1
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.
i
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Calabria's
OSIE, Not. I There I. a tradi
tion among the native of Cala
bria that If a volcano should
ourst forth from Aapromonte,
. at the extreme end of the
mountain ranae which tra-
...n peninsula, the earthquakes
wiiilii ir the acnurira i,f ti
cast antf
wes
coaata of the nrovlnce. would ,....
forever, ai It would relieve the throca ot
win, Seismologists on the
other
I'ana regard the mountain
ranvA wMf.
forma the backbone of Calabria elrnply as
a line ot demarcation which enables them
to ascertain oti which side the epicenter of
a particular earthquake occurs
Thus they have reached the following
conclusions that while earthquakes with
an epicenter In the Tyrrhene sea and there
fore affecting the weat coast are com-
raratlvely frequent, as for Instance those
of the yen 17t3. I.-OI nml liK. rartliqualLea
on the ciiHt cont. that sj havintc their
epicenter In tho Indian sea. like that of
September 1 lasi. are very rare. Apart
from the many theories more or less savor
ing -tjf conjecture put forth to explain tho
frequency of earthquakes In Cal.ibrla. the
moat plkuo.uiu uAitiiiMviun bunu un ex
perience and fact Is that such earthquakes
are duo to the close proximity of three
active volcanoes. Aetna, Btromboll and
Vesuvius, and naturally the west coast,
being nearer, la affected more than tho
east.
Thua the natives of Caabrla Invoke a
volcano to save them from "II Tacsano"
(their fellow countryman), as they call the
earthquake, almost In the same way as un
civilized and savage people Invoke dtiath to
save them from passing ailments. But to
compare the natives of Calabria with un
civilized and savage people Is by no means
incongruous
Calabria la the most neglected, Just as It
is the most unfortunate, reRlon of Italy.
Tho Inhabitants are practically In tho same
condition today am they were over a hun
dred years ago.
They are so poverty stricken that life In
-their native land to the majority Is un
bearable. Ask a peasant how much he
gains a day and whether his life Is a hard
" one, and the Invariable answer that comes
frm his half starved lips is "SI, campa"
, (one exists).
The state of 'the people is so wretched
" that they live huddled together with cat-
tlo and pigs and are so Indifferent to ver
min and dirt as the beasts themselves.
Eighty per cent of the entire population of
Calabria Is Illiterate, and the only benefit
the natives derive from the state Is the
navment of taxes. They live In constant
terror of earthquakes, typhoid fever and
malaria, and this, added to the great mis-
ery prevailing In the country, leads them
to seek a remedy In emigration.
Hence Calabria Is gradually being de-
populated, and women, old people and
' children now constitute the bulk of the In-
habitants. And yet the natives of Calabria
are a hardy and strong race. Traces of
' the ancient civilization of Magna Grecia
; are still Innate In them, although obscured
and hidden through long neglect, and no
Sooner are they removed from their
.. wretched native surroundings than their
roughness. Ignorance and prejudices dls
' appear and they are changed Into cheerful,
honest and hard workers, as may bo seen
in the Calabrian colonies In North and
South America.
Earthquakes have devastated Calabria
since time Immemorial and there la hardly
a town or a village that lias not been de
stroyed at soma time of other and either
rebuilt or left forgotten never to rlso again.
Almost every ancient of mediaeval building
has perished. ,
Gree temples. Roman fnra, castles,'
shrines, monasteries and cathedrals all
have disappeared. Here the remains of
: many celebrated Greek cities are little mors
than foundations, and little more than the
Its of Heraclela, Bybarls, Thurll and Locrl
la to be seen. The earthquake "11 Faes
ano," the natives explain has destroyed
everything.
Compared to former earthquake the last
one, consisting of two violent shock, of a
few seconds' duration, felt at about 9:30
p. m., has nut wrought considerable dam
age, nor has the number of victims been
very great. Still, when one considers that
Calabria had hardly recovered from the
disastrous effects of the earthquake of
1 1006. that most of the houses destroyed
: at that time had not yet been rebuilt, that
a great proportion of t lie Inhabitants were
till living In badly constructed wooden
huts, that trade and agriculture had been
sadly neglected and that consequently de.-
' tltutlon and misery had Increased, the
new - calamity has perhaps been more
keenly felt than the others that preceded It.
