Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 426, 16 June 1904, Page 7

Traveller.

AN OLD-TIME PSISON. fTi&W * moa £ Btteeta of modern KJXMm bpilaitogßj.oae. comes across an »*«a e *| old-world fabric that ■••>■• has beei allowed to remain practically unchanged, one's mind is carried back to agea agq % : wh«a,. manners andoustomß were very;different from.what to-day. wThftMd in xarmoutti irioae of thee* relioa.? ■ EfceftedV L° •»j. e century, thist quaint building, with the staircase to the upper floors outside, was the gaol in which the labours of Sarah Martin enactedJ- on •tbehalf of the prißonera, and in which her great triumphs over the results of crime and desperation were aoby? her uDswerving patience and virfuer LwTng at the beginning of the nineteenth century, she earned fifteen pence a day by long hours with a need?©, but, her sympathies being enlieted through there beißg no sort okiJßOvieioH for the mora! improvement of the; prisoners, she set to work and changed tall this, and others than the Bishop of Norwioh would ■have canonised Sarah Martin at heir death. 'tJhdar the "toll house is the dungeon known as «The Hold,' in which all culprit*, were thjrowa.,. The dungeons are still shown to visitors; and many horrible andc'curioue things used ii olden times One, of these is shown in the old. ,photograph., );s Jtis & debtors money-box. Persons imprisoned for deb.t ; were allowed to protrude these boxasthrough the bars of the windows looking on to the street, and passers-by could drop in a coin; When the prisoner had obtteoted his "debt in this way he was released. But the peculiarity of the money-box must be: noted, When ;the lid "wasclosgd, and fche-lfox locked by the :; gaoler; money could, be dropped through;' the aperture in' the lid in the usual way, but it was impossible for the J2&2JMH *° sb%ke..Jbnja.money, out, -for if {the ftps, was turned ttpaicfe down for this the aperture ; «nd; anything wait exaotly : what they were ingeniously contrived to do. Thus the poor prisoners conld rattle the box through the bars of the window, and enlist ithe sympathy of their more fortunate friends and neighbours as they passed the gaol, but it was impossible for the prisoner to purloin any of this money for his own personal use. \ t ? .

A QUEER TOWN. Here is a descriptioa of a queer town, or village, „San Stephano, or Grotto San f Stephano» is the name of the placer It If [sjTOStedt 6a 'the southern"shore's of ■ Lske of Bolsenav |iear Montefisßcone, Italy. I resided in the locality, many years ago, I made a si etch of the main portion of that strange village. The -ayparent abseaca of houses, and the presence of numerous chimneys, is explained by all the inhabitants living underground. '"_ A Look Round. It was midsummer, I was just on the point bflbeing caught on the hills by one or the. violent that those snb-alpehhine regions are noted for at that time of. the year, when I alighted quite unexpectedly into the heartof the village. I was 'welcomed heartily by the first inhabitant I met. I visited the interior of several of those: extraordinary dwellings, and was much impreEsed by the neatness, cleanliness, and comfort which prevailed. The apartments were remarkably cool, and I was told that during the winter they are quite warm, and that fires are seldom wanted except for cooking. The rooma and passages are all cut out of the solid ground, and the fireplaces and chimneys aot principally as ventilators, for the winter iseasoa is flhort, although pretty severe on account of the altitude. There are very ; few windows, and many of the rooms are in utter darkness; with the exception of the front ones, which receive their light from the outside doors. The large,; door openiag in the' bliff' on the right-hand Bide of the square tower is the entrance to a tunnel or cuniculus. jCaniculi were much used in time of war by the ancient Etruscans. The one. T refer to leads-down and far out into a wooded and secluded dell ; oa the shores of the lake. '" •

Its Antiquity. The early history ot San Stepnahbis lo|t in. the dim ages of the Etruscan period and .the inhabitants I .met with, cultivators and fishermen, evidently ,-de%, of that strange have even' lost the tradition of their- coming l to the' shores of the lake. They belong to a distinct class of people, hold themselves aloof from surrounding associations, and possess a characteristic physique, noticeable fori its "wild beauty, Iwhich, -in ?the young-woman is Very:remarkable. The presence of these people in the. hilly and wooded region around the great crater JLake_ of Bdlsena is explained by soms ia 'the' 1 following 'manner:—-About two hundred years before, the Christian era, the Romans having subdued the Volsmii (hence the panne Bols§aa) f .,and destroyed .one of their principal cities; perched onrthe cliffy above the modern Bolsena, the ih> ihahifcaSfcs fled to the plains, wheWthey =beeam6 : subject* to/viheir ; ' Soman ;%6n'qaerora. Some ofjthe leading warriors, however,;Are:said--to have escaped, with their wives and children, and te have taken refuge, unknown toihe-Eomans, in this subterranean township.