Arculf next visited the holy places in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem. In the valley of Jehoshaphat he saw the round church of St. Mary, divided into two stories by slabs of stone; in the upper part are four altars; on the eastern side below there is another, and to the right of it an empty tomb of stone, in which the Virgin Mary is said to have been buried; but who moved her body, or when this took place, no one can say. On entering this chamber, you see on the right-hand side a stone inserted in the wall, on which Christ knelt when he prayed on the night in which he was betrayed; and the marks of his knees are still seen in the stone, as if it had been as soft as wax. In the same valley, not far from the church of St. Mary, is shown the tower of Jehoshaphat, in which his tomb is seen; adjoining to which little tower, on the right, is a separate chamber cut out of the rock of Mount Olivet, containing two hollow sepulchres, one, that of the aged Simeon the Just, who held the child Jesus in the temple, and prophesied of him; the other of Joseph, the husband of Mary. On the side of Mount Olivet there is a cave, not far from the church of St. Mary, on an eminence looking towards the valley of Jehoshaphat, in which are two very deep pits. One of these extends under the mountain to a vast depth; the other is sunk straight down from the pavement of the cavern, and is said to be of great extent. These pits are always closed above. In this cavern are four stone tables; one, near the entrance, is that of our Lord Jesus, whose seat is attached to it, and who, doubtless, rested himself here while his twelve apostles sat at the other tables. There is a wooden door to the cave, which was often visited by Arculf[16]. After passing through the gate of David, which is adjacent to Mount Sion, we come to a stone bridge, raised on arches, and pointing straight across the valley to the south; half-way along which, a little to the west of it, is the spot where Judas Iscariot hanged himself; and there is still shown a large fig-tree, from the top of which he is said to have suspended himself, according to the words of the poet Juvencus,— "Informem rapuit ficus de vertice mortem." On Mount Sion, Arculf saw a square church, which included the site of our Lord's Supper, the place where the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, the marble column to which our Lord was bound when he was scourged, and the spot where the Virgin Mary died. Here also is shown the site of the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He saw on the south of Mount Sion a small field (Aceldama) covered with a heap of stones, where the bodies of many pilgrims are carefully buried, while others are left to rot on the surface.