AND right nere to that place is a cave in a Roche where Adam and Eve dwelled whan they were dryven out of Paradyse, and there got they theyr chyldren. And in that place was Adam made as some men saye, for men called sometime that place the felde of Damasse,[1] for it was in the worshippe[2] of Damasse; and fro thence he was translated into Paradyse as they saye, and afterwarde he was driven out of Paradyse, and put there agayne, for the same daye that he was put into Paradyse, the same day he was driven out, for so soone he synned. And there begynneth the yle[3] of Ebron that lasteth nere to Hierusalem, and the Aungell bad Adam that he should dwell wyth his wyfe, and there they engendred Seth, of the which kyndred[4] Jesu Christ was borne. And in that vale is the felde where men draw out of the earth a thinge the which men in that countrey call Chambell and they eate that thinge in the stede of spyce & they beare it to sell, and men may not grave[5] there so deepe ne so wyde, but it is at the yeares ende full againe up to the sydes through the grace of God. And two myle from Ebron is the grave of Loth[6] that was Abraham's brother. [Footnote 1: Damascus.] [Footnote 2: _Pynson_ and others say lordship.] [Footnote 3: Vale.] [Footnote 4: Kindred or tribe.] [Footnote 5: Dig.] [Footnote 6: Lot.] CAP. XVI. _Of the dry tree._ [Illustration] WHEN a lyttle from Ebron is the mounte of Mambre, of the which mount the vale toke his name, and there is the tree of oke that the Sarasins call dypre,[1] that is of Abraham's time, that men call the dry tree. And they say that it hath ben from the beginning of the worlde, and was sometime grene and bare leaves, unto the tyme that our Lorde dyed, and so did all the trees in the worlde, or else they fayled in their heartes, or else they faded, and yet is there many of those in the worlde. And some prophesies say, that a lorde or prince of the weste syde of the worlde shall winne the lande of promission, that is the holy lande, with the helpe of Christen men, and he shall do singe[2] a masse under that tree, and the tree shall waxe grene and beare fruite and leaves, and through that miracle many Sarasins and Jewes shal be turned to the Christen fayth, and therefore they do great worship therto, and kepe it right[3] basely. And yet though it be dry, it beareth a great vertue, for certainly he that hath a lyttle thereof about him, it healeth a sicknesse called the falling evill, and hath many other vertues also, and therefore it is holden right precious. [Footnote 1: _Pynson_ and others read Dyrpe or Dirpe.] [Footnote 2: Cause a mass to be sung.] [Footnote 3: To keep it carefully.] CAP. XVII. _Fro Bethlehem._