co lours were ranged side by side in parallel strata ; there are portions, also, with paler tints, and some quite white, but these last seem to be soft, and not good for preserv ing the sculpture. It is this won derful variety of colours observable throughout the whole range of mountains, that gives to Petra one of its most characteristic beauties ; the facades of the tombs, taste fully as they are sculptured, owe much of their imposing appear ance to this infinite diversity of hues in the stone. " We engaged an Arab shep herd as our guide, and leaving Abou Raschid with our servants and horses, where the steepness of the ascent commences, we began to mount the track, which is ex tremely steep and toilsome, and affords but an indifferent footing. In most parts the pilgrim must pick his way as he can, and fre quently on his hands and knees. Where by nature it would have been impassable, there are flights of rude steps, or inclined planes, constructed of stones laid toge ther, and here and there are niches to receive the foot-steps cut in the live rock ; the impression of pil grims' feet are scratched in the rock in many places, but without inscriptions. Much juniper grows on the mountain almost to the very summit, and many flowering plants which we had not observed elsewhere ; some of these are very beautiful ; most of them are thorny. On the top there is an overhanging shelf in the rock, which forms a sort of cavern ; here we found a skin of extremely bad water, suspended for drink ing, and a pallet of straw, with the pitcher, and the other poor utensils of the sheikh who resides here. He is a decrepit old man, who has lived here during the space of forty years, and occa sionally endured the fatigue of descending and reascending the mountain. The tomb itself is en closed in a small building, differ ing not at all in external form and appearance from those of Mahom- medan saints, common through out every province of Turkey. It has probably been rebuilt at no remote period; some small co lumns are bedded in the walls, and some fragments of granite and slabs of white marble are ly- 192 TOMB OF AARON. " And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto Mount Hor. " And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, " Aaron shall be gathered unto his people : for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. ing about. The door is near the south-west angle, within which a constructed tomb, with a pall thrown over it, presents itself immediately upon entering; it is patched together out of frag ments of stone and marble that have made part of other fabrics. Upon one of these are several short lines in the Hebrew cha racter, cut in a slovenly manner ; we had them interpreted at Acre, and they proved to be merely the names of a Jew and his family, who had scratched this record ; it is not probable that any professed Jew has visited the spot for ages past, perhaps not since the period of the Mahommedan conquest ; it may lay claim, therefore, to some antiquity, and in any case is a cu rious appendage to the testimony of Josephus on this subject. There are rags and shreds of yarn, With glass beads and paras, left as votive offerings by the Arabs. Not far from the north-west angle is a passage, descending by steps to a vault or grotto beneath, for we were uncertain which of the two to call it, being covered with so thick a coat of whitewash that it is difficult to distinguish whe ther it is built or hollowed out. It appeared, in great part at least, a grotto ; the roof is covered, but the whole is rude, ill-fashioned, and quite dark ; the sheikh, who was not informed that we were Christians — a circumstance which our guide was not aware of — fur nished us with a lamp of butter. Towards the farther end of this dark vault lie the two correspond ing leaves of an iron grating, which formerly prevented all nearer approach to the tomb of the prophet ; they have, however, been thrown down, and we ad vanced so as to touch it ; it was covered by a ragged pall. We were obliged to descend bare footed, and were not without some apprehension of treading on scorpions or other reptiles in such, a place." — Irby and Mangles, pp. 433—437. TOMB OF AARON. 193 " Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor : " And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son : and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. " And Moses did as the Lord commanded : and they went up into Mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation. (t And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son ; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. " And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel." a a Numbers, xx. 22—29. 194 CHAPTER XII. MOUNT HOR WADY SABRA. — RUINS. — NAUMACHIA. — PA NORAMA. — PREDICTED DESOLATION. — SUMMITS OF HOR. — NABATHEAN AGRICULTURE. — OLD ROAD TO MECCA. — IDUMEAN GRAPES LOCUSTS. PROPHECIES. AQUEDUCT OF GANA AMEIME CURIOUS EXCAVATION. — KING OF THE NEGROES. THE SIMOOM. By a variety of works on the road which -the Israelites pursued, works of too extensive a nature to be introduced into this publication, I found a remarkable coincidence between this position and the one which should be assigned to the Mount Hor of the Bible. The Arabs, so exact in their traditions, venerate the tomb of the prophet Ha- roun (Aaron), on the top of the mountain, even at the present day. Burckhardt pretended to have made a vow that he would sacrifice a goat to that saint, in order that he might have an excuse for his journey to Wady Mousa. But his guide re fused to conduct him farther than the plain, and forced him to consummate his sacrifice within view of the mountain. An old Arab, who acts as the guardian of that venerated place, dwells on the summit of the rock, and receives visits from the inhabitants of Gaza, and the Fellahs of Wady Mousa, who repair thither sometimes apparently for religious purposes, but oftener with a view to WADY SABRA. 19*> cultivate the scanty portions of soil which the terraces of the mountain offer to the industry of man. ¦ Our guides had promised to show us some old stones, by way of compensating us for the haste with which we had quitted the valley of Petra. Ac cordingly we had scarcely .proceeded an hour's distance down the rapid declivity of Wady Sabra, leading our dromedaries after us, when the sup porting walls, ruined buildings, and well preserved benches of a theatre attracted our attention. It was a propitious commencement of the new route ¦which we were about to traverse as far as Akaba. The ruins of Wady Sabra, as well as those of Wady Pabouchebe, indicate these places to have served as suburbs to the capital, — 'the young swarms sent forth from the parent hive. Had we been enabled to explore the whole of the valleys in the neighbourhood of Wady Mousa, we should, doubtless, have found on all sides similar establish ments, which the enormous population of Petra sustained. Here the character of the ruins marks a town of no importance, which, nevertheless, endeavoured to imitate, on a small scale, the sumptuous orna ments of the capital. Several temples, a wall of inclosure, a bridge, the fortification on the sum mit of the mountain, might, perhaps, have led a stranger to believe that the town had been one of some consideration, if the details of each of these buildings had not denoted its mediocrity. As an example of its inferiority in this respect, I need o 2 196 NAUMACHIA. only mention that we observed several columns of stone, Covered with a coating of plaster and lime, on which we found remains of the deep red colour with which they had been painted to imitate inlaid work. One of the ruins of this ancient town, which may be said, however, to be ofa higher order, and to display a greater degree of skill in its arrange ments, is the theatre, or, as I have called it, the Naumachia. It was not without surprise that we discovered in Arabia Petraea, in the midst of the desert, a naumachia for naval games. The inha bitants, annoyed every year by the torrents in the rainy season, which ravaged their plantations, be thought themselves of erecting barriers against them to restrain their violence. Considerable traces of these works may still be seen extendmg .across the valley. Observing that a part of the waters discharged themselves through an adjoin ing ravine, they took advantage of it in order to prevent them from passing away. The same efforts of labour, the same contempt for difficulties, which we had remaked in the valley of Petra, were here conspicuous. A reservoir was hollowed out from the rock, and benches were left in relief, cut with great regularity. I sometimes thought that the theatre might have been intended for two kinds of exhibitions. The overflow of the reservoir was conducted by a pipe into the arena of the theatre^ which was hewn perpendicularly to a depth of eight feet. Being coated with mastic, which is still well preserved, it would contain the water for NAUMACHIA. 197 the naval games, a singular entertainment in the midst of the general aridity of the desert. The quantity of water thus collected was doubtless in sufficient to resist for any length of time the heat ofthe sun, and the reservoir was too small to resist the entire evaporation of its contents. Thus the scene in front might probably have served to con tain the waters during one part of the year, and may have been used during the other as an arena for actors. The small dimensions of this inclo sure, the narrowness of the space within which the boats could have manoeuvred, induced me to doubt for an instant the possibility of such games having taken place here, and to look upon the reservoir as an ingenious means for cooling the theatre during the heat of the sun, so oppressive in this climate. But other peculiarities determined me to return to my first opinion. After having remained in this place the time ne cessary for finishing our surveys, we continued our journey towards the south ; traversing, near to their sources, all the valleys the embouchures of which we had seen in Wady Araba. The topographical details of these two journeys may be sufficiently collected from my general map of Arabia Petrsea, which has been drawn up with the greatest care. We next traversed a small plain, formed by the union, at one point, of several valleys ; after which we ascended, with difficulty, a steep accHvity in a zig-zag direction. On arriving at the top of the mountain, called El Nakb, we discovered a singular panorama. The whole country, to the distance of o 3 198 PANORAMA.' six leagues all "rounds exhibited itself in relief, in a; sort of trooping array ; the mountains, divided by- the valleys, appeared in bold ridges throughout thein entire length : we were thus enabled to judge of: their elevation, and . of the general aspect of the . country; the desolate character of which it is diffi-; cult to represent, even with the aid of the pencil.: Several prophets . have predicted the misfortunes of Idumea ; but the strong expressions of Ezekiel are- alone adequate to the description of this joyless- scene : — " Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, " Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it : " And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will; make thee most desolate. " I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be> desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. " Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword, in the time of their cala mity, in the time that their iniquity had an end. " Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee :, sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. " Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate,: and cut off from it him that passeth out, and him that return eth. PREDICTED DESOLATION. 199 " And I will fill his mountains with his slain men : in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers shall they fall that are slain with the sword. " And I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return : and ye shall know that I am the Lord. " Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it ; whereas the Lord was there : " Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and accord ing to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them : and I will make myself known amongst them, when I have judged thee. " And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to con sume. " Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me : I have heard them. " Thus saith the Lord God, When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. " As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will T do unto thee : thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it : and they shall know that I am the Lord." a *¦ Ezekiel, xxv. o 4 200 WADY ARABA. Wady Araba*1, a long plain of sand, descends from the Deiad to the Red Sea, in a regular and continued a " On issuing from this rocky country, wliich terminates the Djebel Shera, on its western side, the Wady Gharendel empties it self into the valley El Araba, in whose sands its waters are lost. This valley is a continuation of the Ghor, which may be said to extend from the Red Sea to the sources of the Jordan. The val ley of that river widens about Jericho, and its inclosing hills are united to a chain of mountains which open and enclose the Dead Sea. At the southern extremity of the sea they again approach, and leave between them a valley similar to the northern Ghor, in shape ; but which the want of water makes a desert, while the Jordan and its numerous tribu tary streams render the other a fertile plain* In the southern Ghor the rivulets which descend from the eastern mountains, to the south of Wady Szafye, or El Karahy, are lost amidst the gravel in their winter beds, before they reach the valley below, and there are no springs whatever in the western mountain ; the lower plain, therefore, in summer is en tirely without water, which alone can produce verdure in the Ara.- bian deserts, and render them habitable. The general direction of the southern Ghor is parallel to the road which I took in com ing from Khanzyre to Wady Mousa. At the point where we crossed it, near Gharendel, its di rection was from north- north-east to south-south-west. From Gha rendel it extends southwards for fifteen or twenty hours, till it joins the sandy plain which se parates the mountains of Hesma from the eastern branch of the Red Sea. It continues to bear the appellation of El Ghor as far as the latitude of Beszeyra, to the south of which place, as the Arabs informed me, it is inter rupted for a short space by rocky ground and Wadys, and takes the name of Araba, which it retains till its termination near the Red Sea. Near Gharendel, where I saw it, the whole plain presented to the view an expanse of shift ing sands whose surface was bro ken by innumerable undulations, and low hills. The sand appears to have been brought from the shores of the Red Sea hy the southerly winds ; and the Arabs told me that the valley continued to present the same appearance beyond the latitude of Wady Mousa. A few Talh trees (the acacia which produces the gum arabic), Tarfa (tamarisk), Adha, and Rethem, grow among the sand hills ; but the depth of sand precludes all vegetation of herb age. Numerous Bedouin tribes encamp here in the winter, when the torrents produce a copious supply of water, and a few shrubs spring up upon their banks, af fording pasturage to the sheep and goats ; but the camels prefer the leaves of the trees, especially the thorny Talh. SUMMITS OF HOR. 201 direction. This must evidently have been the bed of the Jordan, before the volcanic eruption took place which formed the actual basin of the Dead Sea. On the right bank, to the west, it is adjoined by Wady Gebb, the valley by which the Fellahs of Petra go to Gaza. On the eastern side we observed, in the midst of a small plain, the isolated rock of El Aase, surmounted by a tomb. More to the right a lofty rock rises in a conical shape, forming, as it were, the first rampart on the borders of Petra: there is a tree upon its summit. Following the same direction we perceive Mount Hor, the most elevated part of the mountain, on the summit of which the tomb of Aaron has been constructed. It is to the east of this point, inclosed, as it were, within a framework of rocks, that the city of Petra, the capital of the Nabatheans, is to be found. The picture, which is a sort of demi-panorama, is terminated by the great chain of mountains which separates Arabia Petaea from Arabia Deserta. " The existence of the valley could be procured at Hebron. El Araba, the Kadesh Barnea, Akaba, or JEziongeber, might be perhaps, of the Scriptures, ap- reached in eight days by the same pears to have been unknown both road by which the communication to ancient and modern geogra- was anciently kept up between phers, although it forms a pro- Jerusalem and her dependencies minent feature in the topography on the Red Sea, for this is both of Syria and Arabia Petraea. It the nearest and the most corn- deserves to be thoroughly inves- modious route, and it was by this tigated, and travellers might pro- valley that the treasuers of Ophir ceed along it in winter time, were probably transported to accompanied by two or three the warehouses of Solomon." — ¦ Bedouin guides of the tribes of Burckhardt, pp. 441, 442, 443. Howeytat and Terabein, who 202 NABATHEAN AGRICULTURE. Our course led over the ridges of these moun tains, having on our left, at an enormous depth below, the bottom of a valley, where the stones which were loosened by the tread of our animals resounded as they fell into the abyss. The country became more elevated as we advanced, and was, for the most, covered with a fertile soil. The herbage, increasing on all sides, indicated, at every step, the possibility of cultivation ; of which, indeed, we ob served some traces in heaps of small stones, which we found collected at intervals, and which seemed intended to mark the boundaries of fields. These tokens of industry may have belonged to that re mote age when Nabathean agriculture flourished ; a period too distant to be vaunted of in the Arabian authors. We stopped at the well of Dalege. At a short distance we found the ruins of a village ; the inhabitants of which, doubtless, succeeded in cultivating its environs at the time when the supply of the markets of Petra offered the opportunities of profit. The next day, proceeding towards the east, we reached the highest point of the moun tain, which commands,, on one side, the entire mass of rocks descending in the direction of Wady Araba ; on the other, the great plain of Arabia Deserta, which extends, apparently without any limits, towards Persia. What particularly strikes one at the first moment is, the difference in the level on the two sides of the mountain ; the one sinking rapidly into deep and rough ravines, — the other spreading around in a uniform plain, almost of the same height as the mountain itself. ROAD TO MECCA.' 