De Locis Sanctis - Book 2
I - The situation of Bethlehem
In the beginning of this Second Book we shall briefly write a few notes about the situation of the city of Bethlehem, which our Saviour thought worthy to be the place where He should be born of the Holy Virgin. This city, according to the narrative of Arculf who visited it, is not so remarkable for situation as for its glorious fame, which has been published throughout the churches of all nations. It is situated on the narrow ridge of a mountain, surrounded on all sides by valleys, the ridge of ground stretching from east to west for about a mile; round the level plain on the top of it is a low wall without towers, built right round the brow of that little mountain, which overhangs the little valleys lying around on both sides, while the dwellings of the citizens are scattered over the intervening ground within the wall, along the longer diameter.
II - The place of the nativity of the Lord, the Church of St Mary
In the extreme eastern angle of this city is a sort of natural half cave, the extremity of the interior of which is the Manger of the Lord, in which His mother laid the newborn babe; while another, contiguous to the manger we have just mentioned, is shown to such as enter, as being the traditional site of His real nativity. The whole of this cave of the Manger of the Lord at Bethlehem has been adorned on the inside with precious marble, in honour of the Saviour, while in the half cave, above the stone chamber, there has been built the Church of St Mary, above the place where the Lord is said to have been actually born, which is a grand structure.
III - The rock situated beyond the wall, upon which the water in which He was first washed after His birth, was poured
Here I think I must briefly mention the rock lying beyond the wall, upon which the water of the first bathing of the Lord's body after His birth, was poured from the top of the wall out of the vessel into which it had been put. This water of the sacred bath, poured from the wall, found a receptacle in a rock lying below, which had been hollowed out by nature like a trench: and this water has been constantly replenished from that day to our own time during the course of many ages, so that the cavity is shown full of the purest water without any loss or diminution, our Saviour miraculously bringing this about from the day of His nativity, of which the prophet sings: "Who brought water out of the rock", and the Apostle Paul, "Now that Rock was Christ", Who, contrary to nature, brought water or a stream out of the hardest rock in the desert to console His thirsting people. Such is the power of God and the wisdom of God, who brought out water also from that rock of Bethlehem and keeps its cavity always full of water; this our Arculf inspected with his own eyes, and he washed his face in it.
IV - Another church in which the tomb of David is seen
Arculf, when I asked him about the Sepulchre of King David, gave us this answer: I myself inquired very carefully about the Sepulchre of King David, in which he was buried in the earth, and visited it. It lies in the middle of the pavement of the church, without any overlying ornament, surrounded only by a low fences of stone, and having a lamp shining brightly placed over it.
This church is built outside the wall of the city in an adjoining valley, which joins the Hill of Bethlehem on the north.
V - The church within which is the sepulchre of St Hieronymus
As we inquired with like solicitude as to the Sepulchre of St Hieronymus, Arculf told us, "I saw the Sepulchre of Hieronymus, as to which you inquire, which is in a church built in a valley beyond that little city, which is conterminous with the ridge of the Hill of Bethlehem, mentioned above, and lies to the south of it." This Sepulchre of St Hieronymus is of similar workmanship to the Tomb of David, and is unornamented.
VI - The tombs of the three shepherds, around whom, when the Lord was born, the heavenly brightness shone; and their church
Arculf gave us a short account of the tombs of those shepherds, around whom, on the night of the Lord's Nativity, the heavenly brightness shone: "I visited," he said, "the three tombs of those three shepherds who are buried in a church near the Tower of Gader, which is about a mile to the east of Bethlehem, whom, when the Lord was born, the brightness of the angelic light surrounded at that place, that is near the Tower of the Flock; where that church has been built, containing the sepulchres of those shepherds."
