New Britain herald., 1919-08-06
CITY 0F PETRA HAS
 INTERESTING STORY
Rock Palaces Ar; :; csntsred in
 Historical Spot

Washington, D. C., Aug. G. Though Turkey will be dismem bered and pushed out of Europe, the Otto man empire probably will continue in control of some of the sacred shrines and most precious history spots of Asia,' says a bulletin from the Ma tional Geographic society.
 For example, there is the Rock City of Petra, known as the safe de- posit' of caravans enroute with precious wares to Tyre and Sidon,- W hich also contains 'Pharaoh's Treas ury'"
 The bulletin quotes from com- r1 1unication by Franklin E. Hoskins describing Petra as follows:
 The highlands east of the Jordan river are strewn with ruins marking the rise and fall of successive civili- zations-Semitic, Greek, Roman Christian, Mohamm edan, and Crusa- ders. These ruins have been pre- served for the modern explorer by tme tides of nomadic life, which have swept up from the Arabian desert; but at the southern end of this no mans land deep in the moun- ta1ns of Edom, lies one of the strang- est, most beautiful, and most en- NHcAHtlllS SpOlS upon InlS CdfCn-tnG Rock City of Petra. It's story car ries us back to the dawn of human history.
 Tn the days of the Nabatheans, Petra became the central point to which the caravans from the interior oG Arabia, Persia, and India came laden with all the precious commo- d!ties of the East, and from which these commodities were distributed through Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean for even Tyre and Si- don derived many of their precious wares and dyes from Petra.
 The Rock City was always to these regions and peoples what Rome was tC the Romans and Jerusalem to the Jews. Horites, Edomites, Nabath- cans, and Romans, have all rejoiced and boasted in the possession of this unique stronghold and most remark able city of antiquity
 "The entrance to the Rock City is the most striking gateway to any city on our planet. It is a narrow rift or defile, bisecting a mountain of many hued sandstone, winding through the rock as though it was tho most plas- tic of clay. This six, or defle, is nearly two miles long. It's general contour is a wide semi-circular swing from the right to the left, with in mum erable short bends, having sharp curves and corners-in it's general course.
 "The width of the six varies from twelve feet at it's narrowest point to 35 or 40 feet at other places. Where the gloomy walls actually overhang the roadway and almost shut out the blue ribbon of sky, it seems narrower, and perhaps at many points above the stream the walls do come closer than F feet. The heights of the perpen- dicular side cliffs have been esti- mated at from 200 to 1000 feet. Heights, like distances, in this clear desert air are deceptive, but after many tests and observations we are prepared to say that at places they are almost sheer for 300 to 400 feet
 Seen at m forming. at midday, or at midnight the six, this matchless en- trance to hidden city, is unques-' tionably one of the great glories of ancient Petra. Along it's cool, gloomy gorge file the caravans of antiquity from Damascus and the East, from the desert, from Egypt and the heart of Africa. Kings, queens, and con- qucrors have all marVeled at it's beauties and it's strangeness Wealth untold went in and out of it for cen turies, and now for over thirteen hun dred years it has been silent and dc serted.
 "CaVed in the face of the cliff, half revealed, half concealed in the grow ing shadows, is one of the largest most perfect, and most beautiful monuments of antiquity-Pharaoh S treasury. Almost as perfect as the day it came from beneath the sculp- tors chisel fifteen hundred or two thousand years ago; colored with the natural hues of the brilliant sand stone, which added an indescriba ble element to the architectural beauty; f1anked and surmounted by the cliffs which had been carved and tinted in turn by the powers of nature; ap- preached by the mysterious defile- it is almost overpowering in it's ef- feet"