Page:Impressions of Spain in 1866.djvu/63

Rh resolved to spend the rest of his days in penitence and prayer. Their habit is composed of a coarse grey stuff, with a leathern girdle, drawers, and a shirt of serge. No linen is allowed, or stockings, and they wear sandals on their feet. They are not permitted to possess anything, or to keep anything in their cells but a glazed earthen- ware pot, a wooden plate, a pitcher, a lamp, and instruments of penance and devotion. They keep a perpetual fast on beans and lentils, only on high days and holidays being allowed fish. They are not allowed to write or receive letters, or to go into one another's cells, or to go out of the enclosure, except once a month, when they may walk in the mountains round, which they gene- rally do together, reciting litanies. Seven hours of each day must be given to prayer, and they take the discipline twice a week. How strange a