Constantine republican. [volume] (Constantine, Mich.) 1836-1838, 1837-06-14
TRAVELS IN THE EAST.

Extract from the weekly Review In the New-York A
merican.
Incidents Of trarel in Egypt, arabia Petrea,
| and the Holy Land; by an american. 2 poLs.
| Nep York, Harper d. brothers Such is the IT,
tie ola work now in the press of the IIarpers, and
soon TO appear. II is by one of our own towns
| men, and from some sheets we have been permit
ted to read, we anticipate wide and merited sue.
cess for the whole 1t relates to countries partic
ularly that portion of it which treats of Stony
| arabia, the ancient Idumed, which are little
known, and which are consecrated by their con-
nection with our earliest and most sacred histo-
rica records, and where as will be found from the
chapter we annex testimony stronger and more
unquestionable- because incapable ofpassion, pre-
udce, or change-than that of the writings or
traditions fman, is presented at every step to the
truth of those Records.
From vol 2, chap A.
Observation-Disclosures to the city-Temple
of Petra-A Record The Theatre-Tombs of
Petra-ArAb NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. from Pc
tra-A night in a Tomb--Dangcrs of the
Route.
PETRA, the excavated city, the long lost
capital of Edom, in the scriptures and pro-
fame writings, in every language in which
it occurs, signifies a rock, and thro' the
shadows Of its early history, we learn that
its inhabitants lived in natural clelts or ex-
cavations made in the solid rock. Desoate
as it now is, we have reason to believe that
it goes back TO the time of Esau, the faith.
er of Edom;' the princes and dukes, eight
successive kings, and again long line of
dukes dwelt there before any king 'reigned
over Israeli and we recognize it from the
earliest ages as the central point, to which
came the caravans from the interior of Ar
abba, Persia, and India, laden with all the
precious commodities of the east, and from
which these commodities were distributed
through Egypt, Palestine and Syria and all
the countries bordering on the Mediterra.
mean even Tyre and Sidon derived their
purple and dies from Petra. Eight hund-
red years before Christ, Amaziah, the king
of Judeo, s'sew of Edom in the valley OF
Salt, ten thousand, and took Selah (the He
brew name of Petra) by war;" Three
hundred years after the last of the prophets
and nearly century before the Christian
era, the skiing Of Arabia" issued from his
palace at Petra, at the head of fifty thous-
and men, horse and foot, entered Jerusalem
and uniting with the Jews, pressed the siege
of the temple which was only raised by the
advance Of the Romans; and in the begin
ming of the second century, though its inde-
pendence was lost, Petra was still the CAPT.
tai Of the Roman province. After that time
it rapidly declined; its history became more
and more obscure for more than thou
sand years, it was completely lost to the
civilized world /; and, until its discove-
ry by Burckhardt in 1912, except to the
wandering Bedouins, its very site was un.
known.
And this was the city at whose door
now stood. In few words this ancient
and extraordinary city is situated within o
natural amphtheatre of two or three miles
in circumference, encompassed on all sides
by rugged mountains five or six hundred
feet in height. The whole Of this area is
now a waste of ruins, dwelling houses, pal
aces, temples, and triumphal arches all pros
trate together in undstnguishable confu
sion. The sides of the mountains are Gu
smooth, in a perpendicular direction, anc
filled with long and continued ranges o
dwelling houses, temples and tombs, exca
waited with vast labor out Of the solid rock
and while their SUBMITS present Nature il
her widest and most savage form, their ba
ses are adorned with all the beauty of archi
lecture and art, with columns, and port
Goes, and pediments, and ranges of CORR
doris, enduring as the mountains out o
which they were hewn, and fresh as if tn,
work of generation had scarcely yet gon'
by.
Nothing can be finer than the immens
rocky rampant which encloses the city,
strong, firm, and immoveable as Nature il
self, it seems to deride the walls of cities
and the puny forti6cations of skilful engl
: neers. The only access is by clamberinI
) over this wall of stone, practicable only i
one place, or by an entrance the most OK
,raordinary as that Nature in her wildcs