朝聖行記 第 1 章

ITINERARY. With the blessed martyr Antoninus going before me, from the time that I set out from the city of Piacenza, [I record] the places in which I journeyed as a pilgrim, that is, the holy places. As we went out from Constantinople, we came to the island of Cyprus, to the city of Constantia, in which rests Saint Epiphanius. A city beautiful, delightful, adorned with date-palms. We came into the parts of Syria, to the island of Antaradus, and from there we came to Tripolis of Syria, in which Saint Leontius rests; which city, in the time of the emperor Justinian, was overthrown by an earthquake together with other cities. From there we came to Byblos, which itself too was overthrown with its inhabitants; likewise to the city of Tripoli [Triaris], which itself too was likewise overthrown.

Then we came to the most splendid city of Berytus, in which there was lately a school of letters. Which city was overthrown; the bishop of the city telling us that, besides the pilgrims, thirty thousand known persons—who were known by name—perished here in a short space. The city itself lies beneath the mountain of Lebanon. From Berytus we came to Sidon, which is in part ruined and itself too clings to Lebanon; the men in it are most wicked. There runs the river Asclepius, and from the spring whence it gushes forth there stands.... From Sidon we came to Sarepta, which is a very small but exceedingly Christian city, in which is that upper room which had been made for Elijah; and that very bed is there on which he reclined, and the marble basin in which that widow leavened [her dough]. In which place many offerings are made;

many miracles take place there. Going out from Sarepta, we came to the city of Tyre. Between Sidon and Tyre and Sarepta is continuously seven miles. The men of Tyre are powerful, of most wicked life, of such luxury as cannot be told; there are public workshops [of women weavers] for silk and various kinds of fabrics. And from there we came to Ptolemais. An honourable city, with good monasteries. From Ptolemais, by sea opposite, it is a mile and a half straight across to the city of the Jews, Sycamina; along the seashore it is six miles. The Camp of the Samaritans is a mile from Sycamina, below Mount Carmel. Above that Camp, a mile and a half, is the monastery of Saint Elisha, where the woman met him whose son he raised up.

On Mount Carmel is found a small round stone which, when you shake it, makes a sound, [though] it is solid. Such, moreover, is the power of the stone: if it is hung upon a woman or upon any animal whatsoever, she will never miscarry. And six or seven miles off is the city of Porphyrion. From Ptolemais we set out by the coast. We came, within the borders of Galilee, to the city which is called Diocaesarea, in which we venerated—as though they were speaking to us—the water-jar and little basket of holy Mary. In which place there was also the chair on which she was sitting when the angel came to her. Then, three miles on, we came to Cana, where the Lord was at the wedding, and we reclined at that very couch, where I, unworthy, wrote the names of my parents, ...

of which water-jars two are there, and I filled one of them with wine and lifted it full upon my shoulder and offered it at the altar; and in that same spring we washed for a blessing. Then we came to the city of Nazareth, in which there are many miracles. There too, in the synagogue, is set the book in which the Lord had His ABC placed [for learning His letters]. In which synagogue also is placed the beam on which He used to sit with the other children. Which beam is moved and lifted up by the Christians, but the Jews can by no means and by no device move it, nor does it suffer itself to be carried outside. The house of holy Mary is a basilica, and many benefits are wrought there from her garments.

In that city, indeed, so great is the grace of the Hebrew women, that among the Hebrews none more beautiful than these are to be found in that land; and this they say is because it has been granted to them by holy Mary—for they say that she was even their kinswoman. And whereas there is no charity among the Hebrews toward Christians, these women, on the contrary, are full of all charity. The province is like paradise; in wheat and in produce it is like Egypt, small indeed, but it surpasses Egypt in wine and oil and fruit. The apples are beyond nature exceedingly tall, [growing] above a man's stature, [with] a thick stalk. From Nazareth we came to Mount Tabor, which mountain rises in the midst of a plain, [of] living earth, having a circuit of six miles, an ascent of three miles; up on top, for about one mile, it is level;

on which are three basilicas, where it was said by a disciple: 'Let us make here three tabernacles.' Round about are various cities which are read of in [the books of] Kings. From Tabor we came to the Sea of Tiberias, to the city which in the time [of old] was called Samaria, but now is called Neapolis, in which is the well where the Lord asked water of the Samaritan woman, where a basilica of Saint John has been built; and that well itself is before the rails of the altar, and there is the bucket from which it is said that this is the very one from which the Lord drank, and many sicknesses are healed there. Then we came to the city of Tiberias, in which are hot springs that bathe of themselves with salt [water], for the water of that sea itself is sweet. Which sea is sixty miles in circuit.

