WHEN the first day of September was come, we heard Mass in our place, and straightway afterwards ate our food. After we had eaten, we called a certain Saracen to us, and begged him to guide us to the places where Samson did those great feats of strength, which the Book of Judges tells us that he did in this city. So we went down a long street, and within the city came to a wide space, on one side of which we saw the ruins of a great house or palace, a vast heap of broken walls. These are believed to be the ruins of an exceeding ancient temple of Dagon, which Samson threw down by breaking the middle pillars on which it stood, and killed himself, together with the lords of the Philistines, and with much people, as may be read at length in Judg. xvi.  Among the ruins of the walls we saw two marble pillars, exceeding great, of a gray colour, which once supported the whole building; it was by breaking these that Samson overthrew the temple and laid low his enemies. Going on from this place, we went a long way till we came to the city gate, whose doors, together with their posts and bars, Samson carried away at midnight, and carried them to a hill that is before the city, and thus escaped from the hands of his enemies, who had shut him into the city. We went out of the city through this gate, climbed up the aforesaid hill to the place to which Samson bore the doors of Gaza, and viewed the place and all the country round about. There we saw Timnath, a town of the Philistines, from whence Samson took a Philistine woman to wife, and did many things therein (Judg. xiv.). We also saw the vale of Sorek, wherein that chosen vine was planted whereof we read in Isa. xi. In this. the traitress Delilah had her dwelling-she who overcame him whom no man could overcome (Judg. xvi.). We saw also exceeding wide plains and fields and slopes, most excellent for growing corn and wine, into which Samson sent three hundred foxes with firebrands tied to their tails, and burned up the standing corn, the vineyards, and the fig-trees.  We also saw behind us the mountains of Israel, and before us the Mediterranean Sea. When we had seen these things, we came down again, and re­entered the city through the gate aforesaid.

     Not far from this gate there is a Saracen mosque, on the "spot where, in the time of Samson, there was an inn for strangers, whose mistress was a harlot. Samson went in to her and slept there, and that same night the Philistines closed the gates of the city, meaning to take Samson on the morrow and slay him; but  in the middle of the night he arose and carried away the doors of the gates, as hath been said. After we had visited these places and seen these things, we returned to our own place, where we sat together, and sorrowfully talked about the wretched misery of Samson after his wondrous successes.

     (A disquisition upon Samson is here omitted.)

A NOTABLE HOT-BATH, WHEREIN THE PILGRIMS MERRILY BATHED

TOGETHER WITH THE SARACENS.

     On the second day, after Mass, we sent for our dragoman and begged him to lead us out into the wilderness to the point at which we aimed, and he promised that on the morrow we should set out. At this promise we were greatly delighted, and after we had eaten, we all went together to the Saracen hot-bath, and were bathed and washed.  As for what the hot-baths of the Saracens are like, see Part I., page 84.  But this bath at Gazara is the most costly one that I have ever seen. In front of the hot room there is a vaulted building which encircles it like the ambulatory of a cloister, in which building there are many cells, without any beds, but floored with mats and plaited palm-leaves. Each cell is merely closed by a curtain. In these cells those who wish to bathe undress and dress themselves, and in the same cells there hang clean cloths with which those who wish to go into the bath cover them­selves, from the navel to the knees, instead of breeches and girdles, so that one is completely covered both before and behind. In the midst of this cloister there is a fountain which plays through many pipes out of a marble column, and all the walls and the pavement, both without and. within the hot-chamber, are cased with divers kinds of polished white marble, so that he who passes over it must be careful, and walk warily, lest he slip, even as one who walks upon ice.  The hot-chamber itself is like a square tower, and the dome or vault, which covers it, has no roof over it, but has many round holes, of about the size of a man's head, closed with windows of glass of divers colours, through which there comes a dull light, but enough.  In this hot-chamber there is no furnace, neither does one feel the heat or smoke of fire; but in one place there is charcoal beneath the pavement, whereby the marble pavement is heated, and hot water which runs along a channel hollowed in the stone fills the whole room with heat. On the other side cold water comes in. The chamber, as I have said, is square, and has no light save what comes through the holes in the dome.  On the first side there is extreme heat and hot water; on the second there is coolness and cold water; the third side is free and quiet; in the fourth is the door; in the middle is temperate heat.  The master of the bath himself most kindly and courteously waits upon the bathers, frequently rubbing, washing, and anointing them with smegma, or other fitting ointment; for they cure weakness of the limbs in the baths. If anyone feels pain from any cause, the bathman rubs, anoints, presses, and stretches the place where the pain is felt, until he either cures it or alleviates it.  In like manner, if any man com­plains of pain in any limb-as, for example, in his arm, leg, hand, foot, or neck-they treat such things in a wondrous fashion, and drive away shrunken limbs, gout in the feet and hands, gravel and stone, in the baths with exceeding great art.  So likewise when anyone complains that he is suffering from tightness of the chest and short­ness of breath, they diligently strive to heal him; and this they do, not by merely sitting by his side, but they take the patient and lay him down on the pavement in the middle of the bath, either on his back, on his face, or on his side, as the pain requires, and then the bathman, sitting upon him, handles the seat of the pain, gently bends the aching arm backwards and forwards, presses the neck this way and that. I once saw a certain Ethiopian ask to be cured in a bath, saying that he had an oppression of the chest. The bathman laid him on his back on the pave­ment, sat upon his belly, and pressed his neck with both hands so hard that his face began to swell, because his breath was altogether stopped, and he held him thus for so long a time that I feared that the man would be choked; he had also stopped up his ears with silk. At last he let him go, and the man recovered his breath and rejoiced, saying that henceforth he should be well. It is delightful to see such sights as these. Many diseases are cured in the baths which we reckon to be incurable, or on account of which we visit hot springs, and there toil for many days at a great expense to do what these men do in half an hour.   Yet it seems to me that they use incantations also while they are working these cures; for while they are working at curing a man in the aforesaid fashion, they continually mutter within themselves, speak I know not what words into the patients' ears, and behave in all respects like those who are performing incantations.

     In the bath men and women never meet, but the women have their own proper baths, and the men likewise; neither do the men have women to rub them, nor do the women have men, but men wait upon men, and women upon women. They will not on any account suffer Jews to come into the baths to them, but they endure our bathing with them. I have often wondered what the reason is that they allow us to bathe with them without objection, seeing that in other places they do not meet us in friendly fashion. I imagine that there are three reasons for this: First, because, though they do not usually meet us in a friendly fashion, yet when they know and understand that they will have gain and money from us, then they not only meet us in friendly fashion, but abase themselves slavishly before us; so, as they know that we pay the bathmen well, they are willing to endure our company. Another cause is said to be that the Saracens emit a certain horrible stench, on account of which they use continual ablution of divers sorts, and since we have no stench, they do not mind our bathing with them. This indulgence they do not extend to Jews, who stink even worse; but they are glad to see us in their baths, for even as a leper rejoices when a sound man associates with him, because he is not despised, and because he hopes that because of the sound man he him­self may gain better health, so also a stinking Saracen is pleased to be in the company of one who does not stink. A third cause why they suffer us among them is, that Mahomet has not forbidden them to meet us in baths, but only in churches; for he says in his Alcoran that Christians are better friends to him than Jews, as we read in N. Cusa, Book III., ch. 8. For this reason they admit us into their baths, but do not admit Jews. But this is not brought forward for the praise of Christians, but for their great confusion. Therefore they will on no account let us into their mosques. Another cause is a theological one, because it is indecent for a Christian to bathe with a pagan, and at the instigation of the devil they willingly suffer indecencies of this sort. Now, that it is indecent for a Christian to bathe with a pagan is plain at first sight from this: that, as the Jews would not converse with Samaritans, even so Christians will not converse with Jews or pagans. It is also clear from this: that, in Matt. xviii. the Lord forbids a Christian to have any com­munication with an incorrigible man, saying, 'Let him be unto thee as a heathen man'--that is, as a pagan--as though he would say, 'Flee from an excommunicate Christian as thou wouldst flee from a heathen.'  This also is plain from the example of St. John the Evangelist, of whom we read in the 'Ecclesiastical History,' that once when he went into the baths at Ephesus to wash himself, and in the bath beheld Cerinthus the heretic, he straight­way ran out, saying, 'Let us flee from this place, lest the bath, wherein this enemy of the truth is bathing, should fall upon us.

     Christians are forbidden to company with Jews in many matters, among which sharing baths with them is named,[1] and anyone who transgresses this command, if he be a clergyman, is unfrocked, and if a layman is excommuni­cated, and made like to him to whose level he lowered himself by companying with him, forasmuch as an ex­communicate man is the same as an outcast or Saracen.    

The same decision applies to Gentiles as to Jews.  It seems, therefore, and is proved by these instances, to be indecent for a Christian to enter the baths of Jews or Saracens.  See about this matter in Sum. Anca. Sarracenus. [2]

     I hope, however, that we pilgrims did not incur the penalties of this canon, both because of our necessity, wherein we are not forbidden even to eat the unleavened bread of the Jews, and meat offered to heathen idols, and also because of the Pope's dispensation; for he gave us leave to journey into the country of the Saracens, and by giving a pilgrim leave to travel in heathen lands gives him leave to join the heathen at table, in the bath, and in taking medicine; and, furthermore, because no danger can arise from such bathing, neither perversion from our faith, nor scandals, nor sin of any kind, seeing that the company­ing with them is not continuous or familiar, but is quickly past; and also we could not talk with them, seeing that we did not understand their language, which is the greatest bond of union of all.  Thus passed that day.

¹ Grat. Decr., pars ii., causa xxviii., quest. I, c. xiii.: 'CUM JUDEIS NEC MANDUCANDUM NEC HABITANDUM, NEC AB EIS MEDICAMENTUM ACCIPIENDUM. Nullus eorum qui in sacro sunt ordine aut laicus aaima eorum manducet, aut cum eis habitet, aut aliquem eorum in infirmitatibus suis vocet, aut medicinam ab eis percipiat, aut cum eis in balneo lavet. Si vero quisquam hoc fecerit, si clericus est, deponatur, laicus vero excommunicetur.'

² I am unable to verify this reference.-A. S.

THE COMING OF THE MAMELUKES, AND OUR TALK WITH THEM.

