The daily gazette., 1881-07-05
LErTER FROM NAPLES.
CoIresponde noe Of the t,AzErrE.

conce OF Cne churche8 OF hOme must
result In failure to give our readers
any clear understanding of them. To
say single chapel in one Of the more
modest Of them cost three hundred
thousand dollars, and tnat there are
twenty or more such chapels in the
Church, brings up the whole building
to good round sum. To say the
area of some Of the churches is suffi. :.
ciently large to seat conveniently one
half the citizens Of Wilmington, con-
veys the idea Of good.sized church.
To adorn these churches with elabor.
ate carving, grand pictures of the
largest Dimensions, to gild the cell
ings with gold aad pave their floors of
marbles, and to close their portals
with richly embcllished bronze doors
may convey some hint Of cost and
grandeur, but nothing we can say will
give you an adequate idea of them,
and we shall make no further attempt
in that direction.
Nor will we presume to describe the
indescribable richness and beauty of
the art treasures Of the Vatican, in the
study and admiration of which we
spent two interested days.
We could not leave Rome without a
visit to the Catacombs, and to enter
these vast regions of the buried dead
we drove out of the city to the Church
of st. Agnes, from which there is an
underground passage to that portion
which contains those buried about the
beginning of the Christian era. A
young priest provided us with tapers
and volunteered to guide us through
the miles Of passages that are like
regular streets, running under nearly
the whole space once covered by an.
cient Rome. There are three shelves
or cavities on either side, followed out
Of the rock Els receplacles for the
bodies. Most OF these are still sealed,
with their bodies undisturbed for
nearly two Thousand years. Each
tomb is marked with the name, gem
orally with the age and sex Of the
buried. Some are adorned with
sculpture, and others with pictures
covered with glass, their colors fresh
aud bright.
Many ofthe tombs have been opened,
and the bones are lying there white
and ready to crumble at a touch. We
saw the hair clinging to the skull in
few instances.
The evidences of occupation by the
early Christians, who sought refuge
here under the persecution of Nero
and other Roman governors and inhu-
man kings, are apparent almost every~
where.
The passages are 80 intricate that
one might easily get lost, ,--and to g,t
lost would be death by starvation.
We wandered for miles through the
streets of the City of the Dead, and
returned TO light and life with grateful
feelings.
One Of the most interesting sights of
Rome is to be had on leav ing that city
by the railroad for Naples. The road
passes over the site of the ancient city
and out into the Campagna, which is
strewed for near twenty miles with
ruins that look like the ghosts of an
immense city-or its skeleton. Walls,
arches, columns and large masses OF
solid masonry ON which were lofty
watch towers-or perhaps monuments.
The ancient aqueducts follows us
many miles here few arches, there
q single arch, and there a long line of
arhes, unbroken for q half mile to.
gether. There is material enough In
these old ruins to build two or three
such cities as modern Rome. Yet
all the stones for the present
city were taken from the old build
ings.
We entered Naples late at night, and
caught sight of Vesuvius twenty miles
away, The volcano is in a state of
partial eruption and it looked like a
lurid flame in the sky-so fascinating
that we could not take our eyes from
it for the next hour, that brought US to
Naples. The moon was at its full and
the Bay Of Naples was spread out be-
fore us in all its beauty. About a
dozen large iron-clads were anchored
IN the bay, all bedecked with naps in |
honor of the Queen, who was there to |
witness the launch of a iron clad be-
to the Italian navy.
Naples is a unique city. We are |
awakened in the early morning by the
of goat bells, the ringing of |
the COW bells, and the vociferous calls |
Of hundreds Of pedlers of all kinds of |
Everything is made in |
the streets and sold in the streets. The |
shops or stores are but repositories
for the goods for which the traffic Ia in |
he streets. The shoemaker works in
the busiest streets, and places his
bench In the middle of the foot streets.
The maccaroni makers hang out their
long strings upon the carriage ways
until there is scarcely room to pass,
and the maccaroni Is covered with flies
and dust. The tailor, the blacksmith
and the barber have their charcoal
stoves and ovens in the streets, and
the banker is there with his desks and
The COWS and goats are
driven to the doors of the customers
and there MIXED as required, and the
fruit venders cover up their asses with
the loads until you see nothing but
their ears. Tho beggars are every-
where and follow you in swarms
wherever you 60. They are the pests |
Of the place, and are as bad as the
fleas, mosquitoes and flies with which
they are covered. Naples is the city
where
livery prospect pleases,
And only man IL VILE"
-.