203 We observed, on the summit, very distinct traces of an ancient road, which extends from the north east to the south-west ; or, rather, from Petra to Akaba. This was the ancient line of commercial intercourse from the Red Sea and Aila, the great entrepot of Petra. Afterwards it was frequented by the Mussulmen, on their way to Mecca, when Akaba was the rendezvous of the two great cara vans ; one from Gharb, or Africa, the other from the north. Aboudjazi was the first to give me this information : it was confirmed by the ruins of vil lages, forts, and cisterns, which were constructed principally for the use of travellers. On the declivity of the mountain we perceived other ruins of villages, which afford traces of having been inhabited at no remote period. Our guides told us that many such ruins were to be found in that direction. An abundant spring, and a reser voir near it, poured their waters over the plain, and served to irrigate the spots cultivated by the Fel lahs. The wonderful fertility of these rare patches of earth, in the midst of a sterile country, seemed intended to remind us that one day that region had been happy, when a powerful hand had not weighed upon it. There is to be found at Kerak a species of bearded wheat, that justifies the text of the Bible against the charges of exaggeration of which it has been the object ; and the vines, also, of this coun try, of the fruit of which we saw some specimens, account for the enormous grapes which the spies 204 IDUMEAN GRAPES. sent out by Moses brought back from the. places they had visited. i At the present day, in this land of malediction, nothing but the extreme misery of the inhabitants could urge them to cultivate the earth with such persevering industry as they do, seeing the many annoyances to which they are subject. First come the Bedouins ; a rapacious race, who are perpetu ally claiming from the poor agriculturist a portion of his produce, under the pretext of a lawful im post, in return for precarious protection : a most unjust demand, but exacted with too much au thority to be resisted. Next appears the locust ; who, despising the idea of an impost, approaches with his troops, and lays waste the whole country, spreading, as it were, the winding-sheet of death over every tract on which he lights. LOCUST. 205 The prophet was well acquainted with the nature of this terrible insect when he said, — " The field is wasted, the land mourneth ; Tor the corn is wasted : the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. " The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree lan guisheth ; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered." a " As the morning spread upon the mountains ; a great people and a strong : there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. " A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth : the land is as the garden pf Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. " The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses ; and as horsemen, so shall they run. ' Joel, i. 10.12. 206 PROPHECIES. " Like the noise of chariots on the tops of moun tains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. " Before their face the people shall be much pained ; all faces shall gather in blackness. " They shall run like mighty men ; they shall climb the walls like men of war ; and they shall march every one his ways, and they shall not break their ranks : "Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path : and when they shall fall upon the swofd, they shall not be wounded. " They shall run to and fro in the city ; they shall run upon the wall ; they shall climb upon the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. " The earth shall quake before them ; the hea vens shall tremble : the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining."-** Continuing our journey through an extensive hollow, which gradually became more elevated, we arrived at the wells of Gana, near which we re marked some ruins : they afforded no indication, however, of ^ any thing beyond a considerable village. On quitting this place, we pursued our way down the mountain ; observing with aston ishment, as we passed, the ancient aqueduct which conveyed the water from the wells of Gana and Guman to the town of Ameime, which " Joel, ii. 2—10. AMEIME. 207 was built in the plain on the road from Petra to Aila. This aqueduct, extending beyond three leagues, follows the level of the surface of the country, above which it never rises. It could only have been by attending most carefully to the undu lations of the soil, and by a remarkable proficiency in the scientific operations for taking levels, that the projectors were enabled to succeed in preserv ing a regular descent for the waters over so great a distance. Ameim6 presents a mass of ruins more con siderable than those of any of the villages which we had previously observed. They exhibit, how ever, no traces of monumental splendour ; and, as to the dwelling-houses, they seem only to have been constructed for one purpose — r the supply of provisions and water to the caravans which, for commercial or other objects, traversed this great route, and halted within the precincts of the town. Numerous excavations, which are found every where to the depth of some feet, their ce mented walls, and skilfully constructed vaults, make this city a city, in fact, of cisterns. Every house appears to have. had one of its own ; and, besides these, there were public reservoirs for watering animals. One could hardly conceive, without hav ing seen it, but especially without having felt the necessity of the thing from the general appearance ofthe country, the great care bestowed on the arrangements of this town, with a view to the prin cipal purpose for which it was intended to provide, and the ingenuity with which the waters of the 208 AMEIME. aqueduct, during summer, and those of the neigh bouring ravines, during the rainy season, were con veyed to their destination. At the present day, as every thing is in a state of ruin, the traveller feels still more forcibly, from the absence of the element of which he stands so much in need, the great skill and perseverance of the people who established this halting place. After having run over the town and its environs, I endeavoured to preserve some record of this coL lection of dwellings, once rendered so convenient by artificial contrivances in the midst of such naked sterility. I succeeded in including, in the fore ground, some of the vaults and cisterns ; and, in the distance, a part of the long chain of rocks which inclose the plain of Ameime amidst the mountains. I have not given this sketch in the present publication. I drew, at the same time, as exact a plan as I could of the numerous summits of the adjacent rocks, some of which form part of the chain, while others seem isolated ; and I was thus enabled to satisfy myself as to the altitudes of Macbert el Abid and of Tor Hesma, as com pared with the level of the Red Sea. We quitted Ameime, and after a good hour's journey we reached a rock of freestone ; which its cisterns, as well as the tradition attached to it, render interesting. The natural embouchures of several ravines having been shut up by strongly built walls form a series of reservoirs for the waters col lected during the rainy season. In the midst of these ravines rises a rock, which has been excavated, and CURIOUS EXCAVATIONS. 209 serves as a cistern. Gutters, ingeniously cut in the neighbouring heights, convey the waters into the cistern and reservoirs thus constructed ; and the Bedouins of the desert who pass that way usually find them well supplied the whole year round. The tradition, the origin of which it would be in teresting to discover, prevailing amongst the Arabs concerning these reservoirs is to this effect : — In former times the King ofthe Negroes came to ravage this country with innumerable troops. He had already, it was said, driven before him the whole of the inhabitants, when, having arrived in the plain of Ameime, he wished to quench his thirst in these cisterns ; bending down to the surface of the water, after the manner of the Arabs, he fell in. One of his guards, who ran to assist him, fell in also ; and another, endeavouring to rescue the lat ter, met with the same fate. Thus the whole army was swallowed up, and the rock received the name of Macbert el Abid. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the cistern would not contain a hun dred persons ; but traditions, especially those of the southern countries, do not attend very strictly to the rules of probability. Pursuing our course towards the Red Sea, we passed by a fort built in the style of those of Akaba, Moila, Nackel, Tor, &c. : near it was a vast cistern, but without water. The valley we now entered gradually became more and more narrow, being confined between rocks that, disengaging them selves from the strata of chalk and limestone by which they had been hitherto crowned, displayed 210 THE SIMOOM. immense naked masses of basalt and granite. The weather was oppressive in the extreme ; the sky assumed a dull grey colour, the sun appearing as through a thick fog ; whirlwinds of fine sand tra versed the air ; and then a warm wind, which almost stifled us in the valley, involved us in clouds of burning sand, which acted on the skin like in numerable pricks of needles. The camels pro ceeded, holding down their heads : we covered our heads in our cloaks and kefiehs, and were almost suffocated for the want of respirable air, when Djaza made us a sign to stop near a small ravine, in order to allow the Khamsin, or dangerous simoom of Arabia Deserta, to pass by. In these valleys, where the wind has no free passage, the heat during these storms is almost overwhelming : but the Khamsin is here seldom fatal, because the whirlwinds of sand are carried over a less heated surface, which mitigates the tem perature. We congratulated ourselves, therefore, in the midst of the fatigue which we suffered, on not having been caught by the simoom on the plains of the desert, and on having found refuge in this valley for our caravan. Thus the mariner thanks Heaven for having reached a port where the waves and the wind still beat against his vessel, only to remind him of the unfortunate adventurers whom the tempest would surprise on the high seas. 211 CHAPTER XIII. VALLEY OF JETOUM. RETURN TO AKABA. ARABS OF THE DESERT. THEIR ARMS. CHARACTER OF THE ARABS. M. LINANT. HUSSEIN " OLD STONES." VISIT TO SUP POSED SARCOPHAGI. DISAPPOINTMENT WADY BARABRA. PASTORAL HOSPITALITY. MOUNTAINEERS. WADY HEBRAN. TOWN OF TOR. CONVENT NEAR TOR. ELIM OF SEVENTY PALMS. LEVEL OF THE RED SEA. RAS MOHAMMED. SCENE AT A FOUNTAIN. WILD PALM TREE. CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. CHURCH OF THE CONVENT. GRAND MOSAIC. Continuing to descend the valley of Jetoum, we found behind a rock, which renders the passage narrow and easy to be interrupted, two large forti fied buildings in ruins. Farther down, the valley turns suddenly to the west-north-west, and receives Wady Amran. On the rock, which forms a point for the confluence of the two ravines, a fortification p 2 212 RETURN TO AKABA. has been erected, which is well situated for the pro tection of this straightened road. A league farther on, we found a large wall, erected for the purpose of inclosing the valley, and of leaving only a narrow passage, which it would be more easy to defend. The waters, in their rapid passage, have enlarged the opening ; but they have been obliged to respect a part of this bold barrier: this is the wall, to which I have already alluded, and which the war rior Hadid, alone, could clear with his fleet courser. This system of defence, which the Arabs still pre serve, and which the Tohrats put into practice a few years since against the troops of Mehemet Ali, is found in all these countries : it is mentioned by several travellers. We had here an altercation with some Arabs of the tribe of Amrans : a camel, stolen by the Alaouins, gave rise to the quarrel, which has ex isted for several years. As usual, there were loud exclamations, abundance of gesticulations and me naces ; but great care was taken on both sides not to exasperate, by the slightest blow, a discussion which, after all, was not worth being attended by consequences of a more serious nature. A fourth fortification, and also the last, defends the embouchure of Wady Jetoum into Wady Ara ba : on turning to the south, we resumed our former road, and once more found ourselves in Akaba. These two routes, entirely new, which we had tra versed, are replete with interest ; for they present an explanation of all the remarkable characteristics which have successively given importance to that country: ARABS OF THE DESERT. 