     On the third day we made ready to depart, but a great obstacle came in our way; for a host of many thousands of Mamelukes came from Egypt into that country, so that the whole city, and all the land round about, was full of armed men. Their tents were pitched all round about Gazara, and their number was said to be eight thousand. These men were sent by the Soldan to fight against the Turkomans in Syria, to abate their pride. They strolled about the city, and many of them came in to look at us. Among them came some Hungarians, who inquired whether there were any pilgrims from Hungary among us. When they found our comrade, Master John, they were much delighted, and sat in our tents with us, eating and drinking with us, and they even drank wine, but secretly. Some of them were Sicilian and Catalonian Mamelukes--that is to say, renegade Christians--who came in to us, and asked to be allowed to converse with us. We asked them all to come in, and talked familiarly with them, which, however, greatly displeased our drago­man and Calinus; for the Saracens secretly hate the Mamelukes, because the Mamelukes domineer over them, so that they scarce dare to raise their heads in their presence. Wherefore the two Saracens, Sabathytanco and Elpha­hallo, our guides, were angry with us, because they feared that we should render them even more hated by the Mamelukes; for at that time we were at variance with them, because they detained us in that place. These two Saracens, like clever and experienced men as they were, tried to turn us away from the society of the Mamelukes by reproaches: ‘Are you true Christians?' asked Sabathy­tanco. `How, then, are you not ashamed to eat and drink with men who have forsworn the Christian faith with horrible oaths?' The other Saracen, Elphahallo, said; `You are of those Christians who, without doubt, will be saved by their faith, and these Mamelukes will, without doubt, be damned, because they have renounced your faith. What, then, have you to do with them?' This Saracen held the opinion that every man would be saved by the faith wherein he was born, and by no other, as has been told in Part I., page 222.  We made what answers we could to these arguments; but after we. had eaten, the Mamelukes came again, and talked with us, and when we told them that we should like to see their army, and their horses, tents, and warlike furniture, they took us into the city to their stables, in which stood most beautiful horses, and they led us without the city, where their tents were set up, and we viewed all this with admiration, neither did anyone look askance at us while they led us, for they seemed to us to be powerful men in the army. When we had seen all the sights, we went home to our own place, where our guides were much displeased with us, for which, however, we cared little.

     On the fourth day we met early in the morning, and agreed to spend the day in working to get ready for our journey across the wilderness, and in buying the things which we still needed, besides what we bad bought in Jerusalem. The lot fell upon me to make purchases for our company; so I took money from my comrades, and set out, with the manciples of the other two companies, to the market to buy provisions; but, lo! there was nothing in the market, and all the booths and houses of the merchants, the cook-shops and butchers' shops, were closed. When we asked the reason of this, we were told that there would be no market as long as the Mamelukes remained in the city, because, owing to their rapacity, no man dared to offer his goods for sale; for the Mamelukes come and snatch away whatever they fancy, and take it without payment, neither does anyone dare to say them nay. The people of Gazara also kept their beasts, their horses, asses, cows, sheep, and goats, in their own domains, and did not let them go out to pasture, because they would have been taken away by those men at arms. So on that day we could get nothing.

     On that same day there came into our courtyard certain Saracen damsels with their attendants, with their faces veiled according to their custom, and wished to see us. So we came out of our tents and huts into their presence, and they laughed and talked in the Saracen tongue. As we could not see their faces because of their veils, we begged them, through an interpreter, to remove their veils and let us see their faces. When they heard this they laughed much, and bade their attendants lift their veils. When they were lifted, their faces appeared black as coals, because they were Ethiopians. When we saw them, we pretended to be frightened at their blackness, and turned away from them with loathing, and we asked their mistresses also to raise their veils.  They did so, and they were fair and beauteous ladies, modest and respectable.            We often saw such things at Gaza; indeed, certain Ethiopian girls often came into our courtyard and acted shamelessly, about whom what I have now said is more than enough. Many Ethiopians dwell in the Holy Land, of both sexes, both bond and free.

THE BUYING OF THINGS NEEDFUL.

     On the fifth, before daylight, the Mamelukes marched away from Gazara; but yet the shops were not opened before noon, neither was there any market for goods, because it was a Friday, which is always kept holy by the Saracens. After breakfast I received eighteen ducats from my comrades, and I and the knight Peter Welsch--I dressed in the white habit of my order, marked with the cross--went together through the streets and lanes, the market and the shops, and bought many things of which we stood in need.  Indeed, the journey through the wilder­ness requires greater care and more careful preparation than the voyage by sea; for such necessaries as a man does not get at Venice he can find and provide himself with at the ports and islands at which he touches; but in the wilderness there are no ports or inns, but only an exceeding wide solitude, wherein not even the beasts of burden can find food, as will appear hereafter. We should not receive any manna from heaven like the patriarchs of old, nor water from the rock; neither should we receive oil from the hard stone, nor quails from Egypt; our shoes and clothes would not be preserved from decay, neither should we have a pillar of fire to light up our nights; wherefore we had to make provision against all these wants for many days, about forty-six days to Alexandria, counting those which we should spend in Egypt, because we should not be more than twenty-five days in the wilderness. So we bought many loaves of bread and sacks, and for each pilgrim we bought as much bread as would suffice for three, to the end that we might have to. give to the Arabs whom we met in the desert and might buy off their pestering. We also bought some more jars of wine, and skins for carrying water; great baskets to hold pots and pans, and everything that is wanted for the kitchen; a trivet, gridiron, and spit; also three coops full of fowls and chickens, with a great white cock who stood upon the coop, who would tell us the hours of the night in the wilderness. We also bought oblong baskets to hold glasses, dishes, plates for use at table, cheese and other things, and little baskets with hooks in which we might carry bread and other solid eatables hung upon the saddles of our asses, and water jars and flasks with their hooks. Also we bought sacks full of dried meat, cheese, butter, oil, vinegar, bruised corn for puddings, onions, almonds, salted meat, divers confections, both sweet and bitter, for sick people, medicines, candles, shoes, two baskets full. of eggs, and other things of the like sort which a man generally wants. The camel-drivers bought sacks of barley to feed the camels, and pulse to feed the asses. Thus we supplied ourselves at Gaza this day with all the things which we had forgotten at Jerusalem. On this day some of the pilgrims fell seriously ill, so that there was not much hope of their lives.

THE SICKNESS OF ALL THE PILGRIMS.

     On the eve of the sixth day, when the time of our departure was come, and our guides were ready to set out, God put forth His hand upon the pilgrims, and touched and overthrew almost all of them; for of a sudden we became exceeding sick, and our tents stood full of sick people, and the number of those who were ill was greater than that of those who were well. Among these Master Peter Welsch was so ill that he was delirious; and the Lord Ferdinand Baron von Warno, who hitherto had encouraged everyone else, lay sorely stricken; while I myself suffered from dreadful headache and dizziness, and exceeding great heat throughout my whole body, yet I did not take to my bed, but, as far as I could, waited on the sick. Also the Lord Bernard von Braitenbach, who now is Dean of Mainz, was so ill that he lost his proper appearance and his wits, and we had no hope that he would ever  recover.  So we spent this day in much trouble and misery.

THE QUARRELS AND DIVISIONS OF THE PILGRIMS.

     On the seventh, which was the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, we heard Mass read by Master John the Arch­deacon, who was stronger than we, for both Father Paulus the Franciscan and I were so weak and faint that we could scarce with great labour read our canonical hours. The pilgrims suspected various things as the causes of this sickness-some laid it on the water, some on the food, some on the new moon; but the greater, part strongly suspected that Sabathytanco, our dragoman, had put some poison into our food, to the end that when we were dead he might enter into possession of our goods; but I held then, and I hold at this day, that it was sent by Heaven to punish our curiosity. When the pilgrims were in these miseries, they each began to make different plans, and almost all of them drew back, from their intended pilgrim­age; for some wanted to go up to Jerusalem again, and either be cured or die there; some wanted to go up through Palestine into Syria Phoenice to Beyrouth, the seaport, and there to return to our own country in Europe by the next trading galley; while some threw off all dis­guise and wanted to go down along the sea-shore to Alexandria, and there wait for shipping. Some wanted to go to Cairo, and from Cairo to go along the shore of the Red Sea to Sinai through the land of Midian; and, after having visited Sinai, to return to Egypt and to the sea. Some wanted to stay in Gaza until they got better, and then go on their way. The remainder abode by their first intention-to set out straightway on the morrow, in spite of their being sick. With all this, great divisions tool: place among the pilgrims, and their com­panies were broken up, for one man would join another who had invented a plan which pleased him, and they were for carrying it out apart from the rest; and while these two were meditating this, two others would be plotting something else, and the rest something else, and all the concord of our fellowship was brought to nought. So passed this unhappy day in this sore dis­quietude; and all day long we saw nothing of our drago­man, which increased the suspicions which we had conceived of him.

THE NEW COVENANT MADE AMONG THE PILGRIMS

AFTER THEIR QUARRELLING AND PEACE-MAKING.

     On the eighth dawned a joyous and fortunate day, whereof we read in 2 Maccab. i. 22,  ‘The sun shone which before was hid in the cloud.' The most blessed Virgin Mary, on the feast of her Nativity, drove away all dark­ness, trouble, and sickness from all of us. I do not say this by way of parables, but thus indeed it happened. When the dawn arose, we priests said our matins and prime, and dressed our altar for the celebration of Mass. All three of us, one after the other, then read the service of Mass for the feast-day, prayers for the recovery of our sick people, and for a prosperous journey. At these Masses all the pilgrims were present, even those who the day before, and the day before that, had seemed to be at death's door. They left their beds with much devotion and thanksgiving, and remained present at the service upon their bended knees until the end. When we had finished our Masses, we made preparations for breakfast, which we cooked and ate as usual; neither was there any remembrance of our former divisions, but we swore to one another anew that we would all journey together through the wilderness to Mount Sinai in Arabia, and live and die together, and that we would not leave any sick man behind us, but that we would carry in baskets on camels all who were unable to sit upon asses. On that day we made covenants of peace with one another, and became in­divisible friends and brethren, with one heart and soul in the Lord.   

     After mid-day came our dragoman, whom we had not seen while we were in trouble, and he, seeing that we were cheerful and almost recovered, brought the camel-drivers with the camels, and the ass-drivers with the asses, wish­ing to lead us forth on our way; but we would in nowise consent to this, and rudely and harshly replied to him that to-day we were keeping a solemn feast and holiday, and that it was not right for us to leave the place where we were on this sacred day. We likewise told him that we had stayed in that place for many days against our will, and that now we would not on any account leave it on this day, out of respect for the blessed Virgin.  At this the man was malcontent, and the ass and camel drivers went away grumbling, and declared that they would not wait for us beyond the morrow, whatever condition we might be in.

     See the account of following day„ the ninth, on page 26 b.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY OF PALESTINE,

AND IN HOW MANY WAYS THE WORD `PALESTINE' IS USED.

