[1] The upland pastures in Bavaria.
[2] For this legend see, Serv. ad Virg. Ecl., vi: 72.

from whom the Phoenicians received their letters, and the Greeks theirs from the Phoenicians, as we learn from the philosopher Eupolius, who also declares that he invented weapons of war, gave letters to the Egyptian priests, and was so great a man among the Egyptians that they took him for the god Mercury. Furthermore, he describes his appearance, saying that he was a tall man, of a fair complexion, gray-haired, with rather long hair and beard, and displayed an unspeakable dignity in his face and form. Now, this eminent man, when, as aforesaid, he was banished from Egypt and fed flocks in this place, was often prompted, no doubt by the Holy Spirit, to enter the innermost part of the wilderness, and thus at the times appointed by God he led his flock into the heart thereof, even to the foot of the holy mountain, as will be shown in its place. So we abode without that night, meaning on the morrow to enter in even as Moses entered.

On the twenty-second, which is the feast of St. Maurice and his companions, we rose very early, loaded our beasts, followed the star of the blessed virgin St. Catharine, which seemed to be standing close to us, and went up to the mountain-wall by which we were encompassed. When we were come up to this rocky wall, we found a narrow cleft in the rock which afforded us an entrance, through which cleft Moses passed with his flock into the innermost parts of the wilderness. A loaded camel could scarcely squeeze through this narrow pass. When we were within, we entered another and an exceeding fair plain, wherein were grass, shrubs, and bushes. Here we refreshed ourselves with the falling dew, which was sweeter than honey altogether different to that dew which we tasted on the eighteenth, as aforesaid; for the dew which now falls about these holy places shows us how sweet was the manna which there was given to the patriarchs. At this day manna, or dew of manna, falls round about Mount Sinai for two months--to wit, August and September. The Arabs collect this manna, and sell it to pilgrims. I myself have seen and eaten much of this manna. Vincentius, in his Speculum Naturale, Book V., ch. lxxxv., says that manna is dew which falls upon leaves or stones, where it thickens like honey, grows dry like gum, becomes sticky, and afterwards is gathered. In Eastern lands it falls in the night­time; but as it is only found in small quantities, it is much adulterated. When it is pure, and not mixed with other things, it is exceeding aromatic and precious; it is of a whitish colour, and sweeter than anything else in the world. It is of an exceeding pleasant savour, and is said to be of the same kind as that whereon the Hebrews lived in the wilderness for forty years, which manna was formed there by a Divine miracle, whereby its appearance and taste were changed for the better; for this natural manna falls far short of that miraculous manna, seeing that the natural manna is not to be found every night, or every season of the year, whereas the other was found every morning, wheresoever God's people sojourned. It is like­wise found in some parts of Greece.

In respect of the manna which was given to the children of Israel, we read in Exod. xvi. 14, ‘In the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. The meaning of this text is, that first the hoar frost fell upon the earth, next the manna fell upon it, and afterwards some of the dew was frozen above it, in such sort that the manna was, as it were, between two layers, stored away cleanly between two wrappers, the one of hoar frost and the other of dew. But the manna which is found at the present day does not cover the surface of the earth, but hangs upon the leaves of plants and the points of stones, like dew; neither has it any sweetness of savour in itself, but it obtains it from the nature of the plants, grasses, or stones whereupon it falls. The ancients used to say that dew was the child of the moon and of the air. Dew falls unseen, refreshes the earth and makes it fruitful. It is sweet and transparent; a very little heat dries it up. Falling dew causes fruitfulness--when it is carried by bees into their combs, it turns into sweet honey; when it falls into sea-shells, it turns into precious pearls. So that morning we sucked up the exceeding sweet dew of this wilderness with pleasure. When we were at St. Catharine's convent we bought manna, but found that it had been much adulterated and counterfeited, as I can imagine to be likely from what has been said. Indeed, we had the same fortune with manna which we afterwards had with balsam.

Now, after we had passed through the aforesaid narrow opening, we came into a wide valley, full of sweet-scented plants. This valley was encompassed by exceeding lofty rocks of a red colour. It was in this valley, and in those adjoining it all round about Mount Sinai, that the children of Israel dwelt in tents and booths according to their tribes and families, at the time when Moses was with the Lord in the mount. I shall enlarge further upon this matter on page 83b.

We went up for some hours toward the east, and at last gave up journeying in that direction, and, turning toward the south, entered another great and fair valley. Far away before us we now beheld an exceeding lofty and terrible mountain-wall of rock, toward which we climbed, and we wondered in what place we should come out of that valley, since in front of us and on either side of us we could see no passage leading out of it, but only saw our­selves shut in by exceeding high and rocky mountain-walls. When we had almost come up to the great mountain-wall which stood in front of us, lo, there was a cleft in the mountain on our left hand, reaching from the top to the bottom, through which, and by no other way, there is a road leading to the foot of the holy mount. We therefore went along this narrow way, and found it very rough travelling, and distressing to the asses and camels. After we had gone up a little way through this pass, when the valley began to widen out, behold, we saw buildings, human dwellings, and an oblong church. It was the monastery of the most blessed virgin St. Catharine, and what is called the Church and Oratory of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Bush, at the foot of the most holy Mount Sinai. When we saw these, we dismounted from our asses, and with great joy knelt and worshipped toward the place. It was on the very place where the convent stands that Moses saw that notable miracle, the bush which was burning without its green leaves and fruit suffering any hurt, and its fruit-bearing branches in nowise scorched by the fire, albeit the flame was fierce and swift.

The wondrous bush stood at the place where now is the Oratory of St. Mary at Bush at the head of the church. Now, when Moses saw this, he wondered and said, `I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him,' and so forth, as we read in Exod. iii. 3, 4.

We hurried away from that place after the camels and asses toward the convent. When we reached the wide terrace before the convent gate, we found many Arabs sitting there armed after their fashion. These men had been driven out of the wilderness by hunger, and forced to go up to the convent for a morsel of biscuit. When we saw them we were sore afraid, fearing to be plagued by them before the convent gate. Many Arabs also went up with us, who had joined our company in the wilderness. We therefore unloaded our beasts, made all our baggage into one heap, and stood round about it, lest the robbers in whose presence we were should steal anything from us. When the brethren heard of our coming, and of our presence there, some of them came out and kindly bade us welcome. They also helped us to carry all our baggage inside to the guest-house. In the guest-house there were many empty cells, among which we divided ourselves according to our several companies. Moreover near these cells there was a chapel of the Latin rite with an altar; and here, as noon was not yet past, one of the pilgrims read Mass to us, to which we devoutly listened. After Mass we bought firewood to cook with from the monks, and cooked and ate some of the food which we had brought from the Holy Land. After this we laid ourselves down to rest, and when our rest was over we went into St. Catharine's Church, saw her tomb, and the Oratory of St. Mary at Bush, and visited other holy places, which I shall describe in their place. After we had done this, we stayed within the monastery and its grounds, and did not go outside the walls that day.

On the twenty-third day we were ready to ascend the holy mountains of Sinai, Horeb, and St. Catharine; but our brethren the sick pilgrims implored us to wait until the morrow, that they might recover their strength and be able to ascend them with us. We hearkened to their prayer and patiently remained at rest; howbeit after Mass and dinner we again visited the holy places within the monastery, that we might obtain indulgences, and we went all through the convent and saw each one of them

Towards evening there came one of the Arab chiefs, a captain of the robbers of the desert, with many of his armed fellows. He came into the convent and encamped with his men near our dwellings, where they watched our going out and coming in, for they had come on our account, that they might extort their unjust dues from us. This was a terrible cross to us, and cast a shadow over all our joy, for we could not pass from our dwelling to St. Catharine's Church save through the midst of our plunderers. There were stairs, down which we went for our convenience into the courtyard, and from the courtyard into St. Catharine's Church; but the Arabs lay in the courtyard day and night, and most narrowly watched us as we went up and down the stairs, neither could we go to the well for water save through the midst of them. They did nothing to us, either of good or evil, neither did they cry out at us, but nevertheless their waiting there was grievous to us. When supper-time drew near, we cooked food for our supper and also for next day's dinner, as we had been wont to do in the wilderness, because on the morrow we should not have had time to spare for cooking dinner, as will be shown.

On the twenty-fourth we rose three hours before sunrise and celebrated Masses in the Latin chapel. When these were over, a monk, the sacrist of the monastery, named Nicodemus, came to guide us up the holy mountains. He passed all the pilgrims in review, and looked narrowly at each one of them. He would on no account suffer those whom he thought to be sickly to set out with us, for he said that the path was a steep and very laborious one. So some sickly pilgrims stayed behind; but some, albeit they were sickly, yet altogether refused to stay behind. We took our scrips with our food, our bottles full of wine, and jars of water, enough to last us for two days, and gave them to our ass-drivers to carry, for they were ready to go up with us to wait upon us. When we had made these arrangements, Brother Nicodemus led us out of the monastery by the gate through which we had come in, and we went down in a southerly direction at the foot of the holy mount Sinai and Horeb, on the side whereof the monastery is built. Indeed, this holy mount has two names; from the monastery up to the Chapel of St. Elias it is called Sinai, and from thence to the top it is called Horeb. These two names have been given to it according to what has been wrought thereon; because the commandments and the law were given there, it is called Sinai--that is, 'doctrine'--and because the Lord appeared there in fire and smoke, and the whole mount was on fire and smoked like a furnace, as we read in Exod. xix., therefore it was called Horeb or Choreb--that is, `heat.' Now, as we began to climb the holy mount, and were going up with silence, awe, and devotion, there arose disputing, shouting, and quarrelling between our ass-drivers who carried our baggage and the Arabs who accompanied us. This dispute was about the carrying of the baggage, for the Arabs would not suffer the ass-drivers to wait upon us, but said that it was their business to render us these services, even as they said that safe conducts and tolls for crossing the desert lay in their province. So these Arabs were striving to get our baggage, and the others were loth to give it up, and hence there arose such a disturbance that we ourselves took our baggage, and refused to give it to either of them, but put it on our own shoulders, turned round, and began to retrace our steps towards the monastery, to the end that, by the help of Calinus, the abbot of the monastery, and the chief of the Arabs, we might be enabled to ascend the mount in peace. When the Arabs and ass-drivers saw this, they made friends with one another, and promised that they would be quiet and keep the peace, only they prayed us not to return to the monastery. They took their loads back again from us, and we went up undisturbed. When we had to climb up steep places, and were come to the higher part of the mount, such of the pilgrims as were sickly became faint, and could go no further; so they were straightway taken back to the monastery. We went on, climbing up the stone steps which the monks have made there, for without them no one could get up, because of the steepness of the mountain-side, and its lofty walls of rock. In this place there is a darksome and frightful cleft in the mountain, through the midst whereof the steps lead, with a precipice upon either side; yet no man can walk up these steps on his feet, but must climb up with his hands and his feet,even as Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and his feet in I Sam. xiv.13. As we made our way up, lo, we came upon a fountain of living water, which in the beginning sprung up there by a miracle, the reason whereof I will shortly tell you. Though we were still fasting, yet we drank of the fountain, because we were sweating with toil and were athirst.