Likewise we came to Capernaum, to the house of blessed Peter, which is now a basilica. Passing thence through camps or villages or cities, we came to the two springs, that is, Jor and Dan, which are joined into one and are called Jordan, [a river] altogether small, which enters into the sea [of Galilee], passes through the water of the sea, the whole deep, and goes out on the other shore of the sea. Returning behind us, we came to the place where the Jordan goes out from the [Dead] Sea. We crossed the Jordan at that very place. We came to the city which is called Gadara, which is the same as Gabaon. In that part of the Jordan, three miles from the city, are warm waters which are called the Baths of Elijah, where lepers are cleansed, who have their comforts from the public [treasury] out of the guest-house.

At the evening hour the baths are flooded. Before the furnace itself there is a single great basin, and when it has been filled, all the doors are shut, and through a back entrance they are sent inside with lamps and incense, and they sit in that basin the whole night; and when they have fallen asleep, the one who is to be healed sees some vision, and when he has recounted it, those baths are abstained from for seven days, and within seven days he is cleansed. For there too John of Piacenza, the husband of Thecla, died. That same hot river, which is called Gadara, flows down as a torrent and enters into the Jordan, and from it the Jordan is enlarged and becomes greater.

And as we went down through Galilee alongside the Jordan, passing through many cities whose names are recorded, we came to the metropolis of Galilee, which is called Scythopolis, set upon a mountain, where Saint John works many miracles. From there we ascended through other places of Samaria and Judaea to the city of Sebaste, in which the prophet Elisha rests. Descending through the plains, through the cities and villages of the Samaritans; and along the streets through which we passed, whether we or the Jews, they burned straw on our footprints; so great is the loathing of each toward the other. To Christians indeed they give a reply, but only on this condition, that you do not touch what you wish to buy before you have given the price; for if you touch it and have not purchased it, at once there is offense.

For outside the village they keep one household set apart, who give the reply. You throw the coins into water, for they do not take them from your hand. And they warn you, when you enter: do not spit, and if you spit, you cause offense. But in the evening they purify themselves in water and so enter into the village or into the city. Then we came to the place where the Lord fed five thousand people with five loaves, an open countryside, with olive groves and palm groves. From here we came to the place where our Lord was baptized. In this place the children of Israel crossed over; there too the sons of the prophets lost the axe, and from this place Elijah was taken up. In this place is the small Mount Hermon, which is read of in the psalm.

At the foot of that mountain a cloud rises from the river at the first hour, and as the sun goes forth it comes over Jerusalem, over the basilica which is on Sion, and over the basilica at the Lord's tomb, and over the basilica of Saint Mary and of Saint Sophia, which had been the praetorium where the Lord was tried. Upon these places dew descends like rain, and physicians gather it, and in it all the preparations are cooked in the hospices; for many sicknesses are healed in these places where that dew falls. For this is the dew which is sung of in the psalm: as the dew of Hermon, which descends upon Mount Sion. On that side of the Jordan is the spring where Saint John baptized, two miles from the Jordan.

In that very valley Elijah was found, when the raven brought him bread and meat. Around that valley is a multitude of hermits. There, nearby, is a city called Livias, where the two and a half tribes of Israel remained before they crossed the Jordan, in which place are baths that wash of their own accord, which are called the Baths of Moses; there too lepers are cleansed. There is a spring of sweetest water, which is drunk as a purgative and heals many ailments, not far from the Salt Sea, into which the Jordan also enters below Sodom and Gomorrah, on whose shore sulphur and bitumen are gathered. In which sea, during the months of July and August and the middle of September, lepers lie the whole day;

and toward evening they wash in those Baths of Moses, and at times, whomever God wills, is cleansed. For there is also some relief for people generally. In which sea nothing living is found, neither does straw nor wood float upon it, nor can a man swim, but whatever is cast in there sinks into the deep. From the Jordan to the place where Moses departed from the body is eight miles, and from there, not very far, to Zoar, in which places there are many hermits. We saw also the monument of Absalom. I kept the Theophany at the Jordan, where such wonders happen on that night in the place where the Lord was baptized.

There is an obelisk, enclosed with railings, and in the place where the water returned to its bed, a wooden cross is set within the water, and steps descend to the water on either side of the marble. On the eve of the Theophany great vigils are held, an immense crowd; at the fourth or fifth cockcrow matins are sung. When matins are completed, at daybreak, the sacred ministries proceed under the open sky, and while the deacons hold him the priest descends into the river, and at the hour when he begins to bless the water, immediately the Jordan with a roar turns back upon itself and the water stands still until the baptism is completed.

