The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1877-08-17
~CESNOLA'S TRIALS.
some h General End ured In
the Interest Of Science,

prus with but little to do. The drtic
OF the consulate were not bufdensome
One day he saw in a bazaar at Llanarka,
town on the southern coast where h
lived, some terra-cotta heads finely sculp
tured and, having asked the salesman
where they came from, learned that the,
had been found on a spot about a mil,
off. This very trifing circumstance lee
to the beginning of lis labors as an ex
plorer; for he Immediately went to tn,
place, hired two or three men to dig TO
him, and in two years obtained nearly
six hundred heads, statuettes and statues
at depths varying from six inches to twt
feet. So much for a beginning. BY thu
death of a near relative, he soon can't
into possession Of ten thousand dollars
He spent every dollar of it, and more
than sixty thousand dollars besides, dur
ing his ten years oil exploration
The difficulties that he encountered
make the story OF his triumph romantic.
First and foremost in his way was the
covetous, ignorant, treacherous, fanatical
Turk, who rules in Cyprus. The sultan,
indeed, allowed him to dig, but the gov
ernor.general of the island and the local
authorities were suspicious and fault
finding. They bothered him with their
interference, and often set the mob on
his men. Little knew they of the real
value of his treasures, except, of course,
what they learned from the Europeans.
But their cupidity was great, and so was
the cupidity of the populace. On one
| occasion, General Cesnola, asleep at mid
| night in his house, was awakened by the
paving of horses in his courtyard, and
by the loud talking of the riders. Dress
ing himself in haste, he ran down stairs,
and found that his visitors were couriers
come TO tell him that a mob had taken
possession of his digging some distance
off, and we're preventing the removal OF
some sculptures which he had ~eXCavated.
While they were telling their story, a
third courier arrived with the intelligence
that two policemen had appeared on the
scene, and had claimed possession OF the
sculptures in the name Of the sultan.
The general did not wait for any more
arrivals, but, mounting a mule, galloped
to the spot.
1t was about half.past one O'Clock in
the morning when he reached it, and the
sight that confronted him he has not for
gotten. The people had lighted fires on
the desert plain, and were bivouacked
there. They made the night hideous
with their shouts and contentious. Each
walking figure cast its shadow in the
freight around the encampment was
blackness of darkness above it a thicE
and starless sky. What should be done
with this noisy, fighting crowd? The
tactics OF a United States general, and
the of a Solomon would not have
been out of place. Gen. Cesnola had at
least one of these qualifications he was
a Federal general. Comprehending the
situation at once, he rode up TO one OF
the Turkish policemen present, and
asked him to take charge of the mule,
reeking with foam, and TO walk the ami
NAL around slowly for its health. The
officer consented. His companion was
then called, and requested to disperse the
crowd. He proceeded to do 50 and
before the throng seemed to know what
the American consul, whom they had
recognized, was about, the general had
his sculptures carefully placed upon
carts, had given them and his mule tC
the care of one of his servants, and hac
seen them safely started som distance
on the way to his house. He then pu'
| himself under the care OF the Two
policemen, and, followed by the NOISY
but almost unaccountably harmless rab
| Bile, proceeded to the nearest village, anc
found a shelter and a wooden shuttle
Wrapping himself in a quilt, he 1901
fell fast asleep.
The town of Paleo Paphos is especial,
| attractive to the explorer. 1t gave LII
name to the Paphian queen who wa
born of the foam. General Cesnolf
though that the ruins of a castle there
might cover the site of one of the an
Gent royal palaces. The ruins were
used by their owner ass stable for III
camels and dopkeys; but, when the
diggings began, this man looked tor golc
beneath them, He watched the dlggers
and logged the footsteps OF their chief
and, when his interference had be
come almost uncomfortable, the gen
eral promised to give him al
the gold that was found
As the work proceeded, and no golc
made its appearance, the old man-hl
name was Osman Aga-threatened ont
day that, if before shutdown he got non'
of the precious metal, he would put al
end to the operations. The men wer'
then forty-one feet below the surface
and had struck the foundation of wha
seemed to be the very palace that the.
were in search of. Something must b
done to appease the c%upidity of the Turk
General Cesnola happened to have IN nj
pocket two gold coins of the Empero
Hersclius, which, by the way, were yer.
common in Cyprus and he remembers
how the King of Naples used to do a
Pompeii when taking royal visitors GU
to see the excavations. Beckoning to M
foreman, he slyly slipped these coins int
the mans hand, giving him to UNDERSTAND
that they were to be buried, aud the.
dug up for the benefit OF Osman Aga
After that the aged owner OF the plac
was eager to have the work go on as tas
: as possible, and his eyes twinkled at tn
thought of the possessions that might b
in store for him. The next day, at til
depth of ffty-two feet, the workma
reached virgin soil, and soon atterwar
the excavations were a~bandenef, tn
results not having been encouraging.
The peasants OF Cyprus perslstentl
refused to work with iron spades an
with wheelbarrows, and their retus'
was one of the principal obstacles el
countered. Although those useful in
Elements had been imported from EuroI
for the purpose, they left them on I'll
ground. The native basket, slung ovt
the shoulder by a rope, was, in their est
nation, better than a patented whee
barrow. Their hands and their kniv'
were preferable to spades. 1t sometim'
took these men one month to dig out
single statue, after the statue had bee