Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-07-13
ODD DWELLING PLACES.
A subterranean City Of Salt, and .
Crater in Japan.

Kefburg. which is situated in POLAND
not far from Cracow, is one OF the mos
extraordinary cities In the world; TO
not only IS 1t entirely subterranear
hut the material used in its construc
ton is not stone or brick, but SAT-.
Three thousand people are restden
in its seven hundred houses, and the!
are all workers in the great salt mines
The streets and squares are paved WIFI
rock-salt slabs of purest white, ant
are kept exquisitely neat and clean by
a corps of volunteer scavengers.
The pride Of the city, however, is fts
cathedral, carved in salt and Lighted
with electricity. 1t is gorgeously dec
GRATED; and on the high altar blazes
the magnificent cross which was Ire
scented by the late Gear OF Russia when
he descended from the upper air In
order to worship there TOT prlel
space eleven years ago.
Disease of en- infectious or con-
tagious nature is quite unknown IN
Kelburg: in fact, the majority OF tne
inhabitants die of old age. A nonfatal
ailment of scorbutic type is, however,
occasionally prevalent; and milo
form of opthalmia, said to be due TO
the continual and all-pervading white
ness, Is more or less common.
Regarded as q city Of salt pure and
simple, Kelburg is, Of course, unique.
But there are several other known ex-
amples of cities situated beneath the
surface of the earth.
In the Peruvian province of CuZco,
10 ho n6nnpd
yer mine, ITO fathoms in circumference,
and about 100 in depth. And within
this profound abyss are streets,
squares and a chapel, where daily re-
Hgious worship is carried>Pn.
Among the inhabitants are many Old
men and women, who have never cared
to visit the earth above them since
they left it as little toddling children
in the early years of the last century.
In Japan, again, thirty miles or SO
from Kumanotu, some twenty thou-
sand men, women and children are
resident in the crater OF
an extinct volcano.
In this pit-like city, surrounded by
vertical wall more than 800 feet high,
the entire community lives, moves and
has its being. Rarely, indeed, does one
Of its members make a journey into
the outer world; and they are not often
intruded upon, for they are OF a churl-
ish. not to say revengeful, disposition.
The Etahvans, or Arctic Highland
ers' of Ross. live in ice caves within
the vast glacier cap which covers all
northern Greenland. Theirs Is, per-
haps, the most wretched and isolated
existence It Is possible to conceive.
Their dwellings" are always wet.
owing to the melting of the Ice walls
and floor. For full six months of the
year the darkness of the arctic night
envelops them. The Ice is around
them, beneath them. above them. In
nine cases out of ten. If the venture
abroad they breathe the frozen parti-
cles, and the sensation Is akin to that
which comes from fnhaling the blast Of
q furnace.
Nevertheless, they refuse to move
further south with the approach of
winter, as do all the other Eskimo
tribes. They take q sort Of perverted
pride in their loneliness as in their
misery. what matter" they say, IF
we are cold and hungry? We are the
last of all peoples. We dwell literally
at the end of the world. To the north
of us there Is snow, there is ice; but
there is no land, and there Is nothing
that lives, breathes or has independent
In 1893 wild tribe Of natives was
discovered in the Wentworth district of
New South Wales, whose dwellings and
mode Of living Appropriated almost
exactly to those of our troglodyte an
cestors. The tribe had its origin In
some little known country for thirty
years with few gins.
During that period the horde had in
creased to above thirty persons-men,
women and children. They herded to-
gether in two low caves, which they
had dug for themselves, increasing
their length as fresh arrivals In the
shape of babies necessitated more
room. Their only food consisted Of
kangaroo, wildcat and ant eggs. Their
were merely stems of malice wood,
pointed and barbed. They produced
fire by rubbing two sticks together,
and their water was contained in bags
made from the skins of kangaroo legs.
1t was noted as a curious fact that
when discovered the station blacks
had the greatest difficulty in making
the wild tribesmen understand them,
although thirty years previously they
must have all spoken the same Ian
guage.-Pearson's Weekly.