land, we have to lament the great and general ignorance which prevails even among otherwise well-informed persons, upon the subject of the natural wealth which is concealed in the almost inexhaustible mines of their country; and we have also the Government to blame, for the singular want of sense, in not, long ere this, causing to be made an accurate geological survey of the whole territory, by suitable scientific persons; and for the want of energy it has displayed, in not rendering available the vast mineral riches which still lie undiscovered in this kingdom; but we hope and believe, that the lethargic stupor which has so long hung over the heads of Government in this empire, in all that relates to the substantial welfare of the people, will give way to the overwhelming evils which such neglect has caused, and that the future prosperity of the state will correspond to its natural and acquired resources, and to the industry of its enterprising inhabitants.

ART. V.-Journey through Arabia Petræa, to Mount Sinai, and the Excavated City of Petra, the Edom of the Prophecies. By LEON DE LABORDE. London: Murray. 1836.

M. LEON DE LABORDE, we learn from the translator's Preface, is the son of the Count Alexandre de Laborde, who has published certain magnificent works on Spain, Austria, &c. The son appears to be no less distinguished than the father, as a traveller, an antiquarian, and an artist. The greater part of the present volume is a translation from one of his books, which was published in Paris, in 1830, in a large folio size. It is a production of great splendour, and consequently is very expensive; but at the same time one of great value, inasmuch as it is the only work in which a minute account is to be found of the ruins of the capital of the Idumeans according to the Roman designation, or of the Edomites, according to that of the Scriptures. The author indeed is one of the most enthusiastic, adventurous, and instructive travellers that modern times can boast of, and in a most satisfactory manner completed his enterprize under no ordinary difficulties, dangers, and privations.

Besides a good translation of Laborde's work, the present volume presents many carefully selected and valuable additions. The translator has prefixed two chapters giving an account of ancient Idumea, and a summary of the remarks made upon Petra by the few travellers who, before Laborde, examined the marvellous remains of that magnificent capital, which in several respects has had no parallel in the history of the world; and he has also frequently illustrated his author by notes from Burckhardt, Sir F. Henniper, and others, as well as from the printed but unpublished Letters of Captains Irby and Mangles, which are declared to be of high excellence.

All of these travellers, and Laborde especially, furnish descriptions of Idumea, or as it is now called, Arabia Petræa, which in the most remarkable manner exhibit how fully and precisely many Scripture prophecies delivered nearly three thousand years ago, have been fulfilled. These descriptions, indeed, represent the actual condition of the regions in question, as at this moment affording the most unequivocal testimony in support of the truth of divine predictions, while they also most satisfactorily show that the desolate land of Edom must perpetually remain in the character of this undying witness. This was the country where the arts and sciences were first cultivated. The Midianites and the Ishmaelites traversed Idumea and carried on great commercial enterprizes before the merchants of Tyre or Sidon were in existence; and when the Jews were in bondage, there the true God was worshipped. Uz or Idumea was the birth-place and habitation of virtuous Job, which is sufficient to show that the people were far advanced in civilization and knowledge in most remote times. But a dire and unmitigated malediction was pronounced upon that once favoured land-irrecoverable desolation-an everlasting reprobation. The Idumeans or Edomites were the offspring of Esau, and their bitter, relentless, and unnatural hatred of the descendants of his brother Jacob, the peculiar people of God, seems to have drawn down from heaven upon them the most signal vengeance. Obadiah says, "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever." Again," And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau." Very many passages from Scripture might be quoted conveying the same or similar denunciations; and the translator has been at pains to place parallel to some of these prophesied curses, the descriptions of modern travellers, to show how literally they have been fulfilled. Before proceeding to the body of the work, and the more minute details of Laborde, the two following instances of parallelism cannot but arrest the readers eye.

"If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. But I have made Esau bare.-Jeremiah, xlix. 9, 10.

"And Edom shall be a desolation.-Jeremiah, xlix. 17.

"The whole plain presented to the view an expanse of shifting sands, whose surface was broken by innumerable undulations and low hills."

-And the Arabs told me that the valleys continue to present the same appearance beyond the latitude of Wady Mousa (Petra). In some parts of the valley the sand is very deep, and there is not the slightest appearance of a road or of any work of human art. A few trees grow

seem

The district comprehended within the boundaries of Arabia Petræa was the cradle of the primitive generations of mankind, and is bounded on the west by Egypt, on the north by Judea and the Dead Sea, on the south by the Red Sea, and on the east by the Great Desert. The Greeks, who called the northern Arabians Nabatheans, as well as the ancients whose writings have come down to us, to have had very little knowledge of the country. Among other notices, however, Diodorus represents the whole region as one every where bristling with rocks; and Pliny states that "the Nabatæi inhabit a city called Petra, in a hollow somewhat less than two miles in circumference, surrounded by inaccessible mountains, with a stream running through." At a period subsequent to the commencement of the Christian era, there always reigned at Petra, according to Strabo, a king of the royal lineage. But at present the surrounding country is barren, and the city has become desolate, without a single human being near it; so that the judgment, that "Edom shall be a desolation," has been verified. Nay, until a few years ago, it had become almost entirely forgotten. Vague traditions only had diffused the belief that a city had still existed there, which surpassed in extent and magnificence the Queen of the Desert, the renowned Palmyra. And while the tribes that surrounded the spot, but who dwelt at a considerable distance from it, abstained, through superstitious fancies, from frequenting it themselves, they absolutely forbade the approach of others.

