Jewish nation against Edom. It is the one imprecation which breaks forth from the Lamentations of J eremie.h ; it is the culmination of the fierce threats of Ezekiel; it ie the sole purpose of the short, sharp <Jl'J of Obadiah, it is the bitterest drop in the sad recollections of the Israelite captives by the waters of Babylon; and the one warlike strain of the evangelical prophet is inspired by the hope that the Divine Conqueror should come knee-deep in Idumean blood." The territory occupied by the Edomites extended from the southern eud of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf, and comprised an area of about two thousand square miles. Thoagh it was a mountainous district, and well deserved its biblical names of "the mount of Esau" and "Mount Seir," there was no want of fertile soil in its valleys and terraces. The ancient capital appears to have been Bozrah, a city that lay a few miles south of the Dead Sea. But at the time of Obadiah's prophecy this had been sup- planted by the celebrated Bela, or Petra, the peculiar position of which place, with its difficult access, its rock-hewn dwellings, and natural defences, had tended to encourage in the Edomites a spirit of independence and security, which taught them to defy attack and to spurn all attempts at subjectio'.l. There has always been great difficulty in visiting the modern repre- sentatives of the Edomites, though some few enterprising persons have penetrated their fastnesses, and given to the world the results of theu investigations. A late traveller who has succeeded in inspecting Petra has described his visit in the Oe-ntury Magazine, November, 1885, from which the following extracts are taken: "Petra. is identified with the Hebrew Selah, 'a Rock,' the Amorite, Edomite, and Moabite stronghold (Jndg. i. 36; 2 Kings xiv. 7; Isa. xvi. 1). Strabo (xvi. 663; v.15, edit. Did.) tells us of Petra as a city shut in by rocks in the midst of the desert, yet supplied abundantly with water, and important as a. place of transit for Oriental productions. The city lay in a. na.rrow valley, surrounded by precipitous hills. On the eastern and western sides the cliffs rise almost perpendi- cularly to the height of six or seven hundred feet. On the north and south the natural barriers are less formidable, and may, in places, be passed by camels. Many recesses, or small lateral valleys, open into the main valley. The circuit of the entire depression, including these lateral valleys, is about; four miles . . . . The site of Petra lies half-way between the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea, about seventy miles, as the vulture flies, from each. It has been said that there is but one entrance to Petra. Yet there is a 'back door,' so to speak, through which some travellers have made their way into the city, and by means of which they have also more s11ddenly made their departure. The real approach is throagh a. narrow gorge (Wady Mousa) some two miles long, of which the gateway faces the east. This is reached from Palestine by way of Moab, east of the Dead Sea, and from the south by the route I took [ viz. across the Red Sea, a few miles south of Suez; down the desert to Mount Sinai; thence north and east to the head of the Gulf of .A.kabah]. The back door may be gained iv INTRODUOTION TO
from north or south by way of the Wedy Arabah-the vast deeert waste which lies bc>tween the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea, into which it opens nenr the ba.ee of venerable Mount Hor. . . . Breaking our we.y through the jungle on the further eide of the etream [the Sik:J, we found ourselves in the very heart of the necropolis of Petra. , , , It may be useful to remind the reader, before we enter Petra proper, that all its principnl structures, be they tombs, palaces, or temples, are excavated from the rock, and not constructed of quarried stone. The sidee of the mountains are cut to smooth perpendicular faces, which are occupied by unbroken ranges of temples and of homes for the living and the dead. The int,eriors behind the ornate fronts are but caves squared by the old st.one-cutter, and are lighted only by their doors. Continuing our advance, we followed the stream a few rods, and descending ae the pass narrowed, the entrance of the frightful chaem, seen afar off at sunrise, was reached at last. What an impregnable gateway I Spanning it is a fine buttressed arch, resting upon rock-cut foundations. Beneath this a little stream gnrgles. We followed it through the only entrance-the' front door' of Petra. The top of the northern wall of the defile wae once inhabited. Excavations, bridges, terraced gardens, and various other evidences remain upon it of the industry and artistic taste of a wonderfully persevering people. When we had come fairly inside the gorge, we found it at times so narrow that two of us could not walk abreast. Its perpendicular sides vary in height from four hundred to seven hundred feet, and frequently, without absolutely meeting, they overhang to such a degree that the sky is shut out from the sight for a hundred yards at a stretch. On every side, more than a yard above the stream-bed, channels are cut in the rock as conduits for water, and in some places terra-cotta pipes are found cemented in these channels. Tiny niches abound also, cut in the sides of the gorge- old pagan divinities, no doubt. The growth of oleanders becomes more dense as the gorge descends. Green caper plants dangle from the crevices, and here and there a graceful tamarisk is found in the shade. The tiny brook, the Sik, follows the whole way. The quarried stone scattered along the path indicates that the floor of the fissure was once paved. At every tnrn we saw evidences of indefatigable effort, and of how lavishly labour was expended by the people who lived in Petra in its days of power. For nearly two miles we followed the semi-subterranean passage. The path- way now descended; the water grew deeper, the opposing thicket more impassable, the scene more grand. . . . Emerging from the gorge into an open area, we stood face to face with the strange edifice (the Khuaneh) . . . . The colonr is a delicate rose-pink, like that of the buildings further on in .the city, almost unbroken by waves of other hue. . . As the inner gate of the city beyond the Khnzneh was entered, to the right and left wondrous architectural fancies loomed np. On the left is a group of square-cut edifices, seeming at fust like gigantic steps, but out of which varied flJ,QRdes appear upon a closer view, On the right is !l, trio of tombs a:r;id templ131J THE BOOK 01!' OBADIAit. v