The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-31

roDabiy no citizen ot AlaDhHa tS more competent to speak of the geog- Sicily than Hon. W. H. Seymour ot Montgomery. ex-United States Consul at Pe sermo, Sicily. He was Consul during the second administration of Grover Cleveland and during his resi- dence there and travels about that re- zion received impressions at first hand that help one to comprehend the mean ing of the phenomenal calamity of Dee 2s.
 Asked yesterday for some of the more important facts of history and existing customs of the Sicilians. Mir. Seymour spoke Interestingly of Mes sina, Regio and other cities that were visited by the remarkable earthquake. He said:
 ~Messina, with upwards of s0.o00 in- habitants, is next to Palermo. the chief commercial town of Sicily and Is sit- uated on the Strait of Messina. The harbor. which is formed by a pentnsu- lar in the shape of a sickle, is the busiest in Italy in point of steamboat traffic, and is one of the best in the world. More than 1000 large vessels enter there annually.
 '-The town was founded about 700 years B. C., by pirates. It has ex- perienced many vicissftudes and prob ably has suffered more or account Of wars than any other town In Sicily, having been the scene of engagements Dfonysius. Hmilen, Tomoleon. Manner tines. Hiero. Hannibal. Appius clau- dius, Augustus, the Saracens and Rich- ard Occur de Lion.
 -During the eighteenth century the town was overtaken by a fearful plague on account of which 40.000 per- sons died. In 17s3 almost the whole a1<. k.~ |, oayar In 1854 cholera carried of l6.0OO vic- tirns.
 @Messina has been regarded as being in a prosperous condition on account. Of its commerce and especially for it's exports of fruits. wines and olive oil to other countries. It's largest exports have been to the United states. The town, on the whole. was well built and had several handsome streets, the most important of which was that of the Marina or Corso Vittorio Emanuele. which seems to have been destroyed.
 like all other Italian towns, Mes sine had it's curiosities and antinqui- ties but probably on account of the numerous calamities 1t had sustained at the hand of man and from natural phenomena, not to the same extent as some others.
 Famous Cathedral.
 .Perhaps the point of most inter- est to the tourist was that of the Ca- thedral, an edifice of the twelfth cen- tury Not only from an architectural viewpoint was it of interest, but also on account of the richness of the high altar, which is said to have cost in the neighbour ood of three-quarters Of a million dollars.
 This cathedral contained sarcophagi of a number of Kings and Queens, among whom were those of Afphonso the Generous, and Queen Antonia, the widow of Frederick III of Aragon. This building suffered injury from which 1t had just been restored, by similar catastrophe.
 ,aThe town runs parallel with the strait, and the Marina. a broad thor oughfare and driveway skirting the ,stFait, and Is its most important street. some palaces which, on account of the earthquake in the latter part of the eighteenth century, were left only two stories high. The Marina extends for a distance of eight or nine miles. and at it's extremity is Faro, fishing village, which has been destroyed also. At this point the strait is narrowest, being about two miles wide, and just across from Faro is Scylia, and the tll-fated Bagnana, which has suffered destruc- tion. near also is Palmi.
 "Reggio, where the loss of life seer s to have been greater in proportion b the, number of inhabitants, Is ac ,ss the Strait of Messina, and a dist Ace of about eight miles. It was town of some 20,0OO inhabitants and seems to have been completely destroyed. Like Messina, it, too, was very old: was founded about 500 years B. c. This town likewise rose to prosperity and suffered hardships of war and shared the same fate of her sister city in the earthquake of the latter part of the eighteenth century.
 Civilization There.
 s'It is not improbable that in this section of Italy across the straits from Messina and which is known as the Province of CalabriR, and Of which Reggie is the capital. civilization has ! not attained that high degree that it has in other sections of Italy. In fact. is is probably the most backward section of the kingdom. The art and culture of the middle ages never pene. trated these remote regions and the fields that Sophocles extolled for their richness and fertility, are now sought for in vain. Malaria, too, exercises its dismal sway throughout the whole of this neglected district. The lands be- long, for the most part, to the nobility, who let them to the poor and ignor- ant class of farmers.
 From the dispatches, it would ap- pear that Stromboli has been the cause of a great deal of the destruction. Stromboli lies very near, with Etna and Vesuvius, and appears almost as a