Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-07-27
STRANcEToWNs OF THEWoRLD
One Bailt on the Ocean. Another on Ice
end Another Is KomanIess.

One BHiit on the Ocean, Another on Ice
end Another Is Womanless.
The marine village of Tupuselei, in
New Guinea, would take 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 sud
den attacks of the dreaded head-hunt-
ers, who are always on the lookout for
victims. Other villages in this happy
land are perched up in all but mac
cessible trees, for the same weighty
reason.
Another curious place is a town
without name on one of the arms of
Lake Huron. This consists Of some
800 wooden huts. During the summer
these little dwellings are hidden away
in a clearing on shore, and the town
contains not single inhabitant. But
on the arrival Of winter, when the lake
is frozen over with thick coating or
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 hole cut
through the ice. Through these holes
the residents fish, carrying ON their
operations until the spring releases the
lake from its 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 a curing factory and church,
not to mention several saloons-al on
the ice.
Athos, town 81 uated on 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 score or
so of monasteries are dotted about the
rough hillsides or the valleys. In these
establishments dwell a numerous body
of ascetics, 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 its
monastic envlrons, is called Caryes,
and supplies the simple wants Of the
monks. Here are to be found streets
of shops, crowded bazars, flourishing
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 ban
ished from the place. Even the small
Turkish garrison, from the command
ant 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 di7ner is sure to be a cockerel.
Il VI LILO uhpdl dllSltu SIdte VI dHdAl .
there is only a legend to account. AL
though to our practical minds flimsy to
a degree, it is implicitly belieYed in by
the inhabitants. 1t 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-
ton of the Virgin and the legend says
that one day as the Empress Puleheria,
who had literally endowed the church,
as well as beautifled and restored it,
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 commanded 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 awe-struck, left the
place, which no female has since en-
tered How the prohibition thus ar
bitrarily established came to compre-
bend the length and breadth of the
promontory is not very clear AS
residence for baShful bachelors we
should imagine Athos would be hard to
surpass.