The damage In life and property, accord
ing to official statistics, which cannot be
considered either trustworthy or correct,
s as follows: The total number of per
son, killed ha. been calculated at 2lO, over
IfO of whom perished at Ferruzzano, a
Tillage of 1000 Inhabitants, that ha. been
completely destroyed and where over fifty
persons were Injured, and practically the
whole population 1. houseless. Exclusive
of rerruzsano sixty-eight house, collapsed
as a result of the earthquake, J15 were .3
damaged that they will have to be pulled
down, 1.J6S have been rendered unlnhab-
ttabl and had to be vacated pending re
pairs and 1.417 persons are houselesa.
Naturally all this damage has Deen lim
ited to the Inner sone of the earthquake;
that Is. on the east coast of Calabria from
Latest Quake and American
Ardore to Cape Bpartlvrnto and further
Inland as far as Asprnmonte. But the
earthquake waa felt with great Intensity
even outside this sone and further damage
In property was done.
Ferrusxann. the villas' that suffered
most, was built like an eagles nest, high
up on manses of sandstone about ten kilo
meters from the sea coast. Like most
Calabrlan villages. It was utterly Irregular,
with streets like staircases and houses
perched on the edge of perpendicular rock.
It was unprovided with either a telegraph
or a postofflco and was Inhabited mainly
by poor peasants and small farmers. A,
nule track connected It with Brancaleme,
. larger village, called a town, on the
roast.
Unlike the neghborlng villages. Ferrui
sano was considered a prosperous place.
t J 1 A
... 7, j . ... r -f t . ' ... .... .1 - f . t. . - ' m i
frtAlXSiZ COVSi
owing to the fact that many of Its Inna"!..
tants were "Americanl." or Americans,
that Is, returned emigrants who after toll
abroad whether in America or not makes
no difference as to the name Americanl.
since an emigrant la understood always to
go there had put by soma money and re
turned to share it with their families In
their native village. They owned the houses
In which they lived promiscuously with
cattlo, pigs, and chlekSns. and the bits of
land they cultivated for a living.
When their savings amounted to a large
sum they generally Invested them In Jewels
for their wives and daughters or kept thenx
In cash hidden under a stone. A great por
tion of the mao able-bodied population was
still abroad, making their fortune In Amer-
lea and their wives and children were left v
behind waiting for their return.
Such was the village of Ferruzzano and
Its people, a primitive. Isolated, peaceful
Capital of
(Copyright, 1907. by Frank O. Carpenter.)
HARTUM. (Special Correspond
ent to The Bee.) A real estate
boom In the heart of Africa!
Farm lands rising sky high!
Town lots selling at fabulous
prices!
K
New streets reaching out Into the desert!
Residences and business blocks going up,
and the people crazy at the Increase In
values!
That Is what we have here at Khartum.
I have already told you of the DrosDerltv
of the Nile valley, of the mushroom growth
or Alexandria and Cairo and how farm
lands In the delta are selling from JD00 to
11.000 per acre, aimllar boom conditions
prevail In upper Egypt and farm lands are
rising all along the great river. Asslout,
Luxor, Assouan and the towns and villages
of lower Nubia are thriving, and away up
here, as far from the mouth of the Nile
by its windings as the Rocky mountains
are distant from the mouth of the Hudson,
I find the same things going on. Lands on
the Island of Tutl In the Blue Nile opoo-
site Khartum are priced out of slitht and
trmuie speculators are trying to buy
all they can In the Gezireh, that rich terri
tory between the Blue and the White Nllos
which here come together. In Khartum It
self building lots are selling at the govern
ment auctions for two hundred times what
their owners asked for them seven years
ago; and In Halfaya, the suburb which lie
at the end of the railroad on the oppos'te
side of the river, the farms have been di
vided Into lots and are being sold for manu
facturing purposes. Farm lands near the
river which not long ngo were to be had for
tM an acre are now worth from 1150 to J300
per acre and some even more.
C'hlraso of the Soaaaa.
