an hypothesis; and the matter is set at rest by another passage in the same author. In his Annals, Abulfeda speaks of the same place as near to Kerak; and relates that Nureddin, marching from Damascus to Kerak, advanced as far as to er-Rakim and there turned back. It lay therefore north of Kerak. Abulf. Annal. Musl. ad A. H. 568. Schult. Excerpt. in Vit. Sal. p. 15. See Gesenius Comm. zu Jes. 16, 1. p. 537. The excavated dwellings found by Seetzen, which Gesenius refers to this place, were situated far to the north both of the Belka and of Jebel Ajlûn; Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVIII. pp. 355, 356.

Equally untenable is the hypothesis first suggested by Bochart, which identifies Petra or Wady Musa with the place called by Arabian writers el-Hijr, where are excavated caverns. Bochart was probably led to it by the Chaldee form 7, Gen. 16, 14. 20, 1; which the Targum of Onkelos there reads instead of Bered and Shur. He and others also read the Arabic name as el-Hajr (a stone), and held it therefore to be synonymous with the name Petra; although it is properly written with Kesrah, el-Hijr, and has no such meaning. See Freytag's Lex. Arab. I. pp. 345, 346. Bochart Geogr. Sacr. p. 688. Bernard on Joseph. Ant. 4. 4. 7. ed. Havero. Reland Pal. p. 933.

But apart from all this, the place called el-Hijr lay at least eight days' journey south from Wady Musa, and therefore cannot be brought into any connection with Petra. Edrîsi says that Tebuk lies between el-Hijr and the border of Syria, four days' journey from the latter; and on the present route of the Syrian Haj, Tebûk is also four days south of Ma'ân; Edrisi par Jaubert p. 333. Burckhardt's Travels App. pp. 658, 659. Further, Edrisi, in describing the same Syrian route, places el-Hijr at four days from Tebak towards Medina; ib. pp. 359, 360. Burckhardt's notices do not mention el-Hijr; probably because the Haj at the present day, south of Tebuk, takes a more western route; ib. p. 659.-The supposed identity of el-Hijr with Petra is properly denied by Bernard and Schultens, as above quoted; and also by Gesenius, Comm. zu Jes. 16, 1. p. 537. The latter however refers by oversight to Rommel's Abulfeda, p. 84; where the writer is speaking of another el-Hijr, situated in the interior province Yemâmeh. See Abulf. Tab. Arab. ed. Hudson, pp. 37, 60. Edrîsi ib. pp. 154, 155.

Thus far of Arabian writers. We turn now to another question: Whether, as has been assumed, there existed anciently more than one city of the name of Petra? It may first be proper to remark, that as early as the beginning of the fourth century, the general name of Palestine had been so extended as to include the whole of Arabia Petræa, quite to Ailah. Thus at the council of Nicea A. D. 325, among the bishops of Palestine whose subscriptions are there preserved, is the name of Peter, bishop of Ailah; and Jerome, paraphrasing Eusebius, places Ailah in the extreme borders of Palestine on the Red Sea; Onomast. art. Ailath. Labbe Concil. Tom. II. c. 51. Le Quien Oriens Chr. III. p. 759. Hence Eusebius, writing about A. D. 330, could with propriety speak of Petra, sometimes as a city of Arabia and sometimes as belonging to Palestine. Thus Onomast. art. Petra: "Petra civitas Arabia in terra Edom; " but under the arts. Arcem and Cades: "Petra civitas nobilis Palæstina." When therefore in other writers, we find Petra assigned sometimes to Palestine and sometimes to Arabia, this does not

in itself imply more than one Petra. Reland Pal. p. 926.-Early in the fifth century, as we have seen, this region took the specific name of the Third Palestine. See Text p. 161.

Cellarius assumes a Petra of the Amalekites, distinct from that of Arabia, on the strength of Judg. 1, 36, and 2 Kings 14, 7; where a Petra (Heb. Sela) is spoken of in connection with the ascent of Akrabbim and with the Valley of Salt; Notit. Orbis II. p. 580. The considerations advanced in the text, show this conjecture to be without solid foundation; see Text p. 169 sq.

At a still earlier period, a Petra of Palestine had been assumed, also as distinct from Petra of Arabia, on the strength of a passage in the works of St. Athanasius; see Geogr. Sacr. Caroli à St. Paulo, Amst. 1711. p. 306. Reland p. 927. The passage is usually referred to as contained in the "Epist. ad solitariam Vitam agentes; "though in the Benedictine edition at least, it is found, not in that epistle, but in the Historia Arianor. § 18, Opera Tom. I. p. 354. Paris 1698: kai "Apelov μὲν καὶ ̓Αστέριον τὸν μὲν ἀπὸ Πετρῶν τῆς Παλαιστίνης τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Apaßias Toκómovs, "Et Arium quidem et Asterium, illum Petrarum Palæstina, hunc ex Arabia, episcopos." In another place Athanasius speaks of Asterius alone as bishop of Petra in Arabia : Αστέριος Πετρών Ts Apaẞias, Tomus ad Antioch. § 10. Opera Tom. I. ii. p. 776.

