152 PROFESSOR HULL, LL.D., F.R.S. 
A Visttor.—Are there any signs of their having been used as dwelling- 
places ? 
Professor Huty.—That is a point on which one is somewhat puzzled. One 
does not see where the inhabitants resided-—possibly in tents. Perhaps I 
may be allowed to say with reference to the Biblical prophecies regaréing 
Edom, and Petra its capital, that there is no city or country mentioned in 
the Bible as to which the prophecies have been more literally fulfilled. 
If we go back to the time of Isaac, there is one great fact that lies patent 
before us; the case of the blessing which was conferred on Jacob the 
younger son, and withheld from Esau, the elder son. In the first place, we 
know, as a matter of fact, that the descendants of Jacob are living at the 
present day, scattered all over the world, and are numbered by millions. 
(n the other hand, there are no representatives of Esau, as far as we know, 
living at the present moment : they have entirely disappeared. It will be 
in the recollection of all here that, when the Patriarch was moved to add to 
the blessing he had conferred on Jacob, by conferring’a blessing on Esau, he 
said,—‘“‘ By thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother, and it 
shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break 
his yoke from off thy neck.” This prophecy would seem to have been 
literaliy fulfilled in this way, that in the great battle of the Valley of Salt, 
at the southern end of the Dead Sea, the Israelites were victorious over the 
Edomites, of whom there was a tremendous slaughter, and the victors 
occupied Petra ; consequently in that way the descendants of Jacob had the 
dominion, but Esau had a terrible revenge, for when Jerusalem was sacked 
by the armies of the Assyrians, the Edomites were present, and took part in 
the capture and sack of the city. It is in reference to that that we find 
in the Psalms the pathetic words,—“ Remember, O Lord, the children of 
Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the 
foundation thereof.” There it was that Esau broke the yoke of Jacob from 
off his neck. With regard to Petra, there are several prophecies in the 
prophetic books of the Old Testament referring to that place, which are 
seen to have been literally carried out by its present condition. It was to be 
desolate and without inhabitants, and to be the abode of owls, vultures, and 
wild beasts ; all this is literally fulfilled. It would be worth while to go 
over all the passages in the prophetic books referring to Edom and the 
Edomites, and compare the actual condition of that country and its people 
with the prophecies concerning them, as originally uttered. 
Mr. 8. R. Parrisoy, F.G.S.—Professor Hull seemed to speak with some 
little doubt in reference to one point, namely, where and of what character 
were the dwellings of the inhabitants. Of course, at the time of Solomon, 
Petra must have had a large population—probably a trading and industrial 
population. But where are their dwellings? And the same question may be 
asked of almost every people of great antiquity. In all probability they 
were principally built of what we call “cob,” or mud, in Devonshire. In 
the south of Spain, and in most countries where there is a lack of stone, the 
dwellings are manufactured of some such material, and doubtless the rainfall 