Khartum Is bound to be the Chicago of
the Sudan. It lies here at the Junction of
two of the geratest rivers of North Africa,
giving It navigable highways to Abyssinia
and to the rich lands along the watershed
of the Congo. It has railroads connecting
It with the Mediterranean, and with th
exception of one stretch of less than GOO
miles, where the cataracts He, It has th
main strean of the Nile to give it cheap
freight rates to Europe. Within the past
year or so It has opened a railroad to Su
kim, on the red sou. and In time It will be
one of the great station, on the main rout
by steamer and rati from Cairo to the cap.
Khartum U the capital of the Anglo
Egyptian Sudan. I wonder If you, know
what that mean.? If you do you are
wiser than most men not on the ground.
This country Is a world In Itself and It Is,
to a large extent, unexplored. It 1 of
vast size. It begins at the upper end of
Egypt and reaches to Vganad and th
Belgian Congo, or farther than from New
York to the Mississippi. It is more than
l.OvO miles wide, nd it covers altogether
twice as much territory as France and
Germany combined. It Is more than one
fourth as large as the United State, with
Alaska and the Philippines added thereto,
and It ha. some lands which are richer
than almost any part of our country. Th
province of the Oezlreh, to which I have
reierreu, cuuiu u irrigated and form a
country more fertile and bigger than Eypt.
ana mere are region, of good rainfall la
the south which are susceptible of cultiva
tion. The Eudan ha. vast forests and rich
deposits of Iron and other mineral. It has
extensive grazing lands and at the time
TUB OMAHA
tgS-r"''t ..4-t Lu ar-z-
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1 v. -. . . m v.
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F-Uv i't-cr rMrtr
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. - .. .-Lis,
' . V.
hamlet,' with Its church. Its enriched peas
ants, and Hi poor villagers looking toward
America for the return of the emigrant
with his pile of money. Its origin prob-
Soudan
when the mahdl began his wars against the
khedlve and the Christians, it contained a
population of more than 12,000,000. . It would
probably support ton times that number,
although It has only about 2,000,000 today.
This country Is all tributary to Khartum.
The best parts of It are reached by the
upper Nile system, and the other regions
will be tapped by railroads, some of which
are already planned and soon to be built.
Story ot Khartum.
I called upon the governor of Khartum
this afternoon and asked lyn to tell me
the story of the city. Said lie:
"The buildings which you see here are all
new, but the town Is older than some of
the mushroom cities of the United States.
It was born before Chicago, being founded
by Mohammed All in 1821. It grew with re-
markable rapidity, and along about ten
years later it was made the seat of the
government of the Sudan and became an
lmportant commercial center. It was such
Just beforo the Insurrection of the mahdl
occurred, and It waa here that Gordon
ruled and here that he waa killed. He was
butchered on the steps of a building on the
site of the present governor's palace. After
that the mahdl declared that Khartum
hould be wiped out He destroyed all the
house and mad the inhabitant com te
THESE WOMEN CARRT STONES AT
III . J
-
SUNT) AY BEE: NOVEifBEIt 24, 1907.
V-C
1 J T wf
V sr cssi i t
ably dates Back to the time of the Saracen
invasions, and hence it was situated for
security high up in the hills, with Aspro-
monte In the background and overlooking
and Its Remarkable Growth
his new capital. Omdurman, which he had
laid out on the other side ' of the White
Nile about five miles to the southward.
When the people left they tore off the roofs
and pulled out-the doors of their houses
and carried them along to use In their
new houses at Omdurman.
After that, for years, and until Kitch
ener came, Khartum was nothing but a
brick pile and a dust heap. ' Omdurman
had swallowed up not only Its whole popu
lation, but that of a great part of the
Sudan. The khalifa forced the tribes ' to
come there to live, In order that he might
have their men ready for his army In times
of war, and the result was that Omdurmnn
had, more than a half million Inhabitants,
while Khartum had nothing.
, TTTT .w
. wa.mn.rtoa.
"Then we had the war with the khalifa,
and we finally conquered him," the gov-
ernor continued. "Wo reduced the greater
part of Omdurman to ruins, and then be-
gan planning the building of a great city,
The Idea at first was to force the people to
move from Omdurman to Khartum, but It'
was finally decided that It would be far
better to have a native city there, and to
make tbla place the government and for-
elgn center, with manufacturing and
I CENT AN HOVEL
I K, I as:
i ti.s x. I Ml i - .