Now, as Reland justly remarks, if there was actually a city called Petra, an episcopal see in Palestine, distinct from that of Arabia, it is certainly very singular, that there should nowhere exist the slightest allusion to it in all the subscriptions of councils, in the various ecclesiastical Notitia, and in the numerous writings of Eusebius and Jerome, who were cotemporary with Athanasius, and lived in and wrote expressly upon Palestine. This remark affords strong ground to suspect a corruption of the text in the passage of Athanasius; which, as Reland has acutely shown, might very easily take place. Either the word Ilerpov has been transposed from its proper place, so that we ought to read: TOV μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Παλαιστίνης, τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ Πετρῶν τῆς ̓Αραβίας,—or, as is more probable, the word Herpov was at first a gloss in the margin, afterwards inserted in the text in the wrong place. On the latter supposition, no city was originally mentioned, but the text stood thus: Tov pèv áñò Παλαιστίνης, τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ ̓Αραβίας. That this is the true reading is rendered the more probable from the fact, that Athanasius himself in another place uses the very same formula: Μακαρίου ἀπὸ Παλαιστίνης Kai 'Aσrepiov drò 'Apaßías, Apol. contra Arianos § 48. Opp. Tom. I. p. 166. (Here we have obviously the corruption Makapiov for Apeiov.) The same reading is also supported by two like passages in the historical fragment of Hilarius, where he speaks of the same bishops, p. 188: "Arium ex Palæstina et Stephanum (Asterium) de Arabia;" and p. 1293: "Arius a Palæstina, Asturus (Asterius) ab Arabia." See Reland Palæst. p. 928. The preceding considerations seem to me completely to do away the authority of this isolated and unsupported passage of Athanasius.

One other point of confusion remains to be noticed. We have seen in the text, that the crusaders thought they found Petra in Kerak; to which they accordingly gave the name of " Petra deserti," and established there a Latin bishopric; see Text pp. 166, 167. There can be no question

that their "Petra deserti" was Kerak; for besides the passages cited in the text, William of Tyre writes expressly, 20. 28: "Secundæ Arabia metropolim Petram, quæ alio nomine Crac appellatur;" and again, 22. 28: "Urbem cui nomen pristinum Petra deserti, modernum vero Crach." So too Jacob de Vitry c. 56, p. 1077: "Est autem Petra civitas munitissima, quæ vulgari nomine hodie dicitur Crac et Petra deserti; and he goes on to say correctly: "Est autem juxta urbem antiquissimam, quæ dicitur Rabbath;" meaning the ruins of Rabbah still found two or three hours north of Kerak.

I have also already alluded to the fact, that after the destruction of the ancient Petra, the metropolitan see of the Third Palestine was transferred to Rabbah; as appears from the two later Latin Notitiæ, in which the name of Petra is not found, but Rabbah stands as the metropolis; Reland Pal. pp. 223, 226. See Text, p. 166. But now, on the strength of two doubtful passages, it has been held, that the name of Petra deserti was also sometimes applied in like manner to Rabbah. See Raumer Pal. p. 412 sq. The first passage is the title inscribed over one of the Latin Notitia abovementioned: Sedes tertia Arraba Moabitis, id est Petra deserti. These last words are obviously nothing more than a gloss, added by the Latin transcriber or compiler; implying only, that, as he supposed, the metropolitan seat of Rabbah was once known as that of Petra deserti.-The other passage is in William of Tyre, 15. 21: "Castrum ædificavit oui nomen Crach, juxta urbem antiquissimam ejusdem Arabiæ metropolim, prius dictam Raba, . . . postea vero dicta est Petra deserti." But this is in direct contradiction with himself and the other historians of the crusades. Thus he says in 22. 28:"Urbem cui nomen pristinum Petra deserti, modernum vero Crach." See too the other references just above, and Text, pp. 163, 164, 166, 167. Hence it is a natural supposition, that the statement of the passage in question was a lapsus either of the author, or more probably of some transcriber.-The later confused and erroneous notices of Brocardus and Marinus Sanutus need not here be taken into the account.

...

The general result then of the inquiries in the present note, is the following, viz. That there was in ancient times only a single city called Petra, which is spoken of successively and sometimes indiscriminately as belonging to Edom, Arabia, and Palestine, and whose remains are still seen in Wady Musa; that to this city, whether as existing or in ruins, as Petra or as Wady Musa, Arabian writers, so far as yet known, make no allusion earlier than the 13th and 15th centuries; and that the crusaders transferred the name of Petra (Petra deserti) to Kerak, and to that place alone.