     Before we leave the Holy Land, and go into the wilder­ness, I will describe Gaza, together with its province of Palestine. Palestine bears three meanings in the sacred pages; for sometimes it is put for the whole of the Holy Land, so that Jerusalem and its mountains are called Palestine. Thus we often find it used in the ' Lives of the Fathers'; thus also the entire Holy Land is some­times called Syria, because both Judaea and Palestine are large parts of Syria.

      Secondly, a certain part of the province of Galilee, near the mountains of Gilboa, is termed Palestine.

     Thirdly, the country by the sea coast is more usually called Palestine, which country lies at the foot of the mountains of Israel, by which it is bounded on the east, and by the Great Sea on the west; on the north by the mountains of Ephraim, and by Gaza on the south.  This country is properly termed Palestine.  Isidorus says about Palestine: 'It is a wide region, into which the Red Sea runs on the east, whose southern side is bounded by Judaea. It is shut in on the north by the land of Tyre, on the side of the setting sun by the sea and by Egypt. In old times it was called Philistia, from the city of Ascalon, which was called Philistim, from which the people of that country are called Philistines.

     In the days of old Ascalon was the metropolis of all Palestine; afterwards Caesarea, by the seacoast, was its capital; but now its chief city is Gaza.

     In ancient times this whole country was full of giants, and its people were powerful both by sea and land, for they possessed seaports. Once the country had five chief and capital cities, whereof I have told you on page 2. Because of the fierceness of the giants, the children of Israel were not able to destroy the Philistines, nor to gain possession of those five cities.            Palestine once contained many monasteries of monks, and we read of miracles wrought by the monks who dwelt in Palestine.

GAZA, OR GAZARA, A CITY OF THE PHILISTINES,

OR PEOPLE OF PALESTINE.

     The city of Gaza has two names, for it has the name of Gaza, whereby it is commonly known in Scripture, and of Gazara, whereby it is spoken of in 1 Maccab. vii., and often afterwards.          It is so called now by all men.

 Gazara is the stronghold, the fortress, which Judas Maccabeus stormed (2 Maccab. x. 32, sqq.). The meaning of Gaza is ‘treasure’; for King Cambyses, when he was going to conquer Egypt, laid up all his treasure in Gaza, and thence it obtained the name of Gaza or Gazara. But what it was called before Cambyses I have not discovered, and perhaps it was called so even before Cambyses, for the most ancient Scriptures call it Gaza, as, for instance, Josh. i. and Judg. i.

     This city of old belonged to the Anakim, according to Jerome, De distantiis locorum, and therein dwelt the Cappadocians[1] after they had slain the original inhabi­tants; it is in the lot of the tribe of Judah, but that tribe could not win it, because the giants resisted most bravely. The prophets have said much about this city, as we read in Jer. xlvii. i, Zech. ix. 5, Zeph. ii. q., where much is said about the destruction of it and the other Philistine cities. Wherefore Jerome, in the book quoted above, inquires how, in a certain prophecy, it is said that Gaza shall be a heap for ever; but this is said of the old Gaza, which long ago has been brought to nothing, and is called `desert' in Acts viii. 26. New Gaza at this day is a notable city of Palestine, twice as great as Jerusalem, populous and flourishing. In vulgar speech, it is a ditchful of butter, and all things needful for human life are abundant and cheap there.  There are so many palm-trees that the city seems to stand in a wood.  Its houses are wretched, and built of mud, but its mosques and hot baths are exceeding costly; it is not enclosed by a wall, but it has many lofty towers within it.  It is a seaside town, albeit it does not stand on the seashore, but at a distance of one German mile therefrom.  At nights, when all was still, we used to hear in our courtyard the noise and roaring of the sea.

¹Deut. ii. 23.  

Many merchants dwell in Gaza, and very many cooks, and there is in it a wondrous mixture of nations. There are there many Ethiopians, many Arabs, Egyptians, and Syrians, Indians, and Eastern Christians, but no Latins. In the last days of the Christians, there was here a good and respectable bishop's see. I have noted two things to the praise of this city: First, I do not think that I have ever seen any place or city where all that a man can wish for is so cheap as at Gaza. Secondly, the people there are peaceful, and never caused us any annoyance, or tor­mented us as they did at Rama and Joppa; yet we went about their streets daily wearing our crosses, and did business with them without the least unpleasantness. Sometimes I have walked a long way from our courtyard, all alone, wearing my white dress, and yet I never heard a single offensive word., But this did not happen to all the pilgrims who sojourned there before us, but I have read in pilgrims' books that some have been greatly tormented there. So much for this city.

A DISSERTATION UPON THREE SUBJECTS--TO WIT,

ASSES, CAMELS, AND THE WILDERNESS ITSELF-IS PLACED HERE

BEFORE THE ENTRANCE INTO THE WILDER­NESS.

     Before I enter the wilderness, in order that our pilgrim­age through the wilderness may be more clearly under­stood, three things must be first described, whereof constant mention will be made hereafter. First, comes the description of asses and ass-drivers; secondly, that of camels and camel-drivers; thirdly, the description of the wilderness-that is, of the desert and its inhabitants.

     Asses are animals of such a nature that they are fitter for crossing the desert than horses. The ass is a beast which can bear burdens and endure labours, and is contented with common and scanty food. He picks up his food among burrs, thistles, and thorns, and makes his way into thick prickly bushes: wherefore the little birds hate the ass, and mob him as they do the owl, because he does mischief to their nests, eggs, and young ones in the thick thorn-bushes; for as he pulls and nibbles at the bushes, he casts down the nests, and when he brays he frightens the young birds. His drink is water, which he prefers muddy, thick, and luke-warm; he drinks very little. If he has never drunk of any particular water before, he refuses to drink, even though he be very thirsty; he can live and work for three days and nights without drink. He cannot bear great cold, and therefore he does not breed in cold countries such as Pontus, but he multiplies greatly in hot countries. He fears to cross water and wet his feet, and does not cross bridges from which he can see the water without trembling; and if he sees the water through the planks, he shudders and stands still. He does not travel well in mud; but on dry ground he walks well and safely, even though it be exceeding rough, such as would be most dangerous for a horse.  In rainy weather he is dull and spiritless. Wherefore in the East and in Egypt there are very good asses, because there is neither cold, nor rain, nor mud. In our country there cannot be good asses, because all these conditions are reversed. The ass knows his master, his rider, his road, his halting-place, his master's voice, the limit of his day's journey, his work, the hour for work and the hour for rest, better than any other animal, and keeps to them more carefully. He is a very kindly beast, and far better suited for human com­panionship than are horses or mules. Appearance deceives many people in choosing asses, because often the ugliest­-looking asses are the best, and vice versa. For an instance of this, see Part II., page 2.

WHAT SORT OF MEN THE ASS-DRIVERS ARE.

     The keeper of an ass is called an ass-driver. The ass-­drivers who went with us through the wilderness were Christians of the girdle, otherwise called Georgians, who are heretics like the Greeks, and of whom there is such a multitude in Eastern countries that all men fear them, while they roam about fearlessly from one province to another, paying no tolls or dues. Their own proper country and land lies near the Caspian Mountains, a long way from the Holy Land. They are handsome men, civil, courteous, and cold in manner, not liable to bursts of passion. These men are hired to conduct pilgrims from Jerusalem to Egypt on their asses, because they are Christians, know the customs and languages of the Gentiles, and travel freely throughout their lands. Thus both asses and ass-drivers each in their own way are especially fitted for crossing the wilderness, as the pilgrim­age itself will teach you as it goes on.

THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF CAMELS.

     Camels are beasts which are especially well adapted and fitted for crossing the desert. These beasts are merely curiosities in our country, but in the parts beyond sea they are exceeding common, and graze in numerous herds together. A camel is so called from camyn, which means `short' or `lowly,' because they kneel down while they are being loaded, and so make themselves lower; or from camur, which means `crooked,' because they crook them­selves when they are being loaded, or else because they have a crooked back.  There are two kinds of camels--to wit, the Bactrian and Arabian camels.[1] The Arabian camels have two humps on their backs, and are smaller and slower

1From the contradiction contained in this passage, I am inclined to think that Fabri read it aloud from some ` Bestiary' in the convent library at Ulm, and that it was carelessly written down by the scribe. It is the Arabian camel that has one hump; the two-humped or Bactrian camel is found in the cold regions in the North of Asia, has an abundance of woolly hair, and bears the same relation to the Arabian camel which the Thibetan `yak' bears to the ordinary ox.-A. S.

  going than the others. The Bactrian camels have one hump on their backs, on which they carry loads, and another on their breast, on which they rest; they are very swift, and are smaller than the Arabian camels. I believe that the Bactrian camels are also called dromedaries, because of the swiftness of their pace, because dromedus means a 'course' or a `curve,' and this kind of camel can go a hundred Italian miles in one day. The dromedary is mentioned in Isa. 1x.The dromedaries have each a driver. We read of a miracle about a Bactrian camel of exceeding great size in the ‘Life of St. Hilarion,' ch. xix. Vincentius, in his Speculum Naturale, Book XIX., ch. xxvii., says that properly those who have only one hump on their backs are called camels; but that the other sort, which are called dromedaries, and run wondrous fast, have two humps upon their backs.  Hence it is clear that camels with one hump are sometimes called dromedaries, as also are those with two humps. There are many different kinds of camels, which differ much both in size and in pace.

     A camel is a deformed, humped animal. He has a long neck, because of his long legs, that he may reach the ground and take his food; he has a slow walk, and yet, moves quickly, not that he runs like a horse, but he makes long steps with his long legs, as long as a man can straddle his feet apart.  As he journeys along he never becomes sore-footed, for his feet and legs are covered with fleshy pads; wherefore he cannot bear to walk far over stones, and if he has to go for a long journey over a stony road. he must needs be shod, for if his feet be hurt the whole beast loses condition. So he walks well over sand, and badly over stones, over which latter he goes at a very slow pace in much fear. Likewise he goes well on dry parched ground, but badly on wet and slippery ground.  He travels well in warm weather, but badly in cold; wherefore he cannot live long in cold and wet countries.

     A camel has a small head--too small for its body--and is without horns, yet is not without upper teeth like horned beasts. It has big and terrible eyes, and always seems a sorrowful and troubled animal. Its eyes are like fire­-beacons, and big reflections shine in them; for whatever a camel looks at seems great and huge to it, wherefore it seems to view everything with wonder and alarm. When, therefore, a man goes up to it, the beast begins to tremble, so that the man perceives that the beast trembles because the man coming towards it seems to it to be four times bigger than he really is. Had not God so ordered it, this animal would not be as tame and disciplined as it is. It has a foul and unclean mouth, very large, with long lower teeth; when it screams, being in trouble, it opens its mouth, shakes its head, and raises up its long neck, wagging it to and fro, so that a man who is not accustomed to it is disturbed and frightened.