VII - The sepulchre of Rachel
The Book of Genesis relates that Rachel was buried in Ephrata, that is, in the district of Bethlehem, and the "Book of Places" relates that Rachel was buried in that district close to the road. In answer to my questions about this road, Arculf said: "There is a royal road which leads from Aelia southwards to Hebron, close to which, six miles from Jerusalem, is Bethlehem on the east, while the Sepulchre of Rachel is at the end of this road on the west, that is, on one's right hand as one goes to Hebron; it is a building of common workmanship and without ornamentation, surrounded by a stone fence. There is shown even at the present day the inscription with her name, which Jacob, her husband, erected above it."
VIII - Hebron
Hebron, which is also Mambre, was once the metropolis of the Philistines and inhabited by giants; David reigned in it for seven years, and, as the sainted Arculf relates, it is not now surrounded by walls. Some traces of the city, which was long ago destroyed, appear in remnants of ruins; but it has some poorly built villages, fields, and farmhouses, some lying within, others without, those remains of the destroyed walls, scattered over the surface of the plain, while a multitude of people live in those villages and farms.
IX - The valley of Mambre and the sepulchre of the four patriarchs
To the east of Hebron is a field with a double cave, looking towards Mambre, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite, for a possession of a double sepulchre.
In the valley of this field the sainted Arculf visited the site of the Sepulchre of Arba, that is, of the four patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Adam, the first man, whose feet are not, as is customary in other parts of the world, turned towards the east in burial, but are turned to the south, and their heads to the north. The site of these sepulchres is surrounded by a low rectangular wall. Adam, the first created, to whom, when he sinned, immediately after the sin was committed, God the Creator said: "Dust thou art, and to the dust thou shalt return," is separated somewhat from the other three, next the northern side of the rectangular stone rampart, buried not in a stone sepulchre cut out in the rock above ground, as other honoured men of his seed lie, but buried in the ground, covered with earth, and himself, dust, turned into dust, rests waiting the resurrection with all his seed. And thus in that sepulchre is fulfilled the divine sentence uttered to him as to himself.
And after the example of the sepulchre of the first parent, the other three Patriarchs also rest in sleep covered with common dust, their four sepulchres having placed above them small monuments, cut out and hewn from single stones, in the form of a basilica, and formed according to the measure of the length and the breadth of each sepulchre. The three adjoining sepulchres of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are protected by three hard white stones, placed over them, formed according to the shape of which we have now written, as has been said above; while Adam's sepulchre is also protected by a stone placed over it, but of darker colour and poorer workmanship. Arculf saw also the poorer and smaller monuments of the three women, namely Sara and Rebecca and Lia, buried in the earth. The sepulchral field of those patriarchs is found to be one furlong from the wall of that most ancient Hebron, towards the east. This Hebron, it is said, was founded before all the cities, not only of Palestine, but also preceded in its foundation all the cities of Egypt, although it has now been so miserably destroyed.
Thus far let it suffice to have written as to the Sepulchres of the Patriarchs.
X - The hill and the oak of Mambre
A mile to the north of the Tombs that have been described above, is the very grassy and flowery hill of Mambre, looking towards Hebron, which lies to the south of it. This little mountain, which is called Mambre, has a level summit, at the north side of which a great stone church has been built, in the right side of which between the two walls of this great basilica, the oak of Mambre, wonderful to relate, stands rooted in the earth; it is also called the oak of Abraham, because under it he once hospitably received the Angels.
St Hieronymus elsewhere relates, that this tree had existed from the beginning of the world to the reign of the Emperor Constantine; but he did not say that it had utterly perished, perhaps because at that time, although the whole of that vast tree was not to be seen as it had been formerly, yet a spurious trunk still remained rooted in the ground, protected under the roof of the church, of the height of two men; from this wasted spurious trunk, which has been cut on all sides by axes, small chips are carried to the different provinces of the world, on account of the veneration and memory of that oak, under which, as has been mentioned above, that famous and notable visit of the Angels was granted to the patriarch Abraham. Around the church, which is built there in honour of that place, a few dwellings of monks are shown. But as to these, let it suffice to have said this; let us go on to other points.
