140 PROFESSOR HULL, LL.D., F.R.S. 
overwhelmed Arabia Petreea and its capital; its commerce 
was destroyed, its Christian inhabitants massacred or forced 
to embrace the religion of the conqueror, and all that was 
left—namely, its palaces, temples, and tombs—remained 
much as we see them at the present day. Owing to the 
genial climate which pervades the valleys of Mount Seir all 
the year round, though snow and frost visit the adjoiming 
mountains and table-lands, the rock-hewn structures come 
down to the present day in a state of high preservation ; and, 
from the beauty and boldness of design, variety of style, and 
peculiarities in construction, cannot fail to excite feelings of 
the highest admiration and interest in the minds of the 
favoured few who have an opportunity of visiting the remote 
valley in which they are situated, known amongst the Arabs 
as the Wady Musa.* Though much has been written on 
Petra 
“ The rose-red City, half as old as Time ”— 
and its surroundings, yet the interest can scarcely be 
exhausted, and it is hoped some account from the pen of a 
recent traveller may not prove unworthy of perusal. 
The history of Petra still remains to be written; and 
probably, were such a history in existence, it would be 
found unsurpassed in incident by that of most of the cities 
of the Eastern world. Occupying the sides of a wide and 
deep valley, which ultimately opens out into the Arabah, 
with branches bounded by cliffs and precipices of sandstone 
under the shadow of Mount Hor, it may be supposed that it 
offered a secure retreat against the nomadic tribes to the 
more settled descendants of Hsau, who gradually established 
their sway over the mountainous region as far north as the 
borders of Moab, and southwards to the head of the Gulf of 
Akabah. At the period of the Israelitish Exodus, Petra was 
the residence of kings, the successors of the ‘ Dukes of 
Edom ” ; and when ‘the host of the Israelites encamped for 
the second time after the period of the wanderings in the 
wilderness at Kadesh Barnea,—which presumably lay at some 
distance to the west of the borders of Hdom,+—the embas- 
sage sent by Moses to the King of Edom had only two days’ 
journey in order to reach the capital of the country. The 
request on the part of Moses for permission to pass through 
the land in order to reach the table-land of Moab was refused ; 
* From the tradition that Moses, the Jewish Lawgiver, cleft the valley 
with his sword. 
+ Probably at the spot discovered by the Rev. J. Rolands, and described 
by Dr. Trumbull, 1884. 
