East of these valleys, and distant about six miles, are said to be the vestiges of a Roman road, which probably led near Usdaka--the _Szadeke_ of Burckhardt--to Petra. Near that place is a hill with some considerable ruins, very possibly the remains of what the Peutingerian Table calls _Zadagasta_; which word seems to have been corrupted into _Zadeka_, and _Sudaka_, or _Usdaka_. A fine spring, or _Ain_, is there much noted. Also, further north five or six miles, at Ain Mefrak, some ruins are visible. And the same traveller noticed, a few miles north of the present picturesque village of Eljy--situate a little east of Petra, in a more fertile spot--the substructions of walls and paved roads, all constructed of flints. The present road, traversed by the _Hadj_, or pilgrims, from Syria to Mecca, passes about five miles more eastwards, through Maan (_Maon_, Judges x. 12), placed in a rocky district. This town is divided by two hills, on each of which stands a portion of it. The fruits, especially pomegranates, peaches, apricots, and grapes, are there excellent, and are much sought after by the Syrian pilgrims. Burckhardt (p. 436), says here, "are several _springs_, to which the town owes its _origin_;" and I presume the word itself, Ma'an, is abbreviated by use from _Mayan_, signifying a "fountain." _Fourthly._--"Petra," the Greek appellation of the capital of the ancient _Nabathæa_, or territory of the Nabathæi, and the _Edom_ of Scripture, was called in Hebrew, _Sela_; both words meaning a "rock," and the first of which gave _its name_ to the country--"Arabia _Petræa_." It is also called _Joktheel_, in 2 Kings xiv. 7. Strabo has distinctly recorded that "Petra was the capital of the _Nabathæans who were Idumæans_." (Lib. xvi.) The former appellation having been bestowed upon this people as descendants of _Nebaioth_, (1 Chron. i. 29), or _Nebajoth_ (Gen. xxv. 13), who was Abraham and Hagar's grandson, and Ishmael's first-born son. Petra is correctly described by the same Greek geographer, as well as by the Roman naturalist. The short account of the last I here transcribe: "Nabatæi oppidum _includunt Petram_ nomine in _convalle_, paulo minus duum mill. passuum amplitudinis, _circumdatum montibus_ inaccessis _amne interfluente_."[12] I will not add here any description of the very magnificent remains of this remarkable city, the city of the _Rock_--or rather excavated and carved out of the _natural rock_--whose dwellings are said to have been "in the clefts of the _rock_," (Obadiah 3), since they are now so well known. Footnote 12: _Plin._ Nat. Hist., Lib. vi., cap. 28.