Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-04-08
EssDli EUROPE.
Notes of Foreign Travel, by IL Citi-
zen OF independence.

NAPLES, March Slh, 1871.
Dear DR. We have been here month,
but the weather WAS SO rainy and disagree,
able for the first part Of The time that our
Wis ting has been crowded into the last two
weeks, and one week Of shat | spent in
Rome, from whence have Just returned.
ing. and ! cannot, therefore, carry out my
intention Of writing YOU descriptive letter,
as should like 10 do, for this locality is full
of interesting places and characters.
Naples, itself, is full of interest. It's mu
scum, with lis great array OF irescoes, mo-
safes, inscriptions, brorzes, jewelrv, and
articles Of domestic furniture from pompcii
with its splendid satlsary from Pompeil,
Herculaneum, CaIri, Capua, Baise. Gu
mea. aud other old and rich Roman
cities; some Of the best antique pieces of
sculpture found at Rome; with lis picture
gallery and library OF rare works. is one OF
the most interesting places TO visit i'll Ell
rope. The churches aud converts are rich
in marbles and paintings, and altar orna
ments. and many Of then. in ere>ting from
their history. lis cemeteries, It's palaces,
its old caslies--irom whose gloomy dun
geons Garibaldi released 20 600 prisoners
the victims OF Bourbon suspicion, caprice
aud tyranny-all have features that would
interest you if had time TO portray them.
The ,hous nd oddities in the dress, Gus
the ragged, dirty, lazy, unspeakably filthy,
and yet good-I alnred, happy people, would
furnish themes for a score OF letters. To
see many OF their teams would excite the
risiblcs of the most melancholy individual
in the world. Horses, and mules, and di-
minutive donkeys, and oxen, and bullaloes
AID cows ar. fastened by the oldest of har-
ness to the oldest of vehicles, in the oldest
of combinatons. Oae animal 81 stains the
shafts which are fastened ON the top Of its
back to a saddle with as many peaks as a
Gothic church has spires aud pinnaces.
On one side of the centre quadruped will
generally be tethcred--s should it happen TO
be large hors "a small mule, and on the
other "a still smaller donkey. Or there will
be horse, donkey, and COW; or an OK
and donkey, and a pony; or a buffalo,
and a horse, and mule; or the equine,
aud the bovine, and the assinine IN some
other absurd combination. Their stages
shame all the passenger vehicles | ever
saw, and the conscences of the drivers
and the capacity of the vehicles, are inin-
itrly more elastic than those in like en-
ployment i'll our country cvcn--whch is
saying good deal These conveyauees
consist Of lwo-wheeled cart without sides
with bottom iucliniug downwards, and a
seat and platform inclining upwards
There is seat loom for the ar5tocratic on
the seat and platforms sitting, or packing,
or laying room beneath on the bottom. for
those of the second grade; while the com.
mon class cling to the shafts or hang on to
the edges of the upper CT lower platform.
One poor animal carries all-cnen fifteen
or twenty persons-and he goes boiling
along over the lava pavement, which is Of
ten so smooth that animals slide upon it al
most as much as they sep-and one sees
scores OF fallen ones in any ordinary ram.
Bile about the city. The lower classes per
form almost all their domestic duties out OF
doors, and the public eye is greeted with
the sight of a great many private oceupa-
tions. Joseph's coat must have been the
garment from which most of them copied
the STYLE of that article of their apparel
for they invariably present combination
of all stuffs, of all colors. Pants. the or
iginal material of which has long since dis.
appeared, leaving only the interviewer
meshes of the threads which held the patch
es, are decidedly en- reg'e; while the tem
nine garments would be exceptionabl !,
were they not specimens Of irregular open
work, or ornamen,ed with iringes made by
wear. Indeed any individual of the pool.
er olass-and tha. is much the largest o
the social division-would make an admi
rable advertisement for rag purchasing
establishment.
The surroundings Of Naples are unequal
ed in attractions. Here YOU have the hattl,
ground of many early Roman streggles
the seat of many NEUROLOGICAL wonders in
Greek and Roman poetry, the home of the
svbis and svrens, the retreats of Virgil
Cicero, Sallust, Tacitus, and the Plinys, a,
well as many who were noted as rulers o
ancient Rome. Here, too, are all the won
derful natural phenomena OF an active vol
cano region, right in the midst of the home
of vast population, and all easily acessi
BILE. Almost overshadowing us, as we l
at anchor, is Vesuyius, now comparativel
quiet, but sending forth volumes of vapor
which in the still air rises up like the trunk
! and spreads out like the top .. vast pine