CHAP. XV.— OF TIBERIAS, CAPERNAUM, NAZARETH, AND THE HOLY PLACES IN THOSE PARTS.

THE place in which our Lord blessed the loaves and fishes on this side of the Sea of Galilee, to the north of the city of Tiberias, is a plain, grassy and level, which has never been ploughed since those times, nor has ever been built upon; but there is the same fountain there from which those persons drank. Those who go from Ælia to Capernaum, pass through Tiberias, and from thence along the Sea of Galilee to the place where the loaves were blessed, from which it is no great distance to Capernaum on the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali. The town has no walls, and lies on a narrow piece of ground between a mountain and lake. On the seacoast towards the east it extends a long way, having the mountain on the north, and lake on the south. Nazareth has no walls, but large houses, and two great churches. One of these is in the midst of the city, built on two arches, where formerly was a house, in which our Lord was nursed when an infant. This church is built on two eminences, with arches connecting them, and has under it, between the eminences, a clear fountain, from which all the citizens draw water in vessels with pulleys for the use of the church. In the other church was the house in which the angel came to the blessed Mary.

CHAP. XVI.-OF MOUNT TABOR, AND THE THREE

CHURCHES THEREON.

MOUNT TABOR is situated in the midst of the plain of Galilee, and is three miles distant from Gennesareth towards the north. It is round on all sides. covered with grass and flowers, and thirty furlongs

dine triginta stadiorum. Vertex ipse campestris et multum amœnus viginti et trium stadiorum spatio dilatatur, ubi grande monasterium grandi quoque sylva circumdatur, tres ecclesias habens, juxta quod Petrus ait, Faciamus hic tria tabernacula;' locus muro cinctus, grandia gestans ædificia.

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CAP. XVII.-DE SITU DAMASCI.

DAMASCUS in campo sita, lato et amplo murorum ambitu, et crebris munita turribus, quam magna quatuor flumina interfluunt: ubi dum Christiani Sancti Joannis Baptistæ ecclesiam frequentant, Saracenorum rex cum sua gente aliam instituit atque sacravit. Plurima extra muros in gyro oliveta. A Thabor usque Damascum, septem dierum iter.

CAP. XVIII.-DE SITU ALEXANDRIÆ, ET NILO, ET ECCLESIA IN QUA REQUIESCIT MARCUS EVANGELISTA.

ALEXANDRIA ab occasu in ortum solis longa, ab austro ostiis Nili cingitur, ab aquilone lacu Mareotico: cujus portus cæteris difficilior, quasi ad formam humani corporis in capite ipso et statione capacior, in faucibus. vero angustior, qua meatus maris accipit ac navium,

high. Its top forms a pleasant meadow, twenty-three furlongs wide, whereon is a large monastery, surrounded by a thick wood, and containing three churches, according to the words of Peter," Let us make here three tabernacles." The place is surrounded by a wall, and contains some stately edifices.

CHAP. XVII.-OF DAMAScus.

AMASCUS is situated in a plain, and surrounded by a broad and ample circuit of walls, strengthened with numerous towers, and intersected by four great rivers. The Christians frequent the church of Saint John the Baptist, but the king of the Saracens with his people has established and consecrated another. On all sides beyond the walls are numerous groves of olives. From Tabor to Damascus it is a journey of eight days.

CHAP. XVIII.-OF ALEXANDRIA, THE RIVER NILE,

AND THE CHURCH IN WHICH MARK THE EVANGELIST IS BURIED.

LEXANDRIA extends to a great length from east to west. On the south it is bounded by the mouths of the Nile, and on the north by the Lake Mareotis. Its port is more difficult than the others, and has a resemblance to the human body; for in its head it is suffi

ciently ample, but at its entrance it is too narrow, where it admits the tide of the sea, together with

quibus quædam spirandi subsidia portu subministrantur. Ubi quis angustias atque ora portus evaserit, tanquam reliqua corporis forma, ita diffusio maris longe lateque extenditur. In ejusdem dextera portus parva insula habetur, in qua Pharus, id est, turris est maxima, nocturno tempore flammarum facibus ardens, ne decepti tenebris nautæ in scopulos impingant, et vestibuli limitem comprehendere nequeant, qui et ipse semper inquietus est, fluctibus hinc inde collidentibus: portus vero placidus semper, amplitudinem habens triginta stadiorum. A parte Ægypti urbem intrantibus ad dexteram occurrit ecclesia, in qua Beatus Evangelista Marcus requiescit. Cujus corpus in orientali parte ejusdem ecclesiæ ante altare humatum est, memoria superposita de quadrato marmore facta. Circa Nilum Ægyptii aggeres crebros propter irruptionem aquarum facere solent, qui si forte custodum incuria rupti fuerint non irrigant, sed opprimunt terras subjacentes: et qui plana Ægypti incolunt, super rivos aquarum sibi domos faciunt transversis trabibus superponentes.

CAP. XIX.-DE CONSTANTINOPOLI, ET BASILICA IN EA, QUÆ CRUCEM DOMINI CONTINET.

CONSTANTINOPOLIS undique præter aquilonem mari cincta, quod a Mari Magno sexaginta millibus passuum usque ad murum civitatis, et a muro civitatis usque ad ostia Danubii quadraginta millibus passuum extenditur, ambitu murorum juxta situm maris

such ships as run into the port to recover themselves and refit. But when one has passed the narrow neck and mouth of the harbour, the sea, still following the likeness of the human body, spreads itself far and wide. On its right-hand side is a small port, in which is the Pharos, a large tower, which is every night lighted up with torches, lest sailors might mistake their way in the dark and dash against the rocks, in their attempt to find the entrance, particularly as this is much impeded and disturbed by the waves dashing to and fro. The port, however, is always calm, and in magnitude about thirty furlongs. Towards Egypt, as one enters the city, there is a large church on the right, in which reposes St. Mark the Evangelist. The body is buried in the eastern part of the church before the altar, with a monument over it of squared marble. Along the Nile the Egyptians are in the habit of constructing numerous mounds, to prevent the irruption of the water, which, if the mounds were to be broken down by the neglect of the guardians, would not irrigate, but inundate and destroy the lands beneath. The Egyptians who inhabit the plains make their houses over canals, by laying tranverse planks thereon.

CHAP. XIX.-OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND THE

CHURCH THEREIN WHICH CONTAINS OUR LORD'S CROSS.