Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-10-26
SOME STRANGE TOWNS
QUEER PLACES WHERE HU-
 VANITY CONCREGATES
One Built on the Ocean. Another ou tcs and Another Is womanless-on "the Mountain of the SIonks"-Even to the Animals.


 ing on the score of singularity. Here the houses are all supported on piles and stand right out in the ocean, some considerable distance from the shore. The object of this strange position is to protect the inhabitants against sud- den attacks of the dreaded head-hunt- CTS, who are always on the lookout for victims. Other villages In this happy land are perched up in all but inae. cessible trees, for the same weighty reason.
 Another curious place Is town without name on one of the arms of Lake Huron. This consists of some 500 wooden huts. During the summer these little dwellings are hidden away in clearing on shore, and the town contains not single inhabitant. But on the arrival of winter, when the lake is frozen over with a thick coating of ice, the owners of the huts arrive and proceed to move their houses out onto the surface of the lake. The floor of the huts is taken up and a hole cut through the ice. Through these holes
 
 tue residents fish, carrying on their operations until the spring releases the lake from it's icy bonds, when this ex- traordinary town is once more broken up, the shanties go back to their rest ing place and the fishermen scatter over the country. This place even boasts curing factory and church. Y1n tn the ice
 Athos, town situated on a promon- tory on the coast of Macedonia, well. deserves the title of the most curious town in the universe. The peninsula is known as The Mountain of the Monks" from the fact that a score Or so of monasteries are dotted about the rough hillsides or the valleys Tn these establishments dwell numerous body of asceties, kind and hospitable to wanderers, but full of superstition. and believing in the doctrine of separation to a wonderful degree.
 The actual town, as distinct from it's monastic environs, is called Caryes, and supplies the simple wants of the monks. Here are to be found streets of shops, crowded bazars, fiourishing trades and ali the hustle and energy of a modern town. But one thing soon strikes the visitor as strange. There is not female to be seen anywhere, for the gentler sex is vigorously ban ished from the place. Even the small Turkish garrison, from the command ant down to the privates, consists og bachelors. 5Ee
 This extraordinary law Is carried out even among the domestic animals. Only the wild birds eyade it, and then, only when free, for no female bird 4s ever brought to table: the fowl one has for dinner Is sure to be cockerel. For this unparalleled state of affairs there is only a legend to account. AL though. to our practical minds tiimsy to a degree, 1t is implicitly believed in by the inhabitants. It appears that in one of the chief monasteries on the prom ontory there is a miraculous icon, which is a picture or image sacred to members of the Russo-Greek church. This particular picture is a representa- tion of the Virgin and the legend says that one day as the Empress Pulcheria, who had liberally endowed the church, as well as beautified and restored 1t, was engaged in her devotions, the Vir- gin spoke, asking what she, woman. was doing in the church. The pious lady, no doubt amazed, did not reply, whereupon the voice commanded her to leave, saying that the feet of woman should never again tread the at the seeming ingratitude of the speech, as well as awe-struck, left the place, which no female has since en- tered. How the prohibition thus arr bitrarily established came to compre- bend the length and breadth of the promoutory is not very clear. As residence for bashful bachelors we should imagine Athos would be hard to surpass.
 The Angry Tree.
 There is curious tree in Australia known as the "angry tree" It grows rapidly. reaching usually the height of 80 feet. At sunset the leaves fold up, and the tender twigs coil tightly. If the shoots are handled, the leaves rustic and move uneasily for a time If this queer plant is moved from one spot to another, the leaves stand out in all directions. like the quills on a porcupine. A most pungent and sick ening odor, said to resemble that given off by rattlesnakes when annoyed, fills the air, and it is an hour or so be- fore the leaves fold in the natural way.
 Another for Chicago.
 3eaner-''What seems to be the feel ing in Chicago regarding the annexa-