TEMPLE OF EL KHASNE, PETRA. 
VIGNETTE ON THE TITLE-PAGE. 
This view of the Temple of El Khasn6, in Petra, marks its singular locality. It is 
thus seen in front of the traveller on his way through the ravine which leads into the 
inclosed valley of Petra, and nothing can he more striking than its effect upon the spectator 
who has not yet emerged from the deep gorge of the Wady Mousa. The rock in which 
the Temple is cut seems to close the gorge and limit all further progress, like a cul-de-sac; 
but the stream which runs onward through the narrow ravine turns in its course to the 
right, and is joined by a small torrent from the left, at the base of the Temple El Khasne; 
thence, flowing to the right, it enters the open valley which is filled by the wonders of this 
extraordinary place. The rocks on either side of the narrow ravine by which the city is 
approached are steeply escarped to a great height; in the sides the openings to numerous 
tombs may be seen, though many more are concealed by luxuriant shrubs, among which 
the rich blooming oleander is distinguished. Mr. Roberts is of opinion that these excava¬ 
tions, though now apparently inaccessible, were dwellings in the rocks, 1 and not tombs as 
Laborde supposes, and the apostrophe of Jeremiah seems to confirm this :—“O thou that 
dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill,” &c. 
This Temple El Khasne is not only very beautiful and one of the most striking in 
Petra, from its situation when seen by the traveller as he advances into the ravine, but 
the living rock from which it is excavated rising above it to the height of hundreds of feet, 
whilst the view in every other direction is limited to a few feet in width, oppressively 
affects the mind and prepares it for the wonderful objects and scenes disclosed in the valley 
beyond and throughout this, one of the most remarkable places on earth, whether con¬ 
sidered in its physical characters or as a sublime verification of the denunciations against 
it made by the prophets of Holy Writ. 
1 Roberts’s JournaL 
