untain of Gihon. The rock
inside was of a white colour, intersected with red and blue veins.

CHAPTER L.

The Descent from the Cross.

At the time when everyone had left the neighbourhood of the Cross,
and a few guards alone stood around it, I saw five persons, who I think
were disciples, and who had come by the valley from Bethania, draw nigh
to Calvary, gaze for a few moments upon the Cross, and then steal away.
Three times I met in the vicinity two men who were making examinations
and anxiously consulting together. These men were Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus. The first time was during the Crucifixion (perhaps when
they caused the clothes of Jesus to be brought back from the soldiers),
and they were then at no great distance from Calvary. The second was
when, after standing to look whether the crowd was dispersing, they
went to the town to make some preparations. The third was on their
return from the tomb to the Cross, when they were looking around in
every direction, as if waiting for a favourable moment, and then
concerted together as to the manner in which they should take the body
of our Lord down from the Cross, after which they returned to the town.

Their next care was to make arrangements for carrying with them the
necessary articles for embalming the body, and their servants took some
tools with which to detach it from the Cross, as well as two ladders
which they found in a barn close to Nicodemus's house. Each of these
ladders consisted of a single pole, crossed at regular intervals by
pieces of wood, which formed the steps. There were hooks which could be
fastened on any part of the pole, and by means of which the ladder
could be steadied, or on which, perhaps, anything required for the work
could also be hung.

The woman from whom they had bought their spices had packed the
whole neatly together. Nicodemus had bought a hundred pounds' weight of
roots, which quantity is equal to about thirty-seven pounds of our
measure, as has been explained to me. They carried these spices in
little barrels make of bark, which were hung round their necks, and
rested on their breasts. One of these barrels contained some sort of
powder. They had also some bundles of herbs in bags made of parchment
or leather, and Joseph carried a box of ointment; but I do not know
what this box was made of. The servants were to carry vases, leathern
bottles, sponges, and tools, on a species of litter, and they likewise
took