     According to the Law of the Lord, the camel is an un­clean beast, because it has a hoof and doth not divide it, like a horse, and it ruminates like a sheep. It eats but little food, grazing on hay, bark, and leaves; and when in work it eats barley, which it quickly swallows and puts aside that it may chew it over again all night long. The camel has divers stomachs. In the first it receives its un­digested food; in the second it begins to digest the same; in the third it does so more thoroughly; and finishes digestion in the fourth. These various stomachs are neces­sary because of the coarseness of its food, and because it chews its food but little with its teeth.    They are fond of foul water, and avoid clear; when the water is not muddy enough, they stir up the mud by trampling with their feet to thicken it. The camel can endure thirst for many days, and, wondrous to tell, it can go for twelve days without drink; but when it is given a chance of drinking, it fills itself out sufficiently both to slake its past thirst and to last it for some time to come.

     The camel lives long, sometimes until its hundredth year, unless it be taken to foreign parts and contracts disease through change of a climate to which it is not accustomed. They say that the reason why camels live so long is that they have no gall, which, according to Anaxagoras, is the cause of all acute diseases. A camel has a tenacious memory of wrong done to it, and if it be beaten will long dissimulate its hatred until it finds a suitable time, when it will repay the injury which it has received.... Camels are said to be of so kindly a nature that if in a herd or stable one of them be so sick that it cannot eat, the others will refrain from eating out of sympathy.

     This is a beast of burthen, appointed to bear burthens, and rejoicing so to do; wherefore it has a natural hatred and dislike for horses, mules, and asses, because they take away and carry the burthens which the camels think belong to them alone. Wherefore, if a loaded ass or horse walks before a camel, that camel will on no account go forward, but stands still and looks indignant; neither will it move until the other beast is brought behind it. But forasmuch as asses walk faster than camels, when a long journey has to be made at a fast pace, the rope of each camel's halter is tied to the neck of an ass, so that the camel shay be dragged along by the ass before him, as we read in the Legend of St. Jerome.

     When a camel is to be loaded, it is tapped lightly on its knees, and immediately it bends its joints, and kneels to receive its burthen; or if a man puts his hand on the beast's neck and whistles, it bows itself to the ground to be loaded, and lays itself quite down at length, and suffers heavy burdens to be placed upon it; neither does it move its body, but shakes its head with a loud noise when it feels itself being overloaded. This is done by the smaller camels, but not by the greater ones.

     When many camels are being loaded at the same time, they make a horrible roaring, which can be heard at a great distance in the desert at night. The burdens which they bear are not fastened on to the camel's back by girths. under his belly, nor are their saddles fixed like those of horses or asses, but the saddle is simply laid upon his hump without any fastening, and upon the saddle are placed burdens, which hang down with an equal weight on either side. If the beast feels a heavier weight on one side than on the other, he will not move forward, but stretches out his neck, and points out by his cries on which side the heavier weight hangs. If there is nothing at hand to make the weights even, they take stones, and restore the balance with them.    

     If the animal feels itself burdened with a greater weight than it is wont to bear, then also it will not move forward unless the load be lightened, for it will not take a load that is beyond its strength. When the loads are being put upon them, the camel-drivers sing at the full stretch of their voices to soothe the beasts, and when they are loaded, the beast rises suddenly, begins to run its course as though rejoicing, and journeys on without stopping as far as the usual resting-place. When it reaches this point, it will go no further, but demands to be unloaded. On the road they are not driven with sticks and scourges, but the camel-drivers walk after them, singing thus: Han na yo yo an ho ho oyo o ho, and so on.            When a beast strays aside out of the road, it comes back at a slight sign with the hand, for it will not endure to be beaten and ill-used. A camel when in trouble makes a strange noise, and some­times, though very seldom, he becomes so angry that he throws off his load, whereupon he runs away at a great pace, and will scarce suffer himself to be caught. This beast seems to take great care of his burthen, lest it should fall off, for he sets down his feet with exceeding great caution, both for fear lest he should hurt his feet, and lest his load should fall off; for beneath the foot of a camel there is a large fleshy pad, and across the cloven part thereof is a piece of skin, like that which there is on a goose's foot, wherefore he walks warily. He always knows a road over which he has once been, without any guide, even though the road be covered with dust or sand borne by the wind. This is needful in the wilderness, where no roads remain visible because of the shifting sand. These beasts are not only trained to carry burdens, but they are also taken to the wars. For this purpose the she-camels are found stronger than the males. So much for them.

THE CAMEL-DRIVERS.

     The camel or dromedary drivers are the masters of the camels. The camel-drivers who came through the wilder­ness with us were hired by our dragoman in the villages of Palestine, within the borders of Arabia. They were country folk, as black as Arabs, and were servants to the Saracens and Arabs, with which latter they were allied, and they were of the religion of Mahomet the accursed. Indeed, the Arabs who, dwell in the wilderness will not endure that drivers or camel-keepers should be of pure Saracen blood; but they let these men pass in peace, because they were allied to them, and agreed with them in religion, clothing, and customs. For this cause our ass­-drivers, who were Eastern Christians, while they were crossing the desert, likened themselves in clothing and habits to the camel-drivers, that they might be less annoyed by the Arabs. These camel-drivers and ass-drivers continually quarrelled during our journey, but yet they did not strike one another; they observed a hollow peace towards us, because of the money which they hoped to get from us. About these camel and ass drivers I shall have much to say hereafter. I will now describe the wilderness.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE WILDERNESS, THE SOLITARY PLACE OR DESERT, SETTING FORTH ITS LENGTH, BREADTH, AND BARRENNESS,

IN THE COURSE OF WHICH DESCRIPTION THE FOUR WAYS

WHEREIN THE WORD IS USED ARE EXPLAINED.

     That vast wilderness, through which one must pass from the Holy Land to Mount Horeb, must be described in this place. Be it noted that this wilderness is part of Arabia the Great; for there are three countries, adjoining one another, which are called Arabia. First, the Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, with all the region round about, is called High Arabia, because that land bears frankincense, and trees which yield frankincense and other scents abound therein. This region is bounded on the north by the countries of Ituraea and Trachonitis, which are parts of Galilee, and by Damascus on the south, for which cause Syria of Damascus is sometimes called Arabia. Thus Aretas[1] is called the King of Arabia, albeit he was a King of Damascus.

     Secondly, the land of the children of Moab and Ammon, Heshbon, the kingdom of Sihon, and the kingdom of Og, the King of Bashan, all Mount Gilead, and all the region beyond Jordan, is called Arabia the Second, and joins the first to the south thereof.

Thirdly, from this point begins the third Arabia, which is called Arabia the Great, and which extends through

¹ 2 Cor. xi. 32.

  exceeding wide wildernesses, from the great river Euphrates even to the Red Sea, and the river Nile in Egypt. In this Arabia, towards the East, is Mecca, the city of the detestable Mahomet, and towards the south are Mounts Sinai and Horeb. This Arabia is exceeding wide, and contains most huge wildernesses, which form different provinces.

     Speaking more generally of Arabia, according to the maps figured by Ptolemy, one may say that the entire region, otherwise known as Syria of Damascus, beyond Lebanon is the first Arabia, and is called Arabia of Syria, or of Damascus. This is bounded on the south by Arabia the Stony, which is the second Arabia. This adjoins that most wide tract, Arabia the Desert, which is the third Arabia. This again is bounded by Arabia the Blessed, a great and noble country, wherein stands the aforesaid city of Mahomet. These four Arabias include very wide countries, and contain within their boundaries the Great Sea, the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf; while they also touch the four rivers of Paradise--the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Pison. Now, like as Arabia the Desert is an unfruitful and exceeding bad land, even so that other Arabia, called Arabia the Blessed, is a most fruitful and exceeding good land, which once was called Gedrosia, and is not far distant from Egypt.  In it gold abounds and is dug out of trenches made without any art, so that it is not smelted out by fire, but is found in the ground in a pure natural state, in pieces the bigness of a nut.     This Arabia is also called Sabaea, from a noble city in their land which yields all those things which are held most precious in our country, and abounds in all manner of flocks and herds. Moreover, it surpasses all nations in sweet perfumes, which the soil produces everywhere. In the parts near the sea grows balsam and cassia; in the woods there are great trees of myrrh and frankincense, likewise palms, reeds, cinnamon, and the like--indeed, no man can tell the various different kinds of trees which Nature has so generously collected together there. On this subject the reader may consult Diodorus, Book III., ch. xii., and Book IV. This blessed and fertile land is as different to the neighbouring Arabia the Stony and the wilderness as though it were a thousand miles distant from it. This Arabia the Desert looks towards the west, and is full of sand--insomuch that those who journey across it guide themselves by the pole-star, even as sailors do at sea. In this place I shall only speak of the Wilderness of Sin, which begins at the Holy Land and the foot of Mount Sinai, and ends at the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Midian. That Mount Sinai is in Arabia is clear from the Apostle's words in Gal. iv., where he says that Mount Sinai is in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is. In like manner, says Haymo[1] in his Commentary, ‘Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which by reason of its greatness touches divers provinces, and at its borders is joined to the mountains of the land of promise, in which is Jerusalem.' Wherefore the whole of this wilderness is named Sin; yet therein are many particular wildernesses, such as the wildernesses of Etham, Marah, Elim, and Dophkah; the wildernesses of Rephidim, Pi-hariroth, Rithmah Cadesh, and so forth, as we read in Numb. xxxiii. These wilder­nesses now have other Arabic names, as will appear in the course of the pilgrimage in the account of the places where the pilgrims rested and pitched their tents. Holy Scripture tells us in many places about this wilderness, of what kind it is and what things it lacks. Now, be it noted that a place is called a wilderness in four ways. First, a place is

1Bishop of Halberstadt; died 853. He wrote a commentary on Solomon's Song and on the Book of Revelation.

called a wilderness or desert when folk might dwell therein, but do not, as Isa. xxxv. says, `The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose'--that is to say, at the coming of those who shall till it. So also kings and counsellors of the earth have built desolate places for themselves (Job iii. 14), because they cultivate the waste places, and break up the fallows, as the Lord saith (Jer. iv. 3), `Break up your fallow ground.' So likewise Joshua bade the children of Joseph climb up the unculti­vated and desert mountains, to cut down the trees. clear a place, and make room to dwell in (Josh. xvii. 15, I7, 18). Moreover, places and regions wherein once were habitations, and now are no more, are called wildernesses, as in Neh. ii. is said of the Holy City, which then was not a city, `Jerusalem lieth waste: Also Isa. i., 'Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire.' This generally happens because of men's sins; wherefore the Psalm says, 'A fruitful land maketh He, barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein' (Psa. cvii. 34). Wherefore in Matt. xxiii. we read, 'Behold, your house is left unto you desolate'; and Psa. lxix. 25, 'Let their habitation be desolate.'

