The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-08-08
THE TOWER OF SKULLS.

ThE IOhEh Of ShULlc'
famous ''Burj-er-Roos'' Castle of Skulls),
which stands, or rather stood-for the
greater part Of it has been recently pulled
down-on the Mediterranean island of Jer-
beh or Gerba, off the coast of North Africa.
The Isle of JeFbeh-which was known by
all sorts of bad names to the ancient 10
mans, whose clumsy vessels had an IN
pleasant habit Of getting wrecked upon 1t
at every possible chance-is low sandy
fat of considerable extent lying In the Gulf
of Cabes, which forms deep wedge
shaped hollow separating the province OF
Tunis from that Of Tripoli, and about 13O
miles distant from the city and harbor of
Tripoli itself Its uniformly level surface
rises so slightly above the surrounding sea
that las any one can judge for himself who
travels by one of the steamers which ply
from Malta along the coast Of Tunis) the
whole island would be quite invisible at
very short distance if it were not for the
tall palm trees which stand as thick along
it's fiat shore as the bristles of brush. In
fact Jerbeh has always been famous for its
date palms, and local tradition tells of a
group of them which once stood near tho
eastern extremity of the islet, through
the gaping trunks of which, split and hol-
lowed with extreme age, IAN Arab horse
man might ride without touching them
with stirrup or with turban."
But the chief sight" of the place is of
very different kind. Close to the only
landing place worthy of the name which
the island possesses there stands an old
Turkish fort, useful enough in days when
the Knights of Malta and the fierce ad-
mirals of Charles V were swapping up with
true Christian zeal every Moslem ship and
fortress that came in their way, but its
wall is now so broken and honeycombed
las no one ever dreams of repairing any
thing in the east that the two soldiers who
form the garrison are strictly forbidden to
sneeze lest they should bring the whole
fort bodily down.
Just beyond this place of strengthen
rather of weakness-you will see close to
the waters edge a low, crumbling mound,
| from which rose not many years ago cone
| shaped tower of dried clay, "a feet in height
! and "a broad at the base, which at dis
/ lance looked very much like an overgrown
ant hill. or the neck of monster bottle
/ half buried in the earth. This curious
structure was known both to the island
Arabs and to those of the mainland by the
name of ''Burj -er-Roos" Flower or Castle
of Skulls.
On three sides the Burj-er-Roos. when
complete, was to all outward appearance
nothing more than rude mound OF sun
baked mud, but when you come TO look at
it from the fourth side chat which faced
the seal the Justice of its grim title at once
became terribly apparent. Beneath the
never ceasing attacks of the flashing spray
and the buffeting wind large part OF It's
outer casing of dried mud had gradually
rrumbled away, and through the gap thus
left bare the whole interior Of the mound
was seen to be one solid mass of human
skulls.
A closer inspection of this ghastly ma
soprv showed that 1t had been put together
with unusual care and labor The skulls
instead OF being piled loosely one upon
the other-like those which used to ses
in the ''fetich houses" of the African kings
on the Gold coast-were symmetrlcaIly ar
ranged, row above row, upon successive
LAYERS of crossed thigh bones, thus repeat
ing to an unlimited extent the famous
deaths head and cross bones" which
formed the piratical ensign OF the seven
teenCh century.
An outsider might perhaps be inclined
TO think that the skill and labor expended
in piecing together these poor relics o.
mortality would have been better applied
in repairing and preserving the ruined
stronghold beside it, and IN truth the
crumbling fort and the pyramid OF skulL'
NAV be said to form between them very
apt symbol of the Turkish empire Itself
the one IMPLYING its humanity, the othei
its foresight and common sense. But tut
cruel compactness al TINS welrd hohu
ment is easily understood when we reInen
Der that those who reared II meant II
serve as lasting memento OF the san
culinary repulse of q Christian arnlaInen
, which invaded the island three centuries
ago. and that the y, 900 heads OF when II
formed are those Of the Spanish and Itahal
soldiers who fell in that disastrous conner
No such thoughts as these, however
troubled the honest sea capsalns from Ma
pies, Genoa, Marseilles or Liverpool WI
passed this hideous trophy without eve
thinking Of It's real nature or It's past hls1o
~, or regarding It, indeed, IN any nght gu
that Of a first rate landmark, quite as goo
rs a lighthouse, IN the daytime At least
for warning them away from tae Perllou
shoals of the low. sandy islet. But Gel
tain Jealous French bishop, resident In A
Seria. took very different view of th
UldINSI- lousy 4-IAes 4oAAN az ZIG N"-S0e
Of the heads OF 50 many Christian men Dc
ing publicly exposed as = trophy Of war
the land Of the inH9el, the good prelats sc
crstlv DISPATCHED - tie s0ot = gang =
trusty werKmen, who landed by nIyu5 q
the foot of the Burr er-ROos, and mad
such good use Of their time and pickaxe
during the hours Of darkness that whe1
the sun rose again the greater part of ia
towers CHASTITY contents lay buried IN "a
ses. and the structure itself had dwindle
down to that shapeless heap Of dust whic
still marks the site of the famous Castle c
Skulls.
But, though the worthy bishops yes
may perhaps have slightly outTun his di:
cretion in this case, no one can be surprise
that he should have done bis best 70 eiIhc
all memory OF that miserable and shame
full exDeditiop. Few pSaz-eS OF p2e4eTn c