Wednesday, 8th March 1843.-We set our artist to work early this morning to make a drawing of Mount Hor from the top of a high mass of rock east of our encampment. The result of his attempt appears in the preceding page in a reduced form. When he was busy with his pencil, we set out upon a geological excursion over the lower ridges of Mount Seir. We were glad that we did so, as our personal inspection of these ranges gave us a far more correct idea of their seemingly complicated formation, than we could get from any of the books in our possession. The fundamental stratified rock we found to be the new red or variegated sandstone, a circumstance worthy of notice, because, when asso

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ciated with the existence of the same rock, with horizontal strata, on the heights of Mount Hor, which we afterwards visited in the course of the day, we had unequivocal evidence of the formation extending to the extraordinary depth of about 1500 feet. Through this rock, there burst longitudinal dykes of red granite and porphyry, running nearly parallel with the range of Mount Seir, and so completely silicifying the sandstone in some parts as to give it the appearance of a primitive rock. Above the red sandstone, we have the Jurassic limestone, so abundant in the Holy Land, and highest of all the cretaceous system, of which we afterwards found the summits of Mount Seir behind Petra to be composed. Over much of the sandstone below, there lie great quantities of alluvial compact conglomerate, principally of chalk, with pebbles and rounded stones, and also large quantities of loose chalk which have been washed down by the heavy rains. The red granite and the dark porphyry cutting through the stratified rocks, so diverse in their colour, and the white debris by which they are covered, presented together a scene so peculiar as to give large scope to our wonderment.

When we returned to breakfast, we found that the whole stock of our water was exhausted; and that one of our sheikhs, who had set out in the morning in search of a supply, had not returned. We determined not to wait his arrival, and we went on to the foot of the pass called the Nakb el-Abu-Sheibah,1 which leads up to Petra. Here we had the satisfaction of meeting our Arab, with a goatskin. filled with the precious element, the want of which had begun to create in us some uneasiness. He had found a supply, after a long search, in the clefts of one of the adjoining rocks. Our breakfast was soon made ready; and we

1 The Paibouchebe of Laborde.

PASS OF ABU-SHEIBAH.

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partook of it with great thankfulness, seated on the ledge of a rock, and shaded from the burning sun by another of greater altitude.

We occupied less than our usual time at this our first meal this morning; and with more than common interest and excitement, we began the ascent of the pass. Near its commencement we noticed a small excavation to the left, which, though not very remarkable in its appearance, we eagerly entered, as the first of the artificial caverns which, in these parts, were destined so much to attract our attention. In its vicinity we found some old ruins raised a little above their foundations, and called by the Arabs Abu-Sheibah. It is from them that the pass receives its name. They probably mark the site of an ancient fortlet, by which it must have been commanded, or a place of custom where the transit dues may have been exacted on the goods carried into the great commercial depôt of Petra. The rocks, and hills, and moun tains before us, were wild and romantic, perhaps beyond any thing which we had seen on this journey; but, in grandeur and sublimity, they are certainly surpassed by the Sinaitic group.

When we got to the summits of the pass, after much laborious travel and toil, during most of which we had been climbing on foot, and when our Kafilah had begun to descend into the depths of Petra, along the south-cast flank of Mount Hor, we cast a longing and wistful eye on that conspicuous eminence itself, and on the Kabar Hárún by which it is crowned. Scarcely a moment was left us for deliberation. We concluded, that as the Felláhín of Wádí Músá are represented as averse to its being visited by strangers, our best hope of reaching it lay in the attempt to accomplish the achievement before these Felláhín could be aware of our arrival in the place. We ordered the whole of our Arabs and servants, with the exception of one of the Tiyáhah, quietly

to proceed to Petra, to pitch our tents in the valley, and to expect our arrival at night; and, on getting rid of them, we commenced the ascent of Mount Hor on its western side. We were more desirous of success than sanguine about its attainment. We remembered the disappointment of Burckhardt and some other travellers, and the difficulties encountered by the parties who were more fortunate. For about twenty minutes we had something like soil on the heights, with many small bushes of the juniper cedar, and the remains of terraces, formerly used in cultivation, and consequently pretty easy work; but in the higher parts of the mountain, we had nothing but the bare sandstone cliffs. The precipitous scarps which they form, are regulated by the extent of their strata, formidable in appearance to the person aspiring to surmount them, and formidable on actual trial, particularly as we were quite unacquainted with the usual path of ascent, and the single Arab who was with us knew nothing of the locality. We hoisted and pulled one another, and grasped and crept and climbed, as best we could. At one or two places we found the work sufficiently trying to our heads and nerves, as well as to our hands and feet; and it was only by rendering to one another mutual assistance that we were able to make any progress. About a hundred and fifty feet from the top, we came to a dead-stand, or rather were threatened with a dead-fall; but after a little breathing, we actually took by storm the remaining walls of rock. Near the crown of the height, we found a gash in the mountain, with a ledge of rock overhanging it; and in this cut, after passing an ancient archway and gate, we found a regular series of steps which conducted us to the very summit.

After the greatness and peril of the effort which we had been compelled to make, we should, in ordinary circumstances, have been elated with the success which we had experienced; but the wild sublimity, and grandeur, and terror