DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0079
ENTRANCE TO THE CITY.
among the ruins ; and it is a not uninteresting fact,
that this poor Bedouin was the only living being
we saw in the desolate city of Petra. After gazing
at us for a few moments from a distance, he came
towards us, and in a few moments was sitting down
to pipes and coffee with my companions. I again
asked the sheik for the other entrance, and he again
told me there was none ; but I could not believe
him, and set out to look for it myself; and although
in my search I had already seen enough abundantly
to repay me for all my difficulties in getting there,
I could not be content without finding this desired
avenue.
In front of the great temple, the pride and
beauty of Petra, of which more hereafter, I saw a
narrow opening in the rocks, exactly correspond-
ing with my conception of the object for which I
was seeking. A full stream of water was gushing
through it, and filling up the whole mouth of the
passage. Mounted on the shoulders of one of my
Bedouins, I got him to carry me through the swol-
len stream at the mouth of the opening, and set
me down on a dry place a little above, whence 1
began to pick my way, occasionally taking to the
shoulders of my follower, and continued to ad-
vance more than a mile. I was beyond all per-
adventure in the great entrance I was seeking.
There could not be two such, and I should have
gone on to the extreme end of the ravine, but my
Bedouin suddenly refused me the further use of his
shoulders. He had been some time objecting and
VOIr. II.-6
among the ruins ; and it is a not uninteresting fact,
that this poor Bedouin was the only living being
we saw in the desolate city of Petra. After gazing
at us for a few moments from a distance, he came
towards us, and in a few moments was sitting down
to pipes and coffee with my companions. I again
asked the sheik for the other entrance, and he again
told me there was none ; but I could not believe
him, and set out to look for it myself; and although
in my search I had already seen enough abundantly
to repay me for all my difficulties in getting there,
I could not be content without finding this desired
avenue.
In front of the great temple, the pride and
beauty of Petra, of which more hereafter, I saw a
narrow opening in the rocks, exactly correspond-
ing with my conception of the object for which I
was seeking. A full stream of water was gushing
through it, and filling up the whole mouth of the
passage. Mounted on the shoulders of one of my
Bedouins, I got him to carry me through the swol-
len stream at the mouth of the opening, and set
me down on a dry place a little above, whence 1
began to pick my way, occasionally taking to the
shoulders of my follower, and continued to ad-
vance more than a mile. I was beyond all per-
adventure in the great entrance I was seeking.
There could not be two such, and I should have
gone on to the extreme end of the ravine, but my
Bedouin suddenly refused me the further use of his
shoulders. He had been some time objecting and
VOIr. II.-6