And, an half mile more
nigh, is a fair church of Saint John the Baptist, where he baptised
our Lord.
And there beside is the house of Jeremiah the prophet.
CHAPTER XII
OF THE DEAD SEA; AND OF THE FLOME JORDAN. OF THE HEAD OF SAINT
JOHN THE BAPTIST; AND OF THE USAGES OF THE SAMARITANS
AND from Jericho, a three mile, is the Dead Sea. About that sea
groweth much alum and of alkatran. Between Jericho and that sea is
the land of Engeddi. And there was wont to grow the balm; but men
make draw the branches thereof and bear them to be grafted at
Babylon; and yet men clepe them vines of Geddi. At a coast of that
sea, as men go from Arabia, is the mount of the Moabites, where
there is a cave, that men clepe Karua. Upon that hill led Balak,
the son of Beor, Balaam the priest for to curse the people of
Israel.
That Dead Sea parteth the land of Ind and of Arabia, and that sea
lasteth from Soara unto Arabia. The water of that sea is full
bitter and salt, and, if the earth were made moist and wet with
that water, it would never bear fruit. And the earth and the land
changeth often his colour. And it casteth out of the water a thing
that men clepe asphalt, also great pieces, as the greatness of an
horse, every day and on all sides. And from Jerusalem to that sea
is 200 furlongs. That sea is in length five hundred and four score
furlongs, and in breadth an hundred and fifty furlongs; and it is
clept the Dead Sea, for it runneth nought, but is ever unmovable.
And neither man, ne beast, ne nothing that beareth life in him ne
may not die in that sea. And that hath been proved many times, by
men that have deserved to be dead that have been cast therein and
left therein three days or four, and they ne might never die
therein; for it receiveth no thing within him that beareth life.
And no man may drink of the water for bitterness. And if a man
cast iron therein, it will float above. And if men cast a feather
therein, it will sink to the bottom, and these be things against
kind.
And also, the cities there were lost because of sin. And there
beside grow trees that bear full fair apples, and fair of colour to
behold; but whoso breaketh them or cutteth them in two, he shall
find within them coals and cinders, in token that by wrath of God
the cities and the land were burnt and sunken into hell. Some men
clepe that sea the lake Dalfetidee; some, the flome of Devils; and
some the flome that is ever stinking. And into that sea sunk the
five cities by wrath of God; that is to say, Sodom, Gomorrah,
Aldama, Zeboim, and Zoar, for the abominable sin of sodomy that
reigned in them.
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