observe, that the generality of strangers who visit this mountain, come
prepared only to stay one day;--but it is not a day, nor a week, that
is sufficient to see half the smaller beauties which a mountain, so
great and wonderful of itself, affords on all sides, from the highest
pinacle above, to the foundation stones beneath.

But I should have told you, that there are other roads to some of the
hermitages above, which, by twisting and turning from side to side, are
every week clambered up by a blind mule, who, being loaded with thirteen
baskets containing the provision for the hermits, goes up without any
conductor, and taking the hermitages in their proper order, goes as near
as he can to each, and waits till the hermit has taken his portion; and
proceeds till he has discharged his load, and his trust, and then
returns to his stable below. I did not see this animal on the road, but
I saw some of his _offerings there_, and you may rely upon the truth of
what I tell you.

Before I quit the hermits, however, I must tell you, that the hardships
and fatigues which some of them voluntarily inflict upon themselves, are
almost incredible: they cannot, like the monks in _Russia_, sit in water
to their chins till they are froze up, but they undergo some penances
almost as severe.




LETTER XXVI.


_Pere Pascal_ having invited me to high mass, and to hear a Spanish