The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-09-04

again resumed, is mucn IKE tnat al
ready traversed, except that it seems
still older and more worn out and de-
iected. The low mountains are en-.
tirely denuded of the great forests that
once covered them and look bald and
wrinkled and gray with age. ABOUT
their base are occasional groves Of
olive trees-much like our apple trees
except the leaf is about the color OF the
silver maple-but above these there Is
no trace of grass or any useful plant.
The soil in the valleys seems light and
poor, and the crops give little promise
The whole country looks as if it need
ed about 1000 years of rest. Men who
can afford but the upper half of a suit
of clothes are blowing in the field with
pillow which has long wooden
beam, a single handle of equal length,
and a little iron shovel. Other men
and women are threshing wheat with
fails and winnowing it in the wind.
Most of the people live in villages
plastered against the hot mountain
side, about the castle that can no long
er give the defense that is no longer
needed. The few houses that stand
alone show no new features except
stone stairway ON the outside. AT
last, about one o'clock, away off to the
south, the great cone appears with the
dense volume of smoke pouring from
it, and an hour later the train stops
and the guard informs everybody that
"Napoli'' is reached.
~.
Doubtless all the readers of the
REGISTER know I'm general way
that i'm the year 20 A. D. the flourish
ing cities of Herculaneum and Pom
peii were overwhelmed by the erup-
lions of Vesuvius. and that they re-
manned buried and all trace of them
lost, until the middle of the last CEN
fury, when their remains were &C.
cidentally discovered. But it
Is not likely that many, except
those who may have made the sub
ject special study, are clear on the
geography of these places, or are fully
acquainted with the interesting dis
coveries that have been made by the
excavations that have been carrieG on
mainly during the past few years.
So at the risk of being tedious shall
describe i'm considerable detail what
1 have seen in company with four
American friends yesterday and to-
day.
Taking a train at Naples we ride
about IA miles in southeasterly di-
rection, following the bending shore
of the bay all the way-and get off at
little station called Pompeii. At a
restaurant near by we paid three or
four prices for the privilege of sharing
with several million flies very dirty
and Indifferent lunch. We then walk
ed dozen yards to a gateway where
we paid a minion of the italian gov
eminent one franc each to be admit
ted. Walking a few steps farther we
come to another gateway through a
great wall. The sea is mile away
now, hut when Pompeii was built this
was the sea wall and ships came here
to unload their cargoes. Passing
through the gateway and few steps
up steep incline, paved with square
blocks of stone, We found ourselves
suddenly in the middle of great
town, deserted and delapidated, to be
sure, with all but the lower stories
torn down and carried away, and
with many of the interior walls and
the doors and windows gone, but still
a towh wonderfully like many we
have already seen. The streets cross
ing and recrossing each other in every
direction, are paved with square
blocks of stone laid in precisely the
same way as the pavement in some of
the old streets in Naples over which
we passed this morning, and the walls
OF the houses extend in unbroken
lines, with the same little dark front
rooms and the same narrow stairways
that are seen to-day in all these old
italian towns. Here and there is a
wine shop, with great jars still un-
broken, sunk into a broad stone coun-
ter, facing the street. There are
bakeries, where great ovens
remain in perfect preservation, in
which bread was found when the ex-
were made, the loayes pre-
cisely the same shape as the loaves
now offered for sale in the Naples
bread shops and doubtless made after
the same recipe. And there are
great many bath houses, with recesses
in the walls for putting away the
and with conveniences for
swimming, tub and Turkish baths.
Some of these bath rooms were fitted
up in elegant style, the walls being
and adorned with statues,
and provided with the richest marbIe
basins, upholstered touches aud all
sorts of luxurious appliances. In all
Of the larger private houses, in the
floor of the inner court, was an oblong
marble basin, which when filled with
water served as mirror. Nearly all |
,hese houses have fine MOSAIC floors
which remain as fresh and bright as if
aid yesterday. The remains of the
,ublic buildings are perhaps the most |