XI - The pine forest from which firewood is brought to Jerusalem on camels
As we leave Hebron, we come, at a distance of three miles, to the north of the city, and in a wide plain not far from the side of the road on the left hand, to a hill of no great size covered with pines. From this pine forest, wood is carried to Jerusalem on camels for burning in fires - on camels, I say, for, as Arculf relates, carts or waggons can rarely be found throughout all Judaea.
XII - Jericho
Our sainted Arculf saw the site of the city of Jericho, which Joshua destroyed, after crossing the Jordan, slaying its king, in the place of which Hiel of Bethel, of the tribe of Ephraim, built another city, which our Saviour thought fit to honour with His presence. At the time when the Romans attacked and besieged Jerusalem, this city was taken and destroyed on account of the perfidy of its inhabitants, In its place a third was built, which also after a long interval of time was itself destroyed; of its ruins, as Arculf relates, some traces are shown. Marvellous to say, even after these three successive cities have been destroyed on the same site, there still remains only the house of Raab the harlot, who hid the two spies, whom Joshua Ben-Nun sent across, concealing them in flax straw in the garret. The stone walls of her house remain, but without a roof. The whole site of the city is left without human habitation, not even having a house of rest, and produces corn and vines. Between the site of this destroyed city and the river Jordan are great palm groves, throughout which are scattered spots where there are nearly countless houses inhabited by sorry fellows of the race of Channan.
XIII - Galgal and the twelve stones which the Children of Israel, after crossing the River Jordan, took from its dried channel
Arculf, of whom I have spoken, saw a large Church in Galgal, built on the spot where the children of Israel, after crossing the Jordan, encamped for the first time in the land of Chanaan. In this church too the sainted Arculf noted the twelve stones as to which, after the crossing of the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Josue: "Choose twelve men, one for each tribe, and command them to take from the middle of the channel of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests have stood, twelve very hard stones, which ye shall place on the site of your camp, where ye shall pitch your tents this night." These, I say, Arculf saw, six of them lying on the pavement on the right side of the church, and an equal number on the north side, all of them unpolished and common; each of them is so large that, as Arculf himself relates, two strong young men of this time can scarcely raise it from the earth; while one had by some unknown accident been broken in two parts, and has been artificially joined again by an iron clamp. Galgal, where the above-mentioned church is built, lies to the east of the most ancient Jericho on this side of the Jordan, in the lot of the tribe of Juda, at the fifth milestone from Jericho; the Tabernacle was fixed here for a long time; and in this place, as is said, the above-named church was built, in which are the above-mentioned twelve stones; it is held in marvellous reverence and honour by the people of that district.
XIV - The place where our Lord was baptised by John
That sacred and honoured place, where the Lord was baptised by John, is always covered by the waters of the river Jordan, and as Arculf, who went to the place, relates, he passed backwards and forwards to it through the river; in that sacred place a wooden cross of great size is fixed, close to which the water comes up to the neck of the tallest man, or, at a time of great drought, when the waters are diminished, up to his breast; but when the river is in flood, the whole of the cross is covered over by the additional waters. The site of that cross, accordingly, marking the place where, as has been said above, the Lord was baptised, is on this side of the bed of the river, and a strong man can with a sling throw a stone from it as far as the other bank on the Arabian side. From the site of the above-mentioned cross, a stone bridge is carried on arches to the bank, across which men go to the cross and descend by a slope to the bank, ascending as they return. At the edge of the river is a small square church, built, as is said, on the spot where the garments of the Lord were taken care of at the time when He was baptised. This is raised, so as to be uninhabitable, on four stone vaults, standing above the waters which flow below. It is protected above by slaked lime, and below, as has been said, is supported by vaults and arches. This church is in the lower ground of the valley through which the river Jordan flows; while on the higher ground, overhanging it, a great monastery of monks is built on the brow of the opposite hill. There is also enclosed within the same wall as the monastery, a church in honour of St John Baptist, built of squared stones.