And all the Alexandrians who have ships keep their men there on that day, holding baskets full of spices and balsam, and at the hour when he has blessed the spring, before they begin to be baptized, all pour those baskets into the river and take from there the blessed water, and from it they make water for sprinkling on their ships before they set out to sail. When the baptism is completed, all go down into the river for a blessing, clothed in linen cloths and many other kinds of garments which they keep for their burial. When the baptism is finished, the water returns to its place. And from where the Jordan rises, from the Sea of Tiberias to the Salt Sea where it ends, is about one hundred and thirty miles.

On that bank of the Jordan is a cave, in which there are cells with seven virgins, who are sent there as little girls; and when one of them has died, she is buried in that same cell, and another cell is cut, and another little girl is placed there, so that the number remains; and they have people outside who attend to them. Into this place we entered for prayer with great fear, seeing the face of none. In this place is said to be the cloth that was on the Lord's face. Over the Jordan, not far from the place where the Lord was baptized, there is a very great monastery of Saint John, in which there are two hospices. On this bank or that of the Jordan, under the mountainous regions, there are places where serpents are found, from which antidote is made.

From the Jordan to Jericho is six miles. Jericho appears to the eyes of men like paradise. Its walls are ruined, but the territory is set amid marvels. The house of Rahab stands, which is a hospice, and the very chamber from which she let down the spies is an oratory of Saint Mary. Those stones which the children of Israel took up from the Jordan are set, not far from the city of Jericho, in a basilica behind a very great altar. Before the basilica is a field, the Lord's field, in which the Lord sowed with his own hand, bearing a crop up to three modii, which is also gathered twice a year, which is never sown but springs up of itself. It is gathered in the month of February, and from it communion is given at Easter.

It is ploughed when it has been gathered, and is again harvested with the other crops, and thereupon it is ploughed and left. The spring of water which Elisha sweetened irrigates all Jericho. There grows a fine wine, the most potable, which is given to those with fever. There grow date-palms whose dates weigh a pound, of which I brought some with me into my province, one of which I gave to the lord patrician Paterius. There grows a citron weighing forty pounds, and a bean-stalk two feet long and two fingers in width and length. There too is the vine, from which at the Lord's Ascension full baskets of grapes are sold for sale on the Mount of Olives, and at Pentecost new wine from it, and thereafter strained vessels full are set forth.

Going out from the city toward Jerusalem, not far from the city of Jericho, is that tree which Zacchaeus climbed to see the Lord; which tree, enclosed within an oratory, has been let out through the roof, indeed dried up. Going out from the gate of Jericho, coming from east toward west; on your left hand you enter into the ashes of Sodom and Gomorrah, over which province a dark cloud always descends; a sulphurous smell. For what men say falsely about Lot's wife, that she is diminished by the licking of animals, is not true, but she stands in that same state in which she was.

As we ascended from the mountainous region toward Jerusalem, not far from Jerusalem we came to Bahurim, then to the left to the towns of the Mount of Olives, in Bethany, to the tomb of Lazarus. For as we looked into those valleys and walked through many monasteries, places of marvels, we saw a multitude of enclosed men and women on the Mount of Olives. And up on the mountain, in the place from which the Lord ascended, we saw many wonders, and the cell where Saint Pelagia was enclosed and where she lies in the body. On that mountain lie James, Zebedee, Cleophas, and many bodies of the saints.

Descending from the Mount of Olives into the valley of Gethsemane, to the place where the Lord was betrayed, in which there are three couches on which he reclined, and we too reclined for a blessing. And in that valley is the basilica of Saint Mary, which they say had been her house, in which she was also taken up from the body. That valley of Gethsemane is there also called Jehoshaphat. From Gethsemane we ascended to the gate of Jerusalem by many steps. On the right side of the gate is an olive grove; there is the fig tree on which Judas hanged himself, whose stump stands protected by stones. The gate of the city, which adjoins the Beautiful Gate that belonged to the temple, whose threshold and lintel stand. Kissing the ground prostrate, we entered into the holy city.

