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ACCOUNT of newly-discovered ANTIQUITIES in Arabia Petræa, derived from the personal inspection of a recent British traveller.

WHEN the graphic illustrations of

WHE

HOLY WARS.

the ruins of Palmyra, by Wood and Dawkins, made their appearance, the public received them as surprising discoveries; so little had the western regions of Asia been visited by European travellers after the time of the Since the publication of those enterprising artists, scarcely any important addition has been made to their information: for the Travels of Dr. Clarke are too much interwoven with speculative dissertations to be trusted on all occasions; nor did he deviate so far from the common tracks of the caravans, as to have it in his power materially to enlarge our knowledge, even had he been sufficiently free from hypothetical opinions to have done so to advantage. But we have now reason to expect, that the world will soon be gratified with still more striking illustrations of other and MORE TIES than those which it owes to Wood

and Dawkins.

SUPERB ANTIQUI

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Moses), with engravings of the drawings which he made of the hitherto-undescribed excavated temples there; as well as of the ruins of JERRASCH, which excel in grandeur and beauty even those of Palmyra and Balbec.

This gentleman, in company with rusalem for Hebron, where they viewed several other English travellers, left Jethe mosque erected over the tomb of Abraham; an edifice constructed in the lower part of such enormous masses of stone, (many of them upwards of ascribed to that remote age in which twenty feet in length,) that it must be durability was the principle chiefly con

sulted in the formation of all edifices of the monumental kind.

They then proceeded to Karrac, through a country broken into hills and pinnacles of the most fantastic form, and along the foot of mountains, where fragments of rock-salt indicated the natural

origin of that intense brine, which is peculiarly descriptive of the neighbouring

waters of the Dead Sea.

KARRAC is a fortress situated on the top of a hill. The entrance is formed by a winding passage, cut through the living rock. It may be described, like all the other castellated works in the

possession of the professors of the Mahomedan religion, as a mass of ruins. The mosque is in that state; and a church which it also contains, as well as the ancient keep or citadel, are in a sim

ilar condition.

In the vicinity, the travellers saw several sepulchres hollowed out of the rock; and they found the inhabitants of the place a mingled race of Mahomedans and Christians, remarkably hospitable, and living together in terms of freer intercourse than at Jerusalem. The women were not veiled, nor seemed to be subject to any particular restraints.

Mr. Bankes and his companions, after leaving Karrac, sojourned for a short time with a party of Bedoueen Arabs; by whom they were regaled with mutton boiled in milk, a circumstance which will remind our readers of the command in Exodus, chap. xxiii. v. 19: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." But we must not here pause to comment on biblical antiquities.

After quitting the tents of these Bedoueens, they passed into the valley of Ellasar, where they noticed some relics of antiquity, which they conjectured were of Roman origin. Here again they rested with a tribe of Arabs. The next day they pursued their journey, partly over a road paved with lava, and which, by its appearance, was evidently a Roman work; and stopped that evening at Shubac, a fortress in a commanding situation, but incapable, by decay, of any effectual defence against European tactics.

In the neighbourhood of this place, they encountered some difficulties from the Arabs, but which, by their spirit and firmness, they overcame; and proceeded unmolested till they reached the tents of a chieftain called EBEN RASCHIB, who took them under his protection. This encampment was situated on the edge of a precipice, from which they had a magnificent view of Mount Gebel-Nebe-Haroun, the hill of the prophet Aaron, (MOUNT HOR;) and a distant prospect of Gebel-Tour (MOUNT SINAI), was also pointed out to them. In the fore-ground, on the plain below, they saw the tents of the hostile Arabs, who were determined to oppose their passage to Wadi Moosa, the ruins of which were also in sight. Perceiving themselves thus as it were waylaid, they sent a messenger to the

requesting permission to pass;

but he returned for answer, that they should neither cross his lands nor taste his water. They were in fact in the land of Edom, to the king of which Moses sent messengers from Kadish: "Let us pass, (said he), I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards; neither will we drink of the waters of the well: we will go by the king's highway; we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders." But Edom said unto him: "Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword." Numbers xx. 17-18.

The travellers, after some captious negociation, at last obtained permission to pass; but not to drink the waters: they did not, however, very faithfully observe this stipulation, for, on reaching the borders of a clear bright sparkling rivulet, which had occasioned so much controversy, their horse would taste the cooling freshness of its waters, and Eben Raschib, their protector, insisted also that the horses should be gratified. On crossing this stream, they entered on the wonders of WADI MOOSA.

The first object that attracted their attention, was a mausoleum, at the entrance of which stood two colossal animals, but whether lions or sphinxes they could not ascertain, as they were much defaced and mutilated. They then, advancing towards the principal ruins, entered a narrow pass, varying from fifteen to twenty feet in width, overhung by precipices, which rose to the general height of two hundred, sometimes reaching five hundred, feet, and darkening the path by their projecting ledges. In some places, niches were sculptured in the sides of this stupendous gallery, and here and there rude masses stood forward, that bore a remote and mysterious resemblance to the figures of living things, but over which, time and oblivion had drawn an inscrutable and everlasting veil. About a mile within this pass, they rode under au arch, perhaps that of an aqueduct, which connected the two sides together; and they notic ed several earthen pipes, which had formerly distributed water.

Having continued to explore the

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