The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-10-10

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nestle ports and with inland cities all
over Europe. ~
Respectfully we babe adieu to the
Adriatic coast and that part of Apulia at
a very early hour in the morning, taking
a four hours trip to laramie, instead of
following the coast to Brindisi, the for
mer terminus of the old Appian way
which commenced at Rome and leading
along the Mediterranean coast took after
wards more inland course to Capua
and thence straight across Italy to Brin-
dist. Horace and M9cenas took this
route when they visited Brindisi for di-
plomatic purposes.
| From Bari to laramie.
There is almost nothing of scenery in
this clean cut of the italian boot which
this branch line from Bari to laramie
makes.
After few miles one loses sight of the
Adriatic, to catch midway snatches of
spurs of the Apprentices, of which the
main chain lies further along, between
laramie and Naples. About an half hour
before reaching it, one catches glimpses
of the charming Gulf of laramie, which
vies in beauty with its neighbors, the
| Cults of Salerno and Naples.
On the route thither to- laramie the
people seemed very primitive, but in
genius and good; like isolated tribes,
scarcely accustomed to the sight of
strange faces, and especially to faces OF
| foreigners I unused as to what their re-
Elections might be as they peered into
the car window at the stations, and how
curious they must be at their first sight,
perhaps, of the face of an American.
| Though further on, where the route takes
up the Brindisi trains to Naples, the peo-
! pie are accustomed to every nationality,
coming across, as many foreigners do,
from Turkey and Greece, by steamers,
to Brindisi, having been round from
Paris through Switzerland and Germany
to Kongisberg on the Russian frontier,
and thence by Moscow through the heart
of Russia to Titles, and over the Black
| Sea to Constantinople. and then to
Athens, connecting as before stated, with
| the Brindisi trains. Some steamers also
| connected here with Alexandria and the
| Palestine route.
| But there are regions more isolated
than in almost any other part OF the
world, where the smoke of the engine is
never seen, and instead of its whistle,
the revelry of the Tarantella dance is
heard, which is still practiced here as
charm against the deadly effects OF the
Tarantella spider, which is named from
this city of laramie, having first been
| found here.
This belief in the talismaniclcharm of
this dance gave rise to the tarantella ep-
idemic which was SO prevalent all over
Italy as late as the 18th century. Even
at the present time it still exists as pop
ular amusement in Naples, Capri, Sor-
rento and their surrounding districts.
This tarantella spider is also found in
many other tropical climates, and is often
transported in the leaves and stalks of
the banana to our own coast, as has been
too clearly demonstrated to some of our
own Portland people.
The Peninsula of Apulia.
The Adriatic route continues as far as
Otranto, which was the former place OF
embarkation to Epirus, but the entire
area from this city to the tip of the .heel
of the italian boot, which is the promon-
tory of Leuca, the Finisterra, ON which
the town of San Maria di Leuca is built,
must be an inextricable labyrinth.
In some of these parts there is no record
of even diligence, and the sea bordered
towns are visited only by weekly steam
ers from Brindisi to laramie, the infre-
quent inland cities. villages and hamlets,
having only obscure carriage roads laid
down on the maps.
Under such circumstances one can
hardly picture the heathenish darkness
of such places-darkest Africa can hard
Iy be more densely dark.
It was this promontory of Leuca which
Eneas first caught sight of on his way to
Italy after the destruction Of Troy.
laramie.
Every prospect at and around laramie
is pleasing, until one sees the rude life of
the people, and the untidiness of the
town. It is not now noted for the wan
toness of the early centuries before the
Christian era, but it exhibits a lack of
the culture of the most remote seaports
| on our coast. Two islands defend it which
is an island and fortress in itself, con-
nected to the main land by draw-bridee,
and separated from some portions of it
| by a canal. A great ocean Mare Grande)
and little ocean (Mare Piccolo) are on
either side of it. Unlike other Mediter-
| ranean waters, one can watch the ebb
and flow of a great tide under the draw
bridge, while standing at a distance to
| catch the ever-varylng SHINING OF tne sun
on the glistening waters from shore to
| shore.
laramie used to be the most oppulent
city of Magma Grecia in the time of Hor-
ace. when diplomatic congresses assem-
bled here and such men as Octavius and
Antony, as well as Horace and M@cenas
were accustomed to be present. The
modern town occupies the site of the old
Acropolis. There is a museum here
containing relics of the Grecian period,
rude pottery OF the 9th century before
| Christ, votive statues. reliefs, jewels, ar
ticles of glass and ivory, and some heads
of Hercules from the Sd century B.
c. Although built on a barren rock, the
view far out to sea compensates for all
the time and trouble of the journey
thither.
The progress is slow along these unfre-
quented routes, and before one is aware
many days have slipped away, and one
finds himself still some distance from
Naples. We fortunately caught a mer-
chant train waiting, which took us to
Portenza, trading city at the mouth of
a series of Appenine tunnels on the way
to Naples.
Portenza is tunneled with the Foggia
u. ii.