, 1860-09-14
The CalacOmbS Of Palermo.

! AuO OaN1SVWDo VI uAVt nv
In the last number Of the Independent,
George Allen Butler thus describes one Of
the strange sights at Palermo-the Sicilian
city, which has just come into the posses
sion of the victorious Iegions of Garbuldi:
The strangest of all the strange sights at
Palermo are the catacombs of the Capu-
chins. We are all familiar with the char.
acter Of the Roman and Neapclitan cata-
combs, underground excavations, remarka-
bic for their great extent, and for their as
sociatons with the history Of the early
church. The Palermo catacombs have q
frightful popularity of their own. You de-
scend from the little church, Just outside
the walls, not into deep, subterranean pas
sages, but into succession Of vaults, well
lighted, and Of no greater depth than an
ordinary cellar. These vaults are long and
narrow corridors, on either side of which,
10 inches cut out of the wall, ranged in long
and ghastly ranks, are preserved the bodies
of the dead, not confined out of sight, but
each in the gurb appropriate to it while
living, or else in long robe or winding
sheet. Below these inches are wooden cof-
fins, with windows at the side to show the
face of the occupants Overhead, nearer
the ceiling, are the skeletons of children
sitting, or Of men reclining; all perfectly
preserved, some with the skin still covering
the bones, others having nothing left but
skull, and shoulder, and rib-bones, with the
arms in front piously crossed Some pecu-
liar quality of the soil prevents the ordinary
decomposition, and men buried nearly two
hundred years ago still survive in this skel-
eton company. Strange to say, they are
not permitted to rest in peace. On the I'd
Of November, in every year, the jour dss
morris, or festival Of the dead, their relatives
flock to this dismal place, the well-known
mummies are taken out Of their glazed cof-
fms, and dressed in gala costume, They
number not less than six thousand in all,
and l know Of nothing more fearful than
for living man. to find himself, as II did,
unexpectedly among this army Of dry bones
The most horrible feature Of the whole
exhibition is, that nearly every face wears
in its fossil decay and ruin o dreadfully-lu-
dicrous and comic expression. The lack
luster eye-sockets which gaze down upon
you have sort Of grim vitality Of their
own, and through the entire array It seems
as il there was dumb intelligence, mute
correspondence and sympathy, in the sinis-
ter and almost wicked way in which they
return the curious stare Of the intruders--
Yet you cannot help staring In spite Of all
this, and the eye wanders from one group
10 another with strange and morbid fas-
cination. Some are large-Iimbed, thick
skulled, Complacent in their successful pre-
servaIion others with worn and weary
looks, as il tired Of such stiff, caleareous
companionship; others who seem to have
Wriggled and twisted their joints loose, and
must stand perpetualIy still or fall to bits;I
others with their ruined heads hung down,
as il 10 contemplation Of their ended earth
ly life; others Indifferent and idle, some in
dignant, like the ghosts that Dante saw In
Nhell, with scoEls and grins sarcastic-all
silent, sepulchral, almost internal. One
such sight sufices for q lifetime. As !
Frite, / recall those countless spectral
|hnpes with thrill Of horror-tbs monks
and priests in scarlet and black; the chill
aI.h in full holiday garb; the women, most
hIdeous Of all, in caps, and shaWls, aud
satins
A recent visitor to the catacombs near
Rome details his descent into one Of them
that Of st. Sebastian-and says: To give
some idea Of the vast number deposited In
this city Of the dead, II has been reekoned
there are upward Of 176, 900 bodies in the
crypts Of St, Sebastian only. The atmos-
phere is close and sitting, and smelling Of
earth Not living thing, not an insect,
not even q spider, is found therein 1t is,
in every sense, the abode Of death. Many
stories have been related, and can readily
believe them, Of persons who have Ventured
into these passages without proper guides,
and who have been hopelessly lost
~ There are pubIiShed in the United
States and Canada nearly three thousand
neHsnaners. More than one-half are week