As we went on up the cleft in the mountain over an exceeding rough and stony road, we came to a chapel which is honoured with the name of the blessed Mary, and which was built in consequence of what is hereafter related. One of the brethren of the monastery dwells by the side of it, in a hut leaning against the chapel, and he opened the door to us. As we were going into the chapel, our guide, Brother Nicodemus, told us the following legend of the origin of the fountain and chapel, speaking in the Italian tongue. Once upon a time serpents, vipers, toads, and other venomous creatures, increased and multiplied within the monastery, and all round about the same, to such a degree that the monks could in no wise dwell therein, but decided to abandon the place, leave the monastery, and remove themselves to some safe and clean spot. So on the appointed day the abbot called together all the monks, and bade them make a solemn and devout procession to the holy mount Sinai. After the procession to the holy mount was over, he hinted that he would depart from that place. So they took their crosses and relics, and with singing of hymns ascended the holy mount even to the top, where Moses received the law and the tables from God's hand. After they had tearfully kissed the holy places, they went down in sorrow, because they were very loth to leave the place and the holy mount, from which nevertheless they meant to set out on the morrow, bearing with them all the furniture of the monastery, being driven to do so by the aforesaid necessity. When on their way down again they came to the place where this chapel now stands, lo, of a sudden a great light burst forth, and the glorious Virgin, the most sweet mother of the Lord, appeared to them in splendour, bade them not leave so holy a place, promised that they should be safe, and vanished. Comforted by this vision, the brethren went further down, but were moved by a sore temptation to think that what they had seen might be a delusion. So when they came to the place where the fountain now is, where then was no water, they halted, and prayed to God there exceeding devoutly that, if the vision had been real, He would deign to give them some sign thereof. O miracle! while they were yet praying presently a living fountain burst forth from the hard rock beside them, where before there had been no trace of water to be seen, which caused them great rejoicing as they prayed, and which from that time forth to the present day has never ceased to flow. As it bubbles forth from the rock it greatly comforts all who are ascending or descending the mountain. Having received this sign, the brethren joy­fully descended, and found the whole monastery and all the country round about cleansed from vermin, which not only fled away at that time, but even to the present day may not approach the place; indeed, should a serpent ever appear from without, it dies as soon as it approaches the walls.

After Brother Nicodemus had told us this story, we praised God, and entered into the chapel, where we greeted the immaculate Virgin Mary, and received indulgences for seven years, having recited the antiphons, versicles, and collects appointed in the `Processional' of the Holy Land.

At last we left that place, and climbing upwards with much labour came to a stone arch, which extends from one side of the ravine to the other. It is curved like a gate, and is made of great squared stones of exceeding ancient workmanship; neither is there any way up save through this gate, which, however, lacks doors. Here we learned that it is certainly true that no Jew can pass through this gate, a thing which is said to have often been proved; for either by terror or by miracle, when they come hither they are driven back, and even if they essay to come in disguise they are here betrayed. They yearn with an exceeding desire to behold the place of the giving of their law, even as we are eager to behold the place of the crucifixion of our Lawgiver; but beneath this gate they stop short, stiffen, grow faint, tremble, and are driven back by Divine miracle. It befell some years ago that a Jew changed the fashion of his garments, concealed his Jewishness, and joined a company of Christian pilgrims. He journeyed with them across the wilderness even to this place; and when the pilgrims who went before him passed through the gate, he followed them up to the same, but could go no further, and stood astounded. When they asked him what was the matter with him, and why he did not come in, he answered with tears and deep groans, 'O pilgrims, my brethren, I see Him crucified above the arch, and He will not suffer me to enter; and rightly so. For I confess I am, alas! a Jew, and ever up to this time I have been an enemy of Christ crucified, and I have feigned myself to be a Christian pilgrim, to the end that I might here pay honour to Moses, the giver of our law. But I clearly see that I cannot be let in to Moses save through Him crucified; wherefore from henceforth I believe in Christ crucified, I promise to be baptized, and I desire to die a Christian.' Straightway when he had finished speaking these words the cross disappeared, and he went up together with the others without hindrance, glorifying God. Afterwards he received baptism, and related what had befallen him to all whom he met, for a testimony against the blindness of the Jews. Since this time no Jew has ventured to ascend. Indeed, if they were able to pass freely through there would always be Jewish pilgrims there.

From this gate we went up no small distance and came to yet another gate, besides the aforesaid one. Passing through this gate we came into a delightful plain, which is the end and limit of Mount Sinai. From this plain there rises a round, lofty, and altogether rocky mountain, which is Mount Horeb. But sometimes the whole mountain, the lower part as well as the upper part, is called Horeb, and sometimes the upper part because of its rockiness is called the Rock of Horeb. So when we had passed in through the gate, we went up across the grassy field which lay between us and Horeb, for the field slopes a good deal, and came to a great and fair church. There are three chapels, all joined together, enclosed within one wall; the first is the chapel of St. Marina, the second is the chapel of the holy prophet Elisha, and the third is the chapel of the holy prophet Elijah. The entrance is through a small and low door, through which lowly portal we came into the chapel of St. Marina the Virgin, where we bowed ourselves to the earth, read the usual prayers from the `Processional,' and received indulgences. There is a delightful legend[1] about this holy virgin in the `Lives of

[1] See the account of this legend in the `Quarterly Statement' of the Palestine Exploration Fund, April, 1892, p.143.

the Fathers,' telling how for many years she dwelt in a monastery of monks, without it being discovered that she was a woman; how patiently she endured to be reproached with having seduced a girl; how she underwent the most severe penance for this fault, as though she had been guilty, and therein ended her days; how afterwards she became renowned, worked wondrous miracles, and was thought worthy of a chapel here in this most holy place.

Next we entered the chapel of the holy prophet Elisha, and after we had chanted the appointed prayers, received indulgences. This Elisha, when living, wrought exceeding great miracles, and when dead raised up a dead man to life, as we read in 2 Kings xiii. 21. It is believed that in imitation of his master Elijah, whose disciple he was, he often visited this holy mountain. We are also told that when Elijah was carried away in the fiery chariot, as we read in 2 Kings ii. 11, that Elisha went to this place, and sought him, thinking that he had been brought hither, or else that he told men to seek him here, as we read in 2 Kings ii.17.

After this we entered the third chapel, the chapel of Elijah, where we read prayers and received double indulgences; in the chapel, I mean, of his cave, which is behind the altar, in which cave that most zealous[1] of all the Lord's prophets, Elijah, dwelt after he had wrought that most notable deed of convincing the prophets of Baal, and the slaughter of 470 men, whom he slew beside the brook Kishon, as we read at length in 1 Kings xviii. When that exceeding wicked woman Jezebel learned this, she swore that she would cut off Elijah's head, and he was afraid, fled across the wilderness, and lay hidden in this cave. In 1 Kings xix. all this story is told at length. Elijah's cave is a narrow cavern in the rock, in which a

[1] Kings xix. 10

man cannot stand upright, but in which he can stand stooping, or kneel, or sit.

When we had seen these things, we came out of the church, and saw above it and overhanging it a great round rock, whereof the story goes that the raven which brought food to Elijah used to lay it upon this stone, and Elijah used to come out of the cave, climb up hither, and take the food; for God used to minister to the needs of His holy prophet by means of ravens, as we read in 1 Kings xvii. 6, `The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the. morning, and bread and flesh in the evening.'

Leaving this place, we went on and climbed up on to Horeb, the Mount of God. Near the path there lies a great broken piece of rock, which has been split off from the high rock above and fallen down. This forms an obstacle to the way which leads upwards, so that because of this mass one must make a circuit round about. They say that this rock was broken off in the days of the prophet Elijah, when God bade him come forth from the cave. When he was standing in the presence of the Lord, `behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces the rocks' (1 Kings xix. 11); and, indeed, near this part of the mount there is a terrible rent and upset of the rocks, as though some especially fierce storm had raged there. This is understood to have been done in the sight of Elijah, not only before his mind, but before his bodily eyes. Wherefore the author of the Speculum Historiale says that these three signs in which the Lord was not present--first, the exceeding strong wind that rent the rocks; second, the earthquake that overthrew mountains; third, the great fire that burned and consumed the rocks--were all of them material. The marks of this dreadful storm are to be seen at this day.

We climbed up through these broken stones and over­turned rocks with much toil and sweat, and were come almost to the top of the mount, when beneath the top, on the neck of the mount, we found a rock in which there is a hole, which is the hole spoken of in Exod. xxxiii. For when Moses was communing with the Lord, he desired to see the face of God and the glory of God. But the Lord said unto him, `Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me, and live.' And the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand. So out of devotion we all laid ourselves in the hollow place wherein the Lord laid down Moses upon his belly. In imitation of the prophet we laboriously wormed ourselves into this hole. The hole is a little way above the ground, and is low, not lofty, so that a man standing on the ground can get his outstretched arms and his head into it. If he wishes to get his breast also into the hole, he must raise himself from the ground, and then his arms, breast, and head are indeed within, but his legs hang outside, together with all the hinder part of him, as far as his navel. Thus the man lies as though he were between two mill-stones, for he lies with his belly resting upon the stone below, and the stone above touches his back. If a man chose, he could draw himself altogether into the hole, for it is a deep one; but I can hardly see how he could get out again without help, and someone to pull him back, seeing that he cannot get out by moving himself backwards like a crab, because he would be hindered from so moving both by the rock above and that below, albeit there is nothing in his way either before him or behind him; for there is not room enough inside to admit of his turning round and coming out head first. According to pious tradition, this is the cleft in the rock wherein the Lord placed Moses that he might see the back parts of God. Should anyone wish to know what the face and the back parts of God may be, let him consult Nicholas de Lyra on this passage.

When we had examined this hole, we went on upwards, even to the top of this most holy mount, above the rock wherein the aforesaid hole is. This is the rock upon which the Lord bade Moses stand (Exod. xxxiii.), saying, `Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock.' Upon this rock at this day a chapel has been built, which is called St. Saviour's Church. It is firmly shut up by an iron door, and stands upon the place where the holy prophet Moses received the Decalogue written by the finger of God upon two tables of stone, when he stood alone with the Lord upon the mountain-top, as we read in Exod. xxxiv. The law was given to Moses in the 1514th year before the birth of the Lord. When Brother Nicodemus, who had accompanied us up from the monastery, opened the door of this chapel, we took off our shoes, and entered it barefoot out of respect for the holiness of the place; and as was right, we bowed ourselves to the earth with especial devotion. We kissed the place whereon Moses received the law from the hand of God, which place is marked by two stones; and after reading the prayers appointed in the `Processional' of the Holy Land, we received plenary indulgences. After saying our prayers, we went into the choir, walked round about the altar, and viewed the place with very great devotion and delight, often kissing the footsteps of the angel who there appeared to Moses in visible. bodily form, and likewise kissing the footsteps of the holy prophet Moses. As I have said already, there are two stones at the entrance to the choir, which stones cover the holy footsteps; in one place stood the angel, in the other Moses knelt on his bended knees. There are two stones of white marble set in the pavement, and it is said that beneath these stones the marks of Moses's knees are still to be seen in the rock.

