This remarkable inductive power may perhaps be
some day explained by philosophers, but it is now exceedingly dangerous,
and unfortunate results have occurred, when in a sudden impulse of
devotion young maidens have kissed the rock entrance to the cave, or
imprudently pressed their lips upon the sacred effigy.
During my sojourn at Trooditissa no arrivals of despairing wives
occurred, but in the exhausted conditions of the finance throughout the
island, it would have been the height of folly to have desired an
increase of family, and thereby multiply expenses; possibly the
uncertainty respecting the permanence of the English occupation may
deter the ladies, who may postpone their pilgrimage to the monastery
until their offspring should be born with the rights of British
subjects.
I have described the origin of the ecclesiastical retreat at Trooditissa
as nearly as possible according to the viva-voce history related by the
monks. It is impossible to gauge the opinions of the world, as
individuals differ as much in nervous structure and in theological
creeds as they do in personal appearance; some may accept the monks'
belief implicitly, while others may suggest that the original occupant
of the cave was some unknown hermit secluded from the world, whose
solitary lamp burning before the Virgin had attracted the attention of
the shepherds from the mountain opposite.