XV - The colour of the Jordan and the Dead Sea
The colour of the river Jordan appears from Arculf's narrative to be white on the surface, like milk, and as it enters the Salt Sea its colour can easily be distinguished from that of the Dead Sea for a long distance along its course.
In great tempests the Dead Sea casts up salt on the ground by the dashing of its waves, and this can usually be had in abundance along its circuit, affording a very large supply, not only to those in the vicinity but also to far-distant nations; it is sufficiently dried by the heat of the sun. Salt is otherwise obtained in a mountain of Sicily; for the stones of that mountain, when turned out of the earth, prove to be naturally most salt to the taste, this being properly called Earth Salt. Sea Salt, however, is usually given a different name from Earth Salt. From this the Lord is believed to have derived His simile when He says to the Apostles in the Gospel: "Ye are the salt of the earth", etc. As to this Earth Salt found in the mountain of Sicily, we were told by the sainted Arculf, who spent some days in Sicily, and who proved by sight and taste and touch that it was really the very saltest of salt.
XVI - The Dead Sea (continued)
He informed us also as to the salt of the Dead Sea, which he said he had similarly made proof of by the same three senses named above; he visited also the sea-shore of that lake we have mentioned above, the length of which, extending to Zoar of Arabia, is 580 furlongs; the breadth in the neighbourhood of Sodom is 150 furlongs.
XVII - The fountains of the Jordan
Our Arculf proceeded also to that place in the province of Phenicia, where the Jordan seems to emerge from two neighbouring fountains at the roots of Lebanon, one of which is called Jor and the other Dan, which, mingling together, give rise to the compound name Jordan. But it is to be noted that the source of the Jordan is not in Paneum, but in the district of Trachonitis, at a distance of 120 furlongs from Caesarea Philippi, which is now Paneas, a name taken from the mountain Paneum, which is in Trachonitis. Phiala, which is always full of water, whence the Jordan flows through underground channels, bubbles up also in Paneum, in two divisions, which, as has been said above, are usually called Jor and Dan. On leaving this, after some interval, they flow together so as to form one river, which thence directs its course for 120 furlongs, without receiving any additions as far as the city of Julias. Thence it flows to the place which is called Genezar. The Lake of Galilee is formed from the Jordan; it is called at one time the Sea of Cenereth, at another the Sea of Tiberias; great woods adjoin it. Afterwards it flows through the middle of the lake, called Genezar, whence, after wandering through a considerable desert tract, it is received in the Asphaltic Lake, and is lost in it. Thus having passed victoriously through two lakes, its course is stayed by a third.
XVIII - The Sea of Galilee
The sainted Arculf, who has been so often mentioned, went round the greater part of the Sea of Galilee, which is also called the Lake of Cinnereth and the Sea of Tiberias, and which is closely surrounded by great woods. The lake itself, the size of which almost entitles it to the name of a sea, extends in length to 140 furlongs, and in breadth stretches over 40; its waters are sweet and good for drinking, since they receive nothing that is thick with marsh mud or turbid, because it is surrounded on all sides by a sandy shore, wherefore its water is purer and better for use. Of fish, moreover, no finer kinds, either in taste or in appearance, can be found in any other lake.
We have taken these short particulars as to the source of the Jordan and the Lake of Cinnereth partly from the third book of the Jewish Captivity, partly from the experience of Arculf. He relates with perfect certainty that he went in eight days from that place where the Jordan emerges from the gorge of the Sea of Galilee to that where it enters the Dead Sea. This most salt sea the sainted Arculf very often gazed at from the summit of the Mount of Olivet, as he himself narrates.
XIX - Sichem and the well of Samaria
Arculf, the sainted priest, passed through the district of Samaria, and came to the city of that province which is called, in Hebrew, Sichem, but is named Sicima by Greek and Latin custom; it is also often called Sichar, however improperly. Near that city he saw a church built beyond the wall, which is four-armed, stretching towards the four cardinal points, like a cross, a plan of which is drawn below. In the middle of it is the Fountain of Jacob, which is also often called a well, looking towards its four divisions, upon which the Saviour, wearied out with the toil of His journey, sat one day at the sixth hour, when the woman of Samaria came to that well at mid-day to draw water. As to this well, the woman, among other things, said in answer to the Lord: "Lord, neither hast Thou anything to draw with, and the well is deep." Arculf, who drank water from the well, relates as to its depth: "The well that I saw has a depth of twice twenty orgyiae, that is, forty cubits." An orgyia, or cubit, is the length from extremity to extremity of the outstretched arms.
