Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1871-09-01
A Queer Community.
SEVEN THOUSAND MEN AND NO WoMEN--A
STRICTLY MASCULINE ARRANGEMENT.

Y, H.
bcrng at present about seven thousand souls.
which has nourishcd for many centuries,
though no woman has ever been permitted
or known to set foot in tho country. Few
Of the inhabitants, he says, havo any definite
idea of what Il woman is. The whole class
of ideas and sensations ordinarily associated
with the wy.ds mother, sister, wife and sweet
heart, t,are to them unknown, and what is equal.
ly singular, crime is also unknown, or nearly
so, while on every side are to be seen cyidcn.
ccs of temperance, piety, and good order
What Anthony Stanton, Wo >dhul Il Compa
ny will say to this most outrageous, diabolical
state of things, must be left to tho imagina.
ton. We can only repeat the account as We
got it, aud will leave tho destroying Of the
community to the wrongcd sulragists.
Tha homo of this eccentric but happy pco,
pie is III tho Elstcrnmost of the three pcnin-
sulas, which project from the North coast Of
the Greek Archipelago 1t was ancicntly
called Actc, now Monte Sanctn, and is about
forty miles in length, and from two to nine
miles across 1t terminates in Mont Athos,
conical mass of limestone rising abruptly to
a height Of six thousand five hundred feet.
Between this bold headland and the coast is a
beautiful plateau, clothed throughout with
woodland, which is gay with flowers, rich
with odors, merry with song birds, aud cano.
pied by tho brightest of all blue skies. The
cultivated fields arc all diversified with groves
of oak aud Chestnut, while olive and iiy trees
arc there indigenous, To this secret paradise
the sons, but not the daughters of Eve arc a,l
mittcd, and such has been tho custom as far
back as history renchcs, the peninsula being
rcligiousy guarded at all poin IS against the
approach of woman. no matter how sanity
she might be.
The territory has been consccratcd to
monastic confederation of ircck Christians.
They have twenty three converts and on the
hill sides aud all through the deiilcs and IA.
vines are scattered innumcrable crosses and
retreats, cells and hcrmitagcs. Though these
convcntual houses arc bound together by the
tic of religious scclusion, the history of each
is Independent Two Of these monastcrics
claim Constcntinc us their founder, two Others
the Empress Pulchcria Not one of the
twenty three dates its foundation later than
the twelfth century. These fruterntics had
the prudence to submit to Mohammcd H.,
prior to the fall of fionstanlinoplc, and rccciv
cd from him pro mise of protection, which
has been respected ever since. Though the
domain is part of the Turkish Empire, not a
rod of it is claimed in property by The Sultan
VI d .luSSululah AH auHhai tllDutc
OF 81, 300 is paid by the peninsula, toward
wh,ch the different societies contribute their
shares according to an assessment determined
by their representatives. Each convent sends
II deputy to diet, which manages general in.
tcrcsts, and holds its sttings at kayars, a
sn all town occupied hy carvcrs Of crosses. and
the residence of solitary Turkish olhc.a
who collects the revenue.
| Th N inmotns orn n,tivoo of fbo ovor,, ~, rt
Of the Turkish Empire where the Greek Ian
gaasc is spoken, and arc consigned to theSo
cctlcs either in infancy or in early life by their
tanatical parents The first years are spent
in tiling The land, tending the vines, helping
i'll tho housework, or engaging in some handi
craft. For three years the candidate is a pro
bationcr; then, if lie has proved able to keep
the monastic VOWS, he receives his first tonsurc
and becomes Il monk. The discipline is Sc
we're, ordinary church services seven hours
day, extraordinary fourteen, and sleep i've
| One hundred and Gf'y nine days in the year
they have one meal only day, and at this
| eggs, cheese fish, wine aud oil arc forbidden
rhc prohibit N against wo nen extends to
the sex universally. From time mmcmori
| al. no COW, duck, goose, hen, or female of
any kind, has ever been permitted to make
acquaintance with hill or valley, farm yard or
kitchen, IN the Mt. Athos territory In sc
lccing me,t for the table the greatest care is
taken to have it Of the male variety, and a
body of soldiers is employed by the societies
to keep the sacred shores from being desc
Grated by the tread OF any female whntsncver
\ ct, in spite of all these stringent rrgua
tons, the birds continue to mate and temi
! nine flcas and mosquitoes to rear their Young
to the everlasting scandal Of all the pious old