MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 73 



people. The entrance to this celebrated metropolis 

 of the Stony Arabia (whence it derived the name 

 of Petraea) is from the eastward, through a deep 

 ravine, called El Syk ; and it is not easy to conceive 

 any thing more awfully sublime. The width in 

 general is not more than sufficient for the passage 

 of two horsemen abreast, and it forms the channel 

 of the small stream that watered the city, whose 

 course was protected by a covering of stone pave- 

 ment, vestiges of which still remain. On either 

 hand rises a wall of perpendicular rocks, varpng 

 from four hundred to seven hundred feet in height, 

 which often overhang at the top to such a degree, 

 that without their actually meeting, the sky is in- 

 tercepted, scarcely leaving more light than in a 

 cavern, for a hundred yards together. 



The sides of this romantic chasm, from which 

 several streamlets issue, are clothed with the tama- 

 risk, the wild fig, the oleander, and the caper plant, 

 which sometimes hang down from the cliffs in beau- 

 tiful festoons, or grow about the path with a luxu- 

 riance that almost obstructs the passage. Near its 

 entrance, a bold arch is thrown across it at a great 

 height ; but whether it be the fragment of an aque- 

 duct, or part of a road formerly connecting the 

 opposite cliffs, is not known. 



For nearly tw^o miles this natural defile winds its 

 way, the sides continuing to increase in height as 

 the path descends ; and in different places grooves 

 or artificial beds branch off from the rivulet, the 

 use of which must have been to convey a supply of 



