that could furnish footing for a single plant is turned to account; proving that Strabo was not mistaken in speaking of the horticultural advantages of the city?'

The only inscriptions discovered at Petra were two which M. Laborde met with on tombs. One of these, in Greek characters, was so much mutilated as to be unreadable, and the other, a Latin one, notified that a certain Roman consul died at Petra, when governor of Arabia. The only living being found residing in the immediate neighbourhood of the ruins, with the exception of the reptiles that infest the excavations, was a decrepit old man, who had lived for forty years on the top of Mount Hor, an eminence to the west of Petra, where a tomb, said to be that of Aaron, is seen. The wandering Arabs, who revere the Jewish traditions, hold the place as sacred, and support its old guardian by occasional pilgrimages and contributions. From Mount Hor, the neighbouring localities of Petra are seen. As might almost be anticipated, they are strewn far and wide with ruins; shewing that, when the capital was in its days of splendour, its suburbs also contained a great and flourishing population.

At what period of time Petra, the capital of Idumea, was founded, it is impossible to determine. From the mention of its inhabitants the Edomites, or Idumeans, in scriptural history, as well as from the character of its monuments, it is evident, however, that the city must be of immense antiquity. Sir Isaac Newton, in his chronological work, records his opinion that the Edomites were prosperous and partially civilised at an earlier period than the Egyptians. The Edomites had command of ports on the Red Sea, which put the commerce of India and Ethiopia, into their hands, and was the source, both at an early period of their history and in the time of the Roman Empire, of all their greatness. Petra was the centre point where the caravans rested between the Asiatic seas and the Mediterranean. The book of Job, a work of great antiquity, proves distinctly the great prosperity of his countrymen, the Edomites, and their acquaintance with

many civilised arts. From it we learn that they wrought mines, manufactured wire-brass, and coined money; that they possessed mirrors, used scales and the weaver's shuttle, and had many musical instruments; and, finally, that they were well advanced in astronomy and natural history, and had correct notions of a deity and a future state. They also cut inscriptions on tablets, and their rich men built splendid tombs. All these things betokened no mean degree of civilisation in the land of Edom at a very early date, and confirm the supposition, that portions of the remains of Petra are among the oldest, if not really the oldest, existing monuments of man's hands.

Petra lies between latitude 30° and 31°, and nearly in longitude (from Greenwich) 36°, almost in a line between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba, at the head of the Red Sea. From El Akaba, a town at the head of the Gulf, the ruins are distant but a few days' journey. In concluding our notice of this interesting city, we may briefly allude to the remarkable applicability of a scriptural prophecy respecting Idumea and its present condition. O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.' And fearful, indeed, has the fall of the Idumean grandeur been. No man shall pass through the country and live, says another of the prophecies of Scripture; but this, we should suppose, must be taken in a restricted sense, for, after a long period of danger to travellers, the country has been lately opened up to the inspection of enlightened Europeans; and it is possible that, in the progress of events, the land of Edom, and Petra its capital, may attract the visits of the numerous class of English travellers who delight in the contemplation of the antique and picturesque.

BILLARD'S ADVENTURE IN A WELL.

THE story of the unfortunate Dufavel, who was buried accidentally in a well, and remained in it for a long period, is not without a parallel in the history of mining transactions in France. In the department of the Indre, and parish of Fleure-la-Rivière, March 27, 1837, about half-past eight in the morning, Etienne Billard, a workingmason, descended a well 120 feet deep, for the purpose of examining it preparatory to some repairs. When he had reached the bottom, or nearly so, an extensive portion of the sides fell in upon him, and shut him out from the light of day; but, by a remarkable piece of good-fortune, the materials, in falling, formed a small arch of about three feet in diameter around his head. Had it not been for this, he would have been either fatally hurt by the heavy stones of the masonry, or would have been suffocated immediately. Every other part of the well around his body was filled compactly with the fallen materials. The noise of the irruption was heard by some workmen near the spot, who immediately ran up to it. On listening intently, they heard the cries of Billard, and the certainty that he was yet alive, inspired the hope of delivering him. Sending off one of their number to alarm the neighbouring inhabitants and authorities, these workmen then lowered a lighted candle down the well, the danger of a further fall of the sides deterring themselves from going down. The candle went down 100 feet, thus shewing that about twenty feet of the mass, or a considerable portion thereof, lay above the unfortunate Billard. In reply to their call, he was heard distinctly to say, that he could not see anything of the light. I am assured,' he moreover said, 'that I am a lost man. But I suffer no pain, and I breathe freely.'

