In this valley, about two long days’ journey north-east of Akaba, is a small rivulet, near the banks of which Burckhardt discovered the ruins of a city, which he conjectured to be those of Petra, the capital of Arabia Petræa. No other European traveller had ever visited the spot, though few places in Western Asia seem more curious or deserving of examination. The red rocks composing the flanks of the valley contained upwards of two hundred and fifty sepulchral chambers, adorned with Grecian ornaments. Besides these there were numerous mausolea, some in the Egyptian style, with obelisks, others in the chaste manner of the Greeks; and among the latter there was one in perfect preservation, and of vast dimensions, with all its apartments, its vestibule, its peristyle, &c. cut out in the solid rock. On the summit of the mountain which forms the western boundary of the valley is the tomb of Aaron, which the Arabs, who are great Scriptural antiquarians, hold in extraordinary veneration. Our traveller, however, to his great regret, was necessitated to abandon to some more fortunate visiter the thorough examination of this interesting region, at which circumstances allowed him merely to cast a glance as he was hurrying along with his Bedouin conductor towards the Red Sea. In proceeding from this place towards Akaba he encountered a small party of Arabs who were conducting a few camels for sale to Cairo, and uniting himself to this little caravan, performed the remainder of the journey in their company. “We crossed the valley of Araba,” says he, “ascended on the other side of it the barren mountains of Beyane, and entered the desert called El Tih, which is the most barren and horrid tract of country I have ever seen; black flints cover the chalky or sandy ground, which in most places is without any vegetation. The tree which produces the gum-arabic grows in some spots; and the tamarisk is met with here and there; but the scarcity of water forbids much extent of vegetation, and the hungry camels are obliged to go in the evening for whole hours out of the road in order to find some withered shrubs upon which to feed. During ten days’ forced marches we passed only four springs or wells, of which one only, at about eight hours east of Suez, was of sweet water. The others were brackish and sulphureous. We passed at a short distance to the north of Suez, and arrived at Cairo by the pilgrim road.”