Arculf saw other sacred relics in Constantinople, and then sailed for his own country. About twelve miles from Sicily he saw the isle of Vulcano, whence constantly issued smoke by day and fire by night, with a noise like thunder, but with more intensity on Fridays and Saturdays. The noise is heard in Sicily, where Arculf made a short stay; and afterwards, on his way home, he was carried by contrary winds to the shores of Britain, and at length came to me, Adamnan, who by diligent inquiry obtained from him the above particulars, which I have carefully committed to writing. FOOTNOTES: [14] Jerusalem was first captured by the Saracens, under the khalif Omar, in 637, about sixty years before it was visited by Arculf. The patriarch Sophronius, when requested by Omar to point out a place for the erection of a mosque, is said to have taken him to the ruins on the site of Solomon's Temple, which had been deserted by the Christians, and where the building known as the Mosque of Omar was subsequently built. Until Arculf's time, the Mohammedans appear, however, to have had but a rough and temporary erection, unless the worthy bishop's pious zeal would not allow him to speak of the mosque otherwise than disrespectfully. [15] It was a very old article of popular belief, founded on a literal interpretation of the words of Ps. lxxiv. 12, that Jerusalem was the centre, or, as it was often expressed, the navel, of the world; and it is so exhibited in nearly all the medieval maps. [16] Dr. Clarke is the only modern traveller who has given any notice of these subterranean chambers or pits, which he supposes to have been ancient places of idolatrous worship. [17] Matth. xvii. 4. [18] Damascus was taken by the Arabs in 634. By the capitulation, the Christians were to have seven churches; but one of the Arabian leaders having broken into the city before the capitulation was completed, it was only very partially observed. [19] Alexandria fell into the power of the Arabs in 640. The account given of the city by Arculf would lead us to believe that its prosperity and importance were not so suddenly reduced by that event as is generally believed. [20] _Urbs Elephantorum._ The town of Elephantina, famous for its interesting monuments, situate on the Nile, just below the cataracts. It is to be presumed that Arculf had visited this place; and perhaps he had here seen the crocodiles subsequently described, as those animals are said not to be found in Lower Egypt. It must, however, be observed, that St. Antoninus, who visited Egypt in the seventh century, appears to have seen crocodiles in Lower Egypt. See his Life, in the Act. Sanct. of the Bollandists. [21] The subsequent history of the supposed real cross, or rather the supposed fragments of it, which were scattered as relics over Christian Europe, would fill a volume. It was pretended that it was brought to France by Charlemagne. THE TRAVELS OF WILLIBALD. A.D. 721-727.