The second way in which a place may be called a wilderness is solely because men do not dwell there, albeit there be gardens, fields, meadows, pastures, orchards, and the like, as in Luke xv., ' He leaveth the ninety-and-­nine sheep in the wilderness'--that is, in the place of pasturage. Moses led his flock to the back-side of the desert (Exod. iii. I), or to the fatter pastures. It was of such a wilderness as this that Isaiah said, 'I will make the wildernesses thereof' (that is, of the Holy Land)  ‘like places of delight, and its solitary places even as the garden of the Lord ' (Isa. xli.) (?). Thirdly, by a wilderness is meant a place in the woods or fields, either covered with bushes or bare, where men do not dwell, but where lions, bears, deer, wolves, and other beasts run wild, as we read in Mark iii. that `the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilder­ness . . . and He was with the wild beasts.' In such a wilderness as this men do not dwell, albeit they might do so, because there grow trees and there are waters which enable beasts to live therein, as also in the wilderness of John the Baptist, and in the wilderness of St. Jerome; for it is certain that in whatsoever place a lion, a bear, a wolf, or a stag can live, there also a man can live, and whereso­ever a man can feed himself, a wild beast can do likewise. The difference lies in this: That beasts do not of necessity use fire with their food, whereas men cannot live without fire, albeit Plinius, Book VI., says that in the East the use of fire was not known to several races until the time of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, when they first obtained fire. But Master Antoni(n)us does not believe that these were really men, because he is of opinion that man cannot live without fire (Chron., Part L, tit. i., ch. v., § i).

Fourthly, and most properly, that part of the world is called the wilderness wherein nothing grows for man or beast to eat, neither trees nor herbs, and wherein neither men, beasts, nor birds can live, both because of the want of water and because of the intolerable heat of the sun, the barrenness of the ground, and, in short, because of the lack of all things appertaining to the support of life. Such a wilderness is that which reaches from Gazara to Mount Sinai; not, indeed, everywhere, but in the greater part thereof. No such wilderness is to be found in Germany, France, or Italy, albeit desert places, according to the first, second, or third meaning of the word, may be found there.

The lack of everything in this great wilderness, and the miseries endured therein, are mentioned in many parts of the Holy Scriptures. Wherefore in Deut. viii. 15 it is said, 'The Lord led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water.' And in Deut. Xxxii. I0 it is called ' a desert land, a waste howling wilderness.' In Isa. xxi. I  it is called 'a terrible land.' And when the children of Israel murmured, we read in Numb. xx. that they said, ' Wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us into this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates: neither is there any water to drink.' Their murmurings are told of in Exod. xvi. and Numb. xi., by which passages the want of all things in the wilderness is proved. Jeremiah (ii. 6), as it were, sums up all the shortcomings of the wilderness when he rebukes the Jews for their ingratitude, saying, 'The Jews have become vain' (that is, ungrateful); 'neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilder­ness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt ?' In josh. v. (?) it is called the exceeding long and wide wilderness. Moreover, in Deut. i. ig we read, 'We went through all that great and terrible wilderness.' And Eccles. vi. 3, 1 Thou shalt . . . leave thyself as a dry tree in the desert,' and xiii. 19, 'The wild ass is the lion's prey in the wilderness.' The Psalms also call the desert the wilderness: ‘The Lord brake the rock in the wilderness.' In Exod. iii. the Lord said unto Moses, 'The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' And Mount Horeb is often called God's Mount. The wilderness is also called by the poets the land of salt, the land of manna, and the land of fauns and satyrs. From all this one may gather some idea of the qualities and con­ditions, both good and bad, of this land and wilderness.

THE STATE OF THE DESERT OR WILDERNESS.

Firstly, this country is called the desert because it seems to be, so to speak, deserted by God, by the heavens, and by the world. It is deserted by God, because it is empty and void, as though God had used it to improve or adorn the rest of the universe. The country seems also forsaken by the heavens, for it lacks the kindly influence of the stars, and seems to be viewed angrily by them, and, as it were, turned into iron, while the heaven above seems harsh, pitiless, and brazen. In consequence of this the country is also deserted by mankind, who depart from it as from a useless thing. Secondly, this country is called the lone­some place, from the word 'to long for,' taken by contraries, because no one longs for that land, on account of its lack of all that is pleasant and good; for men long for what­soever is pleasant and good, but forasmuch as nothing delightful is found there, no man longs for it. Or it may be so called from 'long-enduring,' because of the hardness of the soil, which is exceeding fast locked together, so that it cannot be broken up by spades, harrows, or any instru­ments of iron.

Thirdly, this country is called the solitary place, because it is solitary and unfrequented by men. It is solitary because none of the countries which lie round about it wish to have any connection with or likeness to that land. It is often spoken of in Scripture as 'the vast wilderness,' which is fit for no kind of tillage. Thus the children of Israel said, when they murmured, 'Would God that we had died in Egypt, and not in this great wilderness' (Num. xiv.). It is also spoken of in Scripture as 'the great wilderness,' of exceeding great width and length; for, indeed, in many parts, it is so great, so, long, and so wide, that it cannot be crossed, and no man can be found who has reached its boundaries towards the east, because, since there is no water in it, no man can carry a big enough skin of water to last him for many months. Now, beyond this desert, there begin to rise exceeding lofty mountains, which, if a man could climb, he would come into the land of Paradise. But God hath set in the way a flaming sword--that is to say, immeasurable heat-­-for so great is the sun's heat, and so great is the drought in that place, that it is impossible for any man to pass through it even though he had with him the neces­saries of life, which, however, are all lacking there. Never­theless, some of the holy Fathers of the Church--for instance, St. Macarius and some others--made an effort, so to speak, beyond human nature, and came into pleasant regions beyond this wilderness, yet they were not able to make their way to Paradise.     It is also called the ever­lasting wilderness, because it never was, and never will be, useful for human wants; it is also called the terrible and horrible wilderness--terrible because of the height and strange shape of its mountains, and horrible because of the immeasurable depth of its valleys and ravines. Fourthly, this country is called the image of death, for­asmuch as everything whatsoever that men see in the wilderness threatens them with death, since it has nothing in itself whereby human life can be sustained, but all the mountains and hills, valleys and torrent-beds, are barren, and display the ensigns of death. The colour of the land is not the same as the colour of habitable land, but the shadows of death are spread abroad by it, because of its being burned black; neither is there anything living in that land save what is dangerous to human life. Moreover, in these valleys those poisonous wild gourds grow abundantly whereof it was said, in 2 Kings iv. 39, ‘There is death in the pot,' of which gourds whosoever eats dies.

For this and other causes this country is called the image of death. Fifthly, and for the same cause, that country is called the barren land, for nothing grows there (Num. xx.). Sixthly, it is called waterless, because it lacks water, and if any water be found in its lower depths, yet is it full of worms and putrid; wherefore it is called the land of thirst. If on the plain there are waters flowing from any spring, they are full of creeping things if fresh, and undrinkable if salt. In some places a valley brings forth water from itself, but if so, it keeps it to itself, making a deep bog, which is dangerous to those who cross it. The children of Israel often murmured because of the want of water, and we ourselves suffered from thirst, as will be told hereafter. Seventhly, this country is called the salt land (Jer. xvii. 6): `For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited.' Indeed, the dew which falls upon that land sprinkles it with salt, and taints the bushes and grass, wherever there are any; for all the moisture of dew is salt. Moreover, what water is found by digging into the ground is exceeding salt.  A certain valley is found there, which brings forth salt moisture from itself, which moisture is straightway turned by the sun's heat into salt, even as the moisture in winter is turned into hoar frost; the sun makes, as it were, sharp stakes out of the sheer salt, and thus all that place is made so rough that it pierces the feet of those who travel over it, even though they be shod. Eighthly, that country is called pathless, for the Psalm says, `In a pathless (A.V. barren) and dry land where no water is' (Ps. lxiii. 2). It is called pathless because there is no path through it. Thus Jerome says, in his `Epistle on the Celebration of Easter,' that those who walk with no regular path in the inner parts of the southern wilderness direct their goings by the stars; for there cannot be fixed paths through the wilderness, even though they were daily trodden by men and beasts, and that because in the wilderness there are exceeding strong winds and violent whirlwinds, whereby the sand is carried about and caught up with great force from the whole surface of the ground, and so the sand moves about with the wind like running water; wherefore some have named the wilderness ‘the sea of sand.' Moreover, high moun­tains of sand are carried by these whirlwinds from one place to another in a single night, so that, where to-day is a flat plain, to-morrow you will find a lofty mountain piled up. This moving about of mountains takes place daily in windy weather; yet is not the whole mass moved at once, but the top is blown away by the wind, down to its foundation on the ground, and is piled up in another place, and then a new mountain is formed, four or five miles from where the first one stood. Sometimes great valleys are filled with sand, and if the storm lasts, in place of the valley a mountain arises, and so, where three days ago there was a deep valley, to-day there rises a high mountain. So also immovable rocky mountains are covered by the fluid sand, so that, where yesterday one saw rocky mountains, to-day one sees nought but sand. Thus there can be no fixed path through the wilderness; for there are sand-storms almost every day, even as there are water-storms at sea, and these are exceeding dangerous, for then the whole surface of the ground is in motion, and a man sees nothing save sand rushing very swiftly along, like water; and, withal, the air is full of dust, as though it were cloudy, so that a man dare not keep his eyes open, but at one time is forced to shut them by reason of the sand which drives into them, and at another is forced to open them to see whither he is going. The sand is blown with, such force that it not only hurts the eyes, but hurts the body wherever the skin is exposed to it. If the wind be foul, and the travellers be journeying against the wind, they are blinded, and sometimes are smothered; indeed, sometimes the storm is so strong that they cannot go their way against it, but are obliged to follow the wind, and, as long as the storm lasts, to turn their backs for many miles to the place whither they were going. Were it not that nature has so taught camels, that they can go over pathless ground without making any mistake, men never could pass through the wilderness. There is also this additional danger-that, when any valley, pit, or ravine

is newly filled with sand, the beasts that pass over it, together with the men and their burdens, may sink down into it, and sometimes be quite swallowed up; for the sand of the desert is exceeding fine, so that it is the best of sand to put in hour-glasses.

