from four hundred to seven hundred feet in altitude, and forming, for two miles, "a sort of subterranean passage," opens on the east the way to the ruins of Petra. The rocks, or rather hills, then diverge on either side, and leave an oblong space, where once stood the metropolis of Edom, deceived by its terribleness, where now lies a waste of ruins, encircled on every side, save on the north-east alone, by stupendous cliffs, which still shew how the pride and labour of art tried there to vie with the sublimity of nature. Along the borders of these cliffs, detached masses of rock, numerous and lofty, have been wrought into sepulchres, the interior of which is excavated into chambers, while the exterior has been cut from the live rock into the forms of towers, with pilasters, and successive bands of frieze and entablature, wings, recesses, figures of animals, and columns." The subjoined cut may convey an idea of some of these singular excavations.

"Tombs present

Yet, numerous as they are, these form but a part of" the vast necropolis of Petra." themselves, not only in every avenue to the city, and upon every precipice that surrounds it, but even inter

u Captains Irby and Mangles's Travels, p. 407.