The Topeka state journal., 1899-07-06
NO WOMAN ALLOWED IN 1T.
GFron Household Words.1


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 straight out in the ocean,
some considerable distance from the
shore. The object of this strange posi-
tion is to protect the inhabitants against
sudden attacks of the dreaded head
hunters, who are always on the lookout
for victims. Other villages in this
happy land are perched up in all but
inaccessible trees. for the same weighty
reason
Another curious place is a town with
out a 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 a 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 on the surface or the
lake. The floor of the huts is taken up,
and a hole cut through the ice. Through
these holes the residents fish, carrying
on their operations until the spring re-
leases the lake from its icy bonds, when
this extraordinary town IS once more
broken up, the shanties go back to
their resting place, and the fishermen
scatter over the country. This place
even boasts a curing factory and
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 THE Mountain of the Monks,
from the fact that a score or so of
monasteries are dotted about the rough
hillSldeS of the valleys. In these eStab-
Hshments dwell a numerous body of
ascetics, kind and hospitable to wan
derers, but full of superstition, and be-
neVing 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 baZaars,
HOuriShtng trades and all the hustle and
energy of a modern town. But one
thing soon strikes the visitor as strange.
There is not a female to be seen any
where, for the gen-ler sex is vigorously
banished from the place. Even the
small Turkish garrison, from the COM
mandant 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 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 believed in by the inhab-
itants. 1t appears that in one of the
chief mOnasteries on the prOmontory
there is a miraculous icon, which is a
picture or image sacred to members
of the Russo Greek church. This par
ticular picture is a representation of the
Virgin, and the legend says that one
day as the Empress Pulcheria, who had
literally endowed the church Gas we'll
as beautified aud restored ft), was en-
gagged in her devotions, the Virgin
spoke, asking what she, a woman, was
doing in the church. The pious lady.
no doubt amazed, did not reply, where
upon the voice commanded her to leave
saying that the feet of a woman should
never again tread the floor. The en-
press, probably surprised at the seem
ing ingratitude of the speech, as well
as awestruck, left the place, which no
female has since entered. How the
prohibition thus arbitrarily established
came to comprehend the length and
breadth of the promOntory is not very
clear. As a residence for bashful bach
elors we should imagine Athos would be
hard to surpass