When we had seen these things, we came out of the church, put on our shoes again, went down a little way, about fifteen paces, by the side of the chapel, and entered a cave formed by the overhanging rock. Here we bowed ourselves to the earth, said the proper prayers, and received indulgences. It was in this cave that Moses abode when the Lord would not hold converse with him, and here he fasted forty days and forty nights, that he might be worthy to receive the law of the Lord. This cave is broad and great, and has no light save what comes through the entrance. It would be a very convenient dwelling for a contemplative monk. Opposite the cave is a height, whereon is builded a mosque, a Saracen church, and near it were sitting many Saracens, who, like ourselves, had climbed the mountain to visit the holy place. Indeed, Arabs, Egyptians, Saracens, and Turks make pilgrimages hither from distant parts of the world out of reverence for Moses. With the exception of Jews, men of all religions and sects flock together to this place from all parts of the world; the Jews alone cannot come up, and even if they could, the Gentiles would not suffer them to come in--at any rate, Christians would not endure that they should pray with them.

Moreover, upon this mount there is a great well, containing good, cold, wholesome water; but we could not get any of this water, because the well is exceeding deep, and we had nothing wherewith to draw water. They call this Moses's Well, whereof he drank; but this is not agreeable to Scripture, which says that he fasted there.

As we roamed round about the top of the mountain, viewing every part thereof, we saw great ruins of ancient walls all round it. It is believed that there was a monastery there, which, however, is all destroyed save the church, beside which two of the brethren of the Convent of St. Catharine continually dwell.

This mount is remarkable in that its upper part is round, and does not join on to other mountains. It is not higher than all the others, but stands more by itself and is harder to climb. From the monastery to the top of the mount is about seven thousand paces, not counting the places where one goes up, not by paces, but by steps up stairs. From this mount there is a view to far-off regions, but these are more clearly to be seen from St. Catharine's Mount, wherefore I shall speak of those regions when describing that place. The description of the holy mount is plain from what hath been said; its especial praise and its holiness may be more distinctly gathered from many places in the canonical books of Scripture, such as Exod. iii., xix., xx., and Deut. v., where we are told that the mountain did burn with fire even up to the heavens, and throughout Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Prophets. In all these places we are taught that the Mount Horeb of Sinai is a most excellent and lofty mount; a mount inhabited by God and frequented by angels; a mount of light, fire, and burning; a mount of dreadful clouds and darkness; a mount of wisdom and learning; a mount of pity and promise, of righteousness and cursing; a mount of lightning and flashing fire; a mount of trumpets and noise; a mount of kindness and alliance; a mount of clemency and propitiation; a mount of sacrifice and prayer; a mount of fatness;[1] and a mount of visions and contemplation.

When we had seen all the holy places on this mountain,

[1]Pinguedinis et coagulationis. The allusion is to Ps. lxvii. 16, in the Vulgate; the A.V. omits these words.

we sat down and made a meal, eating and drinking what we had brought with us. We remained for more than an hour upon the holy mount, for we had come in three hours from the monastery to the top of the mount. When we had done all there was to do on the holy mount, we addressed ourselves to the labours which remained, and went on our way as follows.

When we had eaten our meal, and had rested ourselves for a short time, we came down the west side of the mount, down a steep and dangerous road, very frightful and precipitous, so that sometimes we were forced to let ourselves slip down over the steep rocks lying on our bellies. Often while making our way down we came upon the heads of rocks which overhung a narrow path, where to slip would be death, for below were high walls of rock, down which a false step would cause one to fall into frightful valleys. At length we came to a monastery which is called `The Forty Saints,' where we entered the church, prayed, and received indulgences. At this time two brethren of the monastery of St. Catharine who sojourned there brought us figs, dried dates, and water, wherewith we refreshed ourselves. After this, as it was not yet noon, we sat down and debated whether we should ascend St. Catharine's Mount also on that same day, or rest until the morrow. We came to the decision that the younger and stronger men, and any who wished to do so, should ascend it then, and after having visited the place should come back again before sunset; but that the others, the elder and weaker pilgrims, should take the cool of the morning for making their ascent. Ten of the strongest of the pilgrims arose, ready to make the ascent in the intensest heat, whose names are as follows The Lord John, Count of Solms, Knight; the Lord Harry of Schomberg, Knight; the Lord Sigismund of Marspach, Knight; the Lord Caspar of Siculi, Knight; Master Lazinus, Archdeacon and Canon of the Church of Transylvania in Hungary; Brother Felix of Ulm, of the Order of St. Dominic; Father Paulus Guglinger, of the Minorite Order; Brother Thomas, a lay brother of the same Order; and two of the Count's servants, named John and Conrad. These, accompanied by some Arabs, began to climb the exceeding steep path up St. Catharine's Mount.

We went up the mountain by a long, rough, and stony path, through pathless valleys, over sheer cliffs, over­hanging stones, menacing rocks, frightful steeps, and precipitous ways, under a most burning sun. We had however, this consolation, that we found two springs of cool water, on our way up, at which we refreshed ourselves. Howbeit, one knight, overcome by such violent labour, failed altogether, and sat down in one of the steepest places, unable to go any further. We were already more than half-way up, and could see the top of, the mountain, albeit a long way above us, so that when the weakly knight saw it he despaired of being able to reach it, and begged us to go on, and let him await us there alone. In answer to this we encouraged him, and forced him to walk a little further upwards; but seeing that he many times fell from our hands onto the ground as though he were out of his wits, we tied a long towel to his girdle, by which some of us dragged him, while others held his hands and pulled by his arms, and others stood behind him and pushed him along; so that we had a wondrous deal of work with that pilgrim. At last by God's help we came to the top of Mount Sinai, to the angelic sepulchre of the most blessed virgin St. Catharine. Here we fell down, and devoutly kissed the place to which her sacred body was brought by the angels, and received indulgences, having first chanted the service appointed in the `Processional' of the Holy Land. After prayers we sat down, and began to burn with desire for bread and water, and each man wished that he had his basket and his bottle with him. I know not by what providential means it befell that I alone had with me a basket with biscuits, hard-boiled eggs, smoked meat, and cheese, which I had brought for myself alone, whereas the others had left all their provisions with the pilgrims who stayed down below. When they saw that I was so well provided, they congratulated me, and were angry with themselves because of their neglect, and one began to beg me for a scrap of meat, another for a crumb of bread, another for a bit of bread and cheese, and others asked me for a drink of wine. When I saw this I was amused, and gave nothing to any man, but took up my basket, and poured out all that was therein upon the hollow rock close by us, in the place where once St. Catharine's head had lain, and I thus jestingly invited the noblemen and pilgrims, saying, `Behold, my masters, it has been willed by Providence that here all of you should be my guests, and that I alone should bear the charges of your entertainment, which I would most willingly do, were I able to offer you good entertainment. For, lo, in this house, in this chamber, in this bed, dwelt and slept for more than thirty years after her passion my sweetest spouse St. Catharine, who was betrothed to me in my youth, and by Divine appointment, was chosen by me from among all the most precious maidens of the Kingdom of Heaven, seeing that on this virgin's feast-day, in the year 1452, out of love for her I renounced the world, and took the habit of the Preaching Friars, and after the lapse of a year, on the same day I publicly and solemnly professed obedience (to the Order), and thus bound myself for ever to the service of God and of this virgin. Come, therefore, as many of you as are here, and eat with gladness.' At this invitation all of them came, and right merrily ate all that we had. At this feast of mine there were present counts, knights, priests, and monks; moreover, there were other secular persons there--Christian heretics, Arabs, and Saracens--all of whom ate the scraps from my basket. There was plenty of wine, because others of the pilgrims had brought their bottles, but there was a want of water. When one of the Arabs, our guests, saw this, he took a jar, and did not run, but slid down the mountain-side, and after a short time came back bringing the jar full of fresh water, which he had brought from some fountain unknown to us. So we mixed our wine with water, and when we had completely finished our food and drink, down to the smallest crumbs, we brought our repast to an end. Never throughout our whole pilgrimage was my bag so thoroughly emptied and cleaned out as at this place. Meanwhile the sun was sinking, and the Arabs warned us to descend before he set; so we rose and ran swiftly down, and just after sunset rejoined our brethren at the Monastery of the Forty Saints. The description of the mount, and the nature of the ground, will appear in what follows.

THE ASCENT OF THE MOUNT OF ST. CATHARINE.

On the twenty-fifth, before daylight, we rose from the ground whereon we had lain in the open air in the court­yard of the convent, intending to climb the mountain a second time together with our brethren who had stayed behind the day before; howbeit the greater part of those who had gone up the day before remained quiet. We took with us Arab servants and ass-drivers, gave them bags of food and jars of water to carry, and followed our guide, Brother Nicodemus, at a very gentle pace out of consideration for our sickly and weak ones. From the monastery the road leads for a long way through gardens and bushes to the foot of the mountain, and for this part of our way we had the light of the moon. But when we came to the ascent of the mountain, we entered a valley which was shut in by lofty walls of rock, and went upwards out of these depths over, an exceeding rough road, without any light, for we were so enclosed by cliffs of rock that the moonlight could not reach us. In this valley we were so cold that our teeth chattered; we wished that we had a fire, but we had nothing wherewith to make one. Howbeit, one of the Arabs out of pity for the sufferers collected some dried weeds, rubbed them together in his hands till they were fit for taking fire, and then taking two stones from a torrent-bed struck them hard against one another till he lighted the weeds with the sparks, and we collected sticks and made a great fire, round which we stood and warmed ourselves. I reflected that the Arab must have learned this art of bringing fire out of flints from Prometheus, the son of Iapetus of Asia and of a nymph, who in his day, we are told by the poets, was a man of the greatest wisdom, and, moreover, after he had formed the figure of a man out of clay, put life into it by stealing fire from heaven, and was the first who taught mankind that fire could be brought out of flints. Fire is said to have been first discovered by Vulcan, for when a tree was set on fire by lightning, other trees caught fire from it, and all the wood in them was burnt. Vulcan, delighted at the heat, put on fresh fuel when the fire began to fail, and so kept in the fire, which he showed to men as though he had himself invented it, and thereby obtained as his reward the appointment of king over all Egypt.