The deeply-learned Diodorus, who wandered about Asia for thirty years, tells us of another danger of the desert in the fifth chapter of the first book of his ‘Ancient History,’ where he says that there is, between Syria and Egypt, an exceeding deep marsh, called the ‘Serbonian Marsh,' which is very narrow, but reaches more than two hundred furlongs in length, which, at certain unmarked spots, brings men into dangers which they looked not for, for the bog, being narrow, is surrounded on all sides by sand-hills, which, when. disturbed by the wind, are carried down into the water in such thick masses of sand that, when mixed with the water, it seems to be solid ground, nor is it easy to tell which is water and which is land.

1 Cf. Milton, `Paradise Lost,' Book ii.

`A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog

Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,

Where armies whole have sunk.’

Hence, many who did not know the character of the place, and had not been taught how to travel on this road, have gone into the bog, and been swallowed up with all their host. For when they once enter upon the sand, which sand from a distance seems to be firm and stable, they plunge deeper and deeper into it, and never afterwards have a chance of retracing their steps, or keeping above it, but are sucked down by its quicksands. When once sunk in the soft sand, they have no hope of safety, since they cannot struggle or use their strength, but are drawn down by the sand mixed with water, which, like mud, cannot be traversed either on foot or in a boat; wherefore it is called the `abyss.’ Thus Diodorus. Because of this bog, those who cross the desert are forced to fetch a wide compass, lest they fall into its dangers.            This matter will be enlarged upon hereafter; enough has been said to show why the wilderness is called pathless. Ninthly, this is said to be a land that no man passes through (Jer. ii. 6; Judith v.).1 This may be understood in two ways Either that in the beginning, before the children of Israel, no man had passed over this wilderness by the way over which they were led, which is true; or it may be under­stood to mean that no man walks on foot over this wilder­ness; and this likewise is true, because he cannot pass over it unless he has a beast on which he can ride and carry his provisions, both because of the heat of the ground, and because of the lack of roads, and of things needful for his sustenance, which he could not carry him­self. Thus Elijah the prophet, in despair of accom­plishing this journey, flung himself down in the shade of a juniper-tree, and begged that he might die; and had not an angel brought him food and refreshing drink, he could not have attempted to make this journey by himself.

1 I cannot verify this reference.-A. S.

Yet it might be thus if many men were journeying through the desert, and not one alone, for in storms many men may lose their way. It often happens that a violent wind stirs up the dust so abundantly that a man cannot see his comrade, neither can he hear him, and if at such a time the beast on which he is riding goes another way, that man perishes. If, then, this can happen when many men are together, how can any man journey there alone? Tenthly, it is said that no man dwells in the desert, and that therefore it is called the uninhabited land; and this is true as a rule, albeit once the holy Fathers of the Church dwelt there, living the lives of angels rather than of men; and at this day the Arabs dwell there, living the lives of beasts rather than of men. But when it is said that not even beasts can dwell there, and then that Arabs dwell there, this means that they do not live by miracle, like the children of Israel, nor like the angels, as did the holy hermits, nor yet as beasts without human labour, but like the devil; for as the devil goeth about seeking whom he may devour, even so they go round about the edge of the wilderness and plunder and despoil those who cross the same, and thus they are devils incarnate, and do not live a human life, as will be seen hereafter.  Indeed, the place is unfit to be inhabited by such as wish to lead a civilized life, wherefore it is said, `Neither doth any child of man dwell therein,' seeing that almost all the land is sandy, rocky, or like burned lime, unfit for gardens, fields, vineyards, or dwellings.

Eleventhly, this country is called the land of serpents, scorpions, dipsades, worms, and dragons; not, indeed, the whole of it, but as it is exceeding wide, it has different kinds of venomous creatures in different parts. Fiery serpents were sent upon the children of Israel because of

1 A kind of snake, whose bite causes intolerable thirst. AE l. N. A., 6. 51.

their murmuring (Num, xxi. 6; 1 Cor. x. 9).            Many places in the wilderness are full of serpents' holes, others are full of scorpions; and in the places where there is water there are some dragons- and crocodiles, and many other kinds of beasts, as we often read in the `Lives of the Fathers.' Howbeit, we were only troubled by one sort; these were round worms, of about the size of a hazel-nut, black, and with many feet, which are called Pharaoh's lice. The ground in some places was full of these, and while a man sleeps they come to him, and secretly suck his blood like fleas. After their bite there remains a scar, and a livid bluish mark, streaked with red, of the size of a penny, marked with the cross; and unless this scar be straight­way anointed and rubbed with lemon-juice, it will turn into an incurable and foul wound. Besides these, the ground breeds diverse tiny animals, which hinder men's rest, moreover, lice of extraordinary number and size gather at every moment in one's clothes. Twelfthly, this place is called `the evil place' (Num. xx. 5), and it is so called because of all the aforesaid evils, and because of the badness and impurity of the air; for the air of the wilderness is exceeding bad, very harsh, albeit sometimes exceedingly thin, the heat is immoderate, the cold im­measurable. Travellers find that within one hour they are in one place where they are scorched with the heat, as though they were in an oven, and a little while afterwards they suffer from intense cold.

Thirteenthly, this country is the home of fauns and satyrs, who are the gods of the wilderness and of the groves, according to the false religion of the common people of old. In the days of old they used to declare to the nations things to come, not by signs, but by their voices, and used to show the way to those who were lost in the wilderness. Thus we read in the `Lives of the Fathers' that St. Anthony, while he was seeking for Paul in the wilderness, saw before him a man joined to a horse, to which creature the poets have given the name of `Centaur.' On seeing this, he strengthened his forehead by the sign of the cross, and said: `What ho, young sir; in which part of this wilderness doth God's servant dwell?' The monster thereupon, after gnashing some uncouth word between his teeth, and snapping rather than pronouncing, at length spoke in a fairly mild voice, and, by stretching forth his right hand, pointed out the desired way, after which he galloped away, as though flying, over the open plain. Anthony, astonished at what he had seen, went on his way wandering, and presently, in a rocky valley, he saw a mannikin with a hooked nose, and rough horns on his forehead, the lower part of whose body ended in goat's feet. On beholding this, Anthony seized the shield of faith, and the aforesaid creature offered him the fruit of the date-palm by way of provision for his journey, as though it were a pledge of peace. When Anthony under­stood this, he quickened his pace, and, on asking him what he was, received this answer from him: `I am a mortal, and am one of the dwellers in the wilderness, whom the heathen, led astray by divers errors, call fauns and satyrs and incubi. I am carrying out the message entrusted to me by my herd; we beg of you that you will pray to our common God on our behalf, for we know that He came down long ago for the salvation of the world. When the beast spoke thus, Anthony shed tears for joy, and, striking his staff upon the ground, said: 'Woe to thee, Alexandria, that worshippest these monsters as Gods. What wouldst thou say to a beast that speaks of Christ?' Hardly had he finished speaking thus, when the wanton creature frisked away as swiftly as though it had wings. Once a man of this species was brought to Alexandria, and was a great sight for the people there. When he died, his body was salted, lest it should perish away in the sun's heat, and was sent to Antioch to be shown to the Emperor. I do not believe that these creatures are the children of Faunus or of Saturn, seeing that these are men, whereas those were brute beasts. But it is possible that the mistake arose about them in the days of Faunus or Saturn, and that at that time women first began to gossip about them.

Fourteenthly, the wilderness or desert is a place of devils, wherefore we read in Tobit viii. that the arch­angel Raphael sent away Asmodeus into the wilderness of Upper Egypt. Also the Lord was brought into the wilder­ness that the devil might find Him there.

In the days of old, men who wished to lead a holy life used to go into the wilderness because of the six following qualities thereof. Wherefore in his Regula, ch. ix., St. Jerome praises the wilderness, saying, `O thou desert that blossomest with ten flowers! O thou solitary place wherein grow the stones whereof the Holy City is builded! O thou familiar waste that rejoicest in the Lord!' and so on. 'To me the city is a prison, the wilderness is paradise; for it is the wilderness, not the crowd, that makes the true monk.' Thus we read there. Wherefore Jerome persuaded many men to enter the wilderness-more especially the deacon Presidius, to whom in his epistle on this subject he writes: Thou hast lately seen the waste places of Egypt, and hast beheld the family of the angels, thou hast seen how many flowers there are there, how many meadows enamelled with spiritual gems, and garlands wherewith the Lord is crowned. The fire glows in thy breast; wherefore think daily about these things--meditate upon them; long for them.

Jerome himself yearned with vehement desire for the desert; wherefore in his epistle to Theodosius and to the other hermits, he says: `Would that I might behold the wilderness, which is more delightful than any city! would that I might see those places devoid of inhabitants!' etc. So likewise Augustine, in his Epistola ad Pastores, says: `There is the wilderness, which is full of thousands of the servants of God.’

Fifteenthly, the desert is the place of temptation; where­fore our Lord is not spoken of as being tempted anywhere save in the wilderness (Mark i.; Matt. iv.). The book of the 'Lives of the Fathers' shows in many instances what great temptations the saints underwent in the wilderness. Likewise God tempted these the ancient patriarchs, the children of Israel, in divers ways, as we see in Exod. xvi. and Deut. viii., where it says, 'The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee.' Also in Deut. xiii., 'The Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the, Lord your God with all your heart.' Moreover, the patriarchs of old tempted God there; wherefore the Psalmist says, ' In the wilderness your fathers tempted me' (Psa. xcv. g); and again, 'They tempted God in their hearts, and required meat for their lust' (lxxviii. ig).            On the other hand, it is written (Dent. vi. 16), ' Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God.' Jerome, in his treatise upon temptations, enumerates ten distinct temptations of the children of Israel in the desert.

Sixteenthly, the wilderness is a place where great merit is acquired, wherefore it was after their penance in the wilderness that the holy patriarchs gained possession of the Holy Land. Also the saints of the New Testament used to go into the wilderness in order that they might acquire greater merit.

Seventeenthly, the wilderness is the place where the laws and commandments were given, as we read in Exod. xix. and xx.

Eighteenthly, the wilderness is the place of manna and of Divine comforting. Psa. lxxviii. 25, `He rained down manna also upon them to eat'; and also Exod. xvi., `And at this day the dew which falls round about Mount Sinai is sweetest manna, whereof I myself have seen and eaten much.’

Nineteenthly, the wilderness is a place for meditation and retreat from the world, wherefore the holy Fathers of the Church, when they desired to do penance  went into the wilderness and fled from the world.

Twentiethly, this wilderness is a place of devotion and contemplation; wherefore we read in the Psalms, 'In a barren and dry land where no water is have I looked for thee in holiness' (Psa. lxiii. 2, 3); and again, `I said, O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I flee away and be at rest! Lo, then would I get me away far off, and remain in the wilderness' (Psa. Iv. '6). Let it suffice to have said this much in description of the wilderness. Hereafter experience will tell the reader more about it. See also an account of this wilderness on page 136, and thenceforth.

