The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-03 00:00:00

THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS,

The catacombs of Paris were originally not cata-
combs at all. They were merely vast quarries from
which the stone had been got for building Paris.
Paris stands over them, and at one period of its his-.
tory was in small danger of falling through the
crust of earth which divided the city from its quasi
birthplace. Now they are really catacombs, a de-
cree of the Government in 178 G having transferred
the contents of the overcrowded churchyards down
• . .

into these spacious mines, where the bones are ar-
ranged in most horrible fashion. The skeletons of
from twelve to fifteen million human beings are now

'lying there, according to the lowest calculations,
and this is supposed by some authorities to be
much below the mark. But the ossuary is only
an infinitely small portion of the mines, of the
extent of which we may form some idea from M.
Berthet's statement that, if one or two obstruc-
tions were removed, a man might descend by the
steps in the Rue Bonaparte, and return to the
world by a well lately pierced on the Orleans
road, without seeing daylight—a distance of some
six miles or more in a straight line. Some of the
gallerieti are of enormous dimensions, particularly
those under the gardens of the Luxea.bourg. As
M. Berthet says, the crowd of joyful children,
lively students, and elegant women little think,
as they play and flirt under the chestnut trees,
that a hundred feet beneath them are appalling
abysses which would engulf both them and the trees,
marble balustrades, and terraces. The danger is not
wholly imaginary, for though so much of the mines
as is known is always under a close inspection,
there still remain vast spaces unknown, accidents
now and again occurring which betray the exist
ence of subterraneons voids where there had been
no kind of reason to suspect them. Consequently,
the administration des carrieres is constantly open-
ing new galleries' for the purpose of traversing all
suspected regions. Occasionally they discover ex-
cavations which require immediate attention ; but
these discoveries are daily becoming rarer and less
urgent, so that shortly it may be hoped that the
voids will be thoroughly explored. Meanwhile,
large bodies of workmen are employed on the works.
At certain seasons some of them never see daylight,
while men who have worked down there for thirty
or forty years are as robust and healthy as if their
labour had been carried on in the open air.; and
though the work is not particularly cxhilirating in

itself, as the curious visitor advances he hears shouts
of laughter and joyous song suddenly disturbing
the profound silence. At length he comes upon a
gang of men busily at work in strengthening the
pillars or excavating new galleries. The infinitely
numerous paths and turns are as familiar to them
as the complicated maze of streets above to a
Parisian " pUr sang."

ARRIVAL OF THEKING OF GREECE AT ATHENS.—
The King of Greece arrived at the Pit mus at 9 a.m.
of October 30. He was enthusiastically received on landing
at the Phoens, and afterwards at Athens. His Majesty
attended a 7e Denim at the Cathedral, at which the diplo-
matic body was present. Athens ie reported to be quiet,
and the people wel disposed,