“Also in that country and in others also, men find long Apples to sell, in their season, and men clepe them Apples of Paradise; and they be right sweet and of good savour. And though ye cut them in never so many gobbets or parts, over-thwart or endlong, evermore ye shall find in the midst the figure of the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesu.

“And men find there also the Apple of the tree of Adam, that have a bite at one of the sides; and there be also small Fig trees that bear no leaves, but Figs upon the small branches; and men clepe them Figs of Pharoah.”

Sir John, on his constant look out lets no oddment pass him by, and the more peculiar the better. It appears he would rather see a well in a field—“that our Lord Jesu Christ made with one of his feet, when he went to play with other children”—than many things political or notable to the country. And he will never come to a country but he will mention the state of its trees and fruits, these, naturally, being important items to the traveller of his day who might at any moment have to fall back on the natural fruits of the field for his food. So, when he goes by the desert to the valley of Elim, he notes the seventy-two Palm trees there growing—“the which Moses found with the children of Israel.”

Then he comes by Mount Sinai, and there he finds the convent by the spot where was the burning bush; and the Church of Saint Catherine is there—“in the which be many lamps burning; for they have of oil of Olives enough, both to burn in their lamps and to eat also. And that plenty they have by the miracle of God; for the raven and the crows and the choughs and other fowls of the country assemble them there every year once, and fly thither as in pilgrimage; and everych of them bringeth a branch of the Bays or of the Olive in their beaks instead of offering, and leave them there; of which the monks make great plenty of oil. And this is a great marvel.”