213 first, the emigration of the Israelites ; then, the commercial expeditions of Solomon ; those of the conquest of Antigonus ; the commercial enterprises of Petra ; the chivalrous and unfortunate attempts of Reynaud, governor of Karac, against Mecca ; and, finally, the ancient route of the caravan of Mecca. At Akaba we were received with the same un varying kindness as before. We waited there two days for the messenger whom I despatched to Cairo for the money ; we then paid our guides for the attention and protection we had received from them ; and having deducted a reasonable sum for the guns and the shawls we had given them, we satisfied every body, assuring them, at the same time, that many Europeans, when informed of the security which we had enjoyed under their guidance, would come hither to make the same tour, now that it was attended with every kind of facility. I trust that the efforts which I constantly made to procure a good reception every where for Euro peans attempting the same journey may be pro ductive of the best effects. This is a duty which no traveller ought ever to forget. A work remains to be written on the Arab of the desert, on his domestic life, and his external manners. It has been frequently attempted, but documents have been wanted to complete it. They have lately, however, become sufficiently numerous to exhibit a complete picture : the hand to paint it is alone wanted. I have here represented a nomade troop, whose p 3 214 ARABS OF THE DESERT. ARABS OF THE DESERT. attention has been arrested by some traces of foot steps. Three Arabs are discussing the direction of the steps, and the date of their impression in the sand : in the mean time the caravan approaches, the women mounted on camels, the men on horse back, the lance on the shoulder. During these journies in the desert, where personal safety is al ways precarious, the guarantees for it being un certain, every body moves on with the utmost circumspection, his eyes fixed on every thing that can give him fresh information ; and many a long day is occupied in this sort of conversation, on the traces of the footsteps, on the age, more or less recent, of the dung of the camel. The Arabs, warriors from habit, engaged in con tinual conflicts, which are inseparable from the nature of their country, as well as the constitution of their society, never go out unarmed. But these THEIR ARMS. 215 arms vary in their form and description according to the tribes, and the different parts of the desert which they frequent. The mounted Bedouin of Arabia Deserta, for example, carries a lance of eleven or twelve feet in length, and a sabre : the men on foot have guns, but few in number ; the poorest of the tribe carry a simple club (cobbous) ; the chieftains sometimes wear pistols. The Arabs of Arabia Petraea, whether Tohrats or Thyats, have no lance ; but, by way of com pensation for it, they possess many guns, and exhibit a degree of skill in the use of arms which renders them formidable to their neighbours, and enables them to preserve their independence. In order that they might fire more rapidly, they carry cartouches prepared in small wooden pipes, which they suspend across the breast : a large pear- shaped case of powder for charging, and a smaller one for priming, complete their equipment. They wear besides in the cincture an enormous poniard, or rather a cutlass, which „ they make use of, how ever, more frequently in cutting up a sheep, than as a weapon of attack against man. The Bedouins of Arabia Deserta ride on horseback, and wield their lances with great skill ; those of Arabia Petraea have only camels ; therefore they fight generally on foot, and guns are more suitable to their habits. All this external appearance of warlike and savage habits ought not, at the same time, to lead a stranger to look upon this people as wicked and sanguinary. Quite the contrary : the Arab is p 4 216 CHARACTER OF THE ARABS. patient, mild, and humane ; in time of peace, and when at a distance from him whom the laws declare to be his enemy, he cautiously avoids pushing a quarrel to extremities. We were often surprised to find that in the midst of the angry gesticulations and cries that arose every moment, in consequence of the confusion which necessarily prevailed when preparing to resume our journies, the gun or the sabre was not appealed to as an arbitrator of all dis putes. But we had not then been sufficiently aware of the results that would have followed from an actual sanguinary combat, which would most probably have given rise to family feuds, or to a war amongst the whole tribe, — an eventual danger always hanging over them, and calculated to restrain within the limits of mutual respect that countless multitude, who, without laws, authorities, police, or any form of government, have subsisted through ages, still preserving the same sort of organization, in the midst of empires once firmly constituted, which have, nevertheless, fallen into decay. I have observed in use also amongst them a sandal formed of fish skin, such as may be purchased at Tor, and which I myself wore during my jour ney ; a wooden box for containing pounded coffee, a plain tobacco pipe, and a tobacco bag made of the skin of the lizard. We followed the coast as far as Wady Outir ; then, entering that valley, we ascended to the north, and descended by Wady Safran, towards Sinai, by the only passage which is to be found 216 CHARACTER 01 patient, mild, and humane ; when at a distance from him *v to be his enemy, he caution quarrel to extremities. We to find that in the midst of thi and cries that arose every moi of the confusion which neces preparing to resume our jou: sabre was not appealed to as a putes. But we had not th aware of the results that wouL an actual sanguinary combat probably have given rise to war amongst the whole tribe, ¦ always hanging over then restrain within the limits c countless multitude, who, w police, or any form of gov* through ages, still prese organization, in the midf constituted, which have, decay. I have observed in sandal formed of fish si at Tor, and which I n ney ; a wooden box ft* a plain tobacco pip'., >. the skin of the lizati We followed th-** oks •' then, entering th -r \-.\U: . north, and desc . J. -: .-,-. Sinai, by the o * < ¦ M. LINANT. — HUSSEIN. 217 through the long chain of Tih. This is the route which pilgrims and travellers have always taken on going from Gaza to Mount Sinai. M. Linant having received, by our messenger, let ters which rendered it necessary for him to return to Cairo, we were compelled to separate ; for I was anxious to complete the tour which I had under taken, and to finish the exploration of the whole peninsula, especially in an archaiological and topo graphical point of view. It was arranged that M. Linant should take with him M. Petitjean, Toualeb, and another guide, and that I should keep Plussein and the other Tohrats. Hussein, whom I have often mentioned, was of the tribe of Oualed Said. An excellent warrior and hunter, and renowned for his generous hospi tality, he united in himself all the qualities which render a Bedouin respectable ; especially those of so much importance to the traveller, unimpeachable integrity, discretion which always deserved to be confided in, and, what is very rare, genuine fidelity. It was with him that I made all my arrangements as to the route which I wished to take, the guides whom I should employ, and the provisions which it was necessary to purchase. We set out for Tor by Wady Hebran. Hussein, whom his favourite sports of the chase had often led into the steepest ravines, most remote from the usual paths, was perfectly conversant with every part of the peninsula of Sinai. He assured me that " old stones" were to be met with only at Sinai, Serbal, and in the Wadys Feiran, Mokatteb, 218 VISIT TO SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI. Magara, and Sarbent el Cadem. Besides, he said that he had found near Wady Hebran, large boxes in the rock, and promised to conduct me to them on the way to Tor. I was desirous of ascertaining the nature of those ancient remains, which, from his descriptions, I concluded to be sarcophagi. After having descended the rapid declivity of Wady Hebran, we turned to the left into Wady Otsmet, which is encumbered with large fragments of rock, rolled into it by the torrents in the rainy season. It became necessary that we should leave the camels behind us, and that Hussein and I alone should endeavour to climb the moun tain, through passages which the most intrepid chamois hunter would have contemplated with as tonishment. Leaving a well on our left, we dis cerned before us frightful traces of a pathway ; but, on advancing a little farther, I was not a little sur prised to find these dangerous steeps and abrupt loosened rocks, the former levelled, the latter made firm, so as to present a passable, and even a con venient, road. Here were all the traces of patient and persevering industry, but there was nothing to inform us who were the projectors, or what was the object of this work in the midst of this chaos ofthe desert. The path, which the rains had injured in some places, conducts to the top of a rock, forming one of the sides of a narrow opening, across which the waters run from the highest part of the Wady. We observed at the bottom of a larger and more uniform space, forming the valley in this elevated part, shrubs and palm trees, and an extent of ver- VISIT TO SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI. 219 dure which no one would bave expected to find in such a region. An abundant spring sustains this vegetation ; the waters run through Wady Hebran to the sea. The road now ceased to present any difficulty, requiring no further labour to render it practicable. I arrived, not without fatigue, however, at another summit of rocks, whence I observed a different declivity, as well as a new Wady. Descending by a path that seemed the usual passage, we arrived at a rock, near which Hussein, his face radiant with joy, stopped me. This excellent man, feeling for the weariness I showed by my repeated questions as to the distance we had still to go, seemed happy to have it in his power to compensate me with a sight of antiquities, by which, he believed, I should be deeply interested. " Behold the boxes" said he, a little farther on : my strength was renewed, — I ran forward, — but I could not conceal the contempt which I felt on seeing, instead of sarcophagi, or any remains of antiquity, some irregular designs, — wretchedly scratched on the side ofa rock, represent ing camels, goats, and men, mingled with some Sinaite inscriptions. An outline in the form of a box had appeared remarkable to Hussein. I owed this disappointment to the caution with which I have always, during my journies, endeavoured to verify with my own eyes the information given me by the people ofthe country. Hussein was the more afflicted, as he could not understand why these antiquities had no value in my estimation. In the mean time evening was 220 WADY BARABRA. setting in. The sun projected along the bottom of the valleys the gigantic shadows of the rocks, and some herds of black goats, mingled with white sheep, speckled, on their return to the encampment, sometimes the gilded sands of the Wady, sometimes its sides of rose-coloured granite. This picture, although it told me ofthe impossibility of rejoining my dragoman and my other guides that night, as sured me, at least, of some chance of provisions. We descended to the bottom of the valley. The path again exhibited traces of labour, and of the vicinity of some habitations. On reaching a level space situated between two ravines, we found the ruins of a convent. All the environs of Sinai and Serbal are strewed with similar ruins ; indications of the great importance which was formerly attached to this sacred country. This valley, called Wady Barabra, was well situated for such an institution; its springs and general fertility, but, above all, its position on the road from Tor to Sinai, presented several advantages indispensable to a convent. Hussein preceded me to two tents which we per ceived at the bottom ofthe valley, and which at a dis tance looked like two pieces of black cloth spread out to dry. When I had sufficiently examined the nature of the ruins and the disposition ofthe valley, I re joined him. He had already prepared for me a good reception, the chief of this little isolated en campment being one of his allies. Some coffee, a pipe, and a kid for supper, proved, if not the mag nificence, at least the liberality of our host. A place under his tent was all the accommodation he MOUNTAINEERS. 221 could offer me for the night. Enveloped in my mashlah, I lay down on the sand, as I had already been accustomed to do ; and doubtless should have slept soundly as usual, if the whole herd of goats, and especially the kids, had not considered my body as an object upon which they thought fit to display their agility ; a sort of citadel, the possession of which they acquired and disputed in turn, by push ing each other with their horns, and gambolling about in all directions. While the early sun, still concealed behind the summit of the rocks, was darting his long rays through the ravines, and was rising majestically to wards the tops of the mountains, bathing, in the mean time, the valleys in a deluge of light, we took our departure from the tent of our hospitable shepT herd. Hussein, with that sort of prudence which is taught by the life of the desert, had purchased a kid, and carried it away on his shoulders, in spite of its bleatings, and those of the whole herd, which responded to its adieus. A feeling of revenge for the disturbance I had suffered during the night rendered me insensible to these cries of nature. The path we had already trod conducted us once more to our camels and guides, who were anxiously expecting us. Two hunters, who,, during the last three days, had been out among the mountains in pursuit of game, came down to us on perceiving our fire, which promised them some coffee. Their convers ation having satisfied me that they were perfectly acquainted with the peninsula, and their features 222 WADY HEBRAN. being agreeable, I was induced to engage them as guides. We descended Wady Hebran, a deep pathway traced between enormous mountains of granite, where the occasional appearance of water on the surface ofthe soil calls forth a degree of vegetation pleasing to the eye. Several groups of palm trees rise gracefully in tufted clusters near a recess of the rocks : some of them, however, had been burnt by the imprudence of an old Arab, who had made a fire at their feet. The valley debouches on the plain of Gaa, which, from its rapid inclination to wards the sea, appears to be much larger than it really is. Several of the fragments of rocks rolled into it exhibit, on their polished sides, designs and Sinaite inscriptions. A mountain, extending to the north, forms the western boundary of the long plain of Gaa. At the point where it vanishes towards the south, and in the sinuosities which the waters have formed by their currents, there is a large plantation of palms ; in the midst of which we perceived some habitations, poor in appearance, but indicative, nevertheless, of comfort, when compared with the solitudes which we had traversed. This valley is called emphatically the Wady ; the houses belong to inhabitants of Tor, whom the fevers drive away a part of the year from the borders of the sea. A Maalem named Ellias received us most hospitably, and would not allow us to go on to the town until we had partaken of an enormous pilau ; after which we smoked and took coffee. TOWN OF TOR. 223 Soon after quitting this species of garden, orna mented with pleasure houses, we passed across a marshy tract, and reached a whitish looking town, which appeared wretched and quite deserted. This town is Tor ; the only one now existing in Arabia Pe traea, the only port on the coast where a safe harbour is found, and good water may be obtained. To these two circumstances, indeed, it owes its continuance : its decline has been the consequence of the loss of its trade, its inhabitants having disappeared with the vessels that formerly frequented it; few of which now revisit its bay, except at very distant intervals. During my stay in this place, a vessel was at anchor in this port ; and the crew, while waiting for the water which they intended to take in, landed for the purpose of bathing in the warm spring which is found near El Bourg. It was in going thi ther myself that I met them ; and I remarked, as at Suez, that they were all negroes, except the master and boatswain. The monks of Mount Sinai possess, at the dis tance of three fourths of a league to the north of the town of Tor, immense plantations of palms, which they pay the Arabs for cultivating. The produce is conveyed by camels to the convent. The dates are distilled, and produce a kind of spirit of an inferior description, which forms the ordinary beverage of the brethren. A solitary monk re sides in a small fort — el Bourg — which has been constructed at one of the angles ofthe wall of inclo sure. Notwithstanding the precaution with which 224 LEVEL OF THE RED SEA. he draws after him the ladder that enables him to ascend to his dwelling, he is nevertheless frequently compelled to yield to the violence of the Arabs, who demand from him, as a reward for their protection, bread and other provisions. The number of palm trees here naturally led the pilgrims, who formerly came by the way of Gaa, Tor, and Wady Seleh, to visit the convent of Sinai, to believe that this was the site of the Elim of seventy palm trees mentioned in the Bible ; and it si so marked in most of their records. But the mere e xistence of palm trees is not sufficient to fix the position of Elim, and the relations of distance accord too little with Scripture to permit the adop tion of such an opinion. I observed to the south of Tor, on the other side of its harbour, a fortress, which, though wholly deserted and in ruins, allowed me easily to trace the plan on which it was erected. The character of its construction reminded me of the fortresses of Akaba, of Nackel, Moilah, as well as that of Wady Jetoum. When the tide is in, the waves beat against its walls ; and as there is nothing to show that it was originally built in the sea, it is one proof, in conjunction with several others, that the level of the Red Sea has not been altered, and that the shallowness of its harbours, and the distance from it of some towns which would seem to have been built on its coast, have been caused by the accumulation ofthe sands. On leaving Tor I proceeded to the south-east, towards Ras Mohammed, keeping along the coast, RAS MOHAMMED. 