The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-06-11
Cave Mar. Laughs at Rent Man.


district along Lakes Maggiore and
Como, Italy, has driven many peas
ants 10 dig houses for themselves II
the hillsides where they live in primi-
tive simplicity. newspaper dispatches
say
The inhabitants Of most Of the
countries Of the world have at some
stage in their development lived in
cave dwellings,. 4 belt Of such
dwellings, extends from China across
India 10 Asia Minor and Arabia.
thence along the shores of the Med
iterranean 70 the Canary Islands, the
! West Indies, Mexico, and North and
South America. In a few places to-
day mankind still lives in this simple
and inexpensive fashion, says a bull
letin from the Washington. D. c..
! headquarters OF the National Geo
graphic Society.
Have a Cave" Welcome to Traveller
On Easter Island, in the Pacific,
where innumerable caves and grot-
toes have been formed by the wash
| ing away of soft deposits which lie
beneath the nard volcanic strata,
housing accommodations present no
problem. Many Of the natives sleep
in the open or in these caves and
cheerfully point them out TO the trav-
eler as the logical shelter for him dur
ing the night.
!! In one Of the widest portions Of
northern Africa, near Guermessa, on
the top Of a. sugar-loaf mountain
whose sides rise precipitously for
race now live for three months in the
year in stone. caves followed out in
the mountain sides. The trail TO the
dwellings has been worn as smooth as
glass by centuries OF constant use,
which makes an approach difficult for
man and beast These mountain men
have cut separate establishments for
themselves, their wives and their
children, and have furnished them
With rugs from Kairowan mad Persia
and numerous leather cushions stuffed
with sleeps wool.
Iroglodytc TRUSTEES Guard Homes.
Suspicious of other cave dwelling
people near them and hating the
stranger, they spend the remaining
nine months in the year wandering
with their fiocks Of long-haired goats,
broad-tailed sheep and camels on the
borders Of the Sahara. Down in the
valleys too there are plantations OF su-
perb olive and fig trees which they
protect from the other troglodytes
during this season. While their houses
in the mountains are being guarded
by few truSty men,
AT Matmata and Medinine in Tun-
sia. are extraordinary underground pit
dwellings, When he is told that he is
approaching one Of these villages the
traveller experiences queer Sensa-
ton at seeing nothing on the land
cape except crater-like holes in the
earth which look like they might have
been caused by the explosion OF enor-
nous shells. AS he peeps over the
rim of these holes in the earth he sees
below him the intimate life OF the
family, their dogs and camels. This
is their common living room. which
is entered from above by slanting
aubterraean channel. Other rooms
enter into it by means OF lateral pas
sageways, and are sometimes eXcavat-
ed one above the other for two or
TIN 90 stories It is said that as many
as 1900 people live in these pits.
Cone DWeIlers Have Sky Scrapers.
There have been cave dwellers iii
Asia Minor since long before the time
OF Nenophon, who says, that their
houses were underground with en-
frances like wells. and that in them
the members OF the household lived
with goats, COWS, and chickens. Here
TOO they stored the hay for their an
imals and their own supplies OF wheat,
barley and Vegetables. In the region
around Mount Argaeus in Cappadocla.
southern Turkey. there are cone
dwellers living today whose habita-
tions perhaps more nearly resemble
the American cliff houses to be found
in Arizona and New Mexico than any
others in existence. and were used as
hahitationS as far back as 1000 B. G.
The chambers Of these dwellings hol-
lowed out in the solid stone are
spacious. and the stairways resemble
round tunnels leading from each
moor TO that above it. Houses have
been in some instances made nine
stories high, but usually they are not
so pretentiOua.
! The country Of the troglodytes Of
Asia Minor is inaccessible. and the
visitor must make his way over noun
tains and past rivers when his path
IS d:scernible only a few feet in front
Of him.
Perhaps the greatest ana most
beautiful Of the cliff cities built since
the beginning of time is Petra, on the
| old caravan route from Damascus to
Mecca Though il is unoccupied to-
day. E.domites, Phoenicians. Egyp-
| :.uns. and Romans have carved n ar
listic designs on the rose-red walls
OF It's temples, amphitheatres shrines
ana houses records Of their successive
| occupations.
i5.t-n6 II Cave Houses Now Store Rooms
Europe too has her cave dWeller.3.
Near Tours France, there are a few
caves that are inhabited, but for the