After leaving the Greek chapel, we crossed to the western side of this circular church; and here entering a narrow winding passage, came presently to a floor of naked rock with two graves cut in it, called the Sepulchres of Joseph of Arimathea and of Nicodemus. They are just deep enough to contain a body; that of Nicodemus is only about four and a half feet in length. From this place we were taken to a chapel on the northern side of the church, where, they say, our Saviour appeared to the Virgin after his resurrection; and next, by a winding passage, to a place in the rear of the Greek church, where are altars marking, it is said, the spots where they cast lots for his garments; where he was confined till they had prepared the cross; where occurred the conversion of Longinus, the officer who pierced his side with a spear, &c. Here also we were conducted, by a descent of forty steps, into a large cave, the place where Helena discovered the cross. They tell us that the Jews, in order to stop the adoration of the cross by the early Christians, cast it here into a hole called the “Valley of Corpses,” where it remained three hundred years; that Helena, on digging for it, discovered three crosses, and, unable to distinguish which was the one she was searching for, had them carried to the place where is now the chapel of the Virgin, and where was then a woman at the point of death; and that the sick person being made to touch them, two produced no effect, but the third or true cross restored her immediately to health. Ascending from the cave and following another dark passage, we came presently into a chapel about fifteen feet square, one side of which is formed by a bare precipitous rock. This is a portion of the rocky knoll of Golgotha or Calvary; and here they showed us a rent or fissure about sixteen inches in width, telling us that it was formed at the time of the crucifixion, when the veil of the temple was rent in twain, and with the quaking of the earth the rocks were rent. They tell also a story, which I feel loth to repeat, that here, at the time just spoken of, the head of Adam was discovered; and that when the Saviour’s side was pierced, the blood and water flowed down upon it; that, as Adam had been the first to sin, he might be the first to experience the benefit of the redemption. After giving an impatient glance at these various spots, we passed on; and soon after, emerging once more into daylight, found ourselves in the vestibule, and at the foot of the staircase leading to the summit of Calvary.