225 of which I carefully took the outlines. This route is usually followed by the pilgrims to Mecca, the merchants, and especially the messengers of the Pacha, when contrary winds detain them in the port of Cherm. There the tribes are in attendance with their dromedaries, and in six days they reach Cairo. The point of Ras Mohammed, formed of lime stone mixed with fossils, is seen at a considerable distance, appearing white upon the azure ground of the sea. I halted near a week, in order to draw, with more accuracy than had yet been attained, the topographical appearance of this cape. There was here nothing worthy of remark, except a few huts belonging to fishermen, and, a little farther on, upon a small island, a. heap of ruins, the position of which seemed to indicate a pyramidal erection, probably intended as a lighthouse for the benefit of navigation at the most southern part of the peninsula. The sea had thrown up on the shore of the creek formed by Ras Mohammed two turtle shells, four feet in length. Some small tribes of Arabs, who, from their occupation, as well as the food they principally live upon, are called Ichtyophagi, em ploy themselves in the turtle fishery among the neighbouring islands. The shells which we found were so much injured by the effect ofthe salt water that they were not worth removal. We held on by the coast of Cherm el Beit, a small creek so called from a building now in ruins, but still visible at the foot of the mountain ; and after passing Q 226 SCENE AT A FOUNTAIN. over some projecting rocks, we descended to the coast of Cherm el Bir. Some wells, protected by a scanty shade, here offer to the thirsty mariner and traveller a brackish kind of water, wholly unfit for use. After having drunk of the wells of Moses, of Wady Garandel and Nouebe, I did not imagine that I could feel so much repugnance as I ex perienced on tasting this water. Even to the Arabs it was disagreeable : our camels alone satisfied their thirst with it. While we were taking in the supply of water necessary for our journey, a young Arab girl, followed by a herd of goats, came to water her animals. I desired my guides to serve her first, as I wished, on this scriptural territory, to behold its ancient manners renewed with reference to this kind of civility. " But the priest of Midian had seven daughters : and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. " And the shepherds came and drove them away : but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. " And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day ? " And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hands of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock." a All this waste is covered with shells, which the sea throws up from its bosom. The route which I pursued, on leaving Cherm, ** Exodus, ii. 16" — 19. WILD PALM TREE. 227 is highly interesting in a topographical point of view ; for, on traversing the ravines which, on this side of the mountain, penetrate some to the east, others to the west, it gave me exactly the great framework of the country, the details of which it was easy for me to fill ip. I drew some sketches of it, which, however, the great number of the WILD PALM TREE. plates of a more interesting nature has prevented me from publishing. We found here also different Sinaite inscriptions, and several of those designs indicating the infancy of the art, of which I shall speak in a subsequent page. I could not, at the same time, pass over, without notice, a palm tree, in its natural state, which we found in the upper part of Wady Seleh. We always q 2 228 CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. represent the trunk of a palm tree shooting up to some distance, and then suffering its crooked branches to spring forth, from which gracefully hang the dates as brilliant as corals ; never thinking that all this elegance is the effect of art, and that Nature, less studied in her attitudes, attends only to the preservation of the tree. The above wood-cut exhi bits a palm, such as it may be found in a wild state, growing larger from year to year, making for itself a rampart of its decayed branches, and rising, as it were, perpetually from its own ruins. Neglected by the Arab of the desert, who considers every kind of cultivation as beneath his dignity, the palm some times forms impenetrable forests. More frequently, however, it is found in solitary state, near a spring, as the design shows it ; thus presenting to the thirsty traveller a welcome signal, which assures him of water for refreshment, and of a friendly shade for repose. Continuing Our course towards the north, we arrived within sight of Sinai, by a series of valleys which expand or become narrow according to their composition and the rapidity of the currents that flow through them. After passing a considerable ridge of the mountain which forms the two grand outlets of the peninsula, (one, that of Wady Cheick, which takes its course with Feiran into the Gulf of Suez, the other that of Zackal, which de scends towards the Gulf of Akaba,) we perceived the Convent of St. Catharine, standing silently in the midst of the majestic mountains by which it is commanded. On the left rises Mount Horeb, a prolongation of Sinai ; and in the distance extends WW/* CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 229 the plain where the people of Israel encamped on their journey through the wilderness. In order to vary the costume, I have imagined a caravan of Mograbbins approaching the mosque of the convent on their return from Mecca. It is usual, when a caravan arrives at the end of a journey, to discharge a few guns as a signal of rejoicing. It is not without some degree of embarrassment that I enter on the description of the plates which represent these celebrated places ; for, not wishing to go into details, which would extend too far this summary of my tour, I am compelled to indi cate briefly only those objects that are most interesting. Many other travellers indeed have described them, leaving me little to add ; though I have had enough to do to reconcile and render in telligible the information which they have left us. I shall here, however, content myself with quoting a description, already grown old, of the exterior of the convent, given by the superior of the Fran ciscans, in the account of the journey he made in 1722 : — " The mountain situated to the north-east is dedicated to St. Bestin (St. Episteme) ; the other, to the right, is Mount Horeb ; between both is the convent of Sinai. It is built in an oblong form, and has only one great gate, which opens to the north-west ; the sides or walls of the convent, on the north-west, as well as on the south-east, are two hundred and four French feet in length ; the two others, of which one is to the south-west, and the Q 3 230 CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. other to the north-east, are two hundred and forty- five feet in length, and are principally constructed of square stones, six feet each in size. The walls are of unequal height, as they follow the inequalities of the earth. I measured the western angle, and found it to be forty-five feet in height. As the principal gate is always barricaded, to prevent surprises on the part of the Arabs, whoever wishes to enter the convent must take hold of a cord, and allow him self to be drawn up to a window thirty feet high, formed in the wall, which looks towards the north east." P. Belon, Neitzchitz, Pococke, Niebuhr, Turner, Henniker, Newmann, and Bussiere, have given representations ofthe monastery.*1 The views which B " The convent of Mount Sinai is situated in a valley so narrow, that one part of the building stands on the western mountain, while a space of twenty paces only is left between its walls and the eastern mountain. The valley is open to the north, from whence approaches the road from Cairo ; to the south, close behind the convent, it is shut up by a third mountain, less steep than the others, over which passes the road to Sherm. The convent is an irregular quadrangle of about one hundred and thirty paces, en closed by high and solid walls, built with blocks of granite, and fortified by several small towers. While the French were in Egypt, a part of the east wall, which had fallen down, was complelely- re built by order of General Kleber, who sent workmen here for that purpose. The upper part of the walls in the interior is built of a mixture of granite-sand and gravel, cemented together by mud, which has acquired great hardness. " The convent contains eight or ten small court-yards, some of which are neatly laid out in beds of flowers and vegetables ; a few date-trees and cypresses also grow there, and great numbers of vines. The distribution of the interior is very irregular, and could not be otherwise, considering the slope upon which the building stands ; but the whole is very clean and neat. There are a greater number of small rooms in the lower and upper stories, most of which are at present unoccupied. The prin cipal building in the interior is the great church, which, as well CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 231 I have given clearly show the plan of this large building, consisting of a series of separate apart- as the convent, was built by the Emperor Justinian, but it has subsequently undergone frequent repairs. The form of the church is an oblong square ; the roof is supported by a double row of fine granite pillars, which have been covered with a coat of white plas ter, perhaps because the natural colour of the stone was not agree able to the monks, who saw granite on every side of them. The capitals of the columns are of different designs ; several of them bear a resemblance to palm branches, while others are a close but coarse imitation of the latest period of Egyptian sculpture, such as is seen at Philae, and in several temples in Nubia. The dome over the altar still remains as it was constructed by Justinian, whose portrait, together with that of his wife Theodora, may yet be dis tinguished on the dome, together with a large picture of the trans figuration, in honour of which event the convent was erected. An abundance of silver lamps, paintings, and portraits of saints adorn the walls round the altar; among the latter is a St. Chris topher, with a dog's head. The floor of the church is finely paved with slabs of marble. " The church contains the cof fin in which the bones of St. Catherine were collected from the neighbouring mountain of St. Ca therine, where her corpse was transported after her death by the Q angels in the service of the monks. The silver lid of a sarcophagus likewise attracts attention ; upon it is represented at full length the figure of the Empress Anne of Russia, who entertained the idea of being interred in the sarco phagus, which she sent here ; but the monks were disappointed of this honour. In a small chapel adjoining the church is shown the place where the Lord is supposed to have appeared to Moses in the burning bush ; it is called Alyka, and is considered as the most holy spot in Mount Sinai. Besides the great church, there are twenty - seven smaller churches or chapels dispersed over the convent, in many of which daily masses are read, and in all of them at least one every Sunday. " The convent formerly resem bled in its establishment that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, which contains churches of various sects of Christians. Every prin cipal sect, except the Calvinists and Protestants, had its churches in the convent of Sinai. I was shown the chapels belonging to the Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Latins, but they have long been abandoned by their owners. The church of the Latins fell into ruins at the close of the seventeenth century, and has not been rebuilt. But what is more remarkable than the existence of so many churches, is, that, close by the great church, stands a Mahometan mosque, 4 232 CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. ments, all of which, as well as the wall of en closure, are constructed on the side of the valley. The four peculiar features of the convent are con spicuous : the mosque, the church, the solitary cypress, and the window, the sole entrance into this great religious fortress. INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT. When we entered the convent we were surprised, after having just quitted the desert, where we had seen only a wretched and unsettled people, to find the interior so neatly arranged and in such ex cellent order, and inhabited by so many cheerful and healthy looking monks. Ascending to their spacious enough to. contain two the sixteenth century, to prevent hundred people at prayers. The the destruction of the convent." — monks told me that it was built in Burckhardt, pp. 541 — 543. CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 233 apartments, we beheld from them that magnificent prospect, to which no artificial addition has been made to increase the charm of reality. The air of tranquillity, however, which we observed is far from being uniform : clouds frequently lower over this peaceable horizon. During my sojourn there, a pilgrim received a ball in the thigh, skilfully aimed at him by a Bedouin, who thought he was paying off one of the monks to whom he owed some grudge. He had remained some time on the watch for his prey, upon the top of one of the rocks which command the walls. The convent was all in alarm, for their disputes with the Bedouins seldom pro ceed to the extent of bloodshed. A parley was held ; and, doubtless, the affair was arranged after my departure. This continual state of anxiety, which pervades so tranquil an abode, must have become a sort of habit. Looking through the in numerable narratives of pilgrims, we find such occurrences to be of very old date. In 1598, Harrant de Polschitz was obliged to visit Mounts Sinai and St. Catharine, accompanied only by some Arabs, none of the monks daring to attend him through fear of being molested or made prisoners by the Bedouins."1 * " The discipline of these also from oil, and live four days monks, with regard to food and in the week on bread and boiled prayer, is very severe. They are vegetables, of which one small dish obliged to attend mass twice in the is all their dinner. They obtain day and twice in the night. The their vegetables from a pleasant rule is that they shall taste no flesh garden adjoining the building, whatever all the year round ; and into which there is a subterraneous in their great fast they not only passage ; the soil is stony, but in abstain from butter, and every this climate, wherever water is in kind of animal food and fish, but plenty, the very rocks will pro- 234 CHURCH OF THE CONVENT. The church of the convent deserves particular attention on account of the style of its ornaments, duce vegetation. The fruit is of the finest quality ; oranges, le mons, almonds, mulberries, apri cots, peaches, pears, apples, olives, Nebek trees, and a few cypresses overshade the beds, in which me lons, beans, lettuces, onions, cu cumbers, and all sorts of culinary and sweet-scented herbs are sown. The garden, however, is very seldom visited by the monks, ex cept by the few whose business it is to keep it in order; for, al though surrounded by high walls, it is not inaccessible to the Bedouins, who for the three last years have been the sole gatherers of the fruits, leaving the vegetables only for the monks, who have thus been obliged to repurchase their own fruit from the pilferers, or to buy it in other parts of the peninsula. " The excellent air of the con vent, and the simple fare of the inhabitants, render diseases rare. Many of the monks are very old men, in the full possession of their mental and bodily faculties. They have all taken to some profession; a mode of rendering themselves independent of Egypt, which was practised here even when the three hundred private chambers were occupied, which are now empty, though still ready for the accom modation of pious settlers. Among the twenty-three monks who now remain, there is a cook, a distiller, a baker, a shoemaker, a tailor, a carpenter, a smith, a mason, a gardener, a maker of candles, &c. &c; each of these has his work shop, in the worn-out and rusty utensils of which are still to be seen the traces of the former riches and industry of the establishment. The rooms in which the provisions are kept are vaulted, and built of granite with great solidity : each kind of provision has its pur veyor. The bake-house and dis tillery are still kept up upon a large scale. The best bread is of the finest quality ; but a second and third sort is made for the Bedouins who are fed by the con vent. In the distillery they make brandy from dates, which is the only solace these recluses enjoy, and in this they are permitted to indulge even during the fasts. " Most of the monks are na tives of the Greek islands : in general they do not remain more than four or five years, when they return to their own country, proud of having been sufferers among Bedouins ; some, however, have been here forty years. A few of them only understood Arabic ; but none of them write or read it. Being of the lower orders of so ciety, and educated only in con vents, they are extremely ignorant. Few of them read even the modern Greek fluently, excepting in their prayer-books, and I found but one who had any notion of the ancient Greek. They have a good library, but it is always shut up ; GREAT MOSALC. WORK. IN THE CfLURCJI OF THIl CONVKNT OK ST C A.TfcCERTN'E . (. Mount Sinai.) lanUTafaliW'"*' ite&V .,dnd-"L Ib. xxix. 4. HIRAM AND SOLOMON. 