139 
ORDINARY MEETING, May 2, 1887. 
GENERAL HALLOWES IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
following Elections were announced :— 
Members :—W. Edwards, Esq., C.E., Hyderabad; Miss L. E. Loveday, 
London. 
AssoctaTEs :—Rev. D. E. Evans, M.D., United States; Rev. E. P. 
Ingersoll, A.B., United States. 
The following Paper was then read by the Author :— 
PETRA, THE ROCK-HEWN CAPITAL OF IDUMZEA. 
By Professor Hutt, LL.D., F.R.S. 
MONGST the ruined cities of the world there is 
probably none which carries with it so unique an 
interest as the deserted capital of Arabia Petrzea, owing to 
the peculiarities of its construction, and the marvellous state 
of preservation in which its buildings are found after a lapse, 
in some cases, of over two thousand years. ‘he ancient city 
of Petra lies deep amongst the recesses of the Edomite 
mountains, only accessible through narrow defiles or over 
difficult passes, and easily defensible against an attacking 
host :— 
“ Where rocks on rocks—on mountains, mountains piled 
Have form’d a scene so wondrous and so wild, 
That gazing there, man seems to gaze upon 
The rough, rude, ocean frozen into stone.”* 
So completely hidden is this wonderful city from all 
outside observation, that, independently of its situation in the 
Desert inhabited only by Bedawins, it might easily be passed 
by on either side by travellers proceeding to Damascus on the 
one side or to Jerusalem from the head of the Gulf of Akabah 
on the other. It is scarcely, therefore, to be wondered at 
that, during the Middle Ages, Petra was lost to view 
for several centuries. The Mahomedan wave of conquest, 
which swept with such irresistible fury over Western Asia, 
* Petra, by Dean Burgon. 
