Our road laid near the bottom of the valley, upon the debris of the ancient Jerusalem, consisting of loose earth mingled with pottery; immediately over us, on the left, rose the frowning battlement of the city; on the right at the distance of about 200 feet were the perpendicular cliffs which on that side bounded the valley; they are composed of parallel strata of limestone, and are pierced with numerous sepulchral caves belonging to the times of the Jewish ascendancy. Near the bend of the valley, in a recess among the cliffs, was pointed out the spot supposed to be the Aceldama or field of blood. It belongs now to the Armenians, and if we are to believe numerous strong affirmations, the soil has the property, miraculously bestowed, of destroying the flesh of any body deposited in it in the short space of twenty-four hours. Earth from this place has been transported both to the famous Campo Santo at Pisa in Italy, and to Rome; and in both is said to retain its miraculous properties, with the single exception, that in the latter city, though it acts on the corpses of strangers, instead of eating, it indignantly thrusts out from it the bodies of the citizens themselves. For this distinction the Romans have to thank themselves. The earth was sent to them in 270 ships by Helena (or St. Helena according to the Roman calendar), who expected that it would be joyfully received. On its arrival, the strangers then in the city joyfully proffered their services in assisting to unload it, but the citizens took the liberty of declining, saying that they had already sacred earth enough, since the whole of their soil had been consecrated by the blood of the numerous martyrs who had suffered there. “For which act of contempt it is permitted of heaven, that if the body of any Roman is interred in the Campo Santo of Rome, the earth thrusts it out, fœted and deformed, but operates on that of a stranger as has just been related. There are many books which treat on this subject; and when I was myself in Rome, I inquired with great diligence into it, so as to inform myself about the matter; and all affirmed it to be the fact.”[58]