in through the outer and two inner iron
gates, in a sort of procession, with which goodly company I proceeded to
the church, which stood in the middle of the great court-yard. We went
up to the screen of the altar, and there everybody made bows, and said
"Kyrie eleison," which they repeated as quickly and in as high a key as
they could. We then came out of the church, and the agoumenos, taking me
by the hand, led me up divers dark wooden staircases, until we came into
a large cheerful room well furnished in the Turkish style, and having
one of the projecting windows which I had seen from the outside. In this
room, which the agoumenos told me I was to consider as my own, we had
coffee. I then presented the letter of the patriarch; he read it with
great respect, and said I was welcome to remain in the monastery as long
as I liked; and after various compliments given and received he left me;
and I found myself comfortably installed in one of the grand--and, as
yet, unexplored--monasteries of the famous sanctuary of Mount Athos:
better known in the Levant by the appellation of [Greek: Agios Oros],
or, as the Italian hath it, Monte Santo.

Before long I received visits from divers holy brethren, being those who
held offices in the monastery under my lord the agoumenos, and there was
no end to the civilities which passed between us. At last they all
departed, and towards evening I went out and walked about; those monks
whom I met either opening their eyes and mouths, and standing still, or
else bowing profoundly and going through the whole series of
gesticulations which are practised towards persons of superior rank; for
the poor monks never having seen a stranger before, or at least a Frank,
did not know what to make of me, and according to their various degrees
of intellect treated me with respect or astonishment. But Greek monks
are not so ill-mannered as an English mob, and therefore they did not
run after me, but only stared and crossed themselves as the unknown
animal passed by.

I will now, from the information I received from the monks and my own
observation, give the best account I can of this extensive and curious
monastery. It was founded by an Emperor Nicephorus, but what particular
Nicephorus he was nobody knew. Nicephorus, the treasurer, got into
trouble with Charlemagne on one side, and Haroun al Raschid on the
other, and was killed by the Bulgarians in 811. Nicephorus Phocas was a
great captain, a mighty man