Sichem, or Sichema, was once a priestly city and a city of refuge; it was included in the tribe of Manasseh and in Mount Ephraim, where Joseph's bones were buried.
XX - A little fountain in the wilderness
Arculf, whom we have often mentioned, saw in a desert a small clear fountain, from which St John Baptist is said to have drunk; it is protected by a stone covering besmeared with lime.
XXI - The locusts and the wild honey
As to the same John, the Evangelists write: "Now his food was locusts and wild honey." Our Arculf saw, in that desert where John dwelt, a very small kind of locusts, the bodies of which are small and short like the finger of a hand, and which are easily captured in the grass, as their flight is short like the leaps of light frogs; cooked in oil, they afford food for the poor. As to the "wild honey", Arculf gave us this as his experience: In that desert I saw some trees, with broad round leaves which are of the colour of milk and have the taste of honey; they are naturally very fragile, and those who wish to eat them first rub them in their hands and then eat them. This wild honey is thus found in the woods.
XXII - The place where the Lord blessed the five loaves and the two fishes
Our Arculf, whom we have often mentioned, came to this place, where a grassy and level plain has never been ploughed from the day when on it the Saviour satisfied five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes; no buildings are to be seen on it; Arculf saw only a few columns of stone lying at the margin of the fountain from which they are said to have drunk on that day when the Lord refreshed them, in their hunger, with such a refection. This place is on this side of the Sea of Galilee, looking to the city of Tiberias which is to the south of it.
XXIII - The Sea of Tiberias and Capharnaum
Those who, coming down from Jerusalem, wish to reach Capharnaum, proceed, as Arculf relates, through Tiberias in a straight course, and thence along the Lake of Cinnereth, which is also the sea of Tiberias and the sea of Galilee; they pass the site of the above-mentioned Blessing at a point where two ways meet, and proceeding along the margin of the above-mentioned lake. At no great distance they come to Capharnaum, on the sea coast, upon the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim. Arculf, who observed it from a neighbouring mountain, relates that it has no wall and is confined in a narrow space between the mountain and the lake, extending along the sea coast for a long distance; having the mountain on the north and the lake on the south, it stretches from west to eaSt.
XXIV - Nazareth and its churches
The city of Nazareth, as Arculf who stayed in it relates, is situated on a mountain. It is, like Capharnaum, unwalled, yet it has large houses built of stone, and also two very large churches. One of these, in the middle of the city, is built upon two vaults, on the spot where there once stood the house in which our Lord the Saviour was brought up. Among the mounds below this church, which, as has been said, is supported upon two mounds and intervening arches, there is a very clear spring, frequented by all the citizens, who draw water from it, and from the same spring water is raised in vessels to the church above by means of wheels. The other church is reputed to be built on the site of the house in which the Archangel Gabriel came and addressed the Blessed Mary, whom he found there alone at that hour. This information as to Nazareth we have obtained from the sainted Arculf, who stayed there two nights and as many days, but was prevented from staying longer in it, as he was compelled to hasten onwards by a soldier of Christ, well acquainted with sites, a Burgundian living a solitary life, Peter by name, who thence returned circuitously to that solitary place where he had formerly stayed.
XXV - Mount Tabor
Mount Tabor is in Galilee, three miles from the Lake of Cinnereth, marvellously round on every side, looking from its northern side over the lake we have just named. It is very grassy and flowery, having an ample plain on its pleasant summit, and is surrounded by a very large wood. In the middle of this level surface is a great monastery of monks, with a large number of their cells. For its summit is not drawn up to a narrow peak, but is spread over a level surface of twenty-four furlongs in length, while its height is thirty furlongs.