No ordinary difficulty, it was obvious, stood in the way of relief in this case. For workmen to descend into the

narrow deep well, and attempt to clear away the ruins, without some security against a further fall of the sides, was a dangerous task. The authorities of the district, as soon as they arrived, and saw the nature of the accident, sent off an express for the district-superintendent of roads and bridges, M. Certain. He was at some distance, and did not arrive till next day. In the meantime, one man, a slater, ventured to descend to the top of the fallen mass of stones and earth, which proved, as had been shewn by the candle, to be about 100 feet below the orifice. Urged by the indistinct cries for help which they heard from poor Billard, the men on the spot began to lift the stones forming the sides of the well. When M. Certain arrived, he descended without hesitation into the well, and put several questions to Billard respecting his situation. M. Certain judged it proper to continue the raising of the sides of the well, as the displacement of the lower part would render it most imprudent to go on otherwise. No side-boring could be executed with such speed as the whole well could be cleared. The soil, fortunately, was clayey and firm. While this labour was going on day and night, with the utmost rapidity compatible with a proper degree of caution, friends and fellow-workmen of Billard descended occasionally to animate him with the cheering sound of kindly voices, and with the assurance that help

was near.

On the morning of the 29th, the governor and headengineer of the department of the Indre arrived. M. Ferrand, inspector of works, was with them, and descended into the well. He gave his assent to the continuation of the operations going on, which some of the anxious friends of the prisoner were beginning to exclaim against, from their seeming slowness. In presence of the gentlemen mentioned, the labours were continued, and on the evening of the 29th, the well was clear to the upper part of the fallen mass. Without delay, the process of lifting them was bogun; but from the size of the stones, the work went on very tardily,

through the difficulty of hoisting them to such a distance above. After they had advanced a certain way, a new difficulty met them in the face. It was impossible to tell the exact state of the arch formed so miraculously over the head of the unfortunate man, or its degree of stability. It was necessary, therefore, to go on with the elevation of the stones with extreme care and delicacy, otherwise the unsettlement of any portion of the heavy masses above him might have caused his instantaneous death, either from a crush or suffocation.

At ten o'clock in the evening of the 29th, the workmen were calculated to be about six feet above the captive, who had now been shut out from the light since the morning of the 27th. It was impossible to send him food by a bore, as in the case of Dufavel, and he had therefore the pressure of hunger added to his misery. His voice was heard more clearly as the workmen went on, and they could now even tell the exact point where he was confined. But during the night of the 29th, his voice became a source of fear and alarm to the labourers above him. Billard's motionless condition, his want of food and air for so long a time, began to overthrow his moral courage. His reason gave place to delirium, his hope to despair. The workmen heard him at one moment lamenting his fate, and piteously crying for food, and at the next moment they heard him abandoning himself to the most extravagant gaiety. Laughter heard in such a situation was a thing almost too deplorable and shocking for human ears to listen to. When consulted on the meaning of these symptoms on the part of Billard, M. Nabert, a surgeon, who had never quitted the spot since the time of the accident, recommended the workmen to hurry on their labours, as the man could probably survive but a few hours in this state.

In consequence of this advice, a new direction was given to the work, and in place of passing down by the side of the spot where the poor man was supposed to be, the excavation was carried slopingly down to his head. In fine, after three days and three nights of incessant toil,