in which we worshipped at the Lord's tomb. For the tomb is naturally hewn out of the rock, and a drinking-place is cut out of that same rock, where the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was laid; a bronze lamp, which at that time was placed at his head, burns there day and night, from which we took a blessing, and we put it back. From this tomb earth is taken from outside, and those entering take a blessing from thence. The stone with which the tomb was closed is before the mouth of the tomb, of the color of the rock; which was cut from the rock of Golgotha. For that rock is adorned with gold and gems, while the rock of the tomb is like a millstone. Adornments beyond number:

on iron rods hang armlets, bracelets, necklaces, rings, headbands, circular girdles, belts, the crowns of emperors made of gold and gems, and the ornaments of empresses. The tomb itself is thus covered over, in the manner of a cone, with silver beneath golden ... Before the tomb an altar is set. From the tomb to Golgotha are eighty paces. [The remainder of this segment consists of manuscript variant-readings and editorial apparatus.]

[This segment consists entirely of textual-critical apparatus: manuscript sigla (G, B, R, Br) recording variant readings and editorial conjectures by Gildemeister, Nettleship and others, not running text to be translated.]

[The opening of this segment is editorial apparatus.] On the other side one ascends by steps, where our Lord ascended to be crucified. For the place where he was crucified is visible, and the gore of blood is visible on that same rock. On the side is the altar of Abraham, where he went to offer Isaac, and where Melchizedek also offered sacrifice. At that altar is a fissure where you put your ear and hear streams of waters, and you cast in an apple, or whatever can float, and you go to the spring of Siloam and there receive it. Between Siloam and Golgotha I believe there is a mile. For Jerusalem has no living water except in the spring of Siloam. From Golgotha to where the cross was found are fifty paces.

In the basilica of Constantine, adjoining around the tomb and Golgotha, in the atrium of that basilica, is a chamber where the wood of the cross is kept, which we worshipped and kissed. For the title also, which had been placed at the Lord's head, on which is written: 'This is the King of the Jews', I saw and held in my hand and kissed. The wood of the cross is of walnut. As the holy cross goes forth from its chamber to be venerated and comes into the atrium where it is worshipped, at that same hour a star appears in the sky and comes over the place where the cross has settled, and while the cross is worshipped, it stands over it; and oil is offered to be blessed, in half-flasks.

At the hour when the mouths of the half-flasks have touched the wood of the cross, immediately the oil bubbles up over the brim, and unless it is closed quickly, it all overflows. When the cross returns to its place, the star also returns; after the cross is shut away again, the star will no longer appear. For there too is that sponge and reed, of which it is read in the Gospel, from which sponge we drank water, and the onyx chalice which he blessed at the supper, and many other relics: the garments of blessed Mary in an upper place, and her girdle, and the band which she used to wear on her head. There too are the seven marble chairs of the elders. We ascended the tower of David, where he chanted the psalter, very great, in which there are monasteries in the individual upper rooms.

This tower is square and a bald structure, having no roof; in which Christians also ascend for devotion to dwell. And rising about the middle of the night, they hear the voices of those murmuring below in the valley of Jehoshaphat, toward the Jordan, in the places that look toward Sodom and Gomorrah; and that valley is commonly called Jehoshaphat, which is also Gethsemane. Then we came into the holy basilica of Sion, where there are many marvels, among which is what is read of the cornerstone, which was rejected by the builders. When the Lord Jesus entered into that church, which had been the house of Saint James, he found this misshapen stone lying in the middle, took it, and set it in the corner.

You hold and lift it in your hands and put your ear to that corner, and there sounds in your ears as it were the murmuring of many men. In that church is the column where the Lord was scourged. On which column there is such a sign: when he embraced it, his breast clung to that marble, and both his hands appear, and the fingers and palms in that very rock, so that for each individual ailment a measurement is taken from there; and they place it about the neck and are healed. On that column is that horn from which kings were anointed, and David. There also in that church is the crown of thorns with which the Lord was crowned, and the lance with which the Lord was struck in the side. There too are the many stones with which Stephen was stoned.

There too is the little column on which was set the cross of blessed Peter, on which he was crucified at Rome. There too is the chalice of the apostles, in which after the Lord's resurrection they used to celebrate Mass, and many other miracles which I do not recall. There is a monastery of women. I saw a skull-piece of a man enclosed in a little golden casket adorned with gems, which they say is from the holy martyr Theodota, from which many drink for a blessing, and I drank. From Sion we came to the basilica of Saint Mary, where there is an exceedingly great gathering of monks, where there are also hospices for men and women, the reception of pilgrims, tables beyond number, beds for the sick more than three thousand.

