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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



This isolated peak was the religious 

 center of the city, and had apparently 

 been a place of worship even before the 

 first Nabatfean tombs were built. All 

 over it are tombs of the oldest design, 

 small tablets, and here and there a rock 

 altar. 



From base to summit is a vast stair- 

 case, equal in size to that leading to the 

 Deir. This leads up, either by gentle 

 steps or inclined planes, to an artificial 

 plateau forty feet below the main sum- 

 mit, and separated from it by a shallow 

 notch. Primarily this eminence must 

 have nearly equaled the elevation of the 

 highest point, but it has been entirely 

 hewn down by industrious ancients to 

 its present level, apparently for the sole 

 purpose of leaving two obelisks about 

 thirty feet high, which indicate the 

 original level of the rock. These red 

 pillars, one hundred feet apart and still 

 attached at the base to the mother 

 rock, represent a stupendous amount of 

 labor, quite equal to that required 

 to build the staircase, or carve out the 

 Deir. 



Near the southern edge of the plateau 

 is a yellow stone altar cut, of course, 

 from the living rock. Across the notch, 

 on the west side of the main summit, 

 are the remains of yet another civiliza- 

 tion; a citadel of the Crusaders. These 

 worthies built two of these fortresses 

 during the twelfth century, to guard the 

 city; both of which are now mere piles 

 of masonry blocks, with scarcely one 

 stone standing on another.^ 



Beyond the Crusaders' citadel, on the 



1 Of the thousands of buildings once composing the 

 oily, as noticed before, only one, and that by virtue of 

 the size of its stones, still stands. Even the heavy 

 causeways and bridges are entirely dissociated, and in 

 the entire valley there arc not, as I remember, a score 

 of j)laces where even a few courses of masonry are still 

 intact. The individual building blocks were carefully 

 squared, and are even now suitable for use. The 

 natives of Wadi Musa have taken advantage of this 

 circumstance, and that entire village is built of the 

 creamy stones of ancient I'etra. 



highest point of the mountain, is a large 

 triple altar and a shallow rectangular 

 basin of considerable size — relics of Sem- 

 itic worship. These were probably hewn 

 long before the earliest time when Petra 

 was inhaliited, and indeed represent the 

 most complete specimen known of an 

 ancient Semitic sanctuary. No more 

 suitable place for worship could have 

 been chosen than this eminence, rising 

 above a wild valley, guarded by winding 

 and dreadful abysses, which thread their 

 way among painted mountains. 



After our period of study, exploration, 

 and mild achenture, we were loath to 

 leave the valley where each day had 

 brought new evidence of forgotten 

 splendor, but trains on the Hedjaz Rail- 

 road were infrequent, so with a last visit 

 to the Deir, we prepared to leave. We 

 dispatched our baggage and horses in 

 the early morning, and late in the after- 

 noon, left the sik and rode to the small 

 Bedouin village of Wadi Musa. Here 

 we were welcomed by the sheik and in- 

 vited to share his evening meal. 



Seated with great ceremony on a large 

 rug laid on the earthen floor of the low- 

 ceiled house, we silently ate kouskous 

 and roasted goat's flesh and drank 

 deliciously spiced coffee. Around us 

 gathered the tribal leaders, courteous 

 though mute, and very distinguished 

 looking in the dim light of an oil torch, 

 with their patriarchal beards and white 

 robes. At nine the moon rose, the signal 

 for our departure. We thanked the 

 hospitable sheik, donned our heaviest 

 clothes and started on our all-night ride 

 to El Maan. 



At Damascus two days later, the last 

 sunset at Petra was a vivid recollection, 

 as it is even now. When the valley is 

 in black shadow the summit of the 

 "Mount of Sacrifice" still glows with 

 the red horizontal rays that pour through 

 the gap in the surrounding mountains. 



