The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-05-17
4 Cretan TOwn-lts Character and
People.

THE town of Khania Is entirely In
closed wi hin Notifications, which remain
Just as they were left by the Venetians-
powerful works in those days; but now
the great exposed masonry scraps would
fall to pieces at the assault of modern ar.
tillery. The deep and wide ditch forms
the vegetable garden of the town. As We
enter by the main land gate, that through
which passes the road to Suda Bay, we
find ourselves vi once in busy scene, al
most completely Oriental. A street of
shops, filed with buyers and sellers, leads
us through the open markct-place down
to the water gate. The Mussulman shop
keepers sit cross-legged in their open shop
fronts, while the noisy crowd OF peasants,
Zapties, soldiers and women bargains for
its needs. At the street corners sit the
money changers, with their tables and
boxes of money before them. Conspiou-
Gus among the objects for sale are the
long boots of yellow leather worn by the
peasants, for which Crete has teen famous
ever since the days of Galen, and short
cloaks of the pattern described by Arts
tophanes. If we wander of in the main
street, we are at once lost in q maze Of
streets, or rather passages, for they are
scarcely six feet wide, between the tall
stone houses.
There is an air of comfort and substan.
tiality about the town that few Oriental
cities possess, owing to its having these
solid stone buildings, instead of houses
built only of sun.baked brick. We make
our way to the ramparts, and work round
the port to the projecting bastion which
forms one side Of the entrance to the har-
Dor. Here stand upon old carriages tct.
tering to pieces and scarcely able to bear
the weight, Turkish and Venetian bronze
guns of great size, and of those graceful
forms and that bright green color which
have disappeared in our ugly monsters
of iron. The cannon founders of those
days were proud of the guns they Eiade,
and ornamented them with many scroll
and quaint device; while notices of valol
on the Venetian, verses from the Koran
on the Turkish guns, mark the age when
war has not yet become the practical and
nnnnatic tack in u.hich e. :" rcid;c. ODD
the sailor are fast becoming subordinated
to tue chemist and the mechanic. No
one interferes with US as we stroll round
the ramparts, anu note that, however
worthless against a formal bOmbardment,
they are still complete defence against
any possible attack Of insurgents not pos.
sessing artillery.
From the southwest corner of the ram
parts we notice . small village just out
side of the walls-a cluster of hu,s, iso-
lated, alone, desolate. Interested in what
we hear, we pay it visit. 1t is a leper
village, and, as we enter, the unfortunate
wretches beg for help, stretching out their
awftilly distorted limbs to move our pity.
Each district in the island has q place set
apart for its lepers, leprosy being COM
mon disease. Whence its origin, what ita
source, we know not. The natives look
on it with dread and believe it to be con-
tagious. And so the wretched lepers are
outcasts-herd together, marry and breed
leper children. The first signs of the ia
tai spot is enough; the victim is at once
thrust out to the leper's den, in spite Of
youth, position or beauty. No attempt is
made to cure the disease; no lepers' hos
pital has ever been established. The peo-
pie sit still under their curse and never at.
tempt to call in the aid of sciences
though they were yet living in the dark.
est blackness of the Dark Ages.-Black.
ro0d's Magazine.