The Jordan valley and Petra . object of oursearch—the most ancient High Place. Our camp in Petra was about three thousand feetabove the sea and our barometers registered thirty-seven hundred at this point, or seven hundred feethigher than the floor of the city about the first view of the High Place, to one approach-ing it from this direction, is that of the sunkencourt, which is forty-seven feet long and twentyfeet wide. In its centre, cut from the native rock,is a small raised platform, four feet ten inches bytwo feet seven inches, and four inches high. Thewhole court slopes percept
The Jordan valley and Petra . object of oursearch—the most ancient High Place. Our camp in Petra was about three thousand feetabove the sea and our barometers registered thirty-seven hundred at this point, or seven hundred feethigher than the floor of the city about the first view of the High Place, to one approach-ing it from this direction, is that of the sunkencourt, which is forty-seven feet long and twentyfeet wide. In its centre, cut from the native rock,is a small raised platform, four feet ten inches bytwo feet seven inches, and four inches high. Thewhole court slopes perceptibly to the east andsouth, and was drained through a cutting at thesoutheast corner. The second view (High Place—Altars) givesthe arrangement of the pools, the two altars on thewest side of the sunken court, with the raised plat-form immediately in front. On the left is a poolcut into the rock five and a half feet long andabout sixteen inches deep. To the right of it andbetween it and the steps, is another smaller cavity,. Theatre—Fairy Dell and High Place 175 hollowed out and connected by a channel with theround altar just above it (see Plan, p. 97). Theround altar is formed by two concentric depressionscut into the rock, the outer one being forty-sixinches in diameter and the inner one seventeeninches. If this was the spot for slaying the bloodysacrifices, then the blood would run down andcollect in the cavity close to the stairway. The other altar is a detached rectangular block,nine by six feet, with the passage-way all round is approached by the stairs seen in the picturesand plan, and, in addition to the strange cuttingson the corners, contains a depression forty-threeinches long and four inches deep, possibly for liba-tions, or parts of the burnt offerings. At thenorthern end of the sunken court is a cutting thatseems to have been intended for a seat accommo-dating at least ten persons. Thirty feet south ofthe southern end of the court is a large pool, sevenf
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyorklondongpput
