ON PETRA, THE ROCK-HEWN CAPITAL OF IDUMMA. 145 
bearing. He had faithfully kept his promise upon receiving 
a present of £5 to protect our party from attack when march- 
ing towards our camping-grounds at Hs Safieh, and he 
assured me that he was friendly to Hnglish travellers, and 
did not wish them to be put to any annoyance while passing 
through his territory, nor that they should pay more than 
what was just and reasonable for right of way.* 
In recent times Petra has been visited by Burckhardt 
(1812), Leon de Laborde, Robinson, Wilson, Dean Stanley, 
Palmer, and Drake; within the last few years by Dr. Strong, 
Mr. Edward L. Wilson, and the members of the expedition 
sent out to Arabia Petrzea in 1883 by the committee of the 
Palestine Exploration Fund. De Laborde, who spent several 
days in the Wady Musa, made an excellent map of the valley 
and its branches, and has left us a graphic account of his 
visit and dealings with the Arab inhabitants. 
As regards the architectural ruins of the Wady Musa, it 
would be useless to attempt to give anything lke a detailed 
description within the limits of this paper. A better idea of 
their style and former magnificence may be obtained from a 
study of the beautiful drawings of David Roberts, or those 
in Picturesque Palestine, and of Mr. EH. L. Wilson, already 
referred to. ‘The predominating style is that known as Greco- 
Roman, but superadded to these are evidences of the influence 
of Persian and Egyptian art amongst the earliest structures, 
and of Christian art amongst the latest. What is specially 
remarkable is the total absence of Saracenic sculpture or 
decoration, showing how in the case of Arabia Petrzea, as 
throughout the Sinaitic Peninsula, the Mahometan power was 
essentially destructive, rather than constructive, as was the 
case in Hgeypt, Persia, India, and elsewhere. Mecca and 
Medina having been constituted the sacred shrines of the 
Prophet, his followers were probably determined that no other 
city in Arabia should be permitted to become a rival. Hence 
Petra shared the fate of Feiran, and of numerous other 
Christian towns and villages in the Peninsula. 
Of all the tombs and temples in Petra, the Khazneh is 
unquestionably the gem. When first seen through the nar- 
row chasm, called the Sik, which forms the channel to the 
stream and the entrance to Petra from the East, the Khazneh 
appears like a beautiful vision. The delicate rose-tinted 
fagade, supported by its graceful columns, lighted up with 
* The account of this interview, as also of the visit to Petra and Mount 
Hor, will be found in the author's Mount Seir, Sinai, and Western 
Palestine (1884). 
