The daily Alaskan., 1917-02-05
THE STRAIT OF MEssIAA.
And the Ancient Lesendo of soyIIa and
 Charybdis.


 And the Ancient Lesend0 of soyIla and
 Charybdis.
 The Siciliansand Italian banks which border the strait of Messina for nearly twenty-five miles to the east and west are among the most luxuriant to be found in a cruise of the Mediterranean. Magnificent golden groves of lemon and orange and orchards of pomegran- ate, with their brilliant red fruit con trast wonderfully with the flowers of the almond trees which perfume the whole region.
 The strait is entered from the Tyrrhe- nian sea, on the north, at the narrow est point, the distance between Punta del Faro, on the Sicilian shore, and the mainland lighthouse on Punta Pezzo being not more than two miles. The whole of the Calabrian coast is thickly sown with villages, some clinging to the beach, while others chamber up the sides of well wooded hills which cul- minate in the towering Montalto, ris- ing to an elevation of more than a mile above the sea. Beyond the strait to the southwest looms ever threatening Etna, the highest volcano in Europe.
 The most important city situated on the strait is the once magnificent sea- port of Messina, which boasted popu- lation of 150OO0 inhabitants before "the worlds most cruel earthquake' Of Dec. 2S, 1908, tossed nearly 100000 lives away.
 The harbor of Messina is the largest and safest in the kingdom of Italy, with a depth of more than thirty fath- oms. Before the great calamity 1t was visited annually by more than 5000 vessels, which brought cargoes of wheat, cotton, wool and hardware and took away in exchange lemons, or anges, almonds, wines, olive oil and silks. Much of It's commerce was and still is carried on with the mainland Of the kingdom by means of ferry line to Villa San Giovanni, only four and half miles away, while Reggie, the chief seaport on the Italian side of the strait and also the chief earthquake sufferer next to Messina, Is ten miles to the southeast. Ferryboats ply be tween these points too. Scilla, Fare, Catona, Psllaro, Scallita and Galati are minor towns on the shores of the strait.
 Homer did not accord definite habi- tation for his terrible sea creatures, Scylla and Charybdis, but mariners fa- miliar with the perils of the rocks on the Italian side of the strait and with the strong eddies near the harbor Of MeSsina saw in the mythical monsters an explanation of such dangers. Scylla was supposed to be horrible creature with six heads and a dozen feet, who parked like Q dog. She dwelt in a lofty cave, from which she rushed whenever a ship tried to pass beneath, and she would snatch the unlucky sea- men from the rigging or as they stood at the helm endeavoring to guide their vessels through the perilous passage. Charybdis dwelt under a rock only bowshOt away, on the opposite shore. The second creature sucked in and blew out sea water three times day, and woe to the ship caught in the maelstrom of it's mouth!
 Poets who came after the great Greek bard embroidered the legend to suit their fancy. Ovid, for example, described Scylla as the beautiful daughter of a sea god who incurred the jealousy of one of the immortals and who was changed into sea mon ster. A second transformation made her a rock perilous to nayigators. Some poets described Charybdis as an old woman who seized and devoured the cattle of Hercules, and in punishment for this act the demigod's father, all powerful Zeus, cast her into the sea, where her appetite persisted, but her tastes changed from cattle to ships and seamen.-Nationa Geographic Society Bulletin.