154 PROFESSOR HULL, LL.D, F.R.S., ON PETRA. 
point of great interest is the existence of a tribe of Jews in the 
neighbourhood of Khaiber, to which allusion has been made. I have seen 
some of these, and had one under my professional care in Jerusalem 
for a long time. I tried to make something out of him, but he was too 
ignorant. He always said he was a Jew, but he looked more like a genuine 
Bedouy. Indeed, he spoke of himself rather as one of the children 
of Israel than as a Jew. He stated that his tribe were the men of 
Israel, and that is an expression used by all the Arabs with reference to the 
Jews as well as tothe Israelites. The man was so ignorant that he could not 
even repeat the Jewish profession of faith, so that I had great doubts 
whether he was a Jew at all; and I think that, if these people really are 
Jews, they have entirely given up the Jewish religion. He told me the 
tribe to which he belenged has the right of collecting a tax or toll from the 
Mahommedan pilgrims who come down from Damascus on their way to 
Medina and Mecca; but I very much suspect that that tax or toll is not 
given voluntarily, but is exacted from the strangers by these so-called 
children of Israel whenever they get a fitting opportunity. Another point 
on which I would say a word is in reference to the dwellings of the ancient 
inhabitants of Petra. Professor Hull’s paper concludes with an allusion to the 
Rechabites, who were commanded not to build houses. I do not understand 
that, although these rocky excavations in Petra have evidently been made 
with the greatest care, there is any evidence that they were used for human 
habitations, and it seems to me to be a question whether the people who 
lived in Petra did not reside in huts or tents. I think Josephus relates that 
one Scaurus, a Roman general, invaded Idumea and besieged Petra, burning 
all the place around, though he could not have burned Petra itself. So that 
I conclude that the inhabitants of the district were accustomed to live in 
houses that might be consumed by fire. With regard to the discovery at Petra 
of what is called the “ altar of Baal,” that isa matter of great interest. I must 
say, I have my doubts as to its having been an altar of Baal. We know 
that, in countries where it is quite certain Baal was worshipped, the altars 
that have been discovered are very different from that which exists at Petra, 
and, as far as I am aware, no altar, that can be shown to have been an altar, 
has ever been discovered in any part of the world resembling this one. I 
should be rather inclined to imagine that this may have been a magazine for 
corn, such as exists in many districts near to Petra, where corn is stored in 
order to preserve it from decay. 
The Meeting was then adjourned. 
