selves as suitable abodes for a simple people. It is perhaps not too much to consider such residences, as well as the peculiar mountainous position of the cities of Edom, as referred to by the prophet Jeremiah. “Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clifts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill, though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from hence, saith the Lord.”1 Going along this defile, into which the brook enters, we find a very romantic chasm coming down from the west and north. It is wild and precipitous to an extraordinary degree, and we were unable to ascend by it to the celebrated excavation called the Deir, or “the convent,” which we had first noticed when on the summits of Mount Hor. The defile which leads to it commences at the north-west corner of the valley. It is exceedingly rough and broken ; but it is rendered practicable by flights of steps cut in the terraces of the solid rock wherever they are necessary, and extending, with a few interruptions here and there, through the whole of its length. The tombs at its entrance are exceedingly plain. One of them, about half way up the ascent, is rather of large dimensions. It was called by our guides the Maghárah, or “Cave” par excellence. As we advanced up the defile, we “ were much struck with the picturesque and fantastic appearance of the divided and overhanging rocks of pink and purple on each side of us, and with the monuments of nature and art which, here and there looking through the long and irregular vista, we saw in the valley below. On a pencil representation of this extraordinary scenery, including the great tombs in the south of that valley, our draughtsman spent much of his time at Petra. He produced a piece of drawing which has been much admired. No reduction of it which has been attempted, however, has proved satisfactory. 1 Jer. xlix. 16. When these observations were made, I had not seen the very valuable work of Captains Irby and Mangles, in which quite similar representations are made respecting the very excavations to which they refer. “There are grottos in great numbers, which were certainly not sepulchral, especially near the Palace; there is one in particular which presents a front of four windows, with a large and lofty doorway in the centre. In the interior, one chamber of about sixty feet in length, and of a breadth proportioned, occupies three of the windows and the door at the lower end; the fourth window seems allotted to a very small sleeping chamber, which is not brought down to the level of the floor of the great apartment, but has a chamber below it of the same size, receiving no light but from the entrance. This, which seems the best of all the excavated residences, has no ornament whatever on the exterior; and the same applies to all the other excavations of this nature. The access to this house is by a shelf gained out of the side of the mountain;other inferior habitations open upon it, and more particularly an oven and some cisterns. These antique dwellings are close to an angle of the mountain, where the bed of the stream, after having traversed the city, passes again into a narrow defile, along whose steep sides an excavated suburb is continued, of very small and mean chambers, set one above another, without much regularity, like so many pigeon-holes in the rock, with flights of steps or narrow inclined plains leading up to them; the main-wall and ceiling only of some were in the solid, the fronts and partitions being built of very indifferent masonry with cement.”—Irby and Mangles' Travels, pp. 426, 427. 2 * Ho that heweth hiin out a sepulchre ou high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock."-Isaiah xxü. 16. Winding to the top of the defile, we came to a considerable platform, mostly enclosed by rocks, where the Deir, the principal object on this high and retired spot, presented itself to our view in all its imposing grandeur, and beauty, though not perfection, of art. It is wholly cut out of the solid rock, which is here so regular and compact, that scarcely a single flaw could have been originally revealed in it. It has suffered very little, either from the waste of time, or the stroke of the hand of man, except in the steps by which there is the ascent to its door, and the parts which are with it on a corresponding level. Its front, occupying the greater part of the mass of the rock out of which it is cut, has two stories, with niches with pedestals between the pillars by which it is ornamented. Within, it is perfectly simple. There is there a large room, of the same height as the door, THE DEIR-TOMBS OF THE VALLEY. 315 varying from 49 to 35 feet in length, by about 42 in breadth, and terminating in a recess of 5 by 3 paces, containing an elevation like an altar, with four steps on each side. We had not the slightest doubt, both from its appearance and the nature of the road to it, that it was used as a public temple. The ground before it is nearly level. Opposite to it, however, there is a lofty rock, with excavations, on which several steps are cut, by which the ascent to it can be made. We sat upon it for some time, greatly enjoying the marvellous scene around us, and particularly looking upwards, over the elevations and abysses, to Mount Hor, from which we had first seen this the highest portion of Petra. At the north side of the valley, and particularly its western corner, there are many ranges and rows of excavations. Though many of them are large and capacious, they are generally entirely without ornament. In some of them are recesses, and pits, and grooves, evidently intended for the reception of the dead. To this congeries, I shall afterwards have occasion to allude. We made several visits to them, though they present no peculiar attraction. Passing on to the east side of the valley, we have nearly the whole face of the rock appearing like a street of highly ornamented buildings. The first object here worthy of distinct notice is a tomb, with a Latin inscription of three lines, giving the name of Quintus Prætextus Florentinus, and supposed by Laborde to have been of the time of Adrian or Antoninus Pius. Coming along to the south, we find the Fatum, a large façade of three stories, with numerous pilasters, and four large sepulchral apartments with a separate entrance for each, and a recess at the back of one of them, evidently intended for the accommodation of four coffins. Two of those apartments, those in the middle, communicate with one another. Part of the workmanship in front, and particularly in the upper parts, we considered more ancient, as it is more simple, than that below, which seems more an attempt at an accommodation to it, than its proper architectural base. A considerable part of it, on one of the sides, has been destroyed. Closely connected with this great monument, but with several tombs with sarcophagi intervening, is the Umm-Zikeki, or the “Corinthian tomb” of Laborde. It is a good deal injured in the exterior. Its face is not all on the same plumb line; and we thought that the Romans may have here tried their hands at the improvement of some old Idumean sculpture. It contains one large and two small sepulchral chambers. Contiguous to it is the Umm-Mazaneidaḥ, the “ Tomb with an urn” of Laborde. There is a considerable terrace, forming a quadrangular area, and partly supported by large vaults below, in front of this excavation, to which the ascent has been by steps. On this terrace we found a considerable quantity of soil, with a fine sward of grass. There are two rows of five Ionic pillars, forming a sort of portico at its sides. Above the door is a large window, surmounted by three others of larger dimensions. The urn is supported by a pediment above the frieze. Within, there is a large deep chamber, some fifty feet in length, with a square recess at its extremity, giving one the idea that it must have been used as a temple or church.1 a a 1 “ The interior," write Irby and Mangles, “was disposed of in one large and lofty chamber, having six recesses, with grooves in them at the further end. On the establishment of Christianity, these six recesses have been converted into three, for the reception of the altars, and the whole apartment has been made to serve as a church; the fastenings for the tapestry and pictures are still visible in all the walls, and near an angle is an inscription in red paint, recording the date of consecration. These were the only vestiges of a Christian establishment that we were enabled to discover throughout the remains of Petra, though it was a metropolitan see.”—Travels, p. 431. Speaking of the Deir, Mr. Kinnear says,—“Immediately over the altar, a Greek cross has been painted on the wall, and may still be distinctly traced ; and it is not improbable that this temple may at one period have been used as a Christian Church."Cairo, Petra, and Damascus in 1839, The seat of the metropolitan see of Petra has long been at Kerak. p. 153. |