Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

10 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

CONSUMPTION AND ITS CAUSES.

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AMERICAN COPYRIGHT AND LITERARY…

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SELF-ESTEEM.

"THE FIRST GENTLEMAN IN EUROPE."

THE PARIS CATACOMBS.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE PARIS CATACOMBS. The annual ceremony of visiting on of the greatest curiosities in Paris is thus described b3 she correspondent of a contemporary :— In accordance with annual custom some engineers of the. municipality a few days ago visited the catacombs which extend to a considerable distance beneath Paris on the left bank of the river. The object of the visit was to ascertain that the arches, pillars, &c., which support the roof remain perfectly solid.. The engineers were accompanied by some gentlemen and ladies; and i. is only on the occasion of these annual inspections that the catacombs can be visitel at a1' The entrance is in the courtyard of what was formerly the octroi-office of the Bairiere d'Enfer. It is closed by a thick door, and the cata- combs are reached by a long narrow staircase, descend- ing about 70 feet. A man at the door counts the persons who ent3r, and gives each a lighted candle, which he is required constantly to carry. At the bottom