On this higher plain are also three very celebrated churches of no small construction, according to the number of those tabernacles of which Peter spoke to the Lord on that holy mountain, while he rejoiced in the heavenly vision, but yet was terrified by it, saying: "It is good that we should be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias." The buildings of the monasteries and the three churches mentioned above, with the cells of the monks, are all surrounded by a stone wall. There the sainted Arculf spent one night on the top of that holy mountain, for Peter, the Burgundian Christian, who was his guide in those places, would not allow him to stay in one hospice longer, but hurried him on.
It should here be noted that the name of that famous mountain ought to be written in Greek with 'O' and long 'w', and in Latin with the aspirate - Thabor, the letter 'O' being long. The proper orthography of the word is found in Greek books.
XXVI - Damascus
Damascus, according to the account of Arculf, who stayed some days in it, is a great royal city, situated in a wide plain, surrounded by an ample circuit of walls, and further fortified by frequent towers. Without the walls there are a large number of olive groves round about, while four great rivers flow through it, bringing great joy to the city. The king of the Saracens has seized the government, and reigns in that city, and a large church has been built there in honour of St John Baptist. There has also been built, in that same city, a church of unbelieving Saracens, which they frequent.
XXVII - Tyre
Our Arculf, who visited so many districts, also entered Tyre, the metropolis of the province of Phenicia, which in Hebrew and Syriac is called Tsor, and which is said in Greek and Latin and barbarous histories to have had no approach from the land. But some say that afterwards mounds were thrown up by Nabuchodonosor, King of the Chaldeans, and that a place was prepared for darts and battering-rams in the assault, so that the island became part of the level plain. This city was beautiful and very noble, and it is not unworthily rendered in Latin "narrow", for the island and the city have the same characteristic narrowness. It is situated in the land of Chanaan, where the Chananite or Tyrophenician woman lived, who is mentioned in the Gospel.
It is to be noted that the account of the site of Tyre and the site of Mount Thabor, given by the sainted Arculf, is in complete accordance with what we have excerpted above from the commentaries of St Hieronymus. Also what we have above stated as to the site and form of Mount Thabor, according to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, in no way differs from what St Hieronymus narrates as to the situation and the marvellous roundness of that mountain. From Mount Thabor to Damascus is a seven days' journey.
XXVIII - Alexandria and the River Nile and its crocodiles
That great city, which was once the metropolis of Egypt, was formerly called in Hebrew "No". It is a very populous city, deriving its name of Alexandria, a name known and famous among all nations, from its founder Alexander, the king of Macedonia, from whom it received both the magnitude of a city and its name. As to its situation, Arculf gave us an account, which differs in no way from what we have learned in the course of our previous reading.
Going down from Jerusalem and beginning his voyage at Joppa, he had a journey of forty days to Alexandria, of which Nahum the prophet speaks briefly, when he says: "Water round about it, whose riches are the sea, waters are its walls." For on the south it is surrounded by the mouths of the river Nile, while on the north, as the outline of its position clearly shows,it is situated upon the Nile and the sea, so that on this side and on that it is surrounded by water. The city lies like an enclosure between Egypt and the Great Sea, without a natural haven, difficult to approach from without. Its port is more difficult than others, in form like the human body, more capacious at the head and the roads, but narrower in the straits, in which it receives the movements of the sea and ships, by which some aids to breathing are given to the port.