289 Solomon had scarcely ascended the throne when he required the assistance of Hiram to enable him to erect the temple which he intended in honour of the Lord. He accordingly sent a message to him to say, " As thou didst deal with David my father, even so deal with me."11 The king of Phe nicia cheerfully complied with his request, and caused to be cut down and conveyed " in flotes by sea" to Jaffa, the cedar and fir trees which he de manded. He sent him also the most skilful ma sons, carpenters, and workmen, and advanced him "gold according to all his desire6," all with a view to give him such a taste for architectural splendour as might induce him to join the Phenicians in their commercial enterprises. Hiram also gave Solomon several towns, which he garrisoned with his troops and fortified. When we look for the motive of all these attentions, we at once find it in the alli ance which they concluded with each other — " and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together0 ;" and also in the enterprises in which Solomon joined by way of making compensation for the services which he had obtained. It was thus that Hiram induced him to build the city of Palmyra, and to fortify its walls, in order to establish a line of protection for the line of caravans which journeyed from the Eu phrates and Babylon to Phenicia. It must have been in consequence of this joint partnership in trade, that we find the king of Phenicia reproach- » 2 Chron. ii. 3. b 1 Kings, ix. 11. c lb. v. 12. U 290 TRADE OF THE RED SEA. ing Solomon for the unimportance of the towns which the latter ceded to him : — " Are these, my brother, the towns you have given me ? " This dis satisfaction was to be appeased by other favours, and hence arose the execution in common of the maritime expedition conceived in the time of David. The Edomites, who occupied the whole territory comprised between Wady Mousa and Moila, about fifty leagues to the south of Akaba, had been led sooner than the other tribes into sedentary habits, either by the more fertile nature of their soil, or by their vicinity to the coasts of the Red Sea. Pe tra, their principal entrepot, defended by its position in the midst of mountains, had for auxiliaries two maritime cities situated at the northern point of the Gulf of Akaba, one on the coast, which was Ela, the other on a neighbouring island, called Ezion-Gaber. Like the other inhabitants of those shores, they soon had barks, and established a small coasting trade, which doubtless extended along the whole eastern coast, and communicated with that of Egypt, in order to keep up their re lations with the tribes of the desert districts, as well as with those of Ethiopia and Abyssinia, for the purpose of obtaining from them their respective articles of produce. Although the trade of the caravans must have suffered little from these mari time experiments of the inhabitants of the coasts, whose information was too limited to permit their enterprises to be carried to any considerable ex tent, nevertheless they must have gained during Solomon's expedition. 291 their expeditions a sufficiently accurate knowledge of that sea bristling with rocks, if not from charts, at least from practical experience, often more cor rect. The Edomites would naturally have spoken of this trade in the markets of Tyre and Sidon ; and it is difficult to suppose that a sea-faring and enterprising people should have heard their ac count of it with indifference. The expedition of Solomon was not merely com mercial, it was also military. It was necessary that it should be protected against numerous in subordinate tribes, which looked upon the execu tion of such projects with no small jealousy ; it was further indispensable that troops should be embarked on board the vessels, in order to over awe the tribes which they might encounter on the way. Solomon was, therefore, the only prince who could afford the assistance which was required, in asmuch as he had many troops and garrisons in the towns of Idumea. Hiram was, therefore, the undertaker, Solomon the protector, of the expe dition : his name, his troops, his aid were his part in the enterprise, to which the king of Phenicia added his judgment, his sailors, his ship-builders, and his vessels. There is enough in the sacred text to show that the sailors of Hiram went with the people of Solomon to Ophir ; but these " people" could only have been troops. In what sea could the Hebrews have been exercised as mariners ? The wood for the construction of the vessels having been conveyed by sea from Tyre and Sidon u 2 292 OPHIR AND TARSHISH. as far as Gaza, was carried on the backs of camels to the Red Sea, where the carpenters who accom panied them adjusted the several parts, and launched them on the waves. The difficulty of such an en terprise is only in appearance : the Crusaders sur mounted it ; and the inhabitants of Suez even now constantly see vessels set afloat in a complete condition, which but a short time before they be held passing through their streets in parts on the backs of camels. Besides the Phenician sailors and Israelite troops, each vessel had on board Edomite pilots, who had been collected along the whole coast : thus this convoy of large vessels ad vanced through a sea abounding in walls of coral, sand banks, and rocks. I might here enter into a dissertation on the positions of Ophir and Tarshish ; but I should only probably add one more conjecture on a subject which has already given occasion to many, and which still allows so wide a margin for speculation, that when once we are in the arena we hardly. know where to stop. The researches of Bockart, Michaelis, Gosselin, and several others, although supported by profound erudition, have convinced nobody. And I should doubtless be still less for tunate, if, like Vatable, Genebrard, and Robert Etienne, I should select St. Domingo, or if, like Arias Montanus, William Portel, and Geropius Becanus, I should fix upon Peru as the site of Ophir. The opinion of Heeren and many other writers, that its name designates not a particular country, but the coasts of Arabia, Africa, and the EXPEDITION OF JEHOSHAPHAT. 293 Indies, as far as they were known, and which fur nished the articles of produce so often mentioned in connection with that name, appears to me the only probable one : it agrees with all that we know of the people who first became acquainted with those countries, and who, for want of more precise designations, adopted a general appellation. It is, however, sufficient for us to know that these voyages were made only once a year by means of the monsoons or periodical winds, one of which blows from the north during summer, while the other prevails during some months of the winter. The vessels so employed brought back gold, precious stones, ivory, ebony, apes, and peacocks. , This maritime trade continued but for a short time : it yielded to the numberless difficulties by which it was impeded, — a sea thickly spread with sand-banks and dangers of all kinds, a harbour badly protected, which accounts for the loss of king Jehoshaphat's fleet, jealous and hostile tribes in every place where they landed, and especially the want of entrepots, except at Elath and Ezion- Gaber, always open to the attacks of a tribe dif ficult to be kept in order. The advantages ac cruing from seeking at their sources produce of great value were overbalanced by the cost attend ing expeditions which had so many difficulties to overcome ; and the trade by land, so conformable to the manners and habits of the desert tribes, turned out, upon the whole, to be much more productive. After the death of Solomon, the Edomites and u 3 294 EXPEDITION OF JEHOSHAPHAT. the other tribes recovered their independence, and restored commerce to the direction which it had followed from time immemorial. But some years after, Jehoshaphat, by sowing divisions between the tribes, reduced them once more to subjection, and formed an alliance with Ochozias, king of Israel. " And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish : and they made the ships in Ezion-Gaber. " Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mare- shah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Be cause thou hast joined thyself with Ochozias, the Lord hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tar shish."11 We must conclude that this maritime expedition, which was not conducted by skilful Phenicians, perished among the rocks, and that the uncertainty of the submission of the tribes prevented it from being renewed. Under Jehoram, the son of Jeho shaphat, the Edomites selected for themselves an enterprising chief : they then threw off the mask» " and the Edomites revolted from under the do minion of Judah, and made themselves a king." b Although Jehoram attempted to bring them again to obedience, and gained some advantages over them, their independence, however, was not dis turbed. " So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day." ° ¦ 2 Chron. xx. 36, 37. b lb. xxi. 8. ' Ib. 10. 295 CHAPTER XVII. COMMERCE OF THE NABATHEANS INTERCOURSE OF PHENICIA WITH EGYPT. TRADE OF THE NABATHEANS. DECLINE OF NABATHEAN COMMERCE RUIN OF PETRA. NAVI GATION OF THE RED SEA. — ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION. — SESOSTRIS. ANCIENT VESSELS. CANAL OF THE RED SEA. — FILLING UP OF THE CANAL. — THE VENETIANS. EFFECT OF THE DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE ABANDONMENT OF THE RED SEA COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA. CHA RACTER OF ARABIA PETR_EA. TRAVELLERS IN ARABIA PETRJEA. PILGRIMAGES. Thus terminated the commercial navigation of the port of Elaa, and of the gulf of the same name, and also the participation ofthe Hebrews in its advantages, such as they were. It was from this period that the different names of the tribes asso ciated in the management of caravans were effaced, or rather confounded in the single denomination of Nabatheans, a tribe who extended themselves along the coasts, and over a large tract of the adjoining territory. This was the only tribe which traded directly with Egypt and Phenicia, or with the en trepots possessed by those two nations on the coast. As to the rest, the mode of carrying on the trade was the same as in the earlier ages, by passing it on from tribe to tribe by the means of a I allude, of course, only to ance of vessels in the Elanitic navigation on a large scale. Traces Gulf as late as the eighteenth may be discovered of the appear- century. u 4 296 NABATHEAN COMMERCE. caravans. Diodorus, who furnishes us with some valuable information concerning the Nabatheans, speaks very plainly on this point : — "A great part of them are occupied in conveying along the coast of the Mediterranean incense, myrrh, and other valuable articles of produce, which theyreceive from tribes who bring them from Arabia Felix." The latter, instead of going as far as Tyre and Sidon, de posited at Petra, Ela, and other fortified places, their merchandise, which, according to circumstances, were sent to the towns that were successively esta blished between Gaza and Pelusium. The Naba theans must have acquired immense wealth, if we may form an idea of it from the anxiety which Antigonus had to possess it, from the different authors who speak of it without being at all con nected with them, and, above all, from the splendid monuments which adorned their capital, and which might be compared, in point of magnificence, with those of Egypt and India. After having led the kings of Judea, of whose protection they stood in need, into commercial enterprises on the Elanitic Gulf, by means of which they procured for themselves, upon the most ad vantageous terms, the valuable articles of produce which they had previously received direct from the Arabs, the Phenicians turned towards Egypt, with a view to exhibit their spirit of enterprise on the Gulf of Suez, under the protection of a more regularly established government. There they had to contend against the national hostility to trade, and the horror of anv connection with INTERCOURSE WITH EGYPT. 297 strangers ; nevertheless, they found means to con quer those prejudices, and to engage the Pharaohs in several maritime expeditions. Although the expedition of Sesostris to India may be deemed questionable evidence, and that of Necos may be considered inadmissible, three facts are recorded, concerning which there can be no doubt : first, that under the reign of the former the Egyptians ventured into the Red Sea ; secondly, that in the time of the latter, commerce had been sufficiently extended to give rise to the idea of sending mari ners to discover other countries, which were doubt less supposed to teem more abundantly with riches; and, thirdly, that it became necessary, in order to facilitate the transport of merchandise, to form a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile. At a later period, the tendency of trade towards Alexandria, and the enlightened protection af forded to it by the Ptolemies, while they ruined the commerce of Phenicia, inflicted scarcely any injury on that of the Nabatheans. The exclusive navigation of the Red Sea might have interfered with the trade of the caravans : but the reasons which I have already mentioned still contributed to impede this channel of communication ; and the caravans which came from the Persian Gulf, as well as those which pursued the ordinary route, must have continued to be the source of immense riches, as it is to this epoch we must refer the splendour of the Nabatheans. The merchandise of that trading people was sent to the coast of Rhinoco- 298 DECLINE OF NABATHEAN TRADE. lura ; but instead of Phenician vessels, those of the Ptolemies came to take it away. The continual wars by which Syria was dis turbed, the dissensions which took place in the East, and the general movement which overthrew the Roman republic, and ended in establishing the colossal Roman empire, doubtless injured the trade of the Nabatheans. But the position of their capital protected them from all personal soil. citude ; and, peaceable spectators of the struggle, they continued uninterruptedly their relations with southern Arabia. When Octavius, after having put down all those who might oppose his ambi tious views, and gathered into his own hands the reins of power, placed the organisation of this ex tensive government on a tranquil footing,: trade renewed its activity, encouraged by the taste for luxury and magnificence which the Romans had acquired in Asia. When the kingdom of the Nabatheans became a Roman province, it preserved its splendour for some time, but its trade became worse every day : to this several causes contributed. At first the trade of the Persian Gulf gradually abandoned the southern route, and was carried more to the north, following the course of the Euphrates to Palmyra, which acquired a degree of grandeur attested by the monuments of it that still remain. The navi gation of the Red Sea, moreover, was extended in proportion as its dangers were overcome by ex perience. Soon after the advantage was discovered of entrepots, which avoided the navigation of the NAVIGATION OF THE RED SEA. 299 northern part of the Gulf of Heroopolis (Suez), which was the most dangerous, and successively Berenice and Cous were founded. These places received not only the merchandise transported by sea from distant countries, but also that which the caravans had deposited on the opposite side, on the Arabian coast, and which had then to make a passage of only twenty-five leagues across the sea, and three days by land, to arrive at the Nile. A