End to the
the blua Ionian ea. -r.
. The situation of Ferruzzano, perched on
perpendicular cliffs, .was so perilous that,
It is said, mothers before leaving the vil
commercial town at Halfaya on the north-
ern bank of the Blue Nile. '
"The Khartum of today was laid out
after somewhat the same plan as your
capital at Washington; at least, the rea.
sons that determined the plans were the
same. Washington city was platted at
about the time of the French revolution,
and the architect was L'Enfant, a French
engineer. He planned the city so that It
could be easily defended In oase of a re
bellion and at the same time be beautiful.
For that reason the streets were made to
cut one another at right angles with
avenues running diagonally through them,
forming squares and circles, where one
cannon could command many streets. Lord
Kitchener had the same Idea as to Khar
tum. He directed his architects to make
the streets wide, with several largo
squares, and to have the whole so ar
ranged that catling guns placed at the
chief crossings could command the whole
city. The result was the Khartum as
you now see It.
"The town Is laid out In three great sec
tions, and all building plans must first be
submitted to the government architects
before permits of construction can be
Issued. The section along the Nile Is de-
voted to the government buildings and the
residence ef th official and to ethers
, jy-; 4
''
-T ' . w. - . a - . i
TAJCINtt A BITE OUT OF A BRANCH AT THE HEIGHT OT
A TWO-STORK HOUSK
Ruin of Ferruzzano
lage for their dally work In the fields used
to tie their children with a rope to some
tree lest they fall down Into the valley
below.
The Inhabitants of Ferruzzano rose early
and went to bed with the sun. When the
earthquake came and leveled every build
ing to the ground the Inhabitants were all
asleep.
The first shock was slight and very short.
The second shock followed after a. very
who can afford good houses. Back of that
there are streets where houses of a smaller
class may be built, and further back still
and more to the south Is a third aectlon
of houses for natives. The city Is so
planned that It can grow along these lines
and we believe that it will om dav h
one of the largest and most beautiful of
the cities of interior Africa."
An Oali City.
I have now been in Khartum over a
week and find It most Interesting. The
city Is a great oasis In the midst of the
desert, away off here In the heart of
Africa. In coming to H I crossed the
sands and rocks of Nubia, and It was not
until I was within a few miles of Hal
faya, whlck lies opposite here on the
other bank of the Nile, that I saw signs
of vegetation. The train then entered a
region of thorn bushes ten or fifteen feet
hlfrh: hAvnnit n-h1rh n.tph.. oaum
bleached by the sun were to be seen, and
closer other evidences of cultivation. The
Arabs were digging out the thorn bushes
on the edge of the desert and stacking
them up' In piles for fuel. There were a
few animals grazing on the scanty grass,
and the country made me think of tho
Big Bow Bend of Washington state, which
Is now being turned Into farms. There Is
desert all about Khartum, and everywhere
back from the Nile the lands are nothing leading to the unfortunate village were ol
but rock and sand. most Impassable, and the aalvage party
Out of these bleak and arid surround- had to climb up one at a time and drag
ings rises a city of green. All along the one another over the ear hquak riv. n rock
river, for. a distance of more than two tnt bad tumbled down and obstructed th
miles, runs a wide avenue shaded by
tree, and backed by buildings and pri
vate houses In beautiful gardens. This
avenue Is a succession of parks from one
end of It to the other. It begins with the
botanical and zoological gardens, where
all tho trees of the tropics . and eml
troplcs luxuriantly grow, and where -one
may see the soap tree, the monkey-bread
tree and other curious examples of the
Sudanese flora. There are several lions
and tigers In the gardon, and there Is
also a mighty giraffe which I photographed
this afternoon as he was taking a bite
out of a branch at the height of a two
story house.