And we prayed in the praetorium, where the Lord was tried, where now is the basilica of Saint Sophia before the ruins of Solomon's temple, beneath the street which runs down to the spring of Siloam beside Solomon's portico. In that basilica is the seat where Pilate sat when he heard the Lord. And a square stone, which stood in the middle of the praetorium, on which the accused who was being tried was raised up, so that he might be heard and seen by all the people, on which the Lord was raised when he was tried by Pilate, where also his footprints remained. A beautiful foot, small, slender, and of common stature, a beautiful face, hair somewhat curled, a comely hand, long fingers — so the image portrays him which was painted while he lived and set up in that very praetorium.

For from that stone where he stood, many miracles are done; those who take from it the measure of the footprints of his feet, binding it on for individual ailments, are healed. And that stone itself is adorned with gold and silver. And from there we came to the arch where the ancient gate of the city had been. In that place are foul waters, where Jeremiah was cast. From that arch, descending to Siloam by many steps, above Siloam is a vaulted basilica, beneath which Siloam rises, which has two basins of marble made by the hand of man, and between basin and basin an enclosure of railings. In one men wash, and in the other women, for a blessing; in which waters many miracles are shown, indeed even lepers are cleansed.

In front, in the atrium, is a great pool fortified by the hand of man, in which the people constantly wash; for in those basins at certain hours the spring itself supplies abundant waters, which descend through the valley of Gethsemane, which they also call Jehoshaphat, as far as the river Jordan, and enter into the Jordan at the place where the Jordan ends in the Salt Sea below Sodom and Gomorrah. And now that spring of Siloam itself is enclosed within the city, because the empress Eudoxia added these walls to the city. For she fortified the basilica and tomb of Saint Stephen, and she herself has a tomb beside the tomb of Saint Stephen. Between the tombs there are continuously twenty paces.

For Saint Stephen himself rests outside the gate, a bowshot away, on the road which looks toward the west, which descends to Joppa and Caesarea of Palestine, or to the city of Diospolis which in antiquity is called Azotus, in which rests Saint George the martyr. On that highway, not very far from that city, stands a marble column in the middle of the road, on which the Lord was first led to be scourged, which, fleeing, was lifted up by a cloud and set in that place. And it is recognized to be truly so, because it has no base where it ought to be founded, but thus stands upon the ground and is set in motion. On its summit an iron cross is set, and one ascends by ladders, and lamps and incense are made there.

In which place those possessed by demons are cleansed. For in that very province blessed George shows many miracles. As we went out from Siloam, we came to a field which was bought with the price of the Lord, which is called Akeldama, that is, the field of blood, in which all pilgrims are buried. Among those graves are the cells of the servants of God; many men of miracles. There are fruits and vineyards among those tombs in various places. As we returned to the city we came to the swimming pool which has five porticoes, of which one has a basilica of Saint Mary, in which many miracles are done. But now that pool has been reduced to filth, and there all things that are needed in the city are washed.

We saw also, in a dark corner, an iron chain with which the wretched Judas hanged himself. Again, as we went out to the great gate, we came to Saint Hesychius, who lies there in the body, where also bread is distributed to poor men and pilgrims, which Helena appointed. On the road that leads to Bethlehem, at the third milestone from Jerusalem, lies Rachel in the body, at the boundary of the place which is called Ramah. In that place I saw, in the middle of the road, water issuing from the rock, unmoving, of a fixed measure up to seven sextarii, from which all fill their vessels, and it neither diminishes nor increases. Its sweetness for drinking is indescribable; they say it is because Saint Mary, fleeing into Egypt, sat in that place and thirsted, and so that water came forth.

There too a church has now been built. From that place to Bethlehem is three miles. Bethlehem is a most splendid place; many servants of God; the cave where the Lord was born, in which is the manger itself, adorned with gold and silver; day and night lamps within. But the mouth of the cave is altogether narrow for entering. Jerome the presbyter carved the rock at that very mouth of the cave and made a tomb for himself, where he was also laid. Immediately half a mile from Bethlehem, in the suburb of David, David himself lies there in the body, together with Solomon his son, two tombs. Which basilica is called after Saint David.

For the infants also whom Herod slew have their monument in that place, and all rest together, and it is opened and their bones are seen. Before Bethlehem is a monastery girt with a wall, in which a multitude of monks is gathered. From Bethlehem to the oak of Mamre are twenty-four miles, in which place lie Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah, and also the bones of Joseph; a basilica built with a fourfold portico, uncovered in the middle of the atrium, through the middle of which a railing runs, and from one side the Christians enter and from the other side the Jews, making many offerings of incense.