city so large as Petra must have resisted these disadvantages for some time ; but its ruin was the inevitable consequence of that of its commerce : it must have greatly declined towards the seventh century, for the Arabian authors scarcely mention it among the conquests which were made by the first disciples of Islamism. The discoveries ofthe Portuguese were a fresh blow to the little trade which it then retained ; its inhabitants next aban doned it, and after that the grand caravan from Mecca, once a year, alone served to revive in those vast solitudes the remembrance of that early ac tivity, the parent of a commerce which had so long supplied two quarters of the globe. I have already, when speaking of the trade of the Nabatheans, entered into some details con cerning the navigation of the Red Sea. Arabia, where so many important events have taken place, must also have been the cradle of maritime enter prise. Erythras, who, according to the ancient authors, bestowed his name on the Red Sea, gave it also its first vessel. In fact, that sea, from its ap- 300 ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION. pearance, seems expressly calculated to encourage a spirit of adventure. The lofty coasts, which are so near each other as never to be out of sight from either shore, the habitable and fertile character of the islands, which served as places of refuge from bad weather, and, above all, the necessities of Egypt and the resources of Arabia, furnished abundant motives to urge the inhabitants on both sides to experiments which in the first in stance must have been considered extraordinary. Moreover, the Arabs on the western or African side, who had established relations with Egypt by the sale of their flocks and herds, could hardly have been strangers to those first attempts at navi gation, for which the Nile, as a river, presented more facilities than the sea. The first essays of this description were nearly the same every where : a trunk ofa tree3 ; several trees tied together by means of rushes, and form ing a raft" j then a large turtle shell c: from the moment man discovered the advantages of a hollow form, his inventions became only improvements. Earthen pots turned upside down sustained his rafts ; reeds joined together and covered with skins of animals formed a boat, which was soon succeeded by a tree hollowed out. All these ex periments, made simultaneously or by imitation on the Red Sea as well as on the Nile, equally suited a river whose current is not very rapid, and a sea a Sanchoniathon. b Homer, Odyssey, v. 244. ; Pliny, vii. c. 56. c Pliny, ix. 10. SESOSTRIS. 301 sprinkled at short intervals with islands easy of ac cess, and bordered by two lines of coast full of creeks which afforded a ready shelter. The navigation of the Red Sea was effected, down to the time of Sesostris, doubtless by the most simple means. The gigantic projects of that sovereign, however, must have given a new im pulse to maritime enterprise. Might not the Egyptians have known as well as the Phenicians, or have learned from them the use of the sail and the rudder, which they employed simultaneously with oars, as instruments of motion less rapid, but more certain, than the winds ? The Greeks, the Arabs, then the Venetians and the Turks, visited the Red Sea successively, to equip and man their vessels ; but however they perfected the style of building according to ideas which they received from other countries, they allowed the primitive form to remain, such as we still see it in the paintings and funeral offerings so well preserved by the Egyptians. a Upon my arrival at Suez, a vessel (Dao) was entering the port : its prow was long, its poop ele vated, so as to bend upwards out ofthe water, and its rudder was in the shape of a large oar. The a In Denon's work on Egypt, information to the man at the Antiquite, vol. ii. pi. 62., and helm. See also vol. iv. plate 63.' vol. iv. pi. 18., there are «_ pa- No. 3., and vol. i. pi. 68. k. y. pyrus and a painting, in which Belzoni, Gau, Minutoli, and Cail- several boats are seen : a man is laud have nothing in their copies in front bearing a long pole, with of hieroglyphics resembling this which he sounds the bottom, usage. while others are returning to give 302 ANCIENT VESSELS. pilot" was actively engaged in front ; his gesticu lations sufficiently indicated his character: the body of the vessel was painted in brilliant colours. A thick unwieldy mast was raised above the deck, and above the main-sail appeared some black sea men, peculiar in figure and the mode of wearing their hair. This spectacle reminded me strongly of the vessels found in the Egyptian tombs, and particularly of two in a perfect state of preserv ation, discovered during the excavations which were carried on under my directions for five months at the foot of the Pyramids. The vessel was cut out exactly in the same way ; the pilot was in front, the helmsman behind ; the figure of the Nubian rowers, the cut of their hair, the simplicity of their. costume, the hue of their skin, were all alike, ex hibiting a singular resemblance to the sailors who, in our time, navigate the Red Sea. Thus in the most remote ages, when the first at tempts at navigation had been scarcely made in other countries, the Red Sea had a coasting trade from the town of Ezion-Gaber as far as Babel Mandel : this trade was considerably extended by the Phenicians. Afterwards, other Phenicians, protected by the kings of Egypt and their troops, a The long rudder and the Aly Bey (Voyages, torn. ii. p.33.), custom of having constantly a Giovanni Finati (torn. i. p. 142.), man at the prow, in order to point and others have spoken of this out the course which was to he pilot. Long before these writers, pursued, are two striking charac- Ludovico Barthema of Bologna teristics which are preserved at mentioned him also. Itinerario, the present day. Niebuhr (Reise- fol. xviii. beschreibung, torn. i. p. 257.) ; CANAL OF THE RED SEA. 303 set out from the Gulf of Heroopolis with the same object in view, and proceeded towards the same countries. This route once marked out, the in habitants of Egypt, either of Phenician origin, but domiciled in the country, or purely Egyptian, but guided by Phenicians, continued this trade, which must have acquired great importance, since it gave rise to the gigantic project ofthe canal ofthe Nile to the sea, an enterprise that can only be explained by the accumulation of merchandise which it was more advantageous to convey in this manner into the interior of the country. The Greeks and Romans, availing themselves at once of this canal, pursued the same route. The numbers of piratical vessels which at that period scoured the sea, the greater part of which were manned by Nabatheans" who took refuge in the dangerous archipelago of the Elanitic Gulf, prove that the navigation of that sea had wonderfully increased. In the course of a little time the canal was filled with sand ; and the people of those days, being ignorant of the art of building sluices, its navigation was interrupted by the impediments thus collected, as well as by the delays caused by the winds which blow regularly in the Red Sea, as through a tunnel, shut up between Arabia Pe traea and Egypt. These circumstances probably induced the Greeks to found the city of Berenice, * It is not to be wondered at even possible that the government that the Nabatheans should have of Petra was not a stranger to by all means opposed the navi- that resistance. gation of the Red Sea, and it is 304 CANAL OF THE RED SEA. on the coast, with a view to establish there a grand entrepot, whence merchandise might be conveyed on the backs of camels as far as the Nile, and thence distributed through the country. This was doubtless the most economical mode of effecting their object, although at the first blush it would seem to require a great expense. But it should be observed, that by these means they avoided the dangers of the northern part of the Gulf of Heroo polis, as well as the delays and expenses occasioned by the navigation and repairs of the canal of Suez, and that they were enabled without the employ ment of a double agency to distribute their mer chandise through the country, and, what cost scarcely any labour, to send it down by the Nile to the Mediterranean. The conquest of Egypt by Amron brought the Arabs, not commerce, to which they had been accustomed from time immemorial on their coasts, and which they had resumed with greater zeal after their regeneration, but some additional ports; above all, a communication with the Mediterranean, and consequently an outlet, a source of increasing trade of which they knew how to avail themselves. At first they followed the route of Berenice and Cous ; but when Omar compelled Amron to clear out the canal of the Nile to Suez, vessels ascended as far as the latter city for more than a century ; mer chandise arrived by water at Cairo, and grain was exported thence for Mecca by this artificial route. In truth, it is only during this period that we have evident and indisputable proofs of its having been FILLING UP OF THE CANAL. 305 used. According to the Arabian authors the canal was incumbered purposely in the year of the Hegira 150, and its passage was interrupted by order of the caliph Mausour (the second Abacyde caliph), in order to prevent supplies of provisions from being sent in this way to Medina."1 I attach little credit to this assertion, for, as he was master of Egypt, it would have been much more easy for him to station guards to prevent the passage of transports than to fill up the canal. We may con clude therefore that the accumulation of the sand in the canal was rather the result of negligence, and that in consequence it was eventually alto gether abandoned. Commerce then took the route of Cosseir, and preserved a languid exist ence for about three centuries. The Venetians, who had long failed to obtain access to the Mahometan countries, received their merchandise for a considerable period from India by caravans, which set out from the Black Sea. But when fanaticism had abated a little, and the horror entertained against every thing Christian yielded to milder sentiments, they endeavoured to negotiate with the masters of Egypt. Another reason which still more strongly determined them to take this step was, that the Genoese had then obtained from the Greeks the almost exclusive commerce of the Black Sea. The Venetians suc ceeded in concluding a treaty, which ceded to them the commerce of the Red Sea ; they then a El Macryzi. X 306 THE VENETIANS. formed establishments on its coasts. From the ruins which are still visible on the Egyptian shore and on that of the peninsula of Sinai, it is evident that they ascended the entire gulf, and neglected the route from Berenice to the Nile, which the Greeks, the Romans, and Arabians preferred, when the canal was abandoned. The sea route, the dif ficulties of which I have already mentioned, offered, however, peculiar advantages to the Venetians. Their seamen were more experienced than the navigators who had preceded them in that quarter; they knew how to avoid its dangers, inasmuch as they navigated with the same kind of vessels and the same skill as the Portuguese, who at a later period made such important discoveries. The compass would have been of little use to them in a sea where they never lost sight of the coasts. Besides, they were barely endured in Egypt by the government, while they were looked upon with great jealousy by the inhabitants ; though protected by the authorities, they were scoffed at by a people full of religious prejudices. They therefore avoided as much as possible having any thing to do with the Mussulmans, and shunned the seat of a government whose protection they found most beneficial at a distance. These powerful con siderations were sufficient to prevent them from establishing their entrepots at a distance of 150 leagues from the capital, whence they would have been obliged to entrust them to people of the country, and to have them conveyed through the provinces which were the least favourable to them. DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 307 The canal of Suez being stopped up, the Vene tians effected the transport of their merchandise by caravans of camels, which then traversed, as they still do in our time, the thirty leagues of dis tance which separate Suez from the Nile. The proximity of the capital, and the influence of the supreme authority, afforded sufficient protection to this passage. But the discoveries of the Portuguese"1 were destined to overwhelm the industry of these enter prising merchants, and to strike a blow at fair Venice, the new queen of the seas, from which she will never recover. Alphonso Albuquerque, in 1515, entered the Red Sea, and took posses sion of Aden, but retired from it soon again, after a narrow escape from total destruction in that sea of sandbanks. Soliman Pacha, in 1539, with the ad vice and assistance ofthe Venetians, fitted out an ex pedition, which ended in the useless siege of Diu. b Dom Jean de Castro, in 1540, penetrated as far as Suez, without however being able to destroy the Turkish fleet, which was at anchor in the port, and retired without having achieved any thing, except the having armed, at Tor, a few knights of St. Catherine.6 Eventually the Venetians and a See the works of De Barros — sandria nelle Indie, 1537, printed Faria y sousa Asia Portugueza. at Venice in 1545. Itisfoundalso Le P. Joseph Lapitau (Decou- in the first vol. 8vo. of Ramusio. vertes des Portugais). Lopez de c Diario de Jean Castro. Pur- Castaneda. Histoire des Decou- chass Pilgrims, 'vol. ii. p. 1150. vertes des Indes Orientales, par Algemeine Historie aus dem les Portugais. Eng. uebersetz Basel, 1 747, vol. i. b See p. 144., Viaggio di Ales- p. 458. X 2 308 ABANDONMENT OF THE RED SEA. their establishments were overthrown, not by battles or conquests, but by the discovery of the new route to India, and subsequently of America, which attracted the enterprising spirit of the Dutch, the English, the French, and the Spaniards, and rendered the Red Sea almost useless. The Venetians gradually abandoned their estab lishments, consisting of buildings appropriated to the storage of provisions, and of admirably con structed cisterns, filled, for the supply of vessels, from remote springs, whose waters were conducted from the mountains to the coast. No motives of interest any longer existing to en courage the skill and perseverance of these foreign merchants, the navigation of the Red Sea was given up to the hands ofthe lazy Mussulmans, and to the feeble protection of an ill-organised govern ment : it suddenly fell off to such a degree, that a few large barks have been sufficient for two hun dred years to meet the whole of its' commerce. Its trade would have disappeared altogether, if Mocha and its coffee, and Mecca and its pilgrim ages , had not served to keep up some commercial relations, which, though inconsiderable, are still sufficient to maintain Suez, Tor, Djedda, and some other ports to the south. I have already alluded to Napoleon's plans for opening the ancient canal of Suez. He hoped thereby to strike a blow at the wealth of England: his project was magnificent, but he calculated on a power which slipped from him, that of his navy, which he often despised, and never understood. COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA. 309 Since our armies have retired from these countries, and the English have become almost exclusively possessed of the commerce of that part of the world, it has been asked, why the latter have not endeavoured to avail themselves of the route of the Red Sea, which offers a considerably shorter passage to India than that by the Cape of Good Hope. It should, however, be considered, that the first interest of a maritime power is to preserve the superiority of that force which constitutes its strength. If the length of the voyage were di minished by one half, by encouraging the dis charge of cargoes in the ports of the Red Sea, although commerce might gain by this alteration, it would reduce the number of the vessels and seamen now employed in the India trade by one half, and thus greatly impair the resources of English power in case of war. The map which accompanies this work, and upon which I have traced all the routes that have been indicated by travellers, shows that Arabia, from the most remote period down to our time, has been traversed in all directions. We might, therefore, have reasonably expected more ample information concerning it than has reached our hands. It is necessary, however, to make allow ance for the nature of the country, and the kind of travellers who have chiefly frequented it; a territory so constituted, that a few wells, and the scanty herbage by which they are surrounded, are the only points that attract attention, as they have enabled caravans, armies, pilgrims, and the travel- x 3 310 TRAVELLERS IN ARABIA PETR_EA. lers of our days to journey over its wastes. That region, moreover, exhibits an enormous extent of mountain desert, intersected by a few valleys or plains, which, since they have become known to man, have served as roads constantly pursued for purposes very different from those connected with the acquisition of knowledge. This observation, which is true with reference to all Arabia, is par ticularly applicable to Arabia Petraea, the geologi cal features of which, from time immemorial, gave a natural direction to routes, to which the traveller was confined, and prevented him from attempting those deviations which he might have been other wise disposed to make. As to the travellers who have frequented that region, they may be distinguished in two ways — their interests and their customs. The first division comprehends all the ancient commercial caravans, which, without exposing themselves to certain loss, could not alter the line of their journey, nor the intervals between their magazines ; it includes also conquering armies, who, actuated by a love of plunder, would pursue exactly the same routes with less peaceable views. The second class con sists of pilgrims, of whom scientific travellers may be considered as a subdivision. Upon com paring together the information which they have collected, it proves abundantly that they could not avoid pursuing the same roads, halting at the same wells, and conforming alike to the geological dif ficulties of the country. Our acquaintance with the state of ancient com- PILGRIMAGES. 