The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-01-17
THE DOOM OF VENICE
IT NAY BE 70 LIE IN THE BOSOM OF
THE ACRIA1IC.
The Famous Bells of st. Marks NAV
Toll on Oceans Depths Like Thoss
Of Old Port ROyal-The Sunken
Cities Of the World.

/
Cities of the World.
D.! 1t is believed by many that Venice
is sinking into the Adriatic 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 populous life.
At the entrance to the harbOr of King
ston. Jamaica. the original city of Port
| ROYAL lies fathOms deep beneath the
blue and sunlit waters of the Carib-
bean sea. A narrow strip of land. on
| which are Il small settlement and
fort is all that is left Of what was
once the richest and wickedest town in
| the West Indies. 1t was the resort of
| pirates. who rested there from their
depredatiOns and made the city hid
eous with their revelry But these pi-
rates brought great stores of their loot to
| the city. and its commerce grew and
flOurished. Palaces and churches were
built, a pirate often striving by 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 50 magnificent as
| to its buildings or so luxurious as to its
| habits as Port Royal. Then one day in
| 1899 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 its In
| habitants. Towers, churches, palaces
| and forts went down, many Of them
! not tumbling in ruins by the shock,
hut sinking bodily beneath the waves.
| On a bright day, sailing over the
| spot where Port Royal once stood, one
| can look far down through the clear
| water and see the remains Of the city
| still standing there on the ocean bot
| tom. with fishes swimming about
| among it's towers and great tropical
| seaweeds waving from its sunken
| walls.
| The negroes of Jamaica-and some
| white people, too-will tell you that be-
| fore a storm the sunken bell of the
| great cathedral which went down with
the city OH that awful day in 1892 can
| be heard distinctly tolling below the
| waves, rung as a warning by the
| ghostly hands of the spirits Of depart
ed buccaneers which haunt the subma-
| rine city. People who do not believe in
| ghosts, but think they have heard the
tollng of the bell, say the explanation
is that when the city sunk the great
bell of the cathedral was not thrown
from it's place, but still hangs as it
| originally did. The coming storm be-
! fore it reaches Jamaica stirs up the
| waters of the Caribbean and sends in
| upon the shore deep waves, which roll
! through the sunken city and set the
| bell a-tOlling.
Another sunken city of renown is
Baiae, that splendid resort on the Ital-
| ian coast where Nero and Caligula
| 'reveled and drank Deep" A stray
Cling village and heaps of marble ruins
| still stand upon the shore and bear the
name of Baiae, but the greater part Of
| the city lies beneath the waters of the
| Mediterranean. and tourists from Ma
Piles go out there to gaze down into the
| waters and try to catch glimpse OF
| the submerged city.
The resort of all the wealthy mobiles
| of Rome when Rome was mistress of
| the world, Baiae was marvel of lux
| urious splendOr. Palace after palace
| was built on the shore, and architects
| designed magnificent structures ex-
| 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 sink. First the buildings which
had their foundation in the water sub
sided beneath the waves, and then
! the sea made an attack on the land.
Gradually the shore line receded, and
| the Mediterranean flowed through the
streets where Hadrian had driven his
imperial chariot and Horace had walk
| ed thinking of his next poem.
These promOntOries, crowned with
grand towers and gorgeous palaces,
| were undermined and toppled into the
deep until at last the major part or
the splendid city was submerged. Its
disappearance was not sudden, ike
that of Port Royal, and due to some
CONFUSION of nature. but Baiae went
down to its death gradually, as Venice
is said to be going.
In Holland the subsistence Of the
land has brought it about that many
towns once populous are now covered
by the sea. The old Roman camp at
Brittenburg. after sinking beneath the
waves, emerged again in 1920, only to
disappear, and it's remains now lie in
deep water opposite the town Of Kat
wiki. The original Katwijk itself now
Is beneath the waters, as also are the
original towns of Scheveningen, Dom
burg and Egmond. In fact. a success
sion Of towns bearing these names IS
now at the bottom of the sea, for they
repeatedly have been rebuilt farther
inland as the land sunk and the waves
come in to take possession.
The Goodwin sands large and dan