For the deposition of Jacob and David is in that land most devoutly celebrated on the day after the Lord's Nativity, so that from all that land the Jews assemble, an innumerable multitude, and offering much incense and lights and giving gifts to those who serve there. Again, returning to Jerusalem, as we went down on the road which goes to Gaza and Ascalon, immediately twenty miles from Jerusalem we came to Mount Gilboa, where David slew Goliath. There too died Saul and Jonathan. For there lies Goliath in the middle of the road, with a heap of wood at his head.

A heap of stones, a lofty mountain, so that within twenty miles a loose stone is not found, because it is a consecration: as many as pass by, however often, carry three stones each and cast them upon that mound. For on those mountains it never rains, and at the hours of night the secret is thus: men see unclean spirits flying about, with the testimony of their own eyes, as it were the fleeces of wool, or certainly the waves of the sea. Then, turning aside to the flank, we came to the city which is called Eleutheropolis, in the place where Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass, from which a spring came forth, which spring to this present day irrigates those places. For we were also at the place where it rises. Then we came to the place where Zechariah was killed and lies in the body;

a beautiful adorned basilica, and many servants of God. From there we came to the place where Isaiah was sawn asunder with a saw and where he lies, which saw is set up as a testimony beside Saint Zechariah. From there we came to the place where Habakkuk carried a meal to the reapers. And there rises a spring, where Philip baptized the eunuch. In which places are the wells which Abraham and Jacob dug, that is, the well of the oath and the well of calumny. We entered into Ascalon. There is the well of peace, greater in breadth, made in the manner of a theater, in which one descends to the water by steps. There rest three brother martyrs, Egyptians; they have indeed their own proper names, but are commonly called the Egyptians.

At one mile is the city of Saraphia, and nearby the city of Maiumas of Ascalon. From there we came into the city of Maiumas of Gaza, in which rests Saint Victor the martyr. From Maiumas to Gaza is one mile. Gaza is a splendid, delightful city, its men most honorable, adorned with every liberality, lovers of pilgrims. At the second milestone of Gaza rests the holy father Hilarion. And from there we came to the city of Elusa at the head of the desert, which goes toward Sinai, in which, according to the bishop's account, there was a certain noble girl named Maria. When she had been married, on the very night of her wedding her bridegroom died. She bore it patiently, and within a week of that event she set free her whole household ... and distributed her goods to the poor and to monasteries.

On the seventh day, having celebrated within, on that very night the bridegroom's garment was taken up, and she was not found. Of her it is said that she is in the desert beyond the Jordan, walking among the reeds or palms in the region of Zoar near the Salt Sea. In which places we found a monastery of girls, more than sixteen or seventeen, in a desert place, whom the Christians fed, who had one little donkey which ground grain for them, and they reared a lion, tame from a cub, huge, terrible to behold, who, when we drew near the cell, before his roar all the animals we had made water, of which some collapsed to the ground. And thus they said, that the lion himself guarded that very donkey in its pasture.

To these the most Christian man with whom I was offered, through me, one hundred solidi, but they would not accept. But sending to Jerusalem he brought them thirty tunics and, for the storeroom, vegetables and oil for the lamps; and they themselves told us of the powers of Mary, who walked in the desert. For two days the man with whom I was walked about searching, but whether he found her or did not find her, he would not tell us; nevertheless of the tunics and dates and roasted chickpeas in baskets which he had brought with him, or the lupines: of none of these did he carry any back with him. His affliction and weeping we could in no way console; he only kept saying: 'Woe to me, wretched man, for whose sake do I call myself a Christian?' Setting out from the city of Elusa, we entered the desert.

At twenty miles is a fort, in which is a hospice of Saint George, in which those passing through and the hermits have, as it were, a refuge and provisions. From there, entering the inner desert, we came to places of which it is said: A land turned to saltness through the malice of those who dwell in it. Where we saw rare men with camels, fleeing from us (for in Jerusalem also we saw them), men from the region of Ethiopia, with slit noses, slit ears, shod with little sandals, and with rings put through the toes on their feet. Being asked why thus, they said: 'Trajan the Roman emperor left us this mark.' As we walked through the desert for five or six days, camels carrying water for us, we received a sextarius in the morning and a sextarius in the evening per man.

