No layman may enter this spot unaccompanied by a priest, on pain of excommunication; it is also forbidden to pluck a single leaf.

The Turks also hold these trees in reverence, and would not injure one of them.
Close by is the spot where the three disciples are said to have slept during the night of their Master's agony.

We were shown marks on two rocks, said to have been footsteps of these apostles! The footsteps of the third disciple we could not discover.

A little to one side is the place where Judas betrayed his Master.
The little church containing the grave of the Virgin Mary stands near the "Grotto of Anguish." We descend by a broad marble flight of fifty steps to the tomb, which is also used as an altar.

About the middle of the staircase are two niches with altars; within these are deposited the bones of the Virgin Mary's parents and of St.
Joseph.