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414 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. LJUNE 29, 1883. view in all Petra, a section of the delicate pink front of the Kuzneh through the narrow gorge. The contrast between the deep, dark red of the rocks and the lovely pink colour of the temple was sublime. Prom what I had read and the engraving in David Roberts’ work, I thought the whole fagade was thus to be seen, or nearly the whole of it. But such is not the case. Not nearly so much is seen as Mr. Roberts represents. It is all very grand as it is, showing only about one-fourth from the base to the top of the pediment. The pure, soft light from the south was now falling upon it, and adding vigour and intensity to the whole grand view. One moment there was absolute stillness, but the sound of the voice, or the dropping of a stone, or the rustle of the oleander bushes, even the wiud sounds floating through the gorge, could be heart at a great distance. With our guides sitting here upon their horses, their spears uplifted, and the glorious temple, whose history they knew not, close at hand, with the great cliffs behind them, there was presented a most dramatic picture. The wonderful interior of the building was visited, but it was hard to realize that such a splendid structure could have been constructed in such a wild place. It is incom- j parable—the only one of its kind—an ornament to architecture, strange in conception, making one believe it must have been the work of several centuries by various artists, as is the Duomo at Florence. It is in an elegant state of preservation, all but the figures which adorn the faade, whose outlines can only be guessed at partly. It is a mystery, a great wonder. Its situa tion, its colouring, its size, its age, all make up enough to bewilder and entangle a tougher brain than mine. I made some measurements to satisfy my curiosity, and it is larger than I estimated. Marks of the quarryman are at each side to the very top, as though depressions had been made in the rock for the ends of the scaffolding. There are rooms on each side of the door, and passages to them. The one at the right leads to a chamber twenty-three by twenty-eight feet, with a depression back with stalls, and over the door a circular window partly walled up. The door is seven feet wide. At the left side is another apartment of the same size. Roman eagles, crouching, are over each door. The main chamber is forty-feet square, with a small cell or depression at the rear, with others at each side. The front is a singular bit of architecture. It is ninety- six feet wide, and the columns which support the pediment are five feet in diameter. They all seem to be solid, and not in sections. The colour is chiefly of a delicate pink, small parts only being of warm gray and a reddish colour. It is not broken up in fantastic tints and waves of colour through the building itself. It was very fortunate for its projectors to find such a rock in such a place from which to cleave this magnifi cent building. It looks as clean and fresh as though recently con structed, and yet so old is it that it has no history. No one can tell why it was erected or when. It is a “treasure,” indeed. Whether built for the worship of God, or as a receptacle for the dead, no one can tell. It is in nothing like the Egyptian temples, except as to the side-rooms and depressions in the walls. Its parts are sharply, smoothly chiselled, and its floral decora tions are rich and fine. I left it now, temporarily, and went in towards the theatre through another and wider cleft. Between the great walls thereof, I had my first view of the main street of Petra proper. The great temples and tombs, cleft from the faces of the cliffs, stood on the left like steps, while a part of the theatre and the hills back thereof made up a real Petran scene, such as is to be had nowhere else in the world. The theatre was a huge struc ture cut from the solid rock, and all about it were temples of varied form and size, whose faades were gaudily coloured—red, blue and yellow, lilac, white and pink. While I stood here upon the top row of the theatre, some of the spearmen held a tourna ment for our entertainment, which made me think of the Roman gladiatorial exercises. The theatre is nearly three-quarters of a circle, of variegated colours ; has thirty-three tiers of seats with ascending stairways, and is much worn out of shape by age. All about us, on every side now for long distances beyond, were countless remains of those wonderful rock-structures. Our tents were pitched in the very centre of the city, on an elevation, and opposite us were the principal buildings of the town after the Kuzneh and the Deir had been considered. As we crept towards our head-quarters, we were made well aware of the fact that the trouble still continued, and that the chief office of Hades seemed to be very close by. We were all the more impressed with this when, towards night, the caves in which our brethren dwelt were lighted up by fires of turf and oleander wood, adding greatly to the dramatic effect of the whole scene. Oorrespondence. HYDROKINONE DEVELOPER. Sir,—I have found the following developer extremely useful in micro-photographic work, as also in cases of under-exposure. Make up stock solutions as follows:— A.—Hydrokinone 12 grains Alcohol 12 drachms This keeps fairly well. B.—Carbonate of soda (washing soda), a 10 per cent, aqueous solution. Take 1 drachm of A, and add 1 ounce of water. Pour an ounce of B into developing dish, and pour the diluted drachm of A into it. Place the quarter-plate (to which these quantities refer) in water for a few seconds, and then into the developer. The solution keeps clear till the details are out, and development is complete in five minutes at most. The time varies with different makes of plates, but I find that full density is obtained even with micro-photography in the time specified when Nelson’s plates are used. The negatives are free from fog, and fine details come up better than with any developer I have used, in what, however, is a very limited photographic experience. The hydrokinone was supplied to me by Harvey Reynolds and Co., of Leeds, at a price which brings the developer well within the cost of the usual pyro plus bromide plus ammonia formulae. The plate should be treated to an alum bath, and well washed between fixing and development. If preferred, the developer may be made up by taking 1 grain of hydrokinone dissolved in 1 ounce water, in place of the alcoholic solution. The crystals dissolve rather slowly, and the aqueous solution rapidly decomposes. H. PoCKLINGTON. THE BRUSSELS EXHIBITION. Dear Sib,—I see that the date for applying for space has been shifted from the 1st June to 1st July; now this latter period has been reached, I presume it will be still further shifted. As I, at some inconvenience, made up my mind to exhibit a month ago, and complied with the first regulations issued, I do not think this modifying of the rules is quite fair. But this is not all; if one rule is thus modified, what guarantee have we exhibitors that other rules will not be modified also? If the governing body of the Brussels Exhibition wish to infuse confidence, they will do well to stick hard and fast to the rules they have printed and circulated.—Faithfully yours, 26th June, 1883, An Intending ExmITOn, COLLODION VERSUS DRY PLATES. Sir,—I quite agree with Mr. Coonley in his remarks on the above subject. Having had nearly twenty years’ experience, I can speak with “somewhat little authority.” I consider dry plates a good substitute for wet when one has subjects to deal with which either require very long or very short exposures; but, for ordinary photography, in good weather, one can get a thing of beauty with the wet process, which it is impossible to get with the dry; and until we get something that will give us the quality of the wet with the advantages of the dry (for we must own the dry have some advantages), I shall continue to use wet plates whenever circumstances will permit. I have come to this decision after long and patient trial of the new process; but when I look about me, and miss those fine, soft, and brilliant pictures we used to have before the introduction of gelatine plates, I determine, more than ever, to stick to my old friend Collodion. London, E. Jenks.