EL KHASNE. 
The first object which meets, the eye on the approach to Petra is a range of red sandstone 
cliffs, apparently impenetrable; but the brook which flows into the centre of the City 
passes through a narrow cleft, hidden behind a projection of the rock. Here is the 
opening of the extraordinary chasm, which anciently formed the only avenue to the 
City on this side. This is the Sik of Wady Mousa (the Valley of Moses). 
The whole chasm exhibits the traces of a people lavish of ornament. A few steps 
beyond the entrance, a light and lofty arch crosses it, with niches sculptured in the 
rock beneath, probably once intended for the reception of statues. The passage varies 
from 12 to 40 feet; the sides are perpendicular, rising from 80 to 250 feet, and sometimes 
almost shutting out the sky. The fissure continues to descend, and the brook, which flows 
through its whole distance, fills it with vegetation; oleanders crowd it; wild figs and 
tamarisks start from the crevices of the rock, and it is festooned with creeping plants. The 
sides of the chasm exhibit continually the indefatigable taste and labour of this people of 
sculptors. Niches for statues, and tablets, evidently for bas-reliefs and inscriptions, are cut 
in the rock, and the greater part of the whole passage must have exhibited the appearance 
of a statue-gallery. To the stranger entering by this path, when Petra was in its day of 
power, the sudden contrast between the savage dreariness of the Desert, and the luxurious 
beauty and various magnificence of the City, with both its beauty and magnificence 
animated by the multitude from all regions, which then crowded its streets, its temples, 
and its theatres, must have been more like the work of magic than of man. 
The entrance winds much, and other large fissures open from the sides, thus varying 
this most singular avenue. “The character of this wonderful spot, and the impression 
which it makes,” says a writer, by no means idly addicted to emotion, 1 “is utterly 
indescribable. I had visited the strange sandstone caves and streets of Adersbach, 
and wandered with delight through the romantic dells of the Saxon Switzerland. But 
they exhibit few points of comparison. All here is on a grander scale. We lingered 
along this superb approach, forgetful of everything else, and taking no note of time. The 
length is a long mile; we were forty minutes in passing through it in this desultory 
manner.” 
The Sik terminates in a broader chasm, opening at right angles with it, and passing to 
the north-west. From this point the most perfect and beautiful relic of the City bursts 
upon the view—the Khasnfe (the treasure), a name given to it by the Arabs, from 
a tradition that it contains the treasure of Pharaoh, to whom they attribute the building of 
all extraordinary things. 
The Khasn6 strikes all eyes, and the advantage of its position, which has greatly 
1 Robinson, Biblical Researches, ii. 518. 