THE ARABS WHO DWELL IN THE WILDERNESS;

THEIR CUSTOMS, INSOLENCE, AND WRETCHEDNESS.

The inhabitants of the wilderness or desert are Arabs, most miserable and beast-like men, whom some declare to be the children of Ishmael and Hagarenes, who call themselves Saracens. Others give them their name from the nearest country, and call them Midianites. Others call them Bedouins, and others call them Zigeri,l from Chaldaea, a land which adjoins the great desert of Arabia on the northern side. Others say that they were driven out of Egypt, among whom is Diodorus, in Book II.

I Zigeuner, 'gipsies.’ See Post, page 50 b.

of his ‘Ancient History'; for he says that Actisanes, when King of Egypt, ruled exceeding justly, and put down robbery after a new sort, neither punishing the guilty by death, nor yet leaving them unpunished, but gathered all criminals together, and inflicted a light sentence upon them.

He cut off their noses, and forced them to go into the wilderness, that they might neither taint neighboring nations with their vices, nor conceal the wrongs which they had done to the rest of the people, but that being sent, as it were, into banishment in the wilderness in want of every­thing, they might be forced by necessity to get their own living. Commonly, however, they are called Arabs by all the people of that country. These men have no fixed places of abode, but always ramble to and fro throughout this wilderness, armed with shields and spears-not, indeed, to fight, because they are half naked, but to rob. The fear of them collects travelers through that country into great troops, that by helping one another they may avoid the threatened danger; for these men dwell only in the outer wilderness, not in the inner part, wherein neither man, beast, nor bird can get their living. They pitch their tents in the places by which they think that merchants or other travellers will pass; and wherever there are marshes to give drink to them and their cattle, there they dwell in caves of the rock, or in huts made of brushwood. When they see anyone coming, they mount their horses, asses, and camels,            and array themselves on the road with shields and spears. Their women also come out of their caves, half naked like the men, exceeding wretched and dirty, and run up with stones in their hands, followed by their children, ready to get their share of the plunder. They march to meet the strangers in bloodthirsty fashion, shouting and brandishing their spears, while their women and boys on foot cast stones; but when the two troops meet, the Arabs lay aside their fierceness and peaceably demand toll, saying that they are the lords of the wilderness, and of all places which are not enclosed within walls, covered by roofs, or fenced by ditches, and so forth. If the other party refuses to pay toll, they will not suffer them to proceed, unless they be stronger than themselves; but if they see this, they ask no more for toll, but humbly beg for alms. They are contented with a few pence; and if they be given biscuits, they receive them with joy, and suffer the travellers to go their way. But no one can meet them without trouble, or get rid of them without paying them, because they wander about the desert in many companies; and if it were noised among them that their comrades had been slain or despitefully used, they would muster and gather together, and press hard upon those who withstood them, until they had over­thrown them and robbed them of all that they had. For this cause Jerome, in his epistle to Dardanus, calls them barbarians, saying, `Beyond the Holy Land comes a vast solitude, full of exceeding fierce barbarians.' They say that this wilderness and every place in the open air belongs to them; wherefore on every road they demand toll from the passers-by, and that not only in the wilderness. How­beit they call the wilderness their own proper country, in which they dwell without any city, village, castle, or house in caves of the rocks and in tents; nor do they have any means of living save robbery, and suffer such want and poverty as not even a dog could bear, among us. If they cannot find any plunder, they seek to support life by thefts; and to this end they leave the wilderness, and wander not only through Eastern countries, but come even into the uttermost parts of the West, where, for I know not what reason, they are not called Arabs or Chaldaeans, but Zigari, or, as our common people say, Zigeuner, a people who originally came from Chaldaea, as we are told in Primo Phys. Supp. Chron., Lib. IV.  From Chaldaea they went down into the neighbouring country of Arabia the Desert, and from thence they have spread throughout all lands. See Part II., page 80. These Arabs of the wilderness live to an exceeding great age, in spite of all their wretched­ness; and men and women a hundred years of age run over the desert as lightly as dogs. They are always hungry and thirsty, and but seldom assuage their hunger with bread; but when they make a solemn feast, they bake loaves in the ashes. They eat their meat while it drips with blood; and if they cannot come by firewood, they lay their raw flesh upon a broad stone (placing another above it), and so the meat becomes dried and warmed between the stones. Upon this they take off the upper stone, keep the lower one to serve as a table, and eat their meat so without any cooking. Moreover, they feed upon certain herbs and roots, drink camels 'and asses' milk, and gnaw exceeding hard biscuits. On this matter Jerome speaks as follows in his epistle against Jovinus: `The Arabs, fish eating Saracens, Ishmaelites, and all the savages of the wilderness, live upon the milk and flesh of camels, because this beast easily breeds and lives among them in the climate of that barren region, and they count it a sin to eat swine's flesh.' Indeed, swine, who feed upon acorns, chestnuts, roots, fern, and barley, are not found among them, because they have no food of this sort. They catch fish in the Red Sea and boil them on the rocks that glow with the sun's heat, and they live on this food alone. Moreover, because they have no fixed abode, but roam hither and thither throughout the wilderness, travellers form themselves into companies, in order to help one another to avoid the danger which threatens them. From these quotations it is clear that in the days of old it was unsafe to pass through the wilderness, even as it is at the present day, because of the assaults of the Arabs, which Malchus suffered, as we read in Jerome's 'Letter of a Captive Monk' in the `Lives of the Fathers.'

These wretches seem to be alluded to in Job xxx., where he says, `Whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.' Indeed, he thought them unworthy of life itself. ‘For want and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper-roots for their meat. To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. Among the bushes they brayed, under the nettles they were gathered together.' This text seems as though it was meant to be understood literally as applying to these Arabs. When there is no plunder to be had, and they can abide no longer in the wilderness, driven by want, they assemble in troops, leave their wives and children in the wilderness, and make a raid into some neighboring country, where by night they burst into some city or village, break open the doors of the houses, lay hands on whatever comes in their way, and go back again to their wives and little ones in the wilderness. They do not kill people, save by acci­dent. They commit these outrages in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt; and sometimes they enter great cities, plunder several houses, and return with their booty. Twice while I was at Jerusalem they made their way into the city by stealth in the dark, and did great outrages; and no one can quell them, but all men fear them. This does not seem strange to one who knows Holy Scripture; for in the time of the most puissant kings, when the land was under an exceeding well-ordered rule, the Arabs vexed the land, as we read in 2 Chron. xxi. how the Arabs came into Jerusalem and plundered everything, even carrying off the king's wives and children from his house. These same Arabs greatly troubled Nehemiah when Jerusalem and the Temple were being rebuilt; for we read in the Book of Nehemiah (chi ii.) of Geshem the Arabian, who forbade him to rebuild Jerusalem. And in Neh. iv. the Arabs gathered themselves together against the rebuilders of the Holy City. I believe that if anyone at this day were to essay to shut in Jerusalem thoroughly with walls, gates, and locks, the Arabs would do all that they could to hinder him. Of these Arabs we read in 2 Macc. xii. that they raised a great army, wherein were five thousand men and five hundred horsemen, and marched against Judas Mac­cabeus; but ‘they were overcome by Judas, and besought him for peace, promising both to give him cattle and to pleasure him otherwise. Then Judas, thinking, indeed, that they would be profitable in many things, granted them peace; whereupon they shook hands, and departed to their tents.’  From this text we see that they used to trouble the country of old even as they do now. They are also mentioned in I Macc. ii.

No king or monarch has ever been able to overcome these Arabs, as says Diodorus in Book III. of his 'Ancient History,' ch. xiii.'  Between Syria and Egypt is Arabia the Desert, which is waterless, and bears fruit only in a few places; wherefore its people plunder the neighbouring nations, and are unconquered in war. They dwell in a country without water, and dig wells known only to them­selves, which saves them from all danger from their enemies, because those who pursue them either die of thirst because they know not where the wells are, or else just get back alive, worn out with toil. For this cause the Arabs who dwell in this country cannot be overthrown in war. They live in freedom, and have never been subject to any foreign king, either of the Assyrians, the Medes, or the Persians; neither were the Macedonian kings able to subdue them-albeit they had exceeding great armies.' Thus says he. They attack royal caravans when they pass through their country, even as those of common people; they spare none.

It is against these Arabs that the Lord taketh up His burden (Isa. xxi.). Indeed, they often are driven to leave the wilderness by want of water, and then they come with their wives and children into some country, where they pitch their tents by the waterside in green pastures, build themselves huts, and dwell there to the prejudice of the people of the country, stealing all the cattle that comes in their way.       No man dares to touch them, and they will not return into the wilderness except loaded with spoils, after having carried off an exceeding great booty.

They go into Egypt, even as they do into other countries in spite of the Soldan King of Egypt and the Mamelukes, who, nevertheless, look upon them with great dislike. I have everywhere seen them scattered, both in Syria and in Egypt; and so also they wander about our country, as we see. They do not attempt to take any city, nor to own any village albeit they might do so, because they say that they alone are true nobles, who live by plunder and not by work, passing their time out of doors in the fields and woods, which is what distinguishes nobles from other men, and so forth. This is also the opinion of the Suabian nobles, who are loth to admit anyone who dwells in a city to their tournaments. Wherefore the Arabs, wretched though they are, nevertheless are high-minded and of a proud stomach, and their wives are bedecked with gold, silver, and precious stones, though their clothes are shabby and their faces exceeding dirty, for they have no water to wash with, and dwell in smoky tents and huts. Job xxxix. 6, `Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.'

It was upon these wretched and beastly people that the accursed Mahomet first poured forth the venom of his pestilent doctrine, drew them to his side, and thereafter brought other nations to himself forcibly with swords, spears, and bows. Thus did he lead the whole world astray by the help of these wretches, even as Romulus and Remus got together a following of robbers, runaways, shepherds of flocks, and a mixed multitude of people of the baser sort. With these Romulus threw the Latin kingdom into confusion, and defiled his own kingdom with innocent blood.

      HERE BEGINNETH THE PILGRIMAGE

THROUGH THE WILDERNESS,

WHEREIN ARE DESCRIBED THE THREE WAYS

ACROSS THE WILDERNESS, AND THE

JOURNEY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

WITH THE CHILD JESUS INTO EGYPT.

