A Notice

摘要

After Burckhardt's 'rediscovery' of Petra in 1812, no other Europeans were able to visit the site until William John Bankes led an expedition in 1818. Unlike Burckhardt, Bankes and his companions were granted two days in which they could freely explore and record as much as possible. They used the time to the full, and with great energy and skill produced an astonishingly large collection of information.rnBankes kept a journal recording the journey from Jerusalem around the southern end of the Dead Sea to Petra, the discoveries made there, and then their journey north through Transjordan as far as Zerka Ma'in, where the journal suddenly breaks off. Much of this was used by Irby & Mangles for 'Letter V in their Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria, and Asia Minor; during the years 1817 & 1818 (London, 1823). The original journal, which includes some information not used, or changed, by Irby and Mangles, remained at Bankes' family home, Kingston Lacy in the county of Dorset, until the house was given to the National Trust in 1981.