When one has escaped the narrows and mouths of the port, a stretch of sea is spread out before one, far and wide, like the form of the rest of the body. On the right side of the port there is a small island, on which is a very high tower, which the Greeks and the Latins have in common called, from its use, Pharus, because it is seen by voyagers at a great distance, in order that, before they approach the port, they may, specially during the night, recognise the proximity of land by the light of the flames, that they may not be deceived by the darkness and fall upon rocks or fail to recognise the boundaries of the entrance. Men are accordingly employed there by whom torches and other masses of wood which have been collected are set on fire to serve as a guide to the land, showing the narrow entrance of the straits, the bosom of the waves, and the windings of the entrance, lest the slender keel should graze the rocks and in the very entrance strike upon the rocks that are hidden by the waves. Accordingly a ship ought to be somewhat deflected from the straight course, to prevent its running into danger from striking on hidden stones. For the approach in the port is narrower on the right side, but the port is wider on the left. Round the island also, beams of immense size have been regularly laid down, to prevent the foundations of the island from yielding to the constant collision of the rising sea, and being loosened by the injury. So that the middle channel, among rugged rocks and broken masses of earth, is beyond doubt always unquiet, and it is dangerous for ships to enter through the roughness of the passage.
The port extends in size over thirty furlongs, and it is quite safe even in the greatest storms, as the above mentioned straits and the obstacle of the island repel the waves of the sea, the bosom of the port being so defended by them as to be removed from the reach of tempests and at peace from breakers by which the entrance is made rough. Nor are the safety and the size of the port undeservedly so great, since there must be borne into it whatever is needful for the use of the whole city. For the needs of the innumerable population of those districts give rise to much commerce for the use of the whole city, and the district is very fruitful, and, besides abounding in all other gifts and trades of the earth, it supplies corn for the whole world, and other necessary merchandise.
The region is beyond doubt wanting in rain, but the irrigation of the Nile supplies spontaneous showers, so that the fields are tempered at once by the rain of heaven and by the fruitfulness of the hearth; and the situation is thus convenient both for sailors and for husbandmen. These sail, those sow; these are borne round on their voyages, those till the land, sowing without need of ploughing, travelling without waggons. You see a country intersected by watercourses, and houses throughout the land raised as it were upon walls, on the banks of the navigable rivers, standing on the edge of each bank of the river Nile. The river is navigable, they say, up to the city of Elephanti; a ship is prevented from proceeding further by the cataracts, that is, flowing hills of water, not from want of depth, but from the fall of the whole river and the downward rush of the waters.
The narrative of the sainted Arculf about the situation of Alexandria and the Nile is proved not to differ from what we have learned from our reading in the books of others. We have, indeed, abbreviated some excerpts from these writings and inserted them in this description, as to the havenlessness of this city or the difficulty of its haven, as to the island and the tower built on it, as to the terminal position of Alexandria between the sea and the mouths of the river Nile, etc. Hence it happens beyond doubt that the site of the city, which is as it were choked between these two limits, extends from west to east very far along a narrow stretch of ground, as the narrative of Arculf shows; he relates that he began to enter the city at the third hour of the day in the month of October, and on account of the length of the city could hardly reach the other end of its length before evening. It is surrounded by along circuit of walls, fortified by frequent towers, constructed along the margin of the river and the curving shore of the sea.
Further, as one coming from Egypt enters the city of Alexandria, one meets on the north side a large church, in which Mark the Evangelist is buried; his sepulchre is shown before the altar in the eastern end of this four-sided church, and a monument of him has been built above it of marble.
So much, then, about Alexandria, which, as we have said above, was called No before it was so much enlarged by Alexander the Great, and which, as we further said above, adjoins what is called the Canopean mouth of the river Nile, separating Asia from Egypt and also Lybia. On account of the inundation of Egypt by the river Nile, they construct raised mounds along its banks, which, if they should be broken by the negligence of the watchmen or by too great an irruption of water, by no means irrigate the flooded fields, but spoil them and lay them waste. On this account a considerable number of the inhabitants of the plains of Egypt, according to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, who often sailed over that river in Egypt, live above the water in houses supported on transverse beams.
Arculf relates that crocodiles live in the river Nile, quadrupeds of no great size, very voracious, and so strong that one of them, if it can find a horse or an ass or an ox eating grass on the river bank, suddenly rushes out and attacks it, or even seizing one foot of the animal with its jaws, drags it under the water, and completely devours the entire animal.
