Travels in Nubia / By the late John Lewis Burckhardt. Published by the Association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of Africa. With maps, &c.

  • Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Travels in Nubia / By the late John Lewis Burckhardt. Published by the Association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of Africa. With maps, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    62/650
    butter; they call it Assal Beyrouk, or the honey of Beyrouk. Indigo, gum arabic, the silk tree called Asheyr, whose fruit encloses a white silky substance, of which the Arabs twist their matches, grow in this valley. It is inhabited near the Dead Sea in sum- mer-time by a few Bedouin peasants only, but during the winter months it becomes the meeting place of upwards of a dozen powerful Arab tribes. It is probable that the trade between Jerusalem and the Red Sea was carried on through this valley. The caravan, loaded at Eziongeber with the treasures of Ophir, might, after a march of six or seven days, deposit its loads in the warehouses of Solomon. This valley deserves to be thoroughly known ; its examination will lead to many interesting discoveries and would be one of the most important objects of a Palestine traveller. At the distance of a two long days journey north-east from Akaba, is a rivulet and valley in the Djebel Shera, on the east side of the Araba, called Wady Mousa. This place is very interesting for its antiquities and the remains of an ancient city, which I conjecture to be Petra, the capital of Arabia Petraea, a place which, as far as I know, no European traveller has ever visited. In the red sand stone of which the valley is composed, are upwards of two hundred and fifty sepul- chres entirely cut out of the rock, the greater part of them with Grecian ornaments. There is a mausoleum in the shape of a temple, of colossal dimensions, likewise cut out of the rock, with all its apartments, its vestibule, peristyle, &c. It is a most beautiful specimen of Grecian architecture, and in perfect preservation. There are other mausolea with obelisks, apparently in the Egyptian style, a whole amphitheatre cut out of the rock with the remains of a palace and of several temples. Upon the summit of the mountain which closes the narrow valley on its western side, is the tomb of Haroun (Aaron, brother of Moses). It is held in great veneration by the Arabs. (If 1 recollect right, there is a passage in Eusebius, in which he says that the tomb of Aaron was situated near Petra) The information of Pliny and Strabo upon the site of Petra, agree with the position of Wady Mousa. I regretted most sensibly that I was not in circumstances that admitted of my observing these antiquities in all their details, but it was necessary for my safety not to inspire the Arabs with suspicions that might probably have impeded the progress of my journey, for I was an unprotected stranger, known to be a townsman, and thus an object of constant curiosity to the Bedouins, who watched all my steps in order to know why I had preferred that road to Egypt, to the shorter one along the Mediterra- nean coast. It was the intention of my guide to conduct me to Akaba, where we might hope to meet with some caravan for Egypt. On our way to Akaba we were however ]nformed that a few Arabs were preparing to cross the desert direct to Cairo, and I preferred that route, because I had reason to apprehend some disagreeable adventures at Akaba, where the Pasha of Egypt keeps a garrison to watch the Wahabi. His officers I knew to be extremely jealous of Arabian as well as Syrian strangers, and I had