National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-03-04
A TOWER OF SKULLS.
. GRIM MEMENTo OF VENGEANCE.
che History Of Little Island Of the Coast Of Tunii
Fate OF the Spanish Invaders in the Six
teenth Century - q, 900 Human
skulls BEiIt Into Tower.

hoard and my next trip VIII pTooAD1S oe o"'eU
from either TripOi or Malta. But IN thls, a. III
many other cases, the most striking sight mas oee
reserved to the last 0ran and AgierS' Stora anu
constantine. Tunis and Carthage, have seen anu
described before but among all these famous spots
tbara Is excel either in grim picturesque
ness of appearance or in tragic splehuor VI his-
torgcsl association the fat, sandy, desoiate-iook
inc islet of Jerbeh, which is nov vanishing INTO
the fast-fslIing shadows OF night as We ghoe ava!
IN tho eastward. Even in these days OF universal
travel. however this modern AceldaIna Is almost
unknown No personally conducted plague
oFb,1man locuSts has ever secured its shores. Not
ono tourist in a hundred has ever heard so much
AZ ifs name Here and there in some Old annual
or some last-century book Of travels you may per-
Iisns light upon casual mention OF the island
and the hideous wonder of art that makes II IA
nous; but the beaten paths of existing travel seem
10 have completely passed it by Baedeker desplses
II and Murray knows it not. Even well read
traveller might pass it q dozen times without the
least suspicion that he was looking upon the scene
ffone ofthe bloediest tragedies recorded Ill his
tnrv. still coInmemoraied by q monument whose
qhastly ingenuity has now no parallel upon the
face of the earth, save the terrible mounds of
Timour," in the depths of the great Central Asian
desert.
HEADING SoUTHwARD
along the Tunisian seabnard in one Of the little
coasters with which these waters abound, you find
in the angle formed by the intersection fthe Tunis
coaStline and that of Tripoli, large, low, nearly
circular island which at first sight appears fully as
barren and deSolntc as the gray unendinG sands of
the African shore along the southern horizon.
Your map will tell you that this Tninyiting sand
bank is called the Isle of Jerieh. name which,
unless you happen TO be unusually 8ell-read in
nh
viii probably leave you just as wise as you were
before Apparently. however, your Arab fellow
passengers are better informed, for the first glimpse
orthe island seems to produce Rn extraordinary
eommotion among them. Hands are eagerly
pointed at the long grayish yellow band which lies
almost level with the smooth bright water, and
The slumbcrous black eyes fash fire under the
shadow of the huge white turban, while the name
OF Burr Ter Roos flies from mouth TO mouth.
Even should you happen TO have learned Arabic
enough to know that this mysterious word means
tower of skulls" you are hardly likely to be very
much enlightened thereby. The captain Of the YES
sci, should he be an EngEshman, Will give you but
little help in your embarrassment, answering your
appeal for information only by a knowing grin
and an admOnitiOn to keep your eyes open and
you'll see pretty queer sight before very long"
LITTLE By LITTLE
huge grayish-white mass begins 10 define itself
upon the fiat. sandy shore of the island, standing
up gaunt and grim against the warm. dreamy blue
of the luStrouS sky As we approach, this fOrmless
heap gradually shapes itself into frowning Tam-
parts, and turreted battlements, and massive tow
ers and all the bGTbaTic grandeur of genuine
Eastern fortress. At its feet the bright blue sea
breaks in glittering wavelets, wlile behind it-an
oasis of rich foliage amid the hot brassy yellow of
the sandy shorethe vast banner like leaves of the
date palms dTo0p VOluptuously upon the breeze
less air No painter could wish finer study; but
the most striking feature Of the panorama is still
10 come. A sudden turn of the coast reveals
projecting headland surmounted by q tall white
tower, at sight Of which the shouts of Buri-er-
ROoSr' burst forth again with redoubled energy.
