Leaving Jerusalem, we descended into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is a mile from the city, containing the village of Gethsemane, with the place of the nativity of St. Mary. In it is a round church of St. Mary, containing her sepulchre, on which the rain never falls, although there is no roof above it. There is also a church on the spot where our Lord was betrayed, containing the four round tables of his Supper. In the Valley of Jehoshaphat there is also a church of St. Leon, in which it is said that our Lord will come at the Last Judgment. Thence we went to Mount Olivet, on the declivity of which is shown the place of our Lord's prayer to the Father. On the side of the same mountain is shown the place where the Pharisees brought to our Lord the woman taken in adultery, where there is a church in honour of St. John, in which is preserved the writing in marble which our Lord wrote on the ground[53]. At the summit of the mountain, a mile from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the place of our Lord's ascension, in the middle of which, on the spot from which he ascended, is an altar open to the sky, on which mass is celebrated. Thence we proceeded to Bethany, which is to the south, on the ascent of the mountain, one mile from the top; there is here a monastery, with a church containing the sepulchre of Lazarus; near which, to the north, is a pool in which, by our Lord's command, Lazarus washed himself after he had been raised from the dead; and he is said to have been subsequently bishop in Ephesus forty years. On the western declivity of Mount Olivet is shown the marble from which the Lord descended on the foal of an ass. Between these, to the south, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the pool of Siloah.
When we left Jerusalem on the way to Bethlehem, the place of our Lord's nativity, distant six miles, we were shown the field in which Habakkuk was at work when the angel of the Lord ordered him to carry his meal to Daniel in Babylon, which is to the south, where Nebuchadnezzar reigned, but which is now the haunt of serpents and wild beasts. At Bethlehem there is a very large church in honour of St. Mary, in the middle of which is a crypt under a stone, the entrance of which is from the south, and the egress from the east, in which is shown the manger of our Lord, on the west side of the crypt. But the place in which our Lord cried, is to the east, having an altar where masses are celebrated. Near this church, to the south, is a church of the Blessed Innocents, the martyrs. One mile from Bethlehem, is the monastery of the Holy Shepherds, to whom the angel appeared at our Lord's nativity. Lastly, thirty miles to the east of Jerusalem is the river Jordan, on which is the monastery of St. John; in which space there are also many other monasteries. Among them, one mile to the south of the city of Jerusalem, is the church of St. Mamilla, in which are many bodies of martyrs slain by the Saracens, and diligently buried there by her.