employed ourselves a considerable time; they were marvellously cool and
delicious, and there were such quantities of them. We and the boatmen
sat in the shade, and enjoyed ourselves till we were ashamed of staying
any longer. I forgot to ask who the founder was. There was no library;
in fact, there was nothing but figs; so we got into the boat again, and
sweltered on a quarter of an hour more, and then we came to

ST. DIONISIUS.

This monastery is also built upon a rock immediately above the sea; it
is of moderate size, but is in good repair. There was a look of comfort
about it that savoured of easy circumstances, but the number of monks
in it was small. Altogether this monastery, as regards the antiquities
it contained, was the most interesting of all. The church, a good-sized
building, is in a very perfect state of preservation. Hanging on the
wall near the door of entrance was a portrait painted on wood, about
three feet square, in a frame of silver-gilt, set with jewels; it
represented Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of Trebizonde, the founder of the
monastery. He it was, I believe, who built that most beautiful church a
little way out of the town of Trebizonde, which is called St. Sofia,
probably from its resemblance to the cathedral of Constantinople. He is
drawn in his imperial robes, and the portrait is one of the most curious
I ever saw. He founded this church in the year 1380; and Neagulus and
Peter, Waywodes of Bessarabia, restored and repaired the monastery.
There was another curious portrait of a lady; I did not learn who it
was: very probably the Empress Pulcheria, or else Roxandra Domna
(Domina?), wife of Alexander, Waywode of Wallachia; for both these
ladies were benefactors to the convent.

I was taken, as a pilgrim, to the church, and we stood in the middle of
the floor before the [Greek: ikonostasis], whilst the monks brought out
an old-fashioned low wooden table, upon which they placed the relics of
the saints which they presumed we came to adore. Of these some were
very interesting specimens of intricate workmanship and superb and
precious materials. One was a patera, of a kind of china or paste, made,
as I imagine, of a multitude of turquoises ground down together, for it
was too large to be of one single turquoise; there is one of the same
kind, but of far inferior workmanship, in the treasury of St. Marc. This
marvellous dish is carved in very high relief with minute figures or
little statues of