72 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT, 



the resolution to visit the remains of one of the 

 most singular spots in these deserts, perhaps in the 

 eastern world ; we mean the city of Petra, the an- 

 cient capital of Idumea, which he had the good 

 fortune to discover after it had been for a long 

 series of ages completely hidden from the know- 

 ledge of Europeans, and its very name almost 

 effaced from the page of history. These ruins are 

 situated in Wadi Mousa, a narrow valley at a short 

 distance eastward from Arabah. He had heard the 

 country people speak in terms of great admiration 

 of these antiquities; but from the ferocity of the 

 Arabs, and the suspicion with which they view all 

 strangers who can give no better reason than curi- 

 osity for coming among them, the attempt was 

 attended with some danger. His guide also took 

 the alarm, but his reluctance was overcome by 

 working upon his superstitious feelings. " I pre- 

 tended," says Burckhardt, " to have made a vow 

 to slaughter a goat in honour of Haroun (Aaron), 

 whose tomb (held in great veneration by the Arabs) 

 I knew was situated at the extremity of the valley ; 

 and by this stratagem I thought that I should have 

 the means of seeing the valley in my way to the 

 tomb. To this my guide had nothing to oppose ; 

 the dread of drawing upon himself, by resistance, 

 the wrath of Haroun, completely silenced him." 



In a few hours they approached the place, through 

 a wilderness so dreary and desolate, that we can 

 scarcely imagine how it was ever adorned with 

 walled cities, or inhabited by powerful and opulent 



