He gave me some account of the manner in which he spent his time. The Dominican is a strict order, and one that makes study an obligation. Philosophy and theology occupied a great part of the day. The friars met together only one hour in the twenty-four; and all the rest, excepting those devoted to sleep, were spent in study of one kind or another, and in religious exercises. One day in the week only, this young friar was allowed to leave the convent and walk in the garden; and only twice in the year it was permitted to go into the city. The old friars, however, were allowed greater indulgence in these matters. The rules of the order do not admit of animal food: fish, vegetables, and fowls are alone permitted; but the friar told me that the fish is often very various, and well cooked. The friars rise at four in summer, and at five in winter. They are allowed two habits in the year, and each costs seventeen dollars. The conversation among the friars during the hour when they meet together, is generally upon philosophical or theological subjects, and sometimes politics; but the young friar was no doubt still ignorant of the conversation which those who are emancipated from the restraints put upon youth, hold with each other; for Dominican councils have not always been held in their hall of recreation. I was also informed, that some of the friars in this convent understood several languages; and that the books being selected by the superiors, there was no restraint upon the study of these. Three of the friars also understood music; and in the convent there were three pianos. I omitted to say, that the young friar possessed property before entering the convent, amounting to 120_l._ a year. From the summit of the range which we had now ascended, we looked down upon the plain of Valencia, usually called “the garden of Spain,” an appellation that has been given to it, not I should suppose, on account of its exclusive fertility, because the huertas of Murcia, and Oriuhuela, and San Felipe, are no less fertile than the plain of Valencia,--but on account of its great extent. All the way from the foot of the hill to Valencia, we passed through a highly cultivated, and well peopled country; covered, like the vale of Murcia, with the finest vegetation, thickly scattered with wood, and strewn with houses and villages. At short intervals, the road is crossed by a fine clear stream, communicating the benefits of irrigation to both sides of the plain; and as we approached nearer to Valencia, the road was in many places skirted by extensive orange groves, laden with so great a profusion of fruit, that the green and the yellow appeared to be almost equally mingled.