When that water grew bitter in the skins, into the gall we would put sand, and it was made sweet. But the families of the Saracens and their wives, coming from the desert and sitting by the road in lamentation, with a cloth cast before them, would beg bread from those passing by; and their men would come, bringing skins with cold water from the inner part of the desert, and would give it, and take bread for themselves, and would bring little ropes with roots, whose fragrance of sweetness surpassed all spices, asking for nothing; because they were under a ban, and were celebrating their feast days. Now the number of people who entered through that greater desert was twelve thousand six hundred.

Journeying through the desert, on the eighteenth day we came to the place where Moses brought forth waters from the rock. From there, on another day, we came to the mountain of God, Horeb, and from there setting out to ascend Sinai, behold, an innumerable multitude of monks and hermits, chanting psalms with crosses, met us, who, prostrate on the ground, worshipped us, and we did likewise, weeping. And they led us into the valley between Horeb and Sinai, at the foot of which mountain is that spring where Moses saw the sign of the burning bush, in which also he watered his sheep.

This spring is enclosed within a monastery, which monastery is surrounded by fortified walls, and in it are three abbots who know languages, that is, Latin and Greek, Syriac and Egyptian and Bessan, as well as many interpreters of the individual languages. In it are the burial-places of monks. And we climbed up the mountain continuously for three miles, and came to a place, to the cave where Elijah hid when he fled from before Jezebel. Before this cave a spring rises which waters the mountain. From there we climbed continuously three miles to the very summit of the mountain, on which there is a small oratory, more or less six feet in breadth and in length. In it no one presumes to remain, but when day has already dawned the monks go up and perform the work of God.

In this place all out of devotion shave their beards and the hair of their heads and cast them away, where I too touched my beard. Mount Sinai is rocky and has little soil. Round about it are many cells of the servants of God, and likewise on Horeb; and they say that Horeb is clean ground. And on that very mountain, on one side of the mountain, the Saracens have set up their idol of marble, white as snow. There also their priest remains, clothed in a dalmatic and a linen mantle. And when the time of their festival comes round with the returning moon, before the moon rises, on their feast day that marble begins to change colour; as soon as the moon has entered, when they begin to worship, that marble becomes black like pitch.

When the time of the festival is completed, it returns to its former colour, at which we marvelled greatly. Between Sinai and Horeb is a valley, in which at certain times a dew descends from heaven, which they call manna; it congeals and becomes like a grain of mastic, and is gathered, and they have casks full of it in the monastery, and of it they give blessing in small flasks. For to us also they gave from it five sextarii. From it too they drink it as a spiced drink, and they gave it to us and we drank. For in those very mountains there are lions and leopards and wild asses and durgones, which are wild goats, and mules, which graze on the mountains, and they all feed together, and none of them is harmed by the lion, because of the vastness of the desert.

And because the feast days of the Saracens were now being completed, a herald went out, announcing that, since it was not possible to return through the desert by which we had entered, some should return through Egypt and others through Arabia into the holy city. From Mount Sinai in Arabia to the city which is called Abila are eight stages. Now at Abila a ship comes down from India with various spices. But it seemed good to us to return through Egypt, and coming to the city of Fara, where Moses fought with Amalek, where there is an oratory whose altar is set upon those stones which they placed under Moses as he prayed. In that very place is a city fortified with walls of brick, a place exceedingly barren except for waters and palms; in which city there is a bishop.

And women met us with their infants, carrying palm-branches in their hands and flasks of radish-oil, and prostrating themselves at our feet they anointed the soles of our feet and our heads, chanting an antiphon in the Egyptian tongue: 'Blessed are you of the Lord, and blessed be your coming, hosanna in the highest.' This is the land of Midian, and those who dwell in that city are said to be descended from the family of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses.

Eight hundred households serve in the public service together with their wives, receiving rations and clothing from the public treasury from Egypt, having no labour, because they have nowhere to work, since the whole place is sand; and besides, each day they have individual Saracen mares, for which they receive chaff and barley for the heads from the public treasury, riding about with them through the desert for the guarding of the monasteries and hermits against the ambushes of the Saracens; for fear of these the Saracens are not roused up. For when they go out of that city, they bar it from outside and take the keys with them. And those who are inside do likewise, because of the ambushes of the Saracens, for they have nowhere to go outside except sky and sand.

From there we came to Succoth, and from there we went down to Magdalum, and also to the place at the seventy-two palms and twelve springs, where we tarried two days, refreshed after so great a labour and the desolation of the desert. In this place is a small fort, which is called Surandala; it has nothing inside except a church with its presbyter and two hospices for travellers. In that place I saw a pepper-tree and gathered from it. From there we came to the place where the children of Israel, crossing over, encamped. And there likewise is a small fort, with a hospice within it. And from there we came to the place at the bank, where the children of Israel crossed over.

