The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-11-09
TWO REMARKABLE TOWNS.
One Is Built on the Ocean and the
Other ON the Ice.

The marine village of Tupuselei, in
New Guinea, would take a lot of beat
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 sudden
attacks of the dreaded headhunters,
who are always on the lookout for vic
TINS. Other villages in this happy land
are perched up in all but inaccessible
trees for the same weighty reason.
Another curious place is town with
out name on one of the arms of Lake
Huron. This consists of some 800 wood
en- huts. During the summer these little
dwellings are hidden away in a clearing
on Shore and the town contains not a
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 on the surface of the
lake. The floor of the huts is taken UP
and hole cut through the ice. Through
these holes the residents fish, carrying
on their operations until the spring re-
leases the lake from it's icy bonds, when
this extraordinary town is once more
broken UP, and the fisherman scatter
over the country. This place even
boasts a curing factory and a church.
not to mention several saloons-all on
the ice.
Athos, a 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 1.-The Mountain of the
Monks from the fact that a score OF
so of monasteries are dotted about the
rough hillsides of the valleys. In these
establishments dwell a numerous body
of ascetics, kind and hospitable to wan
derers, but full of superstition, and be-
lieving in the doctrine of separation tc
a wonderful degree.
The actual town, as distinct from its
monastic environs, is called Caryes, and
supplies the simple wants of the monks
Here are. to be found streets of shops,
crowded bazars, f1ourishing trades, and
all the hustle and energy of modern
town. But one thing soon strikes the
visitor as strange. There is not a
female to be seen anywhere, for the
gentler sex is vigorously banished from
the place. Even the small Turkish gar
rson. from the commandant down to
the privates, consists of bachelors.
This extraordinary law is carried out
even among the domestic animals. Only
the wild birds evade it, and then only
when free, for no female bird is ever
brought to table; the fowl one has for
dinner is sure to be a cockerel. For
this unparalleled state of affairs there
is only a legend to account.
Although to our practical minds,
flimsy to a degree, it is implicitly be-
lieved in by the inhabitants. 1t appears
that in one of the chief monasteries on
the promontory there is miraculous
icon, which is picture or image sacred
ito members Of the Russo Greek Church.
This particular picture is a representa-
ton of the virgin, and the legend says
that one day as the Empress Pulcheria,
who had literally endowed the church,
as we'll as beautified and restored II,
was engaged in her devotions, the vir-
gin spoke, asking what she, a woman,
was doing in the church. The pious
lady, no doubt amazed. did not reply,
whereupon the voice comrnanded her to
leave, saying that the feet of a woman
should never again tread the floor. The
Empress. probably surprised at the
seeming ingratitude of the speech. as
we'll as awestruck, left the place, which