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.