NOTE XXXVIII.-Page 192.

CATASTROPHE OF SODOM. The following is the original of the letter of L. von Buch, given in the text. Berlin, 20 Avril, 1839.

MONSIEUR,

C'est plutôt pour répondre à l'honorable confiance que vous voulez

avoir en moi, que dans l'espérance de pouvoir vous faire une observation digne de vous être présentée, que je vous adresse ces lignes.

La vallée du Jourdain est une crevasse, qui s'étend depuis le Liban jusqu'à la mer Rouge sans interruption. Voilà, à ce qui me semble, le résultat de vos recherches, comme de celles de Mr de Bertou et Mr Callier, qui, malgré ce fait, en veulent à Mr Ritter pour avoir dit la même chose. Ces longues crevasses, fréquentes surtout dans les montagnes calcaires, donnent la configuration à nos continents. Si elles sont très larges et profondes, elles donnent passage aux montagnes primitives, qui, par cette raison, forment des chaînes, dans une direction, que la crevasse leur a prescrite. On peut donc s'attendre à un plus grand développement des agents volcaniques au fond de cette crevasse, que sur les hauteurs.

Le sel gemme est, d'après les recherches les plus récentes, un produit d'une action volcanique ou plutonique le long d'une ouverture de cette nature. Mais, les sources d'asphalte ou de bitume le sont aussi; comme le prouvent la quantité de sources de bitume depuis le pied du Zagros aux environs de Bassorah jusqu'à Mosul, et aussi à Bakou; comme le prouvent encore la source de bitume dans le golfe de Naples, et à Mellilli près de Siracuse; comme le prouvent les sources de bitume sur l'île de Zante, et même le bitume de Seyssel dont on fait les trottoirs à Paris.

L'Asphalte de la mer Morte n'est vraisemblablement que le bitume consolidé au fond du lac, qui ne peut pas s'écouler, et forme par conséquent une couche sur le fond, comme à l'île de Trinidad. Il est assez vraisemblable, que cette accumulation se soit faite dans les temps reculés, comme de nos jours; et si des actions volcaniques, une élevation du terrain, et des tremblements de terre ont mis au jour des masses d'asphalte analogues à celle que vous avez décrite, (phénomène de la plus haute importance, inconnu jusqu'ici,) on peut très bien concevoir la conflagration de cités entières par l'inflammation de matières si éminemment combustibles.

Si on pouvait découvrir quelque masse basaltique dans la partie méridionale ou vers l'extremité sud de la mer Morte, on pouvait croire, qu'un "dyke" basaltique se soit fait jour lors de la célèbre catastrophe, comme cela est arrivé en 1820 près de l'île de Banda, et dans un autre temps au pied du volcan de Ternate. (Descript. phys. des Iles Canaries, p. 412, 433.) Les mouvements qui accompagnent la sortie d'un tel dyke" sont bien en état de produire tous les phénomènes, qui ont changés cette contrée intéressante, sans exercer une influence très marquée sur la forme et la configuration des montagnes à l'entour.

La fertilité du sol dépend quelquefois de très legers accidents. Il n'est pas probable, que le bitume soit propre pour l'augmenter. Mais il est bien possible, que les mouvements du terrain ont pu mettre au jour une plus grande masse de sel gemme, qui entraîné par les eaux vers le fond de la vallée, suffirait pour lui ôter sa productibilité. Le sel gemme n'aurait pas tant frappé Lot, pour s'imaginer que sa femme eût été changée en sel, si on avait eu connaissance de son existence entre les couches do toute la montagne, avant la catastrophe mémorable.

Il faut espérer, que la Société géologique de Londres, si active, voudra bien un jour envoyer un de ses membres, pour éclairer avec la flambeau de la Géologie des faits qui intéressent tout le monde. Mais,

il faudrait rechercher toute la constitution géologique et du Liban et de toute la vallée du Jourdain, depuis Tiberias jusqu'à Akaba.

Je conçois, Monsieur, que toute ceci doit peu vous contenter. Mais, je pense qu'il est téméraire de se faire une théorie sur des faits, dont on pas du moins observé soi-même les résultats. J'ai l'honneur d'être avec la plus haute considération,

n'a

Monsieur,

Votre très-humble et obéissant,

LEOPOLD DE BUCH.

NOTE XXXIX.—Page 195.

STATIONS OF THE ISRAELITES. The following Table, arranged in accordance with the suggestions advanced in the text, presents a synoptical view of all the stations of the Israelites enumerated, from their departure out of Egypt until their arrival overagainst Jericho.