When we had warmed ourselves comfortably, we took burning brands and walked onwards up that valley carrying them. In the valley in some places there were precipices and walls of rock, up which the Arabs climbed first, and then pulled up one pilgrim after another. I often thought that morning how wondrous were the ways of God: yesterday we could scarce breathe because of the heat, and today we could scarce live because of the cold; for the higher we went, the more keenly we felt the cold. Meanwhile, we came to a spring, beside which we again lighted a fire, and presently we were enjoying the warmth of the fire, even as on the day before we had enjoyed the coolness of the water at that spot. After we had warmed ourselves for a second time, we went on our way, climbing up a long and steep slope. At the top of this we came to a great wall of rock, from the crest of which there dripped clear and good water, though we did not care to drink it, because it was still early morning, and we were suffering much with cold. This water dripped into a hollow place in the rock, and made a sort of cistern there. Beside this cistern we again lighted a fire, and refreshed ourselves with its warmth; for the cold was so great, that had we not had the fire, we should have fainted with the chill. As we went on further, we climbed out of the rocky places, and came to a slope which was very steep, but smooth--I mean, without rocks or bushes--and this slope was grassy like a meadow. While we were toiling up it, lo, the day broke, the shadows grew long, and we saw, far above this neck, the head of the mount, at the sight of which we stood as it were abashed, wondering at the height which still remained after we had climbed up such a long way. The head or top of the mount cannot be seen from below, near its foot, because its shape is as follows: First, it has an exceeding wide base, whereon shrubs, bushes, and many brambles grow. Next come tall rocks, over which one makes one's way up through clefts to the belly of the mount, which is a great swelling that grows out of the body of the mount, as though the earth were blown out; and by reason of this swelling one cannot from below see either the head or the neck of the mountain. On this swelling there is a wide tract, containing many grassy places, which are excellent for pasture and bear good grass. This belly of the mount contains also a long path leading up to the tops of the adjoining mountains, in such sort that one crosses from this belly along a ridge to the tops of the other mountains. At the very end of this belly there rises the hill of Mount Sinai, for a great twisted and craggy rock rises at that place high aloft out of the swelling ground, even as a man's neck grows out of his body. This neck is so lofty that one shudders to behold it, and above the neck is the head of the mount. The rock forming the neck rises straight up towards the heavens, and is so set about with high and sharp crags, that one standing below cannot conceive how it can be possible for anyone to ascend to the top. Indeed, before the appearance of St. Catharine there, no man ventured to climb it; wherefore we read in the Speculum Historiale, Book XIX, ch. xvii., of some aged man who when visiting the Fathers of the Church said to them, `Behold the peaks of Mount Sinai, whose top reaches even unto heaven, and can in no wise be approached.' Notwithstanding all these hindrances, we manfully addressed ourselves to the task which we had begun, and came as far as the neck, along the crest of the other mountains. We now began the ascent of the neck itself, which is exceeding steep, and we climbed up over the rocks and cliffs like as a man climbs a tree, pulling ourselves up from one rock to another. The strongest of us went first, and held out their hands to those who followed, and so dragged them up. It was no place for faint-hearted men, or men who became giddy at looking down heights. We did not climb up in regular order one after another, but each man went up in the place nearest to himself, wherever he thought it best, for there were many things for one's hands to hold and one's feet to rest on, and so we went up, crawling round the mass of rock, suspended from the face of the cliffs like ants climbing a tree. At last, since `shrewd toil overcometh all,’[1] we came to the head or top of the holy mount. When we were there, so harsh, cold, and strong a wind was blowing, that we could neither say our prayers nor do any good thing without a fire. The Arabs straightway collected faggots, made a pile of them, and lighted a great fire, beside which we stood until the sun, which now had been risen for some time, grew higher, and the chillness of the wind grew less keen. When we were warmed, and in some sort revived, we went to the tomb to which the angels bore the glorious virgin St. Catharine, where we merrily chanted the service of praise appointed in the 'Processional' of the Holy Land, prayed exceeding devoutly, meditated for a very long while in silence, and received plenary indulgences.

We felt an especial joy on this notable spot; for hitherto our journeys had ever taken us further away from our home and native land, but from this desirable place we began to turn ourselves back, and set our faces steadfastly in the direction of our native land, our own country, and our home. How joyous and delightful a thing this is no man understands save he who has long sojourned in distant climes, and lived an exile in a strange land among a people whom he knows not, whose manners and language he does not understand, and has dwelt awhile with a

[1]Virgil, ‘Georg.,' i. 145.

nation of a strange sect, a strange religion, that worships as it were a strange God. He alone, I say, can understand that saying of the poet, `This is my own, my native land.' To this also Hugo Regularis bears witness when he says:

‘Dear unto ev'ry mortal is his home,

We ne'er forget it wheresoe'er we roam.’[1]

So in this holy place we felt a twofold joy and pleasure--­one from the fresh remembrance of our native land, toward which we were now turning our faces; and another from the presence of the virgin's tomb, which we beheld with our eyes, touched, and dealt with at our pleasure. This tomb stands as follows: The head or top of Mount Sinai is all of one piece of rock, which on the top is flat, so as to form a round flat place not very wide, measuring about six paces across. The floor of this place is the crest of the rock, and all round about it at the edge there runs a dry stone wall like a fence, which has been built lest anyone walking carelessly should fall headlong down, lest those who look down from any part should grow dizzy because of the great height, and to the end that one may walk about there with greater freedom and less fear. In the midst of this stone floor there is a place hollowed out for the reception of a human body lying at full length. This hollow does not reach very deep into the rock, but only just sufficiently deep for the body lying therein to fill up the hollow, and make it level with the rest of the floor. The hollow is not made by any iron tools of human workmen, but is impressed in the rock by a miracle; for when the angels bore the virgin's body hither from Alexandria, and placed it upon this exceeding hard and smooth rock, presently the rock by the action of angelic power yielded to the saint's body, even as soft wax yields to anything hard and heavy that is laid

[1] I do not know who is meant by ‘Hugo Regularis.' The lines are from Ovid, `Ex Ponto,' i. 3, 35.-ED.  

upon it, and so the saint's body pressed out a coffin for itself fitting its shape, wherein it lay at rest for thirty years unknown to mankind, guarded by the angels. A proof of this guardianship is given by hollow places on either side suitable to sit in, as though someone had sat there. Indeed, the angels who watched over her body are said to have sat there, perhaps in material bodies, even as in Holy Scripture they are often said to have stood, walked, and flown, and the angel who announced the Lord's Resurrection is said to have sat upon the stone of the sepulchre (Matt. xxviii. 2; Mark xvi. 5). Albeit an angel that has borrowed a material body when he wished to sit would not need a seat or chair, even as he would not need to rest himself by sitting, nevertheless they have formed suitable places for sitting beside the holy body of the virgin, that they may show that they guarded the holy body and ever remained beside it. How the virgin's body was found here, and was translated from hence into the monastery, will be found on page 4.

We bowed ourselves to the earth before the place in which the virgin lay, and placed ourselves therein, not out of presumption or curiosity, but out of piety. We measured our bodies against the form of the hollow, and inferred that she must have been of tall stature. At last, after we had paid all due honour, or at all events all the honour which we were able to pay to this holy place, we turned away to view other things.

THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD WHICH WE SAW IN THE FOUR QUARTERS

OF THE EARTH FROM THE TOP OF THIS HOLY MOUNT, AND

A DESCRIPTION OF THE LANDS, WATERS, AND SO FORTH.

We stood on the brow of St. Catharine's Mount, and viewed the lands, provinces, and districts that lay round about, and we could see even to very distant parts of the world, because we stood exceeding high, and our view was not hindered by clouds or any other impediment. First we cast our eyes eastward toward a wide piece of water, to wit, the Arabian Gulf, also called the Red Sea, which comes from the Indian Ocean, and to the eastward our eyes could see nothing but water, which reached as far as the mountains of Midian, so that we saw the Red Sea as it were encircling Mount Sinai. The navigation of the Red Sea is exceeding difficult and dangerous, wherefore Jerome in his epistle on the monastic life addressed to the monk Rusticus speaks of this place as follows: `They who sail over the Red Sea come to a great city after many difficulties and dangers, for either shore is inhabited by tribes of wandering men, or rather most savage brutes; the sailors must be ever on their guard, ever with arms in their hands, and must carry food for a whole year. The sea is full of sunken rocks and exceeding hard shoals, so that the pilot must sit on the top of the mast and call out his orders for the working of the ship from thence. It is a lucky voyage if the ship reaches the harbour of the aforesaid town in six months, after which the ocean begins to open itself out. Across this ocean you will scarcely reach India after a year's continual sailing, and come to the river Ganges, which the Holy Scripture calls Phison, where grows everything that is most costly, and where are the mountains of gold,[1] which no man can come near because of the gryphons and dragons and other monstrous creatures of huge size.' Thus far St. Jerome. From this same Indian Sea there extends another great gulf towards the east, which is the Persian Gulf, and extends into the country of Persia, from which it takes its name. This country, which is called Persia in Holy Scripture, is called

[1] Herodotus, iii. 102 et seq.

in Greek after Perseus, the King of the Argives, who after many battles conquered it, and forced the people, who up to that time had been rustics, to dwell in a civilized fashion; lie also gave the country his own name. About this Perseus the poets tell many fables; for an account of his winged horse, see Part I., page 78b. In this country there once was an exceeding puissant city, Persepolis, which was founded by Perseus. Pliny tells us in his 50th Book that the Persian apples, which we in German call Pfirsch (peach), were brought from that country into ours, and therefore are called Persian apples; they are poisonous in Persia, but here they are sweet and pleasant to the taste according to the `Catholicon.'[1] This country joins Media, and is only separated from it by some lofty mountains which stand between them, even as Italy is separated from Germany, and they were of old two great kingdoms, whereof Cyrus made one.

The country of the Medes has to the east the Caspian Mountains, and on the south Persia; the country of the Persians has to the east the Indians, to the south the Red Sea. In the country of the Medes was once Egbathanis, a most puissant city, built by Arphaxad, as we read in Judith i., and the city of Cusis (? Susa), whereof we read in Esther.

Next we cast our eyes towards the south, into the gulf of the Red Sea, and beyond its channel we saw exceeding lofty mountains. In that place is that most desolate wilderness the Thebaid, wherein the most approved monks once dwelt. This wilderness is bounded on the south by the ocean, and by the Nile, the river of Egypt, on the west. It was in this wilderness that the great St. Antony,

[1] `Catholicon': A treatise on hermetic philosophy by three authors, of whom Marsilio Ficino is the best known. Said to be translated into German by Vigilantius de Monte Cubiti. Nurnberg, 1669, 8vo.

  whose name is known to all the world, used to dwell, as did also St. Arsenius, the three saints who were named Macarius, and many other saints of exceeding great holiness.

The first things that we saw in the Red Sea were desert islands, whose rocks gleamed white with salt. But in this sea there are many valuable islands which we could not see. On the shore of the Red Sea which was on our side we saw a very notable seaport, which in old times was called Berenice or Ardech, but now is called Tor. Ships which come bearing aromatic spices from India anchor at this port, and from thence the spices are carried into Egypt, and from Egypt across the Mediterranean Sea even to our own country. This is the furthest harbour of the East which is known to us, and therein are always many great Indian ships, which, however, are so built and framed together that there is no iron in them, neither do they dare to have iron anchors or chains, plates or nails, nor any iron arms, neither axes nor partisans, nor any iron instrument whatever. The reason of this is that on the shore of the Indian Sea there are cliffs and mountains made of the loadstone, by which ships bound for Arabia must needs pass. If, then, a ship containing any iron were to come to that place, the loadstone would straight­way draw the ship to it by reason of the iron, and it would be dashed against the rocks and wrecked; for the loadstone draws iron in wondrous sort towards itself. Whoso cares to read more about this, let him look at the Speculum Naturale, Book XX., eh. xx.1

Moreover, in several parts of the East there are stones of such a nature that they draw to themselves men who wish to pass by them, even as the loadstone draws iron;

[1] Compare Wright's note to Sir John Maundeville's `Travels,' ch. xx., in Bohn's Antiquarian Library.

these travellers when they are being drawn along laugh and make merry, and then are dashed against the rocks and perish. These rocks are spoken of by the Conciliator[1] in his book named Doctrina, ch. lxvii,, where he says that because of these hindrances no man can sail to our antipodes, even if the enormous extent of ocean did not prevent him.