Our wanderings through the enormous desert will now be easy to describe, seeing that the reader knows already all about asses and ass-drivers, camels and camel-drivers, the wilderness, and the Arabs who dwell therein. How­beit, for better understanding, it should be noted that in the Scriptures we find a threefold road spoken of through the wilderness. One is the way whereby the children of Israel came into the Holy Land. Another is that whereby Abraham went down across the wilderness into Egypt, and whereby Jacob and his sons went down at the call of Joseph.  By this way it is believed that Joseph went with his wife, the most blessed Virgin Mary, and the child Jesus, when he fled from Herod (Matt. ii.). A third way is that whereby the prophets Elias and Elisha went into the wilderness to Mount Sinai, not at the same time, but one after the other, as we are told in I Kings xix.

The children of Israel were led out of Egypt, not straight along the road which leads to the Holy Land, but they went up to Mount Sinai by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord commanded them. Neither were they brought to Mount Sinai the nearest way, but were led a long way into the long wilderness, and then led back again and round about, until the forty years were finished. The reason why they were not led by the shorter way into Palestine, a land which borders upon Egypt, is given us in Exod. Xiii.: for Palestine possessed great cities, full of giants, and had the children of Israel seen these at their first onset, they would have gone back again into Egypt through fear; moreover, the iniquities of the Philistines were not yet fulfilled, as those of the Amorites were, so that they could be driven out. Thus the path of the children of Israel was a very long and crooked one, and they went through the wilderness, past the farther shore of the Dead Sea, through the kingdom of Og, King of Bashan, and the kingdom of Sihon, King of the Amorites, even to the place where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, and there Jordan was dried up over against Jericho, and so they came into the Holy Land. But Abraham, and Jacob and his sons, and Joseph and Mary, and the rest, went down into Egypt by the common merchant’s road beside the shore of the Great Sea, having the sea on their right hand, and the wilderness on their left; and at this day this is the common causeway and king's highway for those who go down from Gaza into Egypt, albeit the road is a sandy and toilsome one. Along it are shown some traces of the journey of the blessed Virgin Mary and Joseph with the child Jesus--for instance, the place where they were attacked and taken by robbers. Anselm tells us that as Joseph, with the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus, were going down that road, and were resting in a certain place to refresh themselves, lo, Arabs rushed forth from the inner parts of the wilderness and surrounded them, meaning to take them and rob them; but a certain youth, who was the son of the chief of the robbers, when he saw the child on its mother's lap, was miraculously seized with a wondrous love toward it, not doubting that some Divinity was in­herent therein. He asked the mother to give him the child, received it into his arms with the deepest respect, and kissed it, saying, `Glorious child, have mercy upon me in the time of need!' Saying thus, he gave back the child to its mother with tears, took them out of the hands of his companions, and, after pointing out a safe road to them, suffered them to depart. This youth is said to have been the thief who, when hanging on the cross with Christ, said unto Him, `Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.' The third road leads from Gaza into the wilderness straight to Mount Sinai, and along it Elias and other holy men passed when they went to Mount Sinai. This was our road, and we set forth upon it in manner following.

THE DEPARTURE OF THE PILGRIMS FROM GAZA TOWARDS

THE GREAT DESERT, ON THEIR WAY TO MOUNT SINAI.

Early on the ninth of September the camel-drivers came with the dragoman and carried out all our baggage into the midst of the courtyard, where they made it into parcels of equal size and weighed it, to the end that they might know how many camels we should need. They found more weight than twenty-two camels could carry, and would not take us unless we hired three more camels. Hereupon a great dispute arose between us and the dragoman. We wished him to provide the additional camels at his own expense, according to what was set down in the fifth article of our covenant, for which see Part I., page 219; but he refused to do this, saying that we had a great deal of useless baggage, and that, if we would throw this away, he should then be bound to supply what camels were wanting, but not otherwise. Indeed, he thought many things to be superfluous which to us were exceeding necessary. Rather, therefore, than throw these things away, we hired three more camels at our own expense. So now we had twenty-five camels, thirty asses, seven camel-drivers and six ass-drivers, two Arab captains and guides, and two Saracen, Elphahallo the lesser Calinus and an Ethiopian youth, and the sum total of our company amounted to forty persons. When we had settled these matters it was time for dinner. So we ate and drank joyously, because the time, of our departure was come. At the last we bought pomegranates, both sweet and bitter, as we pleased, each man as many as he chose, that we might suck them on our way through the wilderness. This fruit was exceedingly cheap, for a man could buy forty or fifty large and quite fresh-gathered pomegranates for one madinus.l  When noontime was over the dragoman came on horseback, and the ass-drivers with their asses. Albeit the ass-drivers were Christians, yet they had bound up their heads in the Arab fashion, that they might be less plagued by Arabs in crossing the wilderness. The camel­-drivers also brought their camels and loaded them with our things, but they left two panniers empty, in which we put two sick pilgrim knights. When the camels were loaded, the pilgrim knights, at the bidding of the drago­man, girded on their swords. Moreover, some had bought bows and Saracen weapons, while some had guns; and thus armed with defensive weapons, we mounted our asses, and our whole company marched out of Gaza under arms. Since we meant to go into Arabia, the Saracens approved of the arming of the pilgrim knights, camel-drivers, and ass-drivers, all of whom had bows, as well as swords and daggers; but had our journey been from Syria into Palestine, they would on no account have suffered us to

*A madinus, we are told in Part I, p. 148 b, was a Saracen coin, twenty-five of which went to the ducat.

leave the city bearing arms. When we went out of the, city, we came down from the hill whereon the city stands into the flat ground, and journeyed southwards, having on our right hand the city of Beersheba, which marks the southernmost limit of the Holy Land. After we had gone a little way along the highroad between fenced gardens, the drivers led our camels out of the road into a field, where they made the camels kneel, cast off their loads, and decided to stay there for the night. At this we were much displeased, because there was still much daylight left; but the chief Calinus told us that the loads were not equally divided among the camels, and that the camel­drivers were quarrelling about it; wherefore this evening we must set in order everything that was needful for the peace of our journey.   The field into which we turned aside was called Gasmaha. So we dismounted from our asses, and pitched our tents that we might rest beneath them. Some, however, made screened places for them­selves alone by hanging up their own garments, and slept beneath them. After we had pitched our tents, we pulled sticks out of the fences, and cooked food both for our supper that night and for our dinner on the morrow. Thus one must needs do, for the camels, when loaded, walk steadily forward from morn till night, and will not endure to pause or stop on the way; wherefore those who accom­pany them also journey without stopping, and eat their dinner as they sit on their asses. Never throughout the whole wilderness can one dine on hot food, or sit down to one's dinner, but one must eat what was cooked the night before. We also took out of our sacks wine enough for our supper that night and for our dinner on the morrow, and also biscuits. These things we divided equally amongst us; each man had a bottle in which he received his share of the wine. When supper, all of which we cooked at one fire, was ready, we sat beneath our tents and ate it. We had been warned that we must not all lay ourselves down to sleep at the same time; but that some one pilgrim must always be on the watch, and patrol the host while the rest slept, lest thieves and robbers should break in unawares and steal our things; but, in sooth, those watches were more needed by us on account of our own servants, the camel-drivers and ass-drivers, than on account of strangers. These men stole our biscuits, eggs, and everything that they could, and we never could keep such good watch but what in the morning we found our sacks ripped open and biscuits pulled out-of them, or eggs taken out of our baskets. We often caught them in the act of stealing, whereat they did not blush, but rather mocked at us. For this cause we all met together after supper, and arranged the order of our watches. It fell to my lot to keep watch after midnight on the first night. When the sun set, we lay down beneath our tents and made ready to sleep. Our company was ordered at night after this sort:  First stood our tents, huts, and baggage in the middle. Round about us lay the camel and ass drivers with their baggage and their beasts, and our dragoman would not suffer any man to lie by himself outside the camp or to walk far, away, from it, save only to a short distance for necessary purposes. In the aforesaid manner we arranged matters every night, with regard to food and drink, keeping watch, and the rest.

When midnight was come, the knight who had been watching before woke me, that I might perform my watch; so I walked round about the Lord's host singing psalms, holding a staff in my hand. All of a sudden there burst forth close by us a loud and horrible howling as of many people crying out and wailing together, and I could not think that it was anything else than the voices of men raised in lamentation.  I therefore stood still and listened, full of fear and wonder; and I thought that perchance the Saracens were holding some festival with a tragic or comic play, or that some horrible misfortune or plague had suddenly befallen them, or that satyrs and other monsters of the wilderness meant by these howlings to forbid us to enter the desert.  What it was, I do not know at this day; but someone said to me that it was a pack of wolves howling. This I can hardly believe, because the noise began suddenly, and after awhile suddenly stopped; then, after a short interval of silence, burst forth again, and sounded like the cries of men in pain. When the noise was over, I walked on to keep my watch, and found our Saracen dragoman, the chief Calinus, instant in prayer upon his bended knees, and gesticulating in the Saracen fashion. When he heard me, he left off praying, and asked me why I did not abide in my tent; but when I told him that I was out to keep watch, he was satisfied. He now turned towards the southern quarter of the wilderness, and showed me an exceeding bright star which had but just risen, which he said was St. Catharine's Star, and was so called by all men; `and, lo,' said he, `beneath this star is the Mount Sinai, toward which we are journeying, and when we have to travel by night, we shall go no other way than straight towards that star until we come quite under­neath it upon Mount Sinai.' After we left Mount Sinai, I often used to look back at this star, and I saw it while I was in Egypt, and at Alexandria, and for a long way as we sailed over the sea; but at last, after we had passed Cyprus and came among the Cyclades Islands, I could no longer see it, because of its exceeding distance and the change in the climate. Thus passed this first night.

THE FURTHER JOURNEY IN THE WILDERNESS.

On the tenth day, as the dawn appeared, we also rose, struck our tents, pulled down our huts, gathered all our baggage together, and prepared to depart. Our camel-­drivers were slow, and loaded the camels as though they were tired of the work, and did it against their will; more­over, they left many of our things lying on the ground, at which there was much noise, and many quarrels arose between us. We cursed them in German, and they cursed us in Arabic, and we shouted at one another without either side understanding the other. In truth, I am weary of writing about the petty tricks wherewith they plagued us almost every morning when the beasts were being loaded; for they purposely used to leave a bed, a basket, or a bag lying on the ground, knowing that we should have an eye to such matters. They did this with the intent that the pilgrim to whom the thing which was left behind belonged might be forced to beg them to take it; whereat they, on their part, would ask him for money or bread, and would pretend that they would leave it behind unless he paid them. So at the outset, before we had had experience of them, and had begun to know one another, we gave them much money and many biscuits; but after we understood them, and learned of what sort they were, we ordered them about, and forced them to do our pleasure. So we rose before day, and squabbled with one another until sunrise;