Chapter XXII: Letter XXIII

I must now lead you up to the highest part of the mountain; it is a long way up, not less than three thousand five hundred paces from _St. Madalena_, and over a very rugged and disagreeable road for the feet, which leads, however, to the cell of _St. Geronimo_; from the two turrets of which, an immense scene is opened, too much for the head of a _low-lander_ to bear; for it not only takes in a view of a great part of the mountain beneath, but of the kingdoms of _Arragon_, _Valencia_, the Mediterranean Sea, and the islands; but as it were, one half of the earth's orbit. The fatigue to clamber up to it is very great; but the recompense is ample. This hermitage looks down upon a wood above a league in circumference, in which formerly some hermits dwelt; but at present it is stocked with cattle belonging to the convent, who have a fountain of good water therein. Near this hermitage, in a place they call _Poza_, the snow is preserved for the use of the _Religieux_. The inhabitant either was not within, or would not be disturbed; so that after feasting my eyes on all sides, my conductor led me on eastward to the seventh hermitage, called _St. Antonio_, the father of the Anchorites; it stands under one of the highest PINES, and the access to it is so difficult and dangerous, that very few strangers visit it;--a circumstance which whetted my curiosity; so, like the boy after a bird's-nest, I _risqued it_, especially as I was pretty sure I should _take the old bird sitting_. This hermit had formerly been in the service; and though he had made great intercession to the Holy Virgin and saints in heaven, as well as much interest with men on earth, he was not, I think, quite happy in his exalted station; his turret is so small, that it will not contain above two men; the view from it, to the East and North, is very fine; but it looks down a most horrible and dreadful precipice, above one hundred and eighty toises perpendicular, and upon the river _Lobregate_. No man, but he whom custom has made familiar to such a tremendous _eye-ball_, can behold this place but with horror and amazement; and I was as glad to leave it, as I was pleased to have seen it. At about a gun-shot distance from it rises the highest pine-head of the mountain, called _Caval Hernot_, which is eighty toises higher than any other _cone_, and three thousand three hundred paces from the convent below. Keeping under the side of the same hill, and along the base of the same pine-head, you are led to the hermitage of _St. Salvador_, eight hundred paces from _St. Antonio_, which hermitage has two chapels, one of which is hewn out of the heart of the PINE, and consequently has a natural as well as a beautiful cupola; the access to this cell is very difficult, for the crags project so much, that it is necessary to clamber over them on all-four; the prospects are very fine to the southward and eastward. The inhabitant was from home; but as there was no fastening to his doors, I examined all his worldly goods, and found that most of them were the work of his own ingenious hands. A little distant from hence stands a wooden cross, at which the road divides; one path leads to _St. Benito_, the other to the _Holy_ Trinity. By the archives of the convent, it appears, that in the year 1272, _Francis Bertrando_ died at the hermitage of _St. Salvador_, after having spent forty-five years in it, admired for his sanctity and holy life, and that he was succeeded therein by _François Durando Mayol_, who dwelt in it twenty-seven years.

Descending from hence about six or seven hundred paces, you arrive at the ninth hermitage, _St. Benito_; the situation is very pleasing, the access easy, and the prospects divine. It was founded by an _Abbot_, whose intentions were, that it should contain within a small distance, four other cells, in memory of the five wounds made in the body of Christ. This hermit has the privilege of making an annual entertainment on a certain day, on which day all the other hermits meet there, and receive the sacrament from the hands of the mountain vicar; and after divine service, dine together. They meet also at this hermitage on the day of each titular saint, to say mass, and commune with each other.