Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1911-03-03

to its sheltered position and warm
climate, 1t has been a favOrite
winter resort for invalids from
all over the world, in fact, the
whole coast is a spot Of beauty,
and a lovely Paradise. We left
Villifranoe at s p. m. for SYRIA
cuse, Italy.
Monday, Feb, q, Arose at
Ills went on deck, the beginning
of a beautiful day, with a calm
sea, The ship was passing be-
tween two islands that to the
east, Elba, and that to the west,
an uninhabited island, like a
great bali half out of the sea.
about a mile long. The day was
spent on board, writing letters or
reading, sitting in the sun. We
expect to pass the Straits of
MeSSina tomorrow between 7 and
8 o'clock. This is where the
great earthquake was last year.
We will not go ashore here until
we are coming back.
Feb. 22nd. We reached SYRIA
cuSe at noon today. This city is
on the Island of Sicily, once the
greatest of the Hellenic cities, anC
now since the Saracens destroy
| ed it in 1878, containing $1,000
inhabitants instead of half mil
hon it formerly had. It has a
beautiful bay horse shoe shape,
in it we found three Italian Man.
Of-War and several torpedo boats
We went ashore and drove to
the LatOinie (quarrieS) of SYRIA
cuse; they are so immense one
can easily lose his way in the
caverns and grOttOS. We de-
scended a zigzag path hewn in
the rock, leading down $50 feet
below the level of ancient SYRIA
cuse, to one of those vast quar-
ries. In these old Syracuse cav
ems the massive and fantastic
figures are found, not freaks of
nature but the work of men,
wrought more than twenty CEN
turtles ago. 1t is known that
the rock quaTieS here are used
In building ancient Syracuse, but
it is difficult to understand why
the excavatorS left these wonder
full shapes and figures. The
walls are from lotto 20 feet out
of the perpendicular, slOping in
wardly to the top. Here and
there solitary shafts and ObeliSks
over a hundred feet high. Some
of these cavernS are hewn in the
shape of tents and pavilliOns, in
places the rock is quarried to
within a foot of the surface of
the earth, leaving a bridge of
natural stone spanning an arti-
ficial gulf. The bottom of these
vast quarrleS are now planted
In oranges and lemons, the walls
bridges and shafts are feStOOn-
ed with vines. The LatiOnia Del
Paradise contains the celebrated
Ear of DyOniSiuS" a grOttO
hewn in the rock in the shape of
a human ear. This vast expanse
of ear is over two hundred feet
long, seventy four feet high, and
thirty feet wide. 1t Is said to
have been constructed by DyOn-
isiuS,. whose tyranniOus nature
led him to devise means whereby
a prisoners fainteSt whisper
could be heard by the gard and
reported to him. The acoustic
properties Of the ear grOttO are
certainly remarkable, the sOfteSt
sound can be heard from one end
to the other, over two hundred
feet distant. The custodian clap
ped his hands and the sound
magnified a hundred fold. A
hundred yards away from this
place are the Roman and Greek
theatres, both better preserved
than some ruins, from the fact
that their amphitheatreS are not
built by putting on a layer Of
stone on the other, but are hewn
from the solid rock. We then
proceeded to the Christian Cata-
combs, We were conducted
through them by a bare headed
Monk, carrying an Oil-dip as a
light, all the time talking to us
In a mixture of English and Ital-
ian, it was a gruSOme sight with
a nasty and earthly OjOur. We
then visited the old Cathedral,
that is said to have been built on
the ruins of the temple of Diana,
all that can be said about it, is
that it looks very old. The city
is dead, there appears to be no
work going on, and no shops Of
any importance. We returned to