92 STX MONTHS IN MEXTCO. 



which were all numbered, and here the peni- 

 tents pass their time, except when they meet 

 at their short and frugal meals, or at the ap- 

 pointed hours of public devotion in the chapel. 

 The long galleries in which they enjoy ex- 

 ercise are of the greatest splendour, furnished 

 with solid silver and golden crucifixes, and 

 other religious ornaments, forming a striking 

 contrast to the sombre cells in which the so- 

 litary spends the greatest part of his time. 

 They are also decorated with excellent paint- 

 ings, mostly of the old school, the subjects 

 taken from the Holy Scriptures, or illustrative 

 of the lives of the most remarkable Patriarchs, 

 Saints, and Martyrs. Appropriate quotations 

 in Spanish, from the Psalms of David, and 

 other portions of the sacred writings best 

 adapted to excite the soul to gratitude for the 

 mercy of the omnipotent Creator, and after 

 seclusion to return the penitent to the world 

 improved and amended, are interspersed. The 