Next to the zoological garden la the
Grand hotel, a long bungalow-shaped
structure and beyond are the two-story
homes of many ofllclals, all beautifully
haded by date pains. The first publlo
building on this avenue Is the post and
telegraph office. Beyond It are tho offices
of the war department, with public gar
dens behind them, and further still Is
the great white palace in which the gov
ernor general of the Sudan lives and has
his offices. This is directly on the river,
with a beautiful garden behind It. Far
ther along the avenue Is the Sudan club
and the hospital, and away at the south
the large buildings of the Gordon Memo
rial college, with the British barrack, at
the end of the street. Thl vnue run
right along the Blue Nile, with beautiful
views In sight all the way. On the edge
of the river are numerous saklyeha, or
huge water wheels, moved around by
bullocks with humps on their backs. They
raise the water from the river Into the
ditches and canals, which carry It over
the city and make vegetation possible,
The saklyeha start at 7 o'clock
every
morning. Their whi
1. are never greased
and as they move they .creech and groan engaged In burying their dead and recover
and algh. There Is one In front of th jng their saving, and furnltur from under
(Continued on rage Four.) . , their crumbled houses.
short Interval. It lasted eight seconds, and
completely devastated the village.
lint ire houses collapsed, others tumbled
down the steep sides of the village, walla
were ripped open and the occupants sur
prlned In their sleep were crushed to death
under .fallen furniture and crumbled ma
sonry. Meunwhllo the rain was coming
down In torrents.
From underneath the ruined houses came
the groans of the dying and the shrieks
and cries of the many persons burled alive.
No rescue work of any kl-d was organized
nor any help attempted, the people simply
fled terrorized and frenzied with panic.
Then day came', a dreary, dull, sorrowful
day, with the rain still falling and bringing
no hope and help with It. An old woman,
yesterday the mother of a largo family,
today a widow and childless, her tear
dried up, Impervious to the rain, may per
haps be seen wandering among the ruins
searching for all fhe lost. A child, the only
survivor of an entire family, cries out the
name of her father, the only living person
l" In the world for her, but now absent la
America.
Otherwise the village was empty. Near
a pile of ruins the cry of a baby was heard.
Two days afterward the eamo cry, but
much fainter, was still heard, and the baby
was found safe under tho arched body of
her dead mother, who even while surprised
by quick death thought how to save her
offspring.
A refugee from Ferruzzano had found hi
way to Brancaleone, where he arrived at
8 a. m. There the inhabitants, who too had
felt and suffered from the earthquake,
were In the streets, all having forsaken
their houses. Breathlessly he recounted th
disaster of his native vlllago.
A magistrate, accompanied by a couple
of custom house guards, two carabineer
and a few young men. Immediately started
for the destroyed village. They arrived
there In the afternoon and were the first to
organize the rescue and salvage work.
Later In the day a detachment of Infantry
consisting of seventy men and an ofllcer
started for Ferruzzano, which they reached
at 10 o'clock the next morning. The road
Way.
For two long day. Ferruzzano wa. with
out any help. In fact, the real proportion
of the disaster were Ignored, so much .o
that while a member of the government,
the finance minister, Signer I.arava, who
had gone to Culabrta to Inaugurate a
couple of village, destroyed In the earth
quake of 1905 and rebuilt, not by the gov
ernment, but by private aubserlptlona
talsed In Mllnn and Turin, calmly went on
with the Inauguration amid speeches about
the future prosperity of Calabria, the
premier, here In Rome, was busily engaged
sequestering newspaper telegrams wherein
the number of dead at Ferruzzano was
stated as being a hundred.
Ten days have passed since the earth
quake and yet the number of dead has not
been correctly ascertained. Squads of sol
diers are engaged In the rescue work. They
are pulling down houses, recovering money,
Jewelry and valuables from underneath th
ruins, attending to the Injured and burying
the dead. Theirs Is the only real work that
Is being done In Calabria, calmly and well
and silently above all.
Silence Is the exception In Italy, espe
cially when a calamity visits a region and
loss of life, damage and poverty results.
The government and the civil authorities.
Instead of keeping silent, are loud In their
promises of help, financial and otherwise,
.na )n their assurance that the destroyed
villages will be rebuilt. The soldiers, on
the contrary, are silent, and they are th
only ones who work.
The Inhabitants of Calabria, ignorant,
superstitious, savage and Illiterate, know
how to discriminate between the work of
the government and that of the army.
They hooted the minister, who hastened
his denartura from Calabria, whlla ih.v
continually cheerlna the aoldlers mhn