Brother Nicodemus told us that the monks of St. Catharine share with the Soldan of Egypt the toll which is paid by loaded ships using this port; and that near the sea-shore they have a great garden of palm-trees, from which they gather so many dates that there are enough to last them throughout the year, and yet they sell the greater part of the fruit.

Beyond the gulf of the sea toward the south, we saw as we looked down toward the west an exceeding high mountain, which they call Olympus of Aethiopia, to distinguish it from Olympus of Macedonia. At sunrise this mountain pours forth flames in a terrible fashion for five hours. From this mountain Aethiopia begins, which country was of old named Atlanta, and is bounded by the river Nile. It is a very wide land, and brings forth strange men and wondrous beasts in its wildernesses. Some of these men look upon the sun when he rises and sets with dreadful curses, and always angrily abuse the sun because of their sufferings from the heat. There satyrs run about, who are so like men that they are reckoned to be men indeed, though they are not so, and there are many wonders in that country. It is bounded by Libya, a great district of Africa, and by Egypt.

Withdrawing our eyes from hence, and from these distant regions, we fixed them upon the desert plain which lies between Mount Sinai and the Red Sea, and

[1] Vol. i., part ii., p. 375.

wondered at its size and desolation. Brother Nicodemus told us that in that wilderness there was a monastery of holy men, which monastery no man in modern times has been able to find, albeit the bells are heard every day ringing at all the canonical hours. Some of the brethren of the Monastery of St. Catharine have tried to find it, and declare that they heard the sound of the bells, but could by no means find the monastery itself. They believe that this monastery is hidden by the grace of God because of the sins of the Arabs, that they who dwell therein may not be troubled by their insolence, as are the other monasteries in the desert. In this same way Lot was hidden from the people of Sodom (Gen. xix.), and the city of Dothaim (A.V. Dothan) was hidden from the Syrians, that they might not take Elisha the prophet (2 Kings vi.). Howbeit there are some Arabs with the brethren who declare upon their oath that they have been in that monastery, but that when they have come forth from it straightway they have lost both the monastery and the way to it. Sometimes some of the brethren of St. Catharine's disappear, and no man knows whither they have gone, but they believe that they are translated to this monastery to fill up the places of those who die therein from time to time. Let no one think this childish or fanciful, for we read a like tale in the ‘Lives of the Fathers' about this very desert. The tale is that there dwelt there a holy man whom no one was able to find. The abbot Postumius, who was the visitor of the fathers and saints who dwelt in the wilderness, sought him for along while, but could not find him; for whensoever religious men wished to meet him, he would run away into the wilderness to some unknown spot, and avoid all converse with mankind; yet he was said to have met (the abbot), who, I suppose, received this favour because of the strength of his faith. When as they talked the abbot asked him why he took such pains to avoid mankind, he answered.[1] ‘If men were to converse with me, the angels with whom I now converse would flee from me.' We read the same thing of St. Hilarion, whom the robbers who haunted the wilderness knew and often sought for, but could by no means find the old man's cell. See Speculum Historiale, Book XVII., ch. xix., and Book XIX, ch. xvii.; also Jerome's `Life of St. Hilarion,' ch. ix., which is the original passage.

From hence we turned to the north, where it joins the east, and cast our eyes toward the land of Arabia, which contains exceeding wide deserts, and also in many parts abounds in divers precious perfumes. For this cause it is called 'Araby the Blest;' it extends between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and is called `blest' because of the singular goodness of its soil; for in some places when the ground is dug up some clods of sweet-scented earth are found. In that country gold is dug up, and is not smelted out by fire, as is usually done elsewhere, but is dug up in pieces the size of nuts and chestnuts, and of so bright a colour that it adds lustre to precious stones to be set in that gold. In this Arabia is the town of Mecca, the city of the accursed Mahomet, and therein is the temple of his sepulchre, which it is said is so subtly suspended by mechanic art that those who know not how it is done believe that it hangs in the air by some Divine power.

[1] See C. W. Goodwin's translation of the A.-S. version of the ` Life of St. Guthlac of Croyland,' ch. x.: ` Hast thou never learned, Brother Wilfrith (said St. Guthlac), that he who hath led his life after God's will, the wild beasts and wild birds have become the more intimate with him? And the man who would pass his life apart from worldly men, to him the angels 'approach nearer. But he who frequently longeth for the converse of worldly men, cannot meet with angelic discourse.' London: J. R. Smith, 4, Old Compton Street, Soho Square. 1848.

The truth is that there are loadstones bearing the right proportion to one another in size, which are placed in the ground below and in the vaulted roof above, and the coffin of Mahomet, which is of iron, hangs in the air between these two stones, as though it were fixed there by an effort of Divine will. There was something made of stone after the same fashion in Venus's lantern, at which the heathen wondered. Moreover, in a certain temple there was an iron idol hung in the air in the same manner, as we are told in the Speculum Naturale, Book IX., ch. xx., and hereafter on page 72b.

Turning now more to the north, we looked in the direction of the land of Chaldaea, whereby Arabia is bounded. In this country the great city of Babylon was built by Nebuchadnezzar, as we read in the Book of Daniel.[1]

In this Babylon was the great obelisk, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. Semiramis, the Queen, caused a stone to be hewn out of the Armenian Mountains, one hundred and fifty feet long, and twenty-four feet thick, and brought it to Babylon, where she set it up, to the astonishment of all beholders. Near this city is the field of Dura, where the giants met together after the Flood to build the Tower of Babel, and where the confusion of tongues was wrought. In this field Nebuchadnezzar set up the golden image for a god, which image Ananias, Azarias, and Misael would not worship, and were therefore cast into the fiery furnace. Here was the idol Bet and the lions' den. This city was adorned by the chastity of Susanna, the wife of Joachim, and is very often mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. From this country, as I have already said on page 25, the Gipsy people, whom we

[1] See Sir John Maundeville's `Travels,' ch. v. Wright's `Early Travellers in Palestine,' p.149 (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).

call Zigeuner, come. These people with their wives and children have in our own times spread themselves over the whole of Europe, and are not suffered to enter into towns, seeing that they are the subtlest of thieves. The Venetians have altogether shut them out of their realm, both because of their thefts and because of their being suspected to be spies. In like manner the Lord Eberhard, Duke of Wurtemburg, will not suffer them to enter his duchy, because he hath in his own proper person had experience of their treachery when he was in trouble in the Holy Land, and was betrayed by them to the Saracens. To the end that they may be better treated by Christian people, they falsely declare that they come from Upper Egypt, and have been banished from thence that they may do penance for that they would not show hospitality to the Blessed Virgin with the child Jesus and Joseph when they fled into Egypt, which story is false. So likewise they pretend that they are Christians, are baptized time after time, and make a mock of the Sacraments. I once asked one of them from what country he came. He answered that he and all the rest came from Chaldaea, and had always been wont to use the Chaldaean tongue.

Next to Chaldaea is Assyria, which is a great province, wherein Ninus built the exceeding great city of Nineveh. Both these cities, Nineveh and Babylon, stand on the bank of the river Euphrates; one of them was built by King Ninus, the other by Queen Semiramis, and they are a long distance apart. Beyond them is Mesopotamia, between the Euphrates and Tigris, rivers of Paradise, after which comes Armenia and many other countries.

Next we turned toward the west, and on our right hand saw afar off the mountains of Arabia, which they call the `Chain of the World.' These mountains stand over, against the Holy Land, on the further side of Jordan and the Dead Sea. Of these mountains the chief is Mount Nebo, Pisgah, or Abarim, into which by God's command Moses went up to see the Holy Land, as we read in Deut. xxxiv. i. From Mount Sinai we could plainly see this mount. These mountains are spoken of in Part I., pages 210 and 243.

We saw also in the wilderness Hor, where Aaron died (Numb. xx..26). But because of the mountains of the wilderness, and the aforesaid mountains of Arabia, we were not able to see Judaea, nor Palestine, nor the Great Sea, and also because they were a great way off; nevertheless, we knew excellently well the position and quarter wherein the Holy Land lay. So we bowed ourselves down with our faces toward the Holy Land and the glorious city of Jerusalem, and worshipped the Lord's sepulchre and the holy places. We trust that these our prayers were effectual, because it is written, `If Thy people shall pray unto Thee toward the Holy Land and the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house built for Thy name, Thou, O Lord, wilt hearken unto them' (1 Kings viii.)

We also saw the wildernesses and desert places wherein the children of Israel wandered for forty years, and the mountains down which we had come--for instance, Mount Calpis, which is spoken of on page 36 b, and the descent of Rochaim, spoken of on page 28b. We saw, too, the holy Mount Horeb of Sinai, a long way below us, with other mountains growing out of it round about, neither was there any mount between it and us; yet it was so far away, that though we saw the mount and its top, yet we could by no means see the chapel which stands on the top thereof. All the mountains round about seem to be mere hills in comparison with St. Catharine's Mount.

After we had viewed all the countries that lay round about, both far and near, we sat down, brought out our food from our scrips, and made a merry meal by the side of the sepulchre to which the angels bore St. Catharine.

THE DESCENT OF THE PILGRIMS FROM THE MOUNT OF

ST. CATHARINE THE VIRGIN AT SINAI.

When we had done all that there was to be done on the holy mount, we kissed the holy place, and went down with exceeding great joy, not walking, but running and tumbling down, because we were now beginning our return home, and though there was still a great gulf between us and our own country, yet it was not so fixed that they which would pass thither from hence cannot. At the belly of the mountain, we came to the spring which they call St. Catharine's Fountain, and there we drank and rested awhile. Thence we walked or slid down a good way further, and came to another fountain, where we cut boughs, said to be of the same kind as the bush in which God appeared to Moses, and which they also say have great power to help those who have the falling sickness, if carried with them. Whether this be true, the judicious reader must decide for himself. Going down from this spring, we came to a bed of reeds, and there we cut long wands, which they say are of the same sort as the rod of Moses, wherewith he wrought so many miracles, which he laid up in the ark of the covenant, and which we read of in Exod. iv., xi., xiv., and many other places in Holy Scripture. Some say that a woman labouring of child, if she hold one of these rods in her hand, shall be delivered without danger. But these are stories current among the laity, to which I do not pay much heed. After much labour and fatigue, we came down to the Monastery of the Forty Saints, almost shoeless; for the ascent and descent of those two mounts had ruined us in shoes, so that some of the knights had to go barefoot from hence even to Cairo, and others had only broken shoes with no soles to them. A new pair of shoes scarcely holds out during the ascent and descent of those two mounts, and in the matter of shoes we had not provided ourselves sufficiently. When we were about to leave the convent of St. Catharine to ascend these mountains, the following piece of good luck befell me: One of the sick knights who stayed behind brought out a new pair of shoes which he had bought in Jerusalem, made of costly gray, or rather yellow leather, and said, 'Lo, Brother Felix, I bought these shoes meaning to climb the holy mounts in them; but now seeing that I cannot climb thither, I pray you take them, and let me thus share the steps which you will take in them.' So I thanked him, and straightway tried on the new shoes to see if they would fit my feet, and left my old almost worn-out pair behind in my room, for they certainly would not have held together during our ascent of even the first mountain. Now, when we were come to the Convent of the Forty Saints, we cooked cakes for dinner, and sent our ass-drivers to St. Catharine's Convent to bring our asses to us, because we could walk no further by reason of our weariness, our want of shoes, and the heat of the sun.

