of its wild and deserted streets. Nor is it the capital alone that is thus desolate. Within the surrounding country of ancient Edom, for several days' journey on every side no human habitation is visible, save when the wandering Arab pitches his tent amid the desert scene. Yet within three days' journey of Petra upwards of thirty ruined towns have been noted, some of them still adorned with the remains of magnificent temples, and vast buildings, with columns still preserving memorials of the influence of Roman and Greek art on the ruder tastes of the children of Edom. But Esau's heritage is now literally laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness, and even the wild Arabs avoid the ruins of his towns, and drive their cattle beyond their outskirts, from apprehension of the enormous scor pions with which they swarm. Nothing is more strange in the world's history than these vicissitudes of great and populous empires; so nu merous were the inhabitants of the land of Edom in the first century of our era, that, when Titus appeared with his Roman legions, bent on the capture of Jerusalem, Josephus tells us that thirty thousand Idumeans assembled immediately, and joined with the citizens of Jerusalem in the defence of the devoted city. "Idumea," says Keith, "was a kingdom previous to Israel, having been governed first by dukes and princes, afterwards by eight successive kings, and again by dukes, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. Its fertility and cultivation in the earliest times, are implied not only in the blessings of Esau, whose dwelling was to be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; but also in the condition proposed by Moses to the Edomites, when he solicited a passage for the Israelites through their borders, 'that they would not pass through their fields or through the vineyards.' The Idumeans were, without doubt, both an opulent and a powerful people. They often contended with the Israelites, and entered into a league with their other enemies against them. In the reign of David they were indeed subdued and greatly oppressed, and many of them were dispersed throughout the neighbouring countries, particularly Phoenicia and Egypt. But during the decline of the kingdom of Judah, and for many years previous to its extinction, they encroached upon the territories of the Jews, and extended their dominion over the south-western part of Judea. Though no excellence whatever be now attached to its name, which exists only in past history, Idumea, including perhaps Judea, as Reland has shown, was then not without the praise of the first of Roman poets." Lucan celebrates its riches, and Virgil thus refers to it : 6 Primus Idumæas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas. "But Idumea, as a kingdom, can lay claim to a higher renown than either the abundance of its flocks, or the excellence of its palm-trees. The celebrated city of Petra, (so named by the Greeks, and so worthy of its name, on account both of its rocky situation and vicinity,) was situated within the patrimonial territory of the Edoinites. There is distinct and positive evidence that it was a city of Edom, and the metropolis of the Nabatheans, whom Strabo expressly identifies with the Idumeans-possessors of the same country, and subject to the same laws. Petra,' to use the words of Dr. Vincent, by whom the state of its ancient commerce was described before its ruins were discovered, 'is the capital of Edom or Seir, the Idumea or Arabia Petræa of the Greeks, the Nabatea, considered both by geographers, historians, and poets, as the source of all the precious commodities of the east.' 'The caravans, in all ages, from Minea, in the interior of Arabia, and from Gerrha on the Gulf of Persia, from Hadramaut on the ocean, and some even from Sabea or Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and from Petra the trade seems again to have branched out in every direction, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, and a variety of subordinate routes that all terminated on the Mediterranean. There is every proof that is requisite, to show that the Tyrians and Sidonians were the first merchants who introduced the produce of India to all the nations which encircled the Mediterranean; so there is the strongest evidence to prove that the Tyrians obtained all their commodities from Arabia. But if Arabia was the centre of this commerce, Petra was the point to which all the Arabians tended from the three sides of their vast peninsula.' 'The name of this capital, in all the various languages in which it occurs, implies a rock, and as such it is described in the Scriptures, in Strabo, and Al-Edrissi.'" Edom But we need not follow the history further. has become a desolation, and it seems scarcely conceivable that it shall ever be restored as the habitations of men. "The total cessation of its commerce; the artificial irrigation of its valleys wholly neglected; the destruction of all the cities, and the continued spoliation of the country by the Arabs, the permanent exposure, for ages, of the soil unsheltered by its ancient groves, and unprotected by any covering from the scorching rays of the sun; the unobstructed encroachments of the desert, and of the drifted sands from the borders of the Red Sea, the consequent absorption of the water of the springs and streamlets during summer, are causes which may have all combined their baneful operation in rendering Edom most desolate, the desolation of desolations." Were it not for the evidence of its imperishable ruins, it would seem inconceivable that the arid and stony desert had ever been capable of cultivation, or the site of human dwellings, and yet here were the fields and the vineyards of Edom, while yet the descendants of Jacob were wanderers in the desert, and here still was the centre of Asiatic commerce, when the kingdom of Judah was at an end, and the chosen race were dispersed as wanderers and outcasts among every people and nation under heaven. CHAPTER IX. CAVE TEMPLES OF ELEPHANTA, ADJUNTA, AND ELLORA See! where those caverns yawn on Carli's steep; Do spirits call, awaked from ages' sleep, E'en Brahmin's view them with a solemn fear. AICHELL. ASIA has many other ruins besides those referred to in previous chapters, for there were all the world's first kingdom's founded, and for many ages it formed, along with the adjacent regions of the African continent, the chief centre of population, and the sole seat of empire and civilization. One other singular class of architectural remains, however, will suffice to illustrate the relics of ancient skill and grandeur on the Asiatic continent. The cave temples of Elephanta, Ellora, Adjunta, and other ruined shrines scattered throughout India, form a most interesting branch of monumental remains connected with one of the early races of the human family. Certain general resemblances have been traced among all the relics of Eastern art and ancient mythology, which add new confirmations to the scriptural history of the Asiatic origin of the human race. Still an undue weight has frequently been attached to this, as though it pointed to some intimate intercourse or great similarity in faith and manners among widely-separated races. Much must be allowed in such investigations for the uniform influence of climate and other local circumstances, and this is peculiarly observable in the apparent correspondence which has been supposed to be traceable between the ancient mythology of India and Egypt. This has frequently been referred to as conclusive evidence of an intimate connection between the religions of these two countries, and one interesting incident excited special attention. During the war with the French in Egypt, some sepoys of our Indian army, who crossed from the Red Sea to the Nile, were attracted, on their visit to the temple of Dendera, by the sculptured representation of the cow of Athor, and were observed to prostrate themselves before it. This has been referred to, both by French and English writers as triumphantly proving the kindred character and common source of the two creeds; but the argument will not stand investiga tion. Had the Indian sepoys been arrested by some arbitrary and unintelligible symbols of Egyptian hieroglyphics, which possessed to them a sacred meaning, importance might justly be attached to their proceedings; but the selection of the cow by two agricultural nations as a sacred symbol, may admit of very easy explanation without supposing them to have had any previous intercourse, aud a critical investigation into the minute details of Egyptian and Indian mythology, shows that the creeds of the African and Asiatic kingdoms resemble each other only in very general features, such as will be found to be common to nearly all the earlier forms of heathen mythology. On this subject it has been remarked by a recent writer, in comparing the ruined temples of the two countries, that their dates appear on closer investigation so widely different, that all idea of a common source of design must be completely abandoned; and we must |