among others, the remains of an aqueduct cut in the thickness of the wall, and which ought, by conducting the waters of Aïn Mouça to the centre of the town, to leave the ravine dry. But the aqueduct is in ruins, and we had to walk in the water. We were divided between our admiration for this marvellous place, and the painful contortions of our bruised ankles, when, having followed this defile for about half an hour, a most unexpected apparition burst upon our astonished gaze. An entire temple stood before us, lighted as if by a jet of red electric flame. It was the first which we had seen, and it is decidedly the most interesting of all the edifices in Petra. It is called Khazneh Fir-oum-or Pharaoh's Treasure House, though its Corinthian architecture leaves no doubt concerning its origin; but everything architectural in the East is attributed to an Egyptian Pharaoh.

The entire building is hewn in one piece from the red face of the rock, and is a temple, in two stories, with a façade, surmounted by a small circular pavilion ornamented with columns. The dome is crowned by a massive urn, in which the Arabs believe that a treasure is contained. The marks of many balls indicate their fruitless attempts to dis

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place the inoffensive lump of stone, to which they cannot climb, for lack of the necessary scaffolding.

Judging by the façade, the interior of the temple ought to be very large, but this is a deception. The lower door gives access to a small square apartment with niches. It is too small for a temple and too large for a tomb. On the other hand, were these buildings left unfinished? That is very possible, for in several places the sculptures are only in the first stage of rough chiselling.

The greater part of the decorations closely resemble those of Balbek, and certain authors consider that these monuments, so distant from each other, were built at one and the same epoch.

M. de Laborde, however, has pointed out a Greek inscription, which would relegate the existence of a portion of these buildings to a much anterior period. This inscription is on the frontal of one of the tombs in front of the great theatre. We went to see it, but it is nearly effaced. We were sorely tempted to replace it; but we were afraid it would bring some misfortune upon us, if we did so, and contented ourselves with carving certain hieroglyphs, which will puzzle the Champollions of the future. Two days,

during which it rained in torrents, gave us ample leisure to perform these works of art.

Four months later, I chanced to be at Damascus, and to find myself in company with certain learned travellers who, having just come from Petra, had been much puzzled and annoyed by the pictures which we had left behind us. Of course I loudly joined in their indignant reprobation of such sacrilege. Our intentions were not evil, and, after all, what had we done?—we had made their way easy for future travellers, by painting hands holding arrows, at all the crossings and alleys. The complicated windings of the city we divided into sections and quarters, 'Wadi Mouffetard, Guignol Square,' &c. The names shone in the brightest vermilion and were accompanied by bold profiles of the principal scheiks of the country.

In front of the temple of Pharaoh's Treasure the gorge divides suddenly into two wider branches; that which we took was literally choked with immense rose-laurels, which were like flowering trees. This circuit brought us out on the theatre, which was entirely hollowed out of the mountain, like the other buildings. The orchestra measures thirty-five yards in diameter, and the thirty-three rows of benches