VISIT TO THE PLACES WITHIN THE MONASTERY, AND IN

THE GARDENS WITHOUT THE SAME.

After we had dined, we made a procession to the holy places in the monastery. First we entered the church, where we bowed ourselves to the ground, and received indulgences. In this church are buried forty monks who for the sake of the faith in Christ were slain in the monastery by the Arabs with divers tortures, wherefore the place is called `The Monastery of the Forty Saints.’ Two brethren of St. Catharine's Monastery alone dwell there, as guardians of the place, and these two brethren suffer many insults from Arabs who wander about that wilderness. Next we went through the cells of the monastery, which are miserably poor, and are made of woven reeds plastered over with mud; but all round the monastery there is a good strong wall like that of a fenced castle, and it is not of a very great circuit. After we had seen the monastery, we went out of the gate into the garden of the monastery, which in truth, wondrously unlike the wilderness beside it, is full of green leaves, flowers, and fruit, for in it grow tall fruit-trees, salad herbs, grass, and grain. In it we saw more than three thousand olive-trees, many fig-trees and pomegranates, and store of almonds and so forth. St. Catharine's Convent gets enough oil from this garden to feed the lamps in the church, and to use for a relish to the food in the kitchen. Every year the monks send jars full of the fruits of this garden to Cairo, to the King of Egypt, the Soldan, as a present to him, and a recompense for his patronage and protection, as I shall tell you hereafter. They have salad and relishes for their bread all the year round from the herbs that grow here, and hay from the grass to feed beasts. It is wondrous that there should be such a paradise in the wilderness, where everything is dried and burned up by the sun's heat, and in the barren sand no seed or root will grow; yet what cannot human industry accomplish? Above this garden at the foot of both of the mountains the monks have dug three great wells at a little distance from one another, into which all the water which runs down the mountains in the winter-time is received, and flows thence through pipes from one well to another, and at last runs into the garden like living water. It is led throughout the garden in rills, and this constant watering makes the sand so rich that the desert bears fruit in like manner as doth fruit-growing soil. Then ancient Fathers who served God in the wilderness used to do this, as we read in the Speculum Historiale, Book XIX. ch. xiv

THE COMMENDATION AND PRAISE OF THE HOLY MOUNTS

HOREB, OF SINAI, AND ST. CATHARINE'S OF SINAI.

The position of the holy mounts may be in some sort understood from the foregoing description and the figure which is here drawn. Both these mountains may be taken as one, seeing that though their tops are separate, yet their feet are one; for each of them rises from one and the same foot, and rests upon the same foundation, even as we speak of one hand, albeit the hand has five fingers separate one from another, but joined together at the base. Thus we must understand the collect for St. Catharine, which says that the body of the blessed Catharine was laid by the angels in the same place where God gave the law to Moses--that is to say, in the same mountain as regards its foot, but not in the same mountain as regards its top. Both of them, therefore, here appear under one description, even as they both are called by the same name of Sinai.

Sinai is a mount in the country of Midian above Arabia. It overtops the others in height, and its head appears to reach almost to the heavens. It is worthy of the greatest reverence because of the frequent appearance of the true God in the days of old on one of its peaks, and the wondrous entombment of the most blessed virgin St. Catharine upon the other. These two peaks of the holy mount were never trodden by man before the times of Moses and of Catharine, for no one dared to climb to the top of Horeb, because even before Moses the common belief of mankind was that the terrible God dwelt on that mountain-top, and that no man could look upon it or draw near to it and live. Neither did anyone venture to climb to the top of Sinai, because its top seemed to be as it were close to heaven, and the steep and lofty crags seems to leave no place up which a man could climb. Furthermore, on the first mountain-top fire was often seen to flash even before Moses went up thither; while the second was always covered with snow and hard with frost before St. Catharine was buried there.

There are many mountains in the world from which fire breathes forth--for instance, the volcano Aetna, and Bobius (?)--but their flames are not caused in the same way; for this mount poured forth flames of fire because it was miraculously kindly God Himself, as we read in Deut. v. and Exod. xix.; for we are told that the mount burned with fire as the Lord came down, and the voice of a trumpet sounded. Now, the whole multitude was not less than a hundred thousand in number, and for five days the burning fire was everywhere seen by them, yet was nothing burned there, but the grass itself remained green. See Eusebius De Evang. Praepar., Book VIII., ch. iii.

There are many mountains which are covered with snow, and frozen hard, but this mount is white with snow in testimony of the virginity of St. Catharine. Moreover, there are many mountains with caves in them, wherein the heathen used to act superstitiously, and worship idols; but this mount contains caves wherein prophets awaited the oracles of God, and holy monks abode instant in the contemplation of things Divine. Many mountains are consecrated to gods, as was Mount Aracinthus to Minerva, Malea to Apollo, Olympus to Jove, Misenus (sic) to Aeneas, Atlas to the Satyrs,....the Mount of Offence to Moloch, Mount Paphos in Cyprus to Venus, and so forth; but this Mount Sinai is consecrated to the only true God, and is the mount whereon it is His good pleasure to dwell, for the Lord shall dwell thereon even unto the end. They say of Mount Atlas that its height overtops the clouds, that it contains unknown creatures which war against the life of man, and that in the daytime its silence is so unbroken that no one can approach it without a shudder, and a feeling that something Divine lies hid therein; by day it looks cloudy and foul, but by night it gleams with many lights, like the stars in heaven, and rings with songs, clashings of cymbals, and the flutes of the goat-men and Satyrs. But our holy mount is of a height proportionate to mankind, neither are there any fearful beasts thereon; it endures light and darkness like any other part of nature, and thereon are no visions of dragons, but all is holy and Divine.

It is said that in the country near the Red Sea there is a mount named Climax, where there are said to be women who are notable for long beards. These women pass their time most cruelly in hunting, have tigers instead of dogs, and breed leopards and lions; wherefore no one dares go near that mount for fear of those cruel women, who even charge naked against armed men and overthrow them, with the help of the beasts which they tame. No such beings dwell upon the holy mount, but only a few hungry wretches, all of whose rage can be quieted by the gift of a morsel of bread. I could tell many tales of the terrors of (other) mountains, which cause men to dread and fear them, whereas Mount Sinai is altogether free from all such; on the contrary, it is so desirable in all respects that it is pleasant to mankind, so much so that men of, the highest ranks flock thither from the uttermost parts of the world. Let this suffice for Mount Sinai.

THE RETURN OF THE PILGRIMS TO THE MONASTERY OF

ST. CATHARINE, AND THE MANY HOLY PLACES ON THE WAY.

Now, our asses were brought to us from the Monastery of St. Catharine to the Monastery of the Forty Saints, and we mounted and rode down by the side of the garden into the valley which lies between the two mountains. When we had almost reached the end of the garden, we entered the garden through the dry stone wall, leaving our asses outside at our guide's bidding. Here we came to a great rock, wherein is a consecrated chapel, which we entered and said our prayers that we might obtain indulgences. In this cave is said to have dwelt St. Onofrius, one of the great anchorites. There is a beautiful story told about him in the `Lives of the Fathers,' how while he dwelt here the hut, which he had built at the mouth of the cave in that place, fell down, and the trees which stood round about the rock fell and withered away. From this place we went onward down the valley, and came to a solitary rock that stands by the side of the road and is not joined to the mountain, but rises all by itself out of the ground to twice a man's height. It is broad at the foot, but sharp above, and looked as though it were not rooted in the ground, but stood like an artificial pyramid rather than a natural piece of rock. This is believed to be the rock of Horeb, from which Moses brought forth water by smiting it with his staff (Exod. xvii. 6). Moreover, men think that the second bringing forth of water, mentioned in Numb. xx., was from this same rock, which was called the water of strife. The rock did not give forth water longer than was required to give drink to the people and their cattle, that it might more plainly be shown to be a miracle. For this cause also the rock was a solitary one, neither joined to the mountain nor fixed to the ground, that the children of Israel might see that God made fresh water in the rock for them to drink, and did not bring up a stream from below. Had the water flowed continuously since then, the miracle would not have been a great one, but an ordinary one, seeing that St. Clement and many other saints have by their prayers obtained an overflowing of waters from below, and a bursting forth of fountains in places where before there was no water; not that thereby fresh water was created, but veins of water beneath the earth were directed thither and remained ever bubbling forth, even as you may read in the case of the fountain given to the monks for a sign, page 44a. But the fountain of this rock flowed not from the waters beneath the earth, but from out of the treasures of God, wherefore Moses said (Numb. xx.), `Open unto them, O Lord, Thy treasures, a fount of living water.'

(Half a page of mythology is here omitted.-ED.)

Of our fountain the psalm saith, `He clave the hard rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth' (Psa. lxxviii. 15). This rock bears at the present day the marks of openings in divers places, for the water did not gush forth from the foot of the rock, but from all sides of the rock itself, as may be seen in it at this day. This rock is rendered exceeding venerable both by the miraculous pouring forth of water, and by its typical meaning, for according to the Apostle (I Cor. x. 4), it signifies Christ Himself: `And that rock was Christ.' So we walked round this rock, wherein was Christ, and kissed it.

From hence we went further on, and came into the valley called Tholas, where we saw the ruins of an old monastery, wherein once many holy men dwelt, and by the side of the monastery a great and deep cave, leading into the bowels of the mountain, into which the holy Fathers of old retired, hiding themselves from the created light of day, that in the darkness they might behold the uncreated light, for in St. John i. we read, `The light shined in the darkness,' and David saith in Psa. cxxxix. 12, `Yea, the darkness is no darkness with Thee, but the night is as clear as the day; the darkness and light to Thee are both alike.' This cave was as it were a school of Divine contemplation,' wherein men were led through material darkness to the vision of heavenly light; not like the cave of Acheron, near the city of Heraclea, which is said to lead to the infernal regions, or like the Hibernian cave called St. Patrick's Purgatory, wherein those who enter behold horrible sights, and are terrified by frightful visions, as though they had been plunged into hell. This thing is not brought about by Divine power, or by a miracle, but by natural means and disorder of the brain, for Master Henry[1] de Hassia, . . . , quotes Nicholas Ore,[2]

[1] Henry of Hesse, or of Langenstein, was a professor at the University of Vienna, died 1397. A life of him has been written by O. Hartwig.

[2] I cannot identify this writer. It is remarkable that in the earlier versions of the legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory, the name of the knight who descends into it is `Owain,' and in the later, `Nicholas.' For an account of St. Patrick's Purgatory, see the works of Perez de Montalvan, Purdan Padric, edited by R. Williams, 1878, etc.

  an extremely learned doctor of natural science, to the effect that in that cave in Ireland, and in many others elsewhere, there are exhalations and thickenings of the air, whence it results that those who enter therein fall asleep and dream wondrous dreams, and see shocking things as plainly as if they were awake, yet they are asleep, and are by the evil nature and bad air of the place enrapt and ravished of their wits; wherefore (when they wake) they write down what they have seen as though they were miracles, and describe them as having really happened, whereas they have only befallen them through the unhealthy state of their imaginative faculty, as is the case with dreams, which are often proved to have visited people when they are awake.

