The river Jordan is four leagues to the east of Jericho. On this side Jordan is the region called Judea, as far as the Adriatic Sea, that is, to the port which is called Joppa; on the other side Jordan is Arabia, most hostile to Christians, and hateful to all who worship God, in which is the mountain whence Elijah was carried into heaven in a fiery chariot. It is eighteen days' journey from Jordan to Mount Sinai, where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and where, afterwards, Moses ascended by God's command, and was there fasting forty days and as many nights, and there received from the Lord the two stone tables, written by the finger of God, to teach the Children of Israel the law and the commandments, which were contained in the same tables.
Hebron, where the holy patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob repose, each with his wife, and where Adam, the first of mankind, is also buried, is distant from Bethlehem four leagues to the south. Here king David reigned seven years, before he obtained possession of the city of Jerusalem from the family of king Saul. The city of Hebron, which was large and very handsome, is destroyed by the Saracens. On the eastern side of it the monuments of the holy patriarchs, of ancient workmanship, are surrounded by a very strong castle, each of the three monuments being like a great church, with two sarcophagi placed in a very honourable manner within, that is, one for the man and one for the woman; and, even at the present day, the smell of the balsam and precious aromatics with which the bodies were anointed, rising sweetly from the sepulchre, fills the nostrils of those who stand round them. But the bones of Joseph, which the Children of Israel, as he had charged them, brought with them out of Egypt, are buried, more humbly than the rest, as it were, at the extremity of the castle. The holm-oak, under the shade of which Abraham stood when he saw the three youths descending by the road, still flourishes and bears leaves, according to the statement of the inhabitants of the place, not far distant from the aforesaid castle.
The city of Nazareth of Galilee, where the blessed Virgin Mary received the salutation of our Lord's nativity from the angel, is about four days' journey from Jerusalem, the road lying through Sichem, a city of Samaria, which is now called Neapolis, where St. John the Baptist received sentence of decollation from Herod. There, also, is the well of Jacob, where Jesus, weary with his journey, thirsty, and sitting upon the well, condescended to ask water of the Samaritan woman who came thither to draw it, as we read in the Gospel. From Sichem we come to Cæsarea of Palestine, from Cæsarea to Cayphas[87], and from Cayphas to Accaron[88]. Nazareth is about eight miles to the east of Accaron. The city of Nazareth is entirely laid waste and overthrown by the Saracens; but the place of the annunciation of our Lord is indicated by a very noble monastery. A most limpid fountain bubbles out near the city, still surrounded, as formerly, with marble columns and blocks, from which the child Jesus, with other children, often drew water for the use of his mother.