PART THE FIRST
THE LOTUS
In those days there were many hermits living in the desert. On both
banks of the Nile numerous huts, built by these solitary dwellers, of
branches held together by clay, were scattered at a little distance from each
other, so that the inhabitants could live alone, and yet help one another in
case of need. Churches, each surmounted by a cross, stood here and there
amongst the huts, and the monks flocked to them at each festival to
celebrate the services or to partake of the Communion. There were also,
here and there on the banks of the river, monasteries, where the cenobites
lived in separate cells, and only met together that they might the better
enjoy their solitude.
Both hermits and cenobites led abstemious lives, taking no food till
after sunset, and eating nothing but bread with a little salt and hyssop.
Some retired into the desert, and led a still more strange life in some cave
or tomb.