311 merce allows of a sufficiently large margin for the intercalation of many plausible conjectures. The notions which we have of it are chiefly furnished by the Bible, that volume which deserves our esteem in every respect, and by some Greek au thors. I have already mentioned them ; I would here only repeat, that those long caravans, how ever numerous or varied they may have been, were limited, so far as a knowledge of the country is concerned, to three grand routes, one of which reached Petra, while the two others, separating into two branches, proceeded to Egypt and Syria. But all had the same halting places, and the same daily journeys, as those that preceded them. The commercial importance of Petra, its celebrity as a capital, and the accounts which strangers gave of it, enabled ancient authors to give us some details concerning it, which lead us from the Scriptures to the narratives of military operations. They exhibit, by indicating the routes, the position of the principal places, and by their descriptions of manners, its moral aspect at that period. At a latter date Arabia was conquered, and we have also some ac counts of that event, but nothing of a satisfactory nature — no topographical details — fragments only which serve in some degree to keep up the chain of connection with its subsequent history. When Christianity arose, Arabia Petraea became the refuge of the primitive anchorites, the first thea tre ofthe martyrs of that religion which was destined to spread all over the world. The pious hermits have given us some idea of the situation of the country x 4 312 PILGRIMAGES. from the narratives of their trials and sufferings. The simple accounts which they have left us of journeys from one point to another, of halting places, and the manners of the inhabitants, are of peculiar value from the circumstance that we have no others. They are, however, nothing more than the narratives of individuals, who felt interested only about one part of the country, forgetting the rest altogether. The Bible and the ancient au thors comprise, the one in the recital of events, the other in their general views, the whole of Arabia Petraea, while the martyrs and the fathers of the church, pilgrims and travellers, occupied themselves, after the second and third centuries, ex clusively with the peninsula of Sinai, the religious associations of which attracted the devotion of the former, and the curiosity of the latter. All that region which stretches to the east beyond a line drawn from Ebron to Akaba, including the terri tory of the celebrated capital of the Nabatheans, was concealed beneath a thick veil until the com mencement of the present century. It is only partially raised by the Ecclesiastical reports, some of which go so far as to speak of Bostra, the me tropolis of Palestina tertia, while others speak only of Petra deserti, Crack, or Karak, the fortress of Rinaldo, which belongs to Arabia Deserta. 313 CHAPTER XVIII. PILGRIMAGES TO SINAI. MAHOMETAN INVASION. FALL OP JERUSALEM. INCREASE OE PILGRIMS. PRIVILEGES OF PILGRIMS. TRADE IN RELICS. PILGRIM TAX. EARLY ROUTE OF THE PILGRIMS. THE CONSECRATED FIRE. ROUTE THROUGH HUNGARY. — NARRATIVES OF PILGRIMS. — PIERRE DE SUCHEN. DUTIES OF CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS. TOLERATION OF THE SARACENS. THE LAST CRUSADE. HOSPITALITY TOWARDS PILGRIMS. — THEIR INNS. SARA CEN PROTECTION. TRAVELLERS IN THE HOLY LAND. — UNCHANGEABLENESS OF ORIENTAL MANNERS. As soon as Christianity began to extend itself, and was established in some parts of the holy city which had been the principal theatre of its mys teries, pilgrimages were at first made to the nearest, and afterwards to the more remote provinces, in proportion as the new religion made progress. About the third century Europe took a part in these pilgrimages, and the devotion of the Emperor Constantine, and of his mother Helena, as well as the care with which they collected the most interesting relics connected with Christianity, and enshrined them in magnificent edifices enriched by the most sumptuous presents, excited universal attention, and powerfully stimulated the zeal of the primitive Christians. From that period commenced those innumerable pilgrimages which seem to have increased in pro portion as the difficulties attending them were 314 PILGRIMAGES TO SINAI. augmented. The first Christian travellers landing in the East, set out from Cairo or Jerusalem, reached Sinai, scrupulously visited all its celebrated local ities, and then proceeded to their different desti nations : that is to say, those who set out from Jerusalem went to Cairo to visit the hermits of the Thebaid and the lakes of Natro ; whereas those who took their departure from Cairo ter minated their pilgrimage at the Holy Sepulchre. In the fourth century Saints Jerome and Eusebius went to Egypt to admire the austerities of the hermits of the Thebaid, and ofthe desert of Nitrice. Antoninus in the year 560 visited Sinai ; he found three abbots in a convent, which had already been constructed there, and on the summit of the moun tain he observed the chapel, of which remains are still to be seen. In the following years several other pilgrims ascended to that hermitage to pay their respects to the pious anchorites, who led there a life of expiation and suffering, of which we can scarcely form any idea. Thus Christianity made great progress amongst a society already on the decline, and in the midst of an empire already shaken to its centre. Its internal dissensions opened the way to the Maho metan invasion, which it would have been easy to resist on the first attempt. Nevertheless, whether it was that Arabia Petraea offered little interest to the armies of the Prophet, a nomade race, whose chief object was the conquest of Egypt and Syria, or that really nothing which occurred during their passage through the country seemed worthy of FALL OF JERUSALEM. 315 their notice, their authors scarcely mention that peninsula. Jerusalem fell, after a resistance of four months, under the power of the Mussulmans, and the capitulation then entered into is the same which still governs the relations between them and the Christians throughout the whole extent of the Mahometan empire. The Christians have " liberty to practise their religion in all their churches, but they are forbidden to erect new ones ; they are to have no crucifixes on the outside, nor any pro cessions beyond the walls of their temples ; they are permitted to strike on bells, but not to suspend them ; they are forbidden to prevent a Christian from adopting Islamism ; they are enjoined to pay the greatest respect to Mussulmans, and to distin guish themselves from the latter by their names, their apparel, and their manners." The obstacles thrown in the way ofthe pilgrims by these new masters of the holy places, the horror which the former naturally felt at the sight of such heretics, and the obligation imposed upon them of humbling themselves in their presence, do not ap pear, however, to have subdued the ardour for these pilgrimages which then prevailed. In order to explain this perseverance in the performance of a supposed duty, attended by so many difficulties and privations, it is necessary to consider for a moment what was then the state of society in Europe. No thing was at that period permanently established ; burthens of every kind were imposed on some to the profit of others, right was in the strongest, and power was confined to the minority, while the mass was 316 INCREASE OF PILGRIMS. unoccupied. When we add to this state of things, that restless spirit of adventure which converts the paternal home into a dreary residence, and makes the great routes the most ordinary haunts of men, it will not be difficult to account for the frequent ac complishment of a journey attended with so much inconvenience. Nor was it possible to decline an enterprise which religion surrounded with the charms of holi ness, and the* people consecrated by their admir ation? The pilgrim having resolved on his task, obtained from the church the scarf arid staff; and, blessed by the whole population, and perhaps ac companied by them as far as the first convent, he commenced his long and wearisome journey under the most favourable auspices. Itineraries were already made outa ; convents had been built on the roads most frequently adopted ; inns, maintained by rich noblemen who had not yet attempted such expeditions themselves, received indiscriminately, and with equal respect, every person who bore the title of pilgrim. Supported during their journey by pious foundations, they encountered no obstacles on their way through different countries, for their character secured them a degree of protection which they could have obtained from no other con sideration. Amongst the Huns, the Goths, and the Vandals, they were encouraged by the new con verts to Christianity, who had already learned to venerate the birth-place of their religion. They * See that of Bordeaux, published by Wa'kener. PRIVILEGES OF PILGRIMS. 317 were respected from sympathy by other nations, which, though still attached to their own supersti tions, had their own holy places to which they also performed pilgrimages. Particular regulations fixed every where the rights to which a pilgrim was entitled on his journey. Even at the present day, the best introduction for any person travelling in the East is to announce himself as a pilgrim. During the whole of our journey from Constantinople to Egypt, to the questions which were repeatedly addressed to us as to the object of our travels by the pachas and Musselims, in presence of their assembled courts, our answer was always the same, that we were on a pilgrimage to the tomb of our Lord. It would be difficult to describe the respect with which this answer was universally received, and the extent to which it facilitated all our arrangements. To the honours which were paid to the pilgrim before his departure, to the protection which he received during his journey, and to the veneration with which he was welcomed on his return home, another motive is to be added, which doubtless had its influence on many persons — the trade in relics, and the profits which were easily derived from it at a period when convents were so numerous and so wealthy. The custom of accumulating in each of these establishments, with a view to their greater renown, the remains of holy men, or frag ments of articles sanctified by having been used by them, became so prevalent, that the trade thus carried on, under the garb of pilgrimage, from the 318 PILGRIM TAX. earliest ages, continued for a long time after the crusades, notwithstanding all the frauds which were mixed up with it. It still affords support, even in our age of indifference, to several villages near Jerusalem.*1 The relations which Charlemagne established with Haroun-el-Raschid, and the wise rule of the latter, enabled the Christians of the East to enjoy a degree of liberty and repose which they had not known since the conquest. They had then at Jerusalem twelve houses or inns, and in the valley of Josaphat some fields and vineyards. In the peninsula of Sinai, besides the monastery of, St. Catherine, several lesser convents were built in different valleys, and attended by monks. Pilgrim ages, which were then considered as an expiation of all kinds of transgressions, became customary, and entered into the manners of the time. The number of pilgrims increased every day in conse quence of the legal aid and protection which they uniformly received. Charlemagne ordained that " on account of the love of God, and the salvation of their own souls, nobody should refuse the pil grims lodging, fire, and water." Nevertheless, on arriving in the Holy Land he had to pay a certain tax — the Bisantium aureum — which the Mussul mans from the period of the conquest levied on a Bags of shells are transported these shells chaplets are made, on the backs of camels from Suez, and great quantities are sold upon which Arabs of Bethlehem every year at Jerusalem ; they and Jerusalem form imitations of are also exported both to the the Holy Sepulchre, either sculp- eastern and western provinces. tured in relief or engraved. Of ROUTE OF THE PILGRIMS. 319 each of them. It was a heavy impost on persons who undertook so long a journey, relying on the alms which they received on the way. Hence many pilgrims, who had not the prudence to pro vide money for this purpose, were, as Bernard, who visited that country in 870, assures us, thrown into irons for not having paid the tribute. The number of these persons must have been considerable, as a society was established for purchasing their free dom. But, he adds, as the Saracens weighed the money with their own weights, six pennies would only make three, and thus it was often necessary to pay double the amount. Zimisces, after Nicephorus Phocas, profiting of the disorders which followed the reign of the sage caliphs of Bagdad, made himself master of all the towns of Judea. But the Greeks, far from con solidating that important conquest, soon after his death suffered the country to fall back under the dominion of the Fatimite Caliphs, who had esta blished their power in Egypt. Hakem, the third of the race, was a scourge to the Christians ; their churches were thrown down, the relics were trampled upon, and the pilgrims exposed to all sorts of vexations. But this change of system was not suffered to pass unopposed ; Gerbert, who after his pilgrimage became pope under the name of Silvester the Second, raised an armed force against the Mussulmans ; pilgrimages, moreover, were no longer performed by individuals alone or in small numbers, but in considerable bodies, like real armies. It was at this period, that the pilgrimage 320 CONSECRATED FIRE. of Bononius took place, who, after having sojourned at Babylon, or Old Cairo, in Egypt, visited Jeru salem, and settled on Mount Sinai, where he lived many years, and died in 1026. Down to the middle of the eleventh century, the route followed by all the pilgrims was nearly the same. They traversed Italy, where, after re ceiving the Pope's benediction, they embarked for Constantinople, whence they proceeded through Asia Minor to Syria. Although the desire of seeing Constantinople, and of joining other pil grims at that grand rendezvous, was among the motives that determined them to go thus far out of their way, it was the then state of navigation and the expenses of so long a passage which chiefly induced them to prefer the land journey through Asia Minor. Richard IL, Duke of Normandy, who had not the courage to attempt this sacred enterprise, wished to have at least the merit of en abling others to accomplish it ; he paid all the expenses of the seven hundred pilgrims who fol lowed Richard, Abbot of Saint- Vitou, in 1046. One of the marvels of that pilgrimage, is the de scription which its historian has left us of the ap parition of the consecrated fire in the presence of the Turks, and of the naked sabre which wounded the Christians. The Duke of Normandy at the same period encouraged all kinds of pious found ations, and received annually, at Rouen, the monks of Mount Sinai, who came to collect the presents which he made to their convent. Not long after that period, when Hungary, or at ROUTE THROUGH HUNGARY. 