Omaha daily bee., 1915-09-08

tnguishing features OF those natural shell
ters, and the material OF which they
were composed. impressed themselves
upon mans mind. and when he began 20
construct more elaborate dwelling places
for himself he initiated and reproduced
the things that he had been accustomed
10 from the childhood OF his race
The dim, ancestral memory OF the
rocky homes In which his remotest pre-
deoessors dwelt leads civiiiSed man today
20 prefer stone to any other kind OF
building material II n not merely that
no knows stone TO be moro enduring, but
no feels that no other material Is equally
suitable In texture. Elasticity and appear
ance.
Looked at in this way. the cave dwell
llngs. ancient and modern, with which
the earth In dotted over n belt that. as
| ]. Walker Kewkes has shown. extends
! from China. across India, Asia Minor and
Arabia. the Mediterranean basin. the
Canary Islands. the West Indies. Mex
leo and North and South America possess
a fascinating interest. Man has never
given up ths habit OF living In caves. He
has not been content with the caverns
furnished by nature. but has both en-
larged and improved them. and CON-
struoted other with his own banda
cappadocia. In Asia Minor. for instance.
has always been a land OF troglodytes. or
cave dwellers A recent traveller in that
part OF the world says that near Urgub.
oven an area some fifty miles long by
forty wide. tho cliffs and rocks ARE
bored with strongholds and villages which
swarm with people living of choice In the
old way"
| T. Tf.~,,H tksotf A. knavoiin~ RauuA 4hat
the town consisted largely OF mere house
fronts which are no more than masks of
masonry covering rooms hewed out OF
the solid rock Of tho cliff behind When
he entered the little rock-hewn apart
ment. about nine feet square. In which he
was 20 pass tho night, he found a mys
terious door IN the rear wall. and. OPEN
ing Il, heard voices and the clank OF
chains, and his Imagination began TO
make q fearful picture OF what might
exist in the hidden labyrinth beyond, so
that he passed the night barricaded be-
hind his baggage and with his face to-
ward the inner door.
The cliffs are honeyoombed with rooms,
stables, managers and chapels. and some
OF the latter have paintings on the walls,
| recalling the artistic efforts of the pre-
historic inhabitants OF the Governs OF the
Pyrenees, who likewise underworld 20
represent the life OF their time, and even,
as the most recent discoveries show.
somsthing OF It's mythology and perhaps
OF It's religious ideas.
There are other cove habitations in
Cappadocia beside those visited by the
traveller just mentioned. which exceed
in strangeness anything that he describes.
These arc known 10 Psychologists as cone
dwellings" and very curious fact Is
that precisely similar structures exist In
New Mexico. Tho cones are huge
masses OF soft tufAceoted rock. which has
: been shaped by erosion into the form OF
= gigantic beehives. The interiors OF these
\ have been artificially excavated to form
rooms, superposed floors, stairways and
passages, while doors and windows are
bored through the sides. Mr.. Fewkes thus
described one OF the Cappadocian cone
dwellings:
! 'on entering we ind ourselves In a
spacious chamber with shelves OF inches
} excavated In the solid stone Of the walls.
The staIrways resemble round tunnels,
through which one ascends 10 an upper
, story through holes like those lateral
openings by which one enters ths room.
The floors separating the upper from the
, lower stories were usually thick enough
to hold the weight that might rest upon
them, but occasionally these floors have
given away and fallen TO the floor below
, thus enlarglng both looms and forming
lofty chamber. In one instance nine
, | stories were counted. but generally there
, are one. two or four stories, the position
appearing on the outside as small win
COWS or peep holes.