Mr. Burckhardt in 1811, and others after him, had adventurously attempted, and partially succeeded, even prior to Laborde, in their anxiety to explore the vicinity and the site of Petra. Without tar

rying to take notice of the stratagems these enterprising travellers used, or the dangers and difficulties they encountered in their endeavours to examine such an interesting place, where, as has at last been ascertained, the scenes and ruins are still wholly scriptural in their character, we shall approach and enter the city at once, along with Messrs. Irby and Mangles, as quoted in the volume before us. Let it be remembered, previous to reading the following extract, that the only entrance to Petra is along a narrow ravine cut through the rocks, and bordered on each side by superb tombs. The natural conformation of the valley where the city was planted, and of this opening to it, sufficiently explains the reason of its having been selected for such a purpose. A spot of considerable superficial extent, enriched by a stream, and hemmed in by girdling ramparts of rocks, to which there was no approach but through an opening and along a passage so narrow that a few men, stationed at the tops of the adjacent and impending heights, might obstruct any hostile numbers, could not long remain unoccupied when the country round about was the scene of continual wars. How imposing must be the approach and ingress towards this rock-built city?

"As we advanced, the natural features of the defile (the eastern approach to Petra) grew more and more imposing at every step, and the excavations and sculpture more frequent on both sides, till it presented, at last, a continued street of tombs; beyond which, the rocks, gradually ap proaching each other, seemed all at once to close without any outlet. There is, however, one frightful chasm for the passage of the stream; which furnishes, as it did anciently, the only avenue to Petra on this side. It is impossible to conceive any thing more awful or sublime, than such an approach the width is not more than just sufficient for the passage of two horsemen abreast; the sides are in all parts perpendicular, varying from 400 to 700 feet in height; and they often overhang to such a degree, that, without their absolutely meeting, the sky is intercepted and completely shut out for 100 yards together, and there is little more light than in a

cavern.

The screaming of the eagles, hawks, and owls, who were soaring above our heads in considerable numbers, seemingly annoyed at any one approaching their lonely habitation, added much to the singularity of the scene. The tamarisk, the wild fig, and the oleander, grew luxuriously about the road, rendering the passages often difficult; in some places they hung down most beautifully from the cliffs and crevices where they had taken root. The caper plant was also in luxuriant growth, the continued shade furnishing them with moisture.

Very near the first entrance into this romantic pass, a bold arch is thrown across at a great height, connecting the opposite sides of the cliff. Whether this was part of an upper road upon the summit of the mountain, or whether it be a portion of an aqueduct, which seems less probable, we had no opportunity of examining it: but, as the traveller passes under it, its appearance is most surprising, hanging thus above his head betwixt two rugged masses, apparently inaccessible. Immediately under it are sculp

tured niches in the rock, destined, probably, for statues; and we suspect, that, by careful inspection, inscriptions might be found there. But the position in which they are placed is disadvantageous, and the height so great, that it would require a good glass to distinguish them."-pp. 31, 32.

The description of this most imposing and unparalleled approach to a city, many of whose monuments, though desolate, seem to defy ruin while the earth shall stand, becomes even more impressive, when we learn the extent of the ravine, and that without changing its general direction much, it presents so many elbows and windings in its course, that the eye can seldom penetrate beyond a few paces. "We followed this sort of half subterranean passage for the space of nearly two miles, the sides increasing in height as the path continually descended, while the tops of the precipices retained their former level. Where they are at the highest, a beam of stronger light breaks in at the close of the dark perspective, and opens to view, half seen at first through the tall narrow opening, columns, statues, and cornices, of a light and finished taste, as if fresh from the chisel, without the tints or weather stains of age, and executed in a stone of a pale rose colour, which was warmed at the moment we caine in sight of them, with the full light of the morning sun. The dark green of the shrubs that grow in this perpetual shade, and the sombre appearance of the passage whence we were about to issue, formed a fine contrast with the glowing colours of the edifice. We know not with what to compare this scene; perhaps there is nothing in the world that resembles it. Only a portion of a very extensive architectural elevation is seen at first; but it has been so contrived, that a statue with expanded wings, perhaps of Victory, just fills the centre of the aperture in front, which, being closed below by the sides of the rock folding over each other, gives to the figure the appearance of being suspended in the air at a considerable height; the ruggedness of the cliff's below setting off the sculpture to the highest advantage." "-pp. 33, 34.

This ravine was doubtless first opened by some mighty convulsion of the earth, but it has been completed and rendered somewhat regular by the influence of torrents, which intersect Arabia Petræa in all directions; yet, one cannot but wonder how traffic, or even the egress and ingress of the citizens, could be conducted by such a path. But we must now accompany Laborde towards the relics and marvels of Petra-a city whose superb enclosure of rocks is pierced with myriads of tombs, while its area is covered with noble ruins. Nor is it unworthy of notice, that his comparatively unmolested visit to this frightful desert-to what he calls a chaotic sea, the waves of which were petrified-might have been otherwise distinguished, but for a danger which he and his party had not calculated upon, viz. the fear of the Arabs lest they were peasants from Gaza, where the plague ravaged at the time, as it also did in the neighbourhood of Petra; thus, one danger neutralized another.

Laborde describes effectively the approach to the curtain of rocks which conceal the site of the city, till the traveller arrives at certain heights, whence he discovers within his horizon the most singular