High, and they bear
long apples, and as great as a man's head.
And also this flom Jordan departeth the land of Galilee and the
land of Idumea and the land of Betron, and that runneth under earth
a great way unto a fair plain and a great that is clept Meldan in
Sarmois; that is to say, Fair or market in their language, because
that there is often fairs in that plain. And there becometh the
water great and large. In that plain is the tomb of Job.
And in that flom Jordan above-said was our Lord baptised of Saint
John, and the voice of God the Father was heard saying: HIC EST
FILIUS MEUS DILECTUS, ETC.; that is to say, 'This is my beloved
Son, in the which I am well pleased; hear him!' and the Holy Ghost
alighted upon him in likeness of a culver; and so at his baptising
was all the whole Trinity.
And through that flome passed the children of Israel, all dry feet;
and they put stones there in the middle place, in token of the
miracle that the water withdrew him so. Also in that flome Jordan
Naaman of Syria bathed him, that was full rich, but he was mesell;
and there anon he took his health.
About the flome Jordan be many churches where that many Christian
men dwelled. And nigh thereto is the city of Ai that Joshua
assailed and took. Also beyond the flome Jordan is the vale of
Mamre, and that is a full fair vale. Also upon the hill that I
spake of before, where our Lord fasted forty days, a two mile long
from Galilee, is a fair hill and an high, where the enemy the fiend
bare our Lord the third time to tempt him, and shewed him all the
regions of the world and said, HEC OMNIA TIBI DABO, SI CADENS
ADORAVERIS ME; that is to say, 'All this shall I give thee, if thou
fall and worship me.'
Also from the Dead Sea to go eastward, out of the marches of the
Holy Land that is clept the Land of Promission, is a strong castle
and a fair, in an hill that is clept Carak in Sarmois; that is to
say, Royally. That castle let make King Baldwin, that was King of
France, when he had conquered that land, and put it into Christian
men's hands for to keep that country; and for that cause was it
clept the Mount Royal. And under it there is a town that hight
Sobach, and there, all about, dwell Christian men, under tribute.
From thence go men to Nazareth, of the which our Lord beareth the
surname. And from thence there is three journeys to Jerusalem:
and men go by the province of Galilee by Ramath, by Sothim and by
the high hill of Ephraim, where Elkanah and Hannah the mother of
Samuel the prophet dwelled.
![The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville By Sir John Mandeville
- And men go [on] the hills of
Lebanon, all in length unto the desert of Pharan; and those hills
part - Page 51](../images/travel.jpg)
