Of the holy place betwene Bethany and flom Jordane and other things.
ALSO from Bethany men go from Jordan thorow the Wildernesse and it is nere a daies journey betwene. Toward the East is a great hill where our Lord fasted XL dayes & upon this hill was Christ brought of the fende1 of Hell, & sayd to him thus, Dic ut lapides isti panis fiant. That is to say, Commaund that these stones be made bread. And there is an Hermitage wher dwelled a maner of Christen men called Georgins2 for sainct George converted them, and upon that hill dwelled Abraham a great whyle. Also as men go to Jerico, in the way sate many sicke men crying, Jesu fili David, misere nobis. That is to say, Jesu the sonne of David have mercie upon us. And two myle from Jerico is flom3 Jordan & ye shall wete the dead sea departeth the lande of Jude and of Araby and the water of the sea is right bitter and this water casteth out a thinge that men call aspatum4 as great pieces as a horse. And Hierusalem is cc furlonges from this sea, and it is called the dead sea, for it runneth not, nor no man, ne beast, that hath life, that is therein, may lyve, and that hath bene proved many times, for they have cast therein men that were judged to death, nor no man may drinke of that water & if men cast yron therein it commeth up againe, and if a man cast a fether therein it goeth to the grounde, and that is against kinde.5
And there about grow trees that beare fruite of faire color and seme rype, but when a man breaketh them or cut them, he findeth naught in them but coales or asshes, in tokening that throughe the vengaunce of God these cities were brent with the fyre of hell. And some men call that lake the lake of Alphytedde,6 and some call it the flome of the divell, and some call it the stinking flome, for the water thereof stynketh. There sanke these five cities through the wrath of God, that is to saye, Sodome, Gomor,7 Aldema,8 Solome,9 and Segor, for the sinne that raigned in them, but Segor through the prayer of Loth, was saved a great while, for it sat on an hyll, and yet apeareth much thereof above the water, and men may see the walles in cleare weather. And in this citie of Segor, Loth dwelled a great while . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and at the ryght side of this see dwelled Lothes wife in a stone of salt for that she looked againe when the citie sanke downe.
