The ruins of mysterious Pclrn. — The site of Petra is covered with heaps of hewn stoues, foundations of 

 huildinf;s, fratrmenis of columns, and vestiges of paved streets, indicating a crowded city of many thousand 

 inhabitants. The only level space was along the course of the river. The bottom of the river was paved, in 

 some places it was completely covered in, bridges were thrown across it, and a strong embankment of hewn 

 stone confined the turbulence of the current. A paved way, of which portions still exist, ran parallel with the 

 stream, and was bordered with public buildings, now demolished and swept away by the winter torrents. The 

 "three-storied" tomb, shown in the distance above, faces the chief concourse of the city 



The valley of Petra is traversed by many streams, which become torrents in the rainy season, and to the 

 breaking of bounds of these waters is to be ascribed the fact that among the ruins of the ancient city scarcely 

 one stone now stands upon another. Only one building, called by the Arabs the "Kaszr Faraoun," or Palace of 

 Pharoali, has outlasted the centuries. This edifice, in a corrupt style of late Roman architecture, decorated 

 with stucco, may have been a palace, temple, or public building. Near it still stand the remains of an au-chway 

 apparently leading to a raised public forum. The front of the Kaszr Faraoun had a four-columned portico 

 now in ruins; the interior is divided into two parallel chambers, and there were several stories. Beams of 

 wood, let in between the courses of masonry, continue to this day, a strong proof of the dryness of the climate 



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