The daily Alaskan., 1907-04-04
THE DOOM OF VENICE
IT MAY BE TO LIE IN IT E BOSOM OF
 THE AORIAT.C.

Toll on Occnn'S Depths Like Those
 Of Old Port RoyaI-The Sunken
 Cities of thc World.
 It is believed by many that Venice Is sinking into the AdriItic and that she gradually will disappear beneath the waters of the great lagoon from which her palace crowned islands arise. Other cities have gone that way before her. and ships now sail over spots which were once teemIng with a populous life.
 Arthe entrance to the harbor of King ston. Jamaica, the original city of Fort Royal lies sathoms deep beneath the blue and SuuIit waters of the Carib- bean sea. X narrow strip of land, on which are small settlement and a fort. is all that is left of wh9t was once the richest and wickedeSt town in the West Indies. It was the resort Of pirates. who rested there from their depredations and made the city hid eous with their revelry. But these pl- rates brought great stores of their loot to the city. and It's commerce grew and dourished. Palaces and churches were built. a pirate often striving by a rich endowment of a church to square his accounts with heaven.
 Throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century no town in the western world was so magnificent as to Its buildings or so luxurious as to Its habits as Port Royal Then one day in 1892 the anger of the Lord shook the island of Jamaica. and the greater part of Port Royal sank beneath the sea. carrying with it hundreds of it's In habirantS. Towers. churches, palaces and forts went down. many of them not tumbl.n- iu ruins by the shock, but sinking bodily beneath the waves.
 On bright day, sailing over the spot where Port Royal once stood. one can book ur down through the clear water unu see the remains ol the city still standing there Ou the ocean bot. toEl with fishes swimming about among its towers and great tropical seaweeds waving from its sunkeu walls
 The negroes Of Jamaica-and some white people. too-will tel you that be fore 8 storm the sunkeH bell of the great cathedral which wcat down with tue cl.y OIL that awful GyE in 1892 car ue heard distinctly to..i.g belcw the waves. ru-- as a wa ing by tue ghostly hands of the sul. tS of depart ed buccaneers which hat [ the subma- riue city. People who do lOt believe in ghosts. but think they l ve heard tn" toilIug of lgn oalL say explanation is that when Jhc city Dk the great bell of the cathedral ". not thrown from its place. but sr hangs as it or!-tuaIIy did, The con .E storm be fore ir reaches Jama.cn sglrs ID the waters of rhr Caribbean and sends ia upon the shore deep wa, IS. which roll through .le suukeu cit. and set the bell a-roll..2.
 Another -r..nu city .- renowu !s Baiae. that -r..a.. resort on the Ital- ian coast where Nero Ini Ca.iEulu "rerelcl .ut drauk dean" A S-ras- gIing village and heaps O marble ruins still stand upon rae shore aud bear the name of Ealc. but the greater plry Of the city lies beneath thc waters of the Mediterranean. and gour. -ts from Va. pies go out there To gaze down into the waters and try @ catch a glimpse Of the subue--at ely.
 The res1-. of all the wealthy nobleS Of ROmr when Rome was mistress or the world. BIlae was a marvel of lux. urious spleud1-. Palace after palace was built on rhe shore. and architects designed magnificent structures eN- tending out into the sea.
 When Rome decayed and the GOths ravaged Italy. Baiae was sacked by the invaders. Soon after the city be- gan to s.nG. First the buildings which had their foundation iu the water sub sided boueurh the waves. and then the sea made au attack on the land. Gradually the shore line rCceded, and the Med. .terrouean flowed through the streets where Uudriau had driven his imperial chariot end Horace had walk ed thinking of his next poem.
 These promourories, crowned with grand towers @0d gorgeous palaces, were undermined and tonpIcd into the deep until at last the major part of the splendid city was submerged. Its disappea-auce was not sudden, like that of Fort Royal, and due to some couvulstou of nature. but Baiae went down to .rs death gradually. as Venice is said to bc going.
 In Holland the subsistence of the land has brought 1t aboUr that many towns once populous are now covered by the sea. The old Roman camp at Britteuburg. after sinking beneath the waves. emerged again in 1920. only to disappear. and its remains now lie in deep water opposite the town of Kat wiik. The original Katwijk itself now is beneath tho waters. as also are the original towns of SchCvrnjugeu, Dom burg aud Egmoud. In fact. a success sion of towns bearing these names Is now at thc bottom of tho sel for they repeatedly have been rebuilt farther inland as the land sunk and the waves come In to take possession