And when they were escaped, the angel Gabriel went through the cities, and passed his wing over the soil on which they were built, and the cities were carried up into heaven; and they came so near thereto that those on the confines of heaven could hear the crowing of the cocks in Sodom, and the barking of the dogs in Gomorrah. And then they were overthrown, so that their foundations were towards the sky and their roofs towards the earth. And God rained on them stones heated in the fire of Hell; and on each stone was written the name of him whom it was destined to slay. Now there were many natives of these accursed cities in other parts of the land, and where they were, there they were sought out by the red-hot stones, and were struck down. But some were within the sacred enclosure of the temple at Mecca, and the stones waited for them in the air; and at the expiration of forty days they came forth, and as they came forth the stones whistled through the air, and smote them, and they were slain. Now Lot’s wife turned, as she went forth, to look back upon the city, and a stone fell on her, and she died.[314] It is related further of Lot that, after he had escaped, he committed in ignorance a very great sin; and Abraham sent him to expiate his crime to the sources of the Nile, to fetch thence three sorts of wood, which he named to him. Abraham thought, “He will be slain by ravenous beasts, and so will he atone for the sin that he has committed.” But Lot after a while returned, bringing with him the woods which Abraham had demanded—a cypress plant, a young cedar, and a young pine. Abraham planted the three trees in the shape of a triangle, on a mountain, and charged Lot with watering them every day from Jordan. Now the mountain was twenty-four thousand paces from Jordan, and this penance was laid on Lot to expiate his sin. At the end of three months the trees blossomed; Lot announced this to Abraham, who visited the spot, and saw to his surprise that the three trees had grown together to form one trunk, but with three distinct roots of different natures. At the sight of this miracle he bowed his face to the ground and said, “This tree will abolish sin.” And by that he knew that God had pardoned Lot. The tree grew and subsisted till the reign of Solomon, when it was cut down, and this was the tree which the Jews employed to form the Cross of Christ.[315] This tradition is, of course, Christian; though Jewish in origin, it has been adapted to the Gospel story. 6. THE BIRTH OF ISAAC. The country was wasted; travellers were few; those who passed by, and accepted Abraham’s hospitality, spoke with scorn of the sin of Lot, his nephew; and the neighbourhood became intolerable to the patriarch, who resolved to change his place of residence for a while. He therefore went south, between Kadesh and Sur, and dwelt in Gerar.