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

THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS,

The catacombs of Paris were originally not cats•
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 1786 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 tw' 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
galleries are of enormous dimensions, particularly
those under the gardens of the Luxembourg. 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-
epee of subterraneous voids where there had been
no kind of reason to suspect them. Consequently,
the administration des carribvs is constantly open-
ing new galleries for the purpose of traversing all
suspected regions. Occasionally they discover ex-
cavations which require immediate attentio❑ ; but
these discoveries are daily becoming rater 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 exhilirating 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 "per sang."

ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF GREECE AT ATHENS.—
The King of Greece arrived at the Pii pus at 9 a.m.
of October 30. He was enthusiastically received on landing
at the Pirleus, and afterwards at Athens. His Majesty
attended a 2e Beam at the Cathedral, at which the diplo-
matic body was present. Athens is reported to be quiet,
and the people wel disposed.