is a curious picture in the
entrance room of the oil-store, which represents the miraculous increase
in their stock of oil during a year of scarcity, when, through the
intercession of a pious monk who then had charge of that department, the
marble basins, which were almost empty, overflowed, and a river of fine
fresh oil poured in torrents through the door. The frame of this picture
is set with jewels, and it appears to be very ancient. The refectory is
an immense room; it stands in front of the church and has twenty-four
marble tables and seats, and is in the same cruciform shape as that at
St. Laura. It has frequently accommodated five hundred guests, the
servants and tenants of the abbey, who come on stated days to pay their
rents and receive the benediction of the agoumenos. Sixty or seventy fat
mules are kept for the use of the community, and a very considerable
number of Albanian servants and muleteers are lodged in outbuildings
before the great gate. These, unlike their brethren of Epirus, are a
quiet, stupid race, and whatever may be their notions of another world,
they evidently think that in this there is no man living equal in
importance to the great agoumenos of Vatopede, and no earthly place to
compare with the great monastery over which he rules.

From Vatopede it requires two hours and a half to ride to the monastery
of

SPHIGMENOU,

which is a much smaller establishment. It is said to have been founded
by the Empress Pulcheria, sister of the Emperor Theodosius the younger,
and if so must be a very ancient building, for the empress died on the
18th of February in the year 453. Her brother Theodosius was known by
the title or cognomen of [Greek: kalligraphos], from the beauty of his
writing: he was a protector of the Nestorian and Eutychian heretics, and
ended his life on the 20th of October, 460.

This monastery is situated in a narrow valley close to the sea, squeezed
in between three little hills, from which circumstance it derives its
name of [Greek: sphygmenos], "squeezed together." It is inhabited by
thirty monks, who are cleaner and keep their church in better order and
neatness than most of their brethren on Mount Athos. Among the relics of
the saints, which are the first things they show to the pilgrim from
beyond the sea, is a beautiful ancient cross of gold set with diamonds.
Diamonds are of very rare occurrence in ancient pieces of jewellery; it
is indeed doubtful whether they were known t