xyfTetra^ a City excavated from the sdid Mock. 243 



*^ the tomb of Aaron." The tomb of Moses has been so grossly 

 misplaced by the Musselmen, who show it half a day's journey 

 beyond Jordan to the westward, that we might look with some 

 suspicion to one assigned to his brother, were it not that Jose- 

 phus expressly says of the place of his decease, that it was 

 near Petra. Compare also Mozera with Mousa, and it seems 

 that the monument and the ruins mutually authenticate each 

 other. We had no doubt, therefore, that the height which we 

 were going to ascend, is the Mount Hor of Scripture. The 

 base of the highest pinnacle of the mountain is a little removed 

 from the skirts of the city to the westward ; v/e rode to its 

 foot over a rugged broken tract, passing in the way many se- 

 pulchres, similar to those which have been described. A sin- 

 gular monument presents itself upon the left hand ; an obtuse 

 cone, produced by the coils of a spiral, is represented as stand- 

 ing upon a vast square pedestal or altar, the whole being ob- 

 tained out of one of the peaked summits of the rock. Not far 

 from thence, close to the way side, is the same representation 

 in relievo, within a niche, which we have remarked upon in the 

 eastern approach^ the form of the recess which surrounds the 

 altar rising into the figure of a sugar loaf. Nowhere is the 

 extraordinary colouring of these mountains more striking than 

 in the tomb of Aaron which we followed, where the rocks some- 

 times presented a deep, sometimes a paler blue, and some- 

 times was occasionally streaked with red, and shaded off to 

 lilac or purple ; sometimes a salmon colour was veined in waved 

 lines and circles, with crimson and crest scarlet, so as to re- 

 semble 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 colours were ranged side by side in parallel 

 strata. There are portions also with paler tints, and some quite 

 white, but these last se6m to be soft, and not good for pre- 

 serving the sculpture. It is this wonderful variety of colours, 

 observable throughout the whole range of mountains, that 

 gives to Petra one of its most characteristic beauties. The 

 fa9ade of the tombs, tastefully as they are sculptured, owe 

 much of their imposing appearance to this infinite diversity of 

 hues in the stone. 



We engaged an Arab shepherd as our guide ; and leaving 