321 least a portion of its inhabitants, was converted to Christianity, pilgrimages were performed without interruption, at first by land as far as Constanti nople, and then from that capital by the ordinary route to Jerusalem. The uncertainty of the sea passage, and doubtless more even than that, its ex- pensiveness, were sufficient reasons for their adopt ing the journey by land, which was besides much more free from danger **, and upon which their ex penses from stage to stage were defrayed by the con vents and pious establishments expressly founded for the support of these expeditions. Bishop Lie- bert, attended by three thousand pilgrims, was the first who opened this route, and traversed a country little accustomed to such visiters : he had, therefore, to experience all the difficulties of a first attempt. In 1064, twenty years before the first crusade, we have the details of the journey of a troop of more than seven thousand pilgrims preceded by several bishops. Although no traces remain of their excursions to Sinai, it is nevertheless to be pre sumed that many of these pilgrims, after having visited Jerusalem, repaired to that solitude by the route indicated in my map. At the same time it is natural to suppose that this part of their journey did not seem to them sufficiently important to be men tioned in the general account of their pilgrimage. " P. de Suchen said, even so a century later, sufficiently indi- late as the fourteenth century, that cates the delays to which it was the journey by land was prefer- liable. able ; and the provysion de Wey, Y 322 NARRATIVES OF PILGRIMS. When we reflect on the circumstance that so great a number of persons, for the most part well educated and of high birth, have made this long tour both by sea and land ; have sojourned for months, years, nay, during their whole lives, in those interesting countries ; and when we examine the memorials which they have left us of their enterprise ; we are astonished at the scantiness and dulness of the information which they have left us. Perhaps we are not entitled to reproach the pious pilgrims themselves with having omitted to consign their thoughts to writing in the midst of the fatigues which they had to endure ; but have we not some right to complain of the convents which received, after such interesting expeditions, those who had the courage to engage in them, and failed to obtain from their lips any thing more than a mere catalogue, a thousand times repeated, of miracles and fables, which have no more of in terest for us than they had of utility for their con temporaries ? We must, however, do the convents the justice to confess that it is to them we owe the limited information we possess concerning these countries. It was not until after the conclusion of the cru sades that the pilgrimages assumed the character of descriptive journeys, exhibiting the motives which led to their being undertaken, and the means by which they were accomplished. Pierre de Suchen, 1336 — 1350, is the first who deserves our notice. He visited Egypt, Mount Sinai, and Syria; and the information which he collected, DUTIES OF CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS. 323 although mingled with a good deal of fable, is instructive and engaging in consequence of the natural manner in which it is presented. His narrative was published at Venice, in Latin, and at Nuremberg, in German, the language of the author. a After him comes Nicolo Frescobaldi, a Florentine of good family", who performed his pilgrimage in 1383. His journal is less incum bered with idle tales, and contains a considerable proportion of information collected with scrupu lous exactness. Moreover, Frescobaldi pursued the same route as his predecessor, Breydenbach, who is more generally known. These journeys were, however, still pilgrimages c, the habits of which had survived the misfortunes of the Christ ian army. We find, in a work written in the fif teenth century by Antoine de la Sale, the duty of performing pilgrimages enumerated amongst those which it is incumbent upon a new knight to dis charge. " Besides," he observes, " good knights repair to the Holy Sepulchre for the love and honour of our Lord : others visit St. Catherine, where they pay their devotions." In a treaty concluded in 1403, between the order of St. John = It is entitled, Eyn Register Heinendorf, Barthema, Albrecht fiber das Buch von den Weg zu von Lowenstein, the Itinerary den heiligenGrabod'gelobte Land of the Red Sea in Latin and und Wund'n hie mit begriffen. Portuguese of Jean de Castro, and b This journey was printed in the anonymous Italian author of 1818, at Florence, by Manzi, a Voyage down the Red Sea, are from a manuscript in the Barba- the principal works of that period rini library. which I consulted while writing c Hans Tucher, Furer von the description of my journey. Y 2 324 TOLERATION OF THE SARACENS. of Jerusalem and the Sultan of Egypt, mention is made, among the duties to be levied on the pil grims to the Holy Land, of the pilgrims who repaired to St. Catherine of Mount Sinai, and permission is given to that convent to repair its buildings and to construct new ones. It is surprising to observe the indulgence with which the Saracens treated those Christians who thus traversed their country, collected information concerning their towns, their administration, and their means of defence, at a period when Europe, after having lost its last strong hold in the Holy Land, was still full of the idea of new crusades. In fact, from the year 1291, when Ptolemais was lost, down to 1422, the year when Henry IV. of England died, these projects were constantly contemplated, although they were already foreign to the manners of the time ; the spirit of adven ture having spent itself in two centuries of war, and enterprises of that character having been found injurious to the interests of commerce. After the loss of Ptolemais, Pope Nicolas IV. wrote to the Genoese and the Venetians, calling on them to terminate their dissensions, with a view to unite against the Mussulmans ; and to the Tem plars and the Hospitallers, directing them to form but one order and to increase their numbers for the purpose of recovering the holy places. He also addressed letters to the bishops of Germany, and to all the Christian princes, to induce them to get up another crusade, and even to the Khan Argun, THE LAST CRUSADE. 325 to prevail on him to march against Syria/ At the commencement of the fourteenth century a chi valrous spirit animated the Genoese ladies : in order to defray the expenses of a new crusade, they sold their jewels, and thus equipped several ves sels.1* The council of Vienna, in 1312, and the exhortations of Pope Clement V., afforded every encouragement to a similar enterprise. Henry VII. and Philippe le Bel, and Edward of England, took a part in it, as well as a great number of barons. It is true that all these preparations threatened to produce no important consequences ; that a part of the crusaders remained in port, while another portion set out, with the intention of speedily re turning home ; and that the sovereigns appear to have yielded obedience to the exhortations of the Church really for the purpose only of raising con siderable subsidies amongst the clergy, under the pretext of preparing large armaments. But, in the mean time, the Saracens, who could not have been familiarly acquainted with the direction of men's minds at that period, must have deemed those distant preparations formidable ; and as they heard only of councils, of bishops preaching through dif ferent countries, and of the activity which pre vailed in the principal ports0, they would have been * Wilken and Michaud, His- b Rainaldus gives the names of toire des Croisades ; . Rainaldi, these heroines. Annates Eeclesice ; AbelRemusat, "I do not mention here the Memoires sur les Relations des long series of works, the object of Princes Chretiens avec les Em- which was to persuade nations to pereurs Mongols. join in the crusades, and to pro- Y 3 326 HOSPITALITY TOWARDS PILGRIMS. well warranted in interdicting Christians from en tering or passing through their territory. On the contrary, they received them with the same toler ation as before. At Alexandria the pilgrims had an inn where they were lodged ; they proceeded thence to Damietta and Rosetta, followed the course of the Nile to Cairo, passed on to the The baid, the lakes of Natro, Sinai, then to Syria, and to the harbour of Jaffa, where they embarked for pose plans of operations upon data gathered by the pilgrims during their pious excursions. Of these works the Saracens could hardly have been ignorant. Amongst the number the most complete is that of Marino Sanuti, which he founded in some measure upon the reports of merchants, sea men, or pilgrims, whom he inter rogated on their arrival at Ve nice. He had also travelled him self, and, with the assistance of ancient accounts of the country, he formed a system of crusades, and a plan of warfare, the first object of which was the conquest of Egypt, with a view to render it the grand magazine for pro visions and stores of every de scription, and the basis of oper ations by means of which Syria mightbe conquered and preserved. This scheme was by no means novel, as Amaury, in 1162 and 1 169, was led into his expedition , by the opinion then generally pre vailing, that Syria could never be preserved without possession of Egypt. At a subsequent pe riod, Jean de Brienne landed at Damietta, in conformity with the decisions of the council of La- teran. " Then the resolution was confirmed in the council held at Lateran, that the Christian army should be recommended to take possession of Egypt." Oliv. Scho- last. Historia Damiatina, cap. i. Although we have no report of the discussions which took place in the council of Louis IX. upon the plan of his crusade, neverthe less, it is to be presumed that a determination was not taken to the same effect without weighing the pro and the con, especially after the two unfortunate attempts which we have already mentioned. Thus the. merit of Sanuti is that he persevered in an opinion which this last attempt had rendered it more difficult for him to sustain. It may be mentioned as a proof of his sagacity, that the object of the French expedition to Egypt was the conquest of Syria, and that at the present day Mehemet Aly possesses the very means for the same object which Marino Sanuti foresaw would be possess ed by the master of Egypt. THEIR INNS. 327 their own country. Lannoy himself, during the whole of his journey, in 1442, — the only object of which, as Mr. Webb ingeniously demonstrates, was to examine the country in a military point of view, and to prepare plans of a campaign, — traversed all Egypt and Syria without having occasion even once to complain of the treatment he received. It must at the same time be admitted, that Christian travellers in the East did not enjoy com plete liberty. The moment they arrived in port, a guard went on board, and took away their main sail and rudder **, as a security for the obedience of the crew and the payment of the duties.b More over, they had to pay two per cent, on the value of their property, besides a ducat per head; a sum which the cupidity of the Saracens occasionally doubled, as, for instance, in the time of Bernard. These duties having been paid, — not, perhaps, with out some blows having been in the mean time inflict ed on the strangers, as Breydenbach alleges, — they were conducted to the lodgings (auberge, or okel) ofthe pilgrims, or rather to what was then called the fonteguesC "Also," says Lannoy d, "there are at Alexandria several Christians who reside within the town — especially Venetians, Genoese, and Ca- a A question arose about the * Frescobaldi speaks of this as abandonment of this custom, in a usual practice. the treaty concluded in 1323 be- c Fonde, Joinville, and Du- tween Aboulsaca, sovereign of cange, the origin of the word Tunis, and the King of Aragon, Fonda (inn) still in use in Spain. Art. 12., cited by Deppingin his d See Lannoy, vol. xxi. de History of the Trade with the Le- l'Archaeologia, 1828. van., 1830. 328 SARACEN PROTECTION. talans — who have their fontegues, large and fine houses ; and the Christians are shut up in them every night by the Saracens, who let them out again at an early hour in the morning. And in like manner they are shut up every Friday throughout the year, for two or three hours ; that is to say, in the middle of the day, when the Sara cens are at their principal service. There are also other lodgings for pilgrims." The pilgrim was placed under the protection of the chief merchants or the French consul, who gave him every assistance in the preparations for his journey : without pay ing exorbitantly, he found there provisions, asses, camels, and guides ; and, in short, had fewer annoyances to encounter in his journey than a traveller of the pres ent day. The difficulties which pilgrims had then to con quer must have been very slight indeed, when we consider that they made, with the money they were permitted to retain, and under the protection they enjoyed, expeditions which in our time, notwith standing the greater degree of civilisation intro duced in the East, require an adventurous spirit, robust strength, and considerable pecuniary re sources. Such condescension on the part of the Mussulmans towards Christians arose from two causes : from a love ofthe gain they acquired, which was important for a long time after the crusades — down, indeed, to the time ofthe Reformation, when the devotion that led to pilgrimages ceased to have influence ; and, secondly, from a species ofreligious sympathy, which prompted the Mussulmans always to pay respect to pilgrims. TRAVELLERS IN THE HOLY LAND. 329 Two or three works were written at this period, the style of which is peculiarly engaging ; the au thors seem as if they were writing letters to their own families, to assure them that they were safe, and to give them an account of their proceedings. Two centuries afterwards, however, we have te dious descriptions of the country, which remind one of the droll title of a monastic work, entitled De omnibus rebus et de quibusdam aliis. Travellers who visited only a small part of the Holy Land, stopped for a while at Alexandria, Tunis, or Algiers, or in some port of Spain or the Adriatic, believed themselves to be not only entitled, but in some de gree obliged, to give us a general description of the world at large, at the same time rendering it im possible for their readers to discover what was the particular route they had pursued themselves. One author inserts in his work, sometimes his letters and the answers he received to them, his poetry, his dissertations, and perhaps a treatise on Algebra. Another prefixes to his publication a pompous title, which, being printed partly in red, partly in black letters, announces to the learned that they will find in it an infinite number of novelties, physical experiments, philosophical lu cubrations, chemical curiosities, and conversations of the most illustrious men of the age, besides secrets previously unknown connected with plea sure or health, commentaries on the works of famous painters, and whatever is to be found worthy of attention in the three parts ofthe globe. 330 TRAVELLERS IN THE HOLY LAND. Of all these works of the sixteenth or seven teenth century, there is not one specially dedicated to Arabia Petraea, although every author thinks that he has a right to speak of it, even if he had only travelled from Gaza to Baalbec, or from Suez to Sinai.a Good sense and- truth seem to be wholly excluded from these works : besides being dis figured by fables, their charts and plans are ridi culously inaccurate when compared with the places of which they affect to give an idea. Such, for in stance, is the view of Sinai which Neitzchnitz had engraved and inserted in his " Contemplation of the World ;" such also are his designs of the Py ramids and of several Egyptian monuments which were published in other books of travels. One would hardly believe that it was possible, even with the most limited memory, to give such repre sentations of so interesting a country. On the other hand, it is impossible to suppose that tl> authors were indebted for them to mer inventfo *- the details of their narratives evident show : they have visited the spots they have sb hollyfail^d to represent. The mpst valuable legacies they have left us f*