40 MOUVTAIKS. 
collected in cisterns ; an inconvenience^ however, which i^_ 
in a great measure counterbalanced by the absence oi 
wolves, bears, and other wiki beasts. 
Captain Carlton, an Englishman, who visited Montserrat 
some years ago, ascended to the loftiest hermitage, tliat ot 
St. Jerome, by the means of spiral steps hewn nut in tlu> 
rock, on account of the steep acclivity. This, he oliseives, 
could not, in his time, be well accomplished by a stranger, 
without following the footsteps of an old ass, who carried 
from the convent a daily supply ot food to the hermits- 
This animal having his two panniers stored with tlie prO' 
visions divided into portions, climbed willtout a guide, and 
having stopped at each of the cells, where the hermit took 
the portion allotted to him, returned back to the convent. 
He found that one of these hermits, to beguile tlic weari' 
someness of his solitude, had contrived so effectually to taniiJ 
the birds which frequented the groves surrouuduig his her- 
mi-tage, that he could draw them together v\'ilh a whistle, 
w’hcn they perched on his head, bre.ist, and shouHers, 
taking the food from his moutli. 
The Convent is situated on tlie eastern side of the moun' 
tain, which seems to have betin split by vast torrents ot 
water, or by some violent convulsion o! nature; in t,t>’ 
way a platform has been formed in the ck-tt, sulficientlf 
ample for the purpose of its construction. It is one of tla? 
forty-five religious houses of the Spanish congregaiioti u 
the order of S.r. Benedict. Tlic monks are bound to suppl/ 
food and lodging for three days to all pilgrims who coni'' 
up to pay th(Mr homage to the Virgin ; beside which, the) 
entertain the hermits on Sundays, i'he latter, wlio nwke ■' 
vow never to quit the mountain, ttikc ilicir stations by seiii' 
ority, the junior hermit being placed at the grc.atcst dls' 
tance from the convent, and descenduig jnogves'sively as th- 
vacancies happen. They arc not akogether iille, takinS 
pains to rival each other in making b.isket-woi ks and olli<-’t 
fanciful f productions, which they display with great alb*' 
bility to theiii visitors. They assemble every morning 
hear mass and perform divine service, in the parish-chuftb 
of St. Cecilia, wiiich lies considerably ab;;ve the convent ' 
and twice j week they confess and communicate. Th') 
wear their beards long, and are clad in brown. , , 
The church of St. Cecilia is a gloomy eJiftce, the gil J 