Where they came out of the sea, there is an oratory of Elijah, and crossing over to the place where they entered into the sea, there is an oratory of Moses. There too is a small city called Clysma, where ships also come from India. At this place of the sea where they crossed over, a gulf goes out from the greater deep and extends inward for many miles, which has its ebb and flow. When the sea recedes, every prefiguration appears—the arms of Pharaoh and the tracks of the wheels of the chariots; and even all the arms turned to marble. There we received green coconuts full of liquid, which come from India, which men believe to be from paradise. Their grace is such that however many taste of them, they are satisfied.

Within the deep itself, eleven miles out, is a small island of living rock, on which hang soft, fleshy fingers in the manner of dates, which exude an ointment which they call rock-oil, which is taken as a great blessing. The vessel in which it is carried, if it has been filled and you wish to go back to take more, will no longer receive it nor hold it. In that place, however many sick, especially those possessed by demons, have been able to reach it, all are saved. Those who take it as a blessing do not allow it to leave whole through Clysma, but it is mixed with oil. For if it were not adulterated, I believe that it would always work that same power, for the liquid of this ointment lasts continuously for two miles. Its odour indeed is sulphurous.

For whatever storm of the sea there may be, beneath that liquid it stands as still as a pool. Below this same city of Clysma, inside a basilica, we saw more than eighteen wooden coffins of the holy hermit fathers. From there we came through the desert to the cave of Paul, that is, in Syriac 'cuba,' whose spring waters it even to this day. From there again through the desert we came to the cataracts of the Nile, where the water rises to a mark, a fortification made by the hand of man, that is, of twelve steps. Near the cataracts, on either side of the Nile, are two cities, which they say the daughters of Lot built, one of which is called Babylonia.

Coming through the fields of Tanis, we came to the city of Memphis and to Antinoë, in which Pharaoh resided, from which also the children of Israel went out. In those very places are the twelve granaries of Joseph, full. In Memphis there was a temple, which is now a church, one gate of which shut itself before our Lord, when he was there with the blessed Mary, and to this day it cannot be opened. For there we saw a linen cloth, on which is the likeness of the Saviour, which they say that at that time he wiped his face upon it and his image remained there, which at various times is venerated. We too venerated it, but because of its splendour we could not gaze upon it, for the more you gazed, the more it changed before your eyes.

Going down through Egypt, we came to the city of Athlefi and travelled all the way to Saint Menas, who works many miracles there. From there going up in a small boat across the lake, we came to Alexandria. In that very lake we saw a multitude of crocodiles. Alexandria is a splendid city, its people very fickle, but lovers of pilgrims; there are many heresies. For there rests Saint Athanasius, Saint Faustus, Saint Epimachius, Saint Antoninus, Saint Mark, and many other bodies of saints. Coming again to Jerusalem, where also I remained ill for a long time. Clearly, with the sight of my own eyes, I saw the blessed Euphemia in a vision and the blessed Antony; how they came and healed me.

Having gone out from Jerusalem, I went down to Joppa. There lies Saint Tabitha, who is also called Dorcas. Then I came to Caesarea Philippi, which is the Tower of Strato, which is also called Caesarea of Palestine. In it rests Saint Pamphilus, Saint Procopius, Saint Cornelius, from whose bed we took a blessing. From there we went up through Galilee and came to Damascus. There is a monastery at the second milestone, where Saint Paul was converted, the street which is called Straight, in which many miracles take place. Then we came to Heliopolis, and from there we came to Emesa, where is the head of Saint John the Baptist, which is placed in a glass cask, which also we saw with our own eyes within the cask and venerated.

From there, passing through cities, that is, Larissa Aristosa and Epiphania, we came to the most splendid city of Apamea, in which is all the nobility of the Syrians. Going out from Apamea, we came to Antioch the Great, in which rests Saint Babylas and three little children, Saint Justina and Saint Julian and the Maccabee brothers, that is, nine tombs, and over each tomb hang the instruments of their torture. From there we went down into Mesopotamia to the city of Chalcis. Then we came to Carrhae, where Abraham was born, and going down from there we came to the city of Barbarissus, where rests Saint Bacchus, the brother of Saint Sergius.

Then we came to the city of Sura, through the middle of which city the river Euphrates flows down, which in that place is crossed by a bridge. In it Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus suffered martyrdom, and twelve miles out in the desert among the Saracens, Saint Sergius rests in the city of Tetrapyrgium.