The strange building is cone-shaped, and alto
gether not unlike the giant ants nests of Africa or
South America, but many yards in height and
resting upon base as broad as that Of cathedral
tower. Moment by moment, as the ship neaTs the
land, this mysterious structure stands out more
and more plainly. IT is not long before You begin
TO notice that the seaward face Of the tower has
rTumbled beneath the action of wind and weather,
revealing through wide gap the dark hollow of
the interior. As you gaze there breaks sud-
denly out of its gloomy shadow, just where the
light enters it, yell0wish. ghostly giimmer, like
dim lantern-light seen in a vault You have re-
d
tary thrill of horror that this strange glinmering
proceeds from the teeth of thousands of human
skulls, which fill UP the whole interior of the
building.
THIS IS THE FAMOUS
" Burr -er- ROos," or Tower of Skulls, which for
three centuries past has given to this remote nook
Il strange and terrible renown. The vengeance of
TimOur has left upon the banks of the Oxus more
than one GOlgotha of this kind, which had an
chance of examining during the
Rhivs exhibition of 1878. In Europe, however,
there is but one similar monument, which, as
might be expected, belongs to Turkey, the only
European country in which such a relic of utter
barbarism would not be out of place in the nine
tenth century. The traveller who rides along the
great southern highroad from Belgrade to the Sofia
Pass over the Balkan sees by the wayside pyra-
midal building in which are imbedded 5000 hu-
man skulls. Nor does this ghoul-like memento
date back to any remote age of half human fero
city, 1t is no older than the year 1906 when Ser
Was declaration of independence was answered
by Turkey with the massacTcs which have left
these $1,000 Christian heads lasting memorial of
what the unspeaksble Turk" has always been
and always will be. But among all these trophies
ofdeath there is not one which can claim TO be
either as well preserved or as hideously ar
tisc as the fatal tower Of Jerbeh II seems as if
those who planted it here for an eternal monument
of their vengeance had taken grim pleasure in
making it as imperiShable as the hatred by which
that vengeance was devised.
THE SKULLS ARE RANGED
in symmetrical layers Ike shells in the cases of
museum, each layer being supported upon kind !
Of treSdework formed from the larger bones of the
skeletons which have served as the materials of |
his ghastly architecture. The care with which |
every bone hasbecnp placed and the gradual taper
ing off fthe higher tiers toward the point of the
zone, as to lessen the strain imposed upon the
render the whole structure as solid as
pyramid of stone. SO strong, indeed, is its sta
Dility throughout and SO carefully has the outer
coating of sun-baked clay which binds the whole !
osether been laid On that the storms Of more than
hree centuries have been powerleSs TO work it
any farther harm than the gap in its seward face
What study for GusiaVe Dore, who would doubt |
less throw out its gaunt Whiteness in stern relief
against the gloom of stormy sky and let flash /
Of lightning half reveal the skeleton figure OF |
Death himself. Standing shadow-like beside the !
lower and scanning with CHASTITY grin this |
hldeOus trophy Of his might Accounts vary as to |
The total number ofsluIls which it contains, but |
by comparing the statements of the old Christian
chToniclers with those OF local tradition one NAV
safely assume that this gloomy old mausoleum has
absorbed into itself the lives of at least 2 900 men,
FROM THE NATIVES THEMSELVES
there but little to be Cleaned respecting the ia
nous catastrophe. save the vague and confused /
tradition of great victory achieved by their fore
la'heTs upon this spot. and the determination of
vast number Of" unbelieving dogs" But when
you turn to the Christian historians of the period,
Eoa IND the story complete in every detail, told
WIN graphic minu;cness and childlike sim
Pnclty worthy Of HeTodotus OF Of Froissart. And
grim story 1t isone Of tae most colossal tragedies
vi mat strange era, when everything, whether for
Sooa OF Tor evil. was done upon gigantic scale
: ne drans opens. Gs if 20 heigEten the tragic CT
Iec, with the Joyous departure from Malta, in 1851
VI "oGh' La Cerds and his splendid armament, to
conquer the city and pincfpsliiy of Tripoli in the
name OF Philip II. Calamity do the doomed men
Sai' ioi'a In the glory of the summer morning,
ppm 'ae isial venture from which they are never