In certain astronomical notes of the early twelfth century an anonymous writer (possibly Adelard of Bath) asserts that Mount “Amor reorum” is the center of the earth and that he proved this to be the case by experiment.[1197] It would seem that upon this mountain (possibly Mount Moriah) he hung a log, twelve cubits long by three in diameter, suspending it vertically in the air by means of a rope, and that at the time of the summer solstice he observed that the shadow of the log was directly beneath and circular in shape. This, he asserted, showed that Mount “Amor reorum” was the center of the earth. To clinch the veracity of his observation, he added that he had not been drinking wine and that his eyes were not satiated with sleep. Although the sun is not directly overhead at the summer solstice in Palestine, the same idea reappears in the _Otia imperialia_ of Gervase of Tilbury.[1198] Gervase seems to favor, as the center of the earth, the well where Christ spoke to the Samaritan woman.[1199] He adds that this well has the characteristic that philosophers attribute to wells on the Tropic of Cancer at Syene in Africa, that is to say, that the sun shines directly into it at the summer solstice every year. _THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE_ PARADISE IN THE EAST Most medieval maps include in the eastern part of the world a picture of the Terrestrial Paradise,[1200] surrounded by a high wall or mountain range and containing within it figures of Adam and Eve and the serpent[1201] (see above, Fig. 2, p. 69). “The first place in the East is Paradise, a garden famous for its delights, where man can never go, for a fiery wall surrounds it and reaches to the sky. Here is the tree of life which gives immortality, here the fountain which divides into four streams that go forth and water the world.”[1202] “Around Paradise extends a savage, trackless waste, infested with wild beasts and serpents.”[1203]