42 Travels into the Levant. Part If*' 
Betwixt the Caftle and the Canal, there is another Imallcr one, diflant 
from the greater about fifty paces, whofe Waters joyn together at the end of 
the Channel. Seeing the Inhabitants of Qrfa fancy all to be miracle in their 
Countrey ; they fay that it is another fource, which fprung out of a place 
into which they threw a flave, who feeing that Abraham received no hurt 
by his fall, and that Water gulhed outmiraculoufly from the place into which 
he was precipitated ; told Ntmrod that that man was a true Prophet,and not 
a Sorcerer as he (aid ; whereupon he caufed him alfo to be precipitated : 
Had it not been for that, Orfa could not have fubfifted fo long, but muft have 
periflied for drought ; for there is no Water in that Town but what comes 
from thofe two Sources. 
On the South-fide of the Caftle there are feveral neighbouring Hills that 
command it ; and efpecially one which the People of the Countrey call Nim^ 
rod Tahhtaft, (that's to fay ) the Throne of Nimrod ; becaufe they believe thac 
his chief Throne was upon the top of that hill ; there are a great manv 
Grotto's in thefe hills, where they fay an hundred thoufand of Niffgrod's Sol- 
diers quartered. 
Next day I went out of the Town by the South gate, which they call 
Ejam-Capi/ij and I came to fee the Well called the Well of the Handkerchief 
Ttie hiftory of about a thoufand paces from that Gate. Their Hiftory fays that Ahagants 
Abagarus. Y^m^ of Orfa being a Leper all over, and having heard many wonders fpn- 
ken of our Lord, fent MelTengers to pray him to come and cure him ; with 
orders to alTure him in his Name, that he would protedt him from all his 
Enemies, and fent with them a Painter to draw his Picture. They fay thac 
our Lord made anfwer to the MelTengers, that he could not go with them 
becaufe the time of his pafTion drew nigh, and that perceiving the Painter 
The face of drawing his Picture, he put a Handkerchief upon his face, which immedi- 
infdntedona ^^^^^^ received the print of his Countenance ; and that Handkerchief he gave 
hTndkerchîef!' ^^^^ to be carried to their Prince : The Meflengers fatisfied with their £n> 
bafly, returned, but being near the Gity were fet upon by Robbers who put 
them to flight ; and he that had the Handkerchief threw it nimbly into the 
Well we fpeak of, and efcâped into the Town, where he related all his 
proceedings to the King, who went next day in proceflion with all his Peo- 
ple to the Well, where they found the Water fwelled up to the brim, and 
the Handkerchief floating on the top : The King took it, was immediarelv 
cured of his Leprofie, and he and all his People turned Chrifîians : They fay 
that they kept that Handkerchief a long time, but that at length the Francks 
ftole it and carried it away to Rome. 
A 7«r;^told me in good earnefl another ftory of that Well, he faid that 
'joL Job living hard by, and being fallen into extream poverty, the Worms eat 
him up. fo that there remained no more of him but the Tongue, which they 
would nave devoured alfo ; but that he having had his recourfe to God 
cried, What! Lord, will not you leave my Tongue to Jing your PraiJ-es Tvithl 
That then God bid him go wafh in that Well, from which he returned Ibund 
and well, and fhortly after recovered great Riches ; that the Worms retired 
into a Grott not far off, and confumedpart of the Wall of it, of which they 
fail not to fhew the marks. 
The Lepers This Well is walled in, and many People both Men and Women go thi- 
Well, fiiei- fo Wafh : they go behind little Stone- Walls, and there fîripping them- 
fèlves, receive upon their bodies the Water of the Well, which runs out of a 
Vefiel pierced through ftanding upon the little WaIJ,that they have filled before. 
I faw many Lepers in this Town of Orfa as well as at Damafcm. They look 
hideoufly, are black and melancholick ; much ado they have to fpeak, and 
Lepers, vvh.it their body all over pains the'm ; their diftemper is much like the Pox, but ic 
they are. jg jj^other thing, and they fay porceeds from a different caufe. * 
Whilfl I was at Orfa I enquired how they cur men of the Stone there, and 
a Chirurgeon ( the Son of a Franck but born in Aleppo, called Do?nenico Cahei, ) 
told me that they cut them in the fame manner as in Etirofe ; but that there 
The way of ^^^5 at that time a Turk at Orfa^ who fèemed to be a dull blockifh fellow, and 
Stenc^ fuccesfuUy in this manner. He thruft up his finger into the Patt- 
ents Fundament, and feeling about the Bladder prefèntly found the Stone, 
which 