After leaving Tholas we went down the valley, and came to another monastery, which now is a small one, but once was fairly large, which is called that of SS. Cosmas and Damian, who, as we are told in their legend, were natives of Arabia, a country from which also other exceeding skilful physicians have come. I believe that this is why here in Arabia they have a monastery dedicated to them in preference to other saints. Now, this monastery is built upon the place where more than thirteen thousand seven hundred men were smitten by God, being those who perished in the sedition of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numb. xvi.). In this place the earth clave asunder beneath the feet of those wicked men, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses, and they went down quick into the pit. After this thing had come to pass, presently the earth became smooth again, as though nothing like this had befallen, as we are told by the author of the Speculum Historiale; wherefore we were not able to see any trace whatsoever of this opening of the earth. In this place we stood trembling, being frightened at the severity and swiftness of God's judgment, for those murmurers stood ready to stir up sedition, and feared not, when, lo, the earth parted beneath their feet. Who would not be afraid when he heard this? We read that the same thing came to pass in the days of St. Ambrose in a village in Tuscany, where the earth opened and swallowed up a certain rich man's house with all his substance, but there a deep pit remained on the spot for a testimony. Also in the `Legend of St. Benedict' we read how suddenly a balcony fell upon one who was opposed to that holy man, and killed him. So, too, in. St. Jerome's Life' we read how he corrected certain nuns for their Simoniacal reception of novices; but as they did not mend their ways, the earth opened and swallowed up the convent, nuns and all.

(Half a page of mythology is here omitted.-ED.)

Turning away from the aforesaid place, we went down into that wide and spacious valley through which three days before we had journeyed to St. Catharine's Monastery, as is told on page 40 a, b. This is a pleasant and spacious valley, which extends between the mountains in the form of a cross, and albeit the mountains round about it are lofty, yet the valleys are light and bright, because of the distance of the mountains from one another. Were there only water in that country, it would be a noble tract for men to dwell in, for cities and villages. It was in these valleys that the children of Israel pitched their camp after they had crossed the Red Sea (Exod. xxi.). This country is called the Wilderness of Sinai over against Mount Sinai, wherein the children of Israel dwelt for the greater part of those forty years during, which the Lord kept them in the wilderness.

We now came down to a place where the valleys join together and form a great plain. There we saw a tall stone which was like the pulpit of a preacher, on which stone Moses is said to have stood and told the people the words of the Lord, also to have set forth to them the law which had been given to him, received the answers of the people there, and taken them back to God on the mount, and here he often told the people what was the Lord's will.

In truth, the place is exceeding well suited for preaching from, and is very roomy below for the people, which it needed to be, because the people were many--to wit, six hundred thousand men at arms, besides women and children. Moreover, a countless mixed multitude came up with them, and sheep and cattle of all kinds in exceeding great numbers (Exod. xii.)

It was in this place, because it is wide and spacious, and all the valleys round about have a view of it, that the children of Israel sacrificed to the golden calf which Aaron made for them in the absence of Moses, when he was with the Lord in the mount. They danced naked round the calf, and collected together all the people from all their dwellings and tents, making proclamation of the feast of the calf, and saying, ‘These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.' Some of the elders and rulers even went up to the place where Moses was wont to stand to speak to the people, and they showed the calf to the people, and set it up for them to worship.

This shocking and monstrous deed was done on this spot, to the perpetual shame of the Jews: for at the present day if anyone speaks about this calf to a Jew, he blushes red; this I myself have many times proved to be true when talking with Jews. It was in this spot that the Jews, according to the Psalmist, forgat God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea, and made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the carved image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay.

(A dissertation on Apis is here omitted.-ED.)

      As we went on we came to a place where there were great heaps of sand and swelling in the ground. In this place those who were slain for their idolatry at the bidding of Moses are said to be buried, twenty-three thousand men (Exod. xxxii, and 1Cor. x.) From thence we went on up that wide valley, and came to the narrow valley which leads to the Convent of St. Catharine. We entered into this, and journeyed through the garden of the monastery. This garden reaches a long way from the wall of the monastery, and is watered in the same fashion as the garden at the Forty Saints, as is told in its place. This garden is planted with olive-trees and trees of other kinds, and is large and pleasant. In it are many places mentioned in Holy Scripture. While we were going up through this garden, our guide bade us look up at the tops of the mountains. We saw on the top of an exceeding high rock which stands before Mount Horeb, a calf standing there and looking towards us, as though it were about to leap down. We saw it so plainly, with all its limbs, and as justly proportioned as though it had been really a live beast, or had been the likeness of a calf made by art; yet in truth there is no calf there, either natural or artificial, but only the crest of a rock, whose top without having been fashioned by any man has been broken into such a shape that when looked at from below it is like a calf. Wherefore the brethren of the monastery have often been moved by curiosity to climb the mountain, but they could not find any figure of a calf upon its top, but only broken rocks and sheer cliffs, which when seen from below seem to be shaped like a calf, even as a certain rock in the Aegean Sea has the shape of a she-goat when seen from a distance, for which reason the sea is called Aegean, since aegea is the Greek for a she-goat. In another place in the sea we saw a rock which when seen from afar had the shape of an asp, but when we came near it was a great stone. So likewise he who goes up from the town of Wisastaig [sic], near Ulm, sees on the hills above a tall stone carved as it were into the figure of a man, but when he comes near to it, nothing is to be seen save a rough rock. Even so is it with the aforesaid calf, wherein a deception of the sight has brought an error into both the Eastern sects, the Christians, and the Saracens, insomuch as they believe that the devil took the golden calf, which the Jews had made, as aforesaid, and carried him to that place, for a perpetual reproach and disgrace to the Jews, and that lest he should be removed by anyone, God has made it impossible to find the same calf. But this story is altogether false and contrary to the text of the Bible (Exod. xxxii.), which says that Moses took the golden calf and ground it to powder, as will shortly appear.

At last we turned away from this fancied likeness of a calf, and as we went on we came to a great and deep pit, like a cistern, wherein was much water, which can be let out of it to water the garden. They say that this hole was always here, and was not made by human art or labour, but by Nature. In time of rain the water runs down into it. Now, when Moses had ground the golden calf to powder, he sprinkled the powder upon this water, and brought the people up and gave them to drink thereof. Those who were guilty kept the colour of the gold in their faces, so that their beards looked golden, and their bellies were badly swollen by the water which they drank; but those who had taken no part in this wickedness drank the water without hurt, neither did any golden colour appear in their faces. See Exod. xxxii., and De Lyra's ` Postilla.' We read the like of a fountain[1] at Tyana sacred to Jupiter, which indeed is a most wondrous one. Its waters are said to come exceeding cold from underground passages into the fountain, where they straightway boil. This water is sweet and wholesome to those who dwell beside it if they have borne true witness on any matter, but if they have perjured themselves the water flies out of the fountain against them, and striking their eyes, feet, and hands, causes the diseases of dropsy and loss of hair, neither can they depart unhurt until they confess their perjury to those persons to whose prejudice they swore falsely. So also Midas, the greedy King of the Phrygians who worshipped gold as his god, received from Bacchus the boon that whatsoever he touched should be turned into gold; wherefore he died of hunger, and after death was cast into the river Pactolus, which has golden sands, to the end that he who could not live without gold might corrupt in gold; for in whatsoever a man sins, therein shall he be tormented. Thus the Jews lost the golden cup of life because they offered sacrifice to a golden calf.

Leaving the aforesaid cistern, we went on our way upwards, and came to a wide open space in the garden which I know not why is bare, so that no grass grows there, as it does in the other parts of the garden. This

[1] See Smith's ‘Geog. Dict. Philostr. Vit. Apoll.,' i. 4; Amm. Marc., xxiii. 6; Aristot., `Mir. Ausc.,' 163.

  open space is believed to be the place where the golden calf was cast and wrought by Aaron, as we read in Exod. xxxii; for he took from the women and the people their golden ear-rings and rings and golden cups, and cast them into a fire, from whence by the operation of the devil there came forth a golden calf, which they believed to be Apis, like as the Egyptians do; for as the Egyptians take Apis from the water in the form of a bull, even so did the children of Israel take the same from the fire in the form of a calf. Indeed, the heathen used to worship men who were made gods, not in their proper human shapes, but in the shapes of those beasts into which the fables tell us that they were transformed; for instance, Jupiter was transformed into a ram, and was worshipped under the figure of a ram; Apis under that of a bull; Venus as a fish; Saturn as a horse; Niobe, a stone; Hermione, a serpent; Juno, a cow; Actaeon, a stag; Antigone, a stork; Aldona, a linnet; Daphne, a laurel-tree; Atlas, whom Perseus changed into a mountain, was worshipped under the figure of a mountain, and the Arcadian shepherds under that of wolves. I could give many more examples. So the devil chose rather to mould a calf in the fire than the figure of a man.

Going on further, we came to a solitary rock which lies at the foot of Mount Horeb, like a great pot. This is the rock against which Moses dashed the two tables of the ten commandments when he saw the calf and the people offering sacrifice thereto. Now, these two tables of stone were hewn by God, and written upon by His finger, and were of most precious and polished stone. When it was broken they vanished away. The Jews say that the writing could be read on either side of the stone, which thing is miraculous; for granting that the letters might be seen on either side, as they are in thin transparent parchment, yet the writing could only be read on one side, because when the page is turned over the letters are reversed. Because of this legend, the stone is believed to have been clear, bright, and transparent, and perchance it must needs have been so, for even in the dark and in the night-time it shone, and always made the writing readable, even as the commandments written thereon must at all times be kept. But as Moses broke those tables and the writing could no longer be read, and the people were not suffered to rejoice at their being broken, it may be argued that when Moses dashed the tables against the rock, they were straightway broken into useless dust. The second tables whereof we read in Exod. xxxiv. were hewn out by Moses himself, and written on by the finger of God. The Jews say that the Lord showed Moses a lump of sapphire, out of which he hewed two tables, and that Moses became exceeding rich out of the remainder and the pieces which were chipped off. I leave it to any sensible man to judge what amount of truth there may be in these stories; but they can lead no one into any error, as neither can the fables of the poets, which I quote whenever they come in my way.

From hence we went on our way toward the monastery, and Brother Nicodemus pointed out to us a mount adjoining Horeb, which he said was Moses's Mount. It was to this mount that `Moses went up with Aaron and seventy of the elders, when they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His darkness' (Exod..xxiv. i,10). From this mount Moses was bidden to go up to Mount Horeb; for this mount lies on the shoulder of Mount Horeb toward the north. Moses was wont to go up into this mount for private prayer, and to receive the answers of God in especial cases, and there God is believed to have frequently appeared to him. We prayed, looking toward this mountain, and going on further came to an enclosed place close to the monastery walls. This is the burial-ground of the brethren; so here we read the prayers for the dead, and did honour to the holy men who are buried there; for there are more than nine thousand brethren buried there whose names are written down one by one in the book of the convent, among whom none can doubt that there have been many saints. When we came out of the cemetery, we entered the monastery, and found that the number of the Arabs near our dwelling-place had increased; nevertheless, we cooked our supper, and invited Brother Nicodemus to sup with us, begging him also to make arrangements with the Lord Abbot to show us the relics of St. Catharine and the other holy places in the monastery on the morrow, which was done, as will be shown in its place. We passed the time sorrowfully, because we saw the numbers of the Arabs over against us continually increasing.

 THE SEPULCHRE OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN ST. CATHARINE AND HER HOLY RELICS, THE ORDER WHEREIN THEY ARE SHOWN TO THEIR LORDSHIPS THE CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS, THE PRESENT STATE OF THE MIRACULOUS OIL WHICH IS SAID TO FLOW FROM HER TOMB, THE TRANSLA­TION OF ST. CATHARINE, THE BUSH OF MOSES, AND THE OTHER PLACES WHERE INDULGENCES ARE GRANTED, WHOSE DESCRIPTION REACHES THROUGH THE WHOLE OF THIS CHAPTER.

On the twenty-sixth, straightway after midnight when we had read the service, we addressed ourselves to the celebrating of Masses, and the lay knights prepared themselves to receive the Holy Communion. This day was a Friday, and we hoped that the morrow would be the day of our departure. So after reading the services of matins and prime, we heard our knights' confessions, each of us in turn celebrated Mass in our chapel, and almost all the lay pilgrims communicated. During this time it had become bright day, and we went down into St. Catharine's Church to see her holy relics. When we were in the church, the Father of the monastery came with all his monks, each of them bearing a lighted candle in his hand; and in like manner all of us pilgrims had lighted wax tapers in our hands, and so we stood round the holy virgin's tomb, on both sides thereof. Now came the sacrist of the convent with his keys, and essayed to open the locks of the tomb, but he could not do so, because both the locks and the keys were altogether covered with rust and out of order; howbeit at last with the help of others of the brethren, by great force and labour they opened the locks, and exposed the tomb of the sacred body. When the marble lid which covered the tomb was taken away, the monks began to chant an antiphon, whereof both the music and words were Greek, of which I could understand no word save only 'apostles' and 'martyrs'; for they sang these two words repeatedly amongst others, and they are the same both in Greek and in Latin, and have been taken from the Greek language into the Latin. While they were singing, the Father of the monastery came to the place of sepulture,[1] and after making a low bow went up to the coffin, which stands in a higher place. Here he plunged his head into the coffin, kissed that treasure-house of heavenly wisdom, the virgin's sacred head, and then raising himself up again, remained standing beside the head of the coffin. After him all the monks drew near, beginning with the eldest, and kissed the holy relics in the same manner in which the Abbot had done. After the monks we pilgrims went and worshipped the relics in the customary manner, and after us our ass-drivers did the same. When we had done this, our noble­men gave me all their jewels of gold and jewels of silver, that I might touch the holy relics with them. So I took both the jewels which had been entrusted to me at Ulm by those dear to me, and those of my comrades their lord­ships the knights, and put each one of them into the coffin, touching with them the noble virgin's sacred head.

[1] Loculus. The word usually means a niche hewn out of the solid rock for the reception of a coffin.

  For an account of this touching of relics with jewels, see, if you please, Part I., page 36a. While I was doing this, the Father of the monastery, who stood beside me, never took his eyes off me, and watched my hands most carefully, lest any of the relics should be carried off; for indeed much has been taken away in past times, both by having been stolen by pilgrims, and begged by emperors, bishops, and kings, and so much has been given away in this fashion that only less than half of the sacred body is left. Now that they know of this, they guard it carefully from thieves, and neither entreaties nor bribes will induce them to give any pieces of it away. The greater part is still there--that is to say, the entire head of the holy virgin, covered with a golden crown adorned with many gems and with the symbol of sanctity; and the left hand, whose fingers are covered with exceeding costly; rings set with precious stones. The other hand, the monks told us, is in Georgia but they of Rhodes boast that they possess it, and show it to pilgrims. We saw some of the ribs, shin-bones, and many other members of the holy virgin lying in the coffin. The sacred, bones seem to have lain in oil, because they are not white, but are of the colour which a bone or piece of wood contracts by lying in oil. It is the belief of the holy church that the virgin's limbs once swathed forth oil; but this miracle has now ceased for a long while, and the holy limbs are swathed in silk, pieces of which are now given to pilgrims instead of oil. They soak these pieces of silk in the lamps which hang in the chapel of St. Mary at Bush, and so take them home as St. Catharine's oil. I had a little glass bottle, which I filled with this same oil, and soaked much wool therewith; yet it is known that the oil taken from the aforesaid place is very efficacious on silk. When at last the Father of the monastery would have closed the virgin's coffin, we signed to him to leave it open yet a little longer, and again went up to it one after the other, in the same order as before, kissed the holy relics, and put our offerings of gold and silver into the coffin, some four ducats, some three, some two, and the, greater part put in at least one ducat. While doing this we chanted antiphonal hymns beside the coffin, said the collects appointed in the ‘Processional,' and obtained plenary indulgences. The sacrist then collected our offerings, and locked up the coffin.

This coffin stands on the right-hand side of the choir, in a high place. It is made of white polished marble, and on its surface all round there are carved figures and plants with leaves. The coffin is not made of the length of a human figure, but much shorter, because it was only made for the preservation of the bones. Near it hang many lighted lamps, which once were fed with the oil which sweated from the virgin's limbs; but when this miracle ceased, albeit her limbs were full of oil, yet they did not sweat it forth unless they were rubbed hard. Wherefore I have read in old pilgrims' books that at the bidding of the pilgrims the monks used to rub one of the virgin's bones, and the pilgrims took the oil which sweated out of it. But this miracle ceased, and was followed by another. Every year on the virgin's feast-day there flew thither certain most beauteous birds of an unknown kind, bearing in their beaks green boughs of olive-trees covered with fruit. These birds settled on the roof of the church, and threw the boughs down below, where the brethren took them up, and pressed from them fine and pleasant-tasted oil in such abundance that they had enough for their table and their lamps throughout the year. At last this miracle also ceased, either because the age of miracles was past, or because miracles had been abused, or because man's unworthiness and sins hindered the miracles from being wrought, or because God provided other means, since it is the rule of theologians that God does not work miracles unless there be an especial need thereof. In the days of old, when the holy brethren who dwelt here were in poverty and wretchedness, God miraculously provided for them, because they rested all their hopes upon Him, as Psalm lv. says, `Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall nourish thee,' and also, `The poor crieth, and the Lord heareth him' (Psa. xxxiv. 6). But in process of time they began to fear poverty, to make provision for themselves, to seek for alms, to buy revenues, to own tolls, to plant gardens round about the monasteries with great labour, and to grow olive-trees in desert places, and when these trees were standing there was no need whatever of miracles. So likewise it befel the children of Israel that while in the desert they lived upon the daintiest manna, but when they had the fruits of the Holy Land to eat, the miracle of the manna ceased (Josh. v.12). Neither is it any longer the age of miracles, that there should be any need for oil to flow for the healing of the sick, or to prove the holiness of the virgin; wherefore both here and at the tombs of the other saints miracles have ceased to be wrought, albeit at this day the holy virgin's bones seem to be full of oil, and when pressed might sweat oil, as it appears; yet let not anyone think that St. Catharine's miracles have altogether ceased, even if they be no longer wrought beside the blessed virgin's tomb, for we often see greater miracles wrought by saints in places where their bodies are not than at their tombs. Great miracles are wrought at this day by St. Catharine in many places--for instance, in the monastery of nuns of the Order of Canons Regular at Reuenroth in the Diocese of Cologne, at which place unheard-of miracles have come to pass, seeing that it is said that oil, milk, balsam, and manna all flow there from one small bone of St. Catharine; and other astounding things are said to have happened there on the testimony of truthful witnesses. In the `Life of St. Hilarion' it is said that no miracles are wrought in that place in Syria where his body lies, but that mighty miracles are wrought in a certain small garden in Cyprus where he dwelt during his life-time. So also is it with St. Catharine.

It now remains for us to see how the body of St. Catharine was found and brought hither. When by the unjust sentence of the Emperor Maxentius at Alexandria the gracious virgin was beheaded after many tortures, her corpse suddenly disappeared, and when the faithful met together that they might carry it away and bury it, they could find nothing, and knew not whither it had gone; for the invisible beings who attend upon saints, the blessed angels, had carried her away just as she expired, and bore her through the air to the top of Mount Sinai, to the place spoken of on page 38b. The faithful at Alexandria supposed that both her body and soul together had been taken up into heaven. Her sacred body lay there for three hundred years, during which time all Arabia and Egypt received the faith of Christ. When this came to pass, the whole of the wilderness was filled with holy monks, and a monastery was built at the foot of Mount Sinai in honour of the most glorious Virgin Mary in the place where Moses saw the (burning) bush. There were two sorts of monks who dwelt in the wilderness; some of them were coenobites, who dwelt together in monasteries, and served God under a rule. The rule for their lives was given to St. Pachomius by an angel, written on tablets of brass, as is told in the Speculum Historiale, Book XVIII., ch. vii. Others of them were anchorites, who lived solitary lives, shunning all converse with mankind, wandered about the heart of the wilderness, and dwelt in caves in the earth. More especially in the wilderness of Sinai there were many devout monks of both sorts. Now, in the monastery beneath Mount Horeb, the Father of the monks, a good man, often thought of going forth with his monks to seek for saints in the wilderness, but he always put off doing so. But one night he received a command in a dream to set out on the morrow with his monks and find a treasure which would be coveted by Easterns and Westerns alike. On the morrow he called all his monks together, and having told them of his vow, he kindled a vehement desire of finding this treasure in their hearts. They all set out from the monastery together, and wandered through the wilderness, uncertain whither they were going, but full of eagerness, and they curiously scanned the clefts of the rocks and the caves of the hills, roamed over the ragged rocks, and thoroughly searched the mountains, valleys, and torrent-beds. While doing so, God led them to a cave beneath a lofty rock, where they found an ancient monk, whose face they had never before seen. He asked the monks what they wanted, and what they were seeking, to which they replied, 'We have come at God's bidding; we seek a treasure which both Easterns and Westerns covet.' 'The old man said in return, `I also have often been bidden to do the same thing, but fearing the wiles of the enemy, I have put off doing so until now; but now I will go with you without fear to search for it.' The monks asked, 'And where, think you, should we search?’ He answered, 'Lo, on the top of this exceeding high mountain I have often seen bright clear lights, and I doubt not that something Divine is hid thereon; but seeing that the place is inaccessible by reason of its height, I have never made bold to climb up thither, neither have I dared to inquire alone into the glory of God which shines from this mount; but now let us go up together and search it out.' This was St. Catharine's Mount, up which no one had ever climbed before this time. So they went together, and after much toil and many dangers reached the top. When they were come thither, they found the entire body of the virgin miraculously placed in a niche in the rock, which was full of oil; and they did not doubt that this was the treasure which had been promised to them, but they were altogether without knowledge as to whose body it was, or of what sanctity. They therefore bowed themselves to the earth round about t