240 Captains Irby and Mangles"'s Acvomit of the Necropolis 



it is with difficulty that its course can be followed, from the 

 luxuriance of the shrubs that surround it, and obstruct every 

 track. Besides the oleander, which is common to all the water- 

 courses in thrs country, one may recognize among the plants 

 which choke this valley, some which are probably the descen- 

 dants of those that adorned the gardens and supplied the mar- 

 ket of the capital of Arabia ; the carob, fig, mulberry, vine, 

 and pomegranate, line the river side ; a very beautiful spe- 

 cies of aloe also grows in this valley, bearing a flower of an 

 orange hue, shaded to scarlet ; in some instances it had up- 

 wards of 100 blossoms in a bunch. 



Amongst the niches for votive offerings in the mountain's 

 side, some of which are cut to the height of thirty feet, are 

 pyramids and obelisks ; and in one instance, there is an altar 

 between two palm-trees. The position of the theatre has been 

 mentioned. It is the first object which presents itself to the 

 traveller on entering Petra from the eastward. It is entirely 

 hewn out of the live rock. The diameter of the podium is 120 

 fieet, the number of seats thirty-three, and of the cunii three. 

 There was no break, and consequently no vomitories. The 

 scene, unfortunately, was built, and not excavated ; the whole 

 is fallen, and the bases of four columns only remain on its in- 

 terior face. The theatre is surrounded by sepulchres ; every 

 avenue leading to it is full of them ; and one may safely say, 

 that a hundred of the largest dimensions are visible from it. 

 Indeed, throughout almost every quarter of this metropolis^ 

 the depositories of the dead must have presented themselves 

 constantly to the eye of the inhabitants, and have almost out- 

 numbered the habitations of the living. There is a long line 

 of them not far from the theatre, at such an angle as not to be 

 comprehended in the view from it, but which must have formed 

 a principal object for the city itself. The largest of the sepulchres 

 had originally three stories, of which the lowest presented four 

 portals with large columns set between them, and the second 

 and third a row of eighteen Ionic columns each attached to the 

 facade; the live rock being insufficient for the total elevation, 

 a part of the story was grafted on in masonry, and is for the 

 most part fallen away. The four portals of the basement open 

 into as many chambers, very dissimilar both in distribution 



