Pinetown is a little village situated at a distance of 16 miles by rail from Dunbar. It is about 1,100 feet above sea level, and enjoys a beautiful climate.
The Trappist Monastery is three miles distant from Pinetown. My companion and I walked to Marianhill, as the hill, or rather the cluster of hills on which the abbey is situated is called. It is a very pleasant walk through the little hills all covered with green grass.
On our reaching the settlement, we saw a gentleman with a pipe in his mouth, and we knew at once that he was not one of the brotherhood. He however took us to the visitors' room, where a visitors' book was kept. It appeared from the book that it commenced from 1894, and there were hardly twenty pages filled up. Indeed, the mission is not at all known as it ought to be.
One of the brotherhood came and bowed very low. We were offered tamarind water and pineapples. After having refreshed ourselves, we accompanied the guide to the various places he took us to. The various buildings one saw, were all substantial red brick buildings. All was quiet ; the silence was broken only by the noise of the instruments in the workshops or the native children.
The settlement is a quiet little model village, owned on the truest republican principles. The principe of liberty, equality, and fraternity is carried out in its entirety. Every man is a brother, every woman a sister, The monks number about 120 on the settlement, and the nuns, or the sisters as they are called, number about sixty. The sisters' cloister is about half a mile from the brothers! Both the brothers and the sisters observe a strict vow of silence and chastity. No brother or sister may speak, except those who are allowed to by the abbot, who is the head of the Trappists in Natal. And these are only allowed go sepak who have to to town to make purchases, or to look after the visitors.
The brothers are dressed in long robes with a black piece of cloth in front and on the back. The sisters wear red clothing of the simplest style. None seemed to wear socks.
A candidate for the brotherhood has to make a vow for two years and till then is called a novice. After two years, he may either leave the cloister or make a vow for life. A model Trappist gets up at 2 a.m., and devotes four hours to prayer and contemplation. At six, he has his breakfast, which consists of bread and coffee, or some such simple foods. He dines at 12, and makes a meal of bread, and soup, and fruits. He sups at 6 in the evening, and goes to bed at 7 or 8 p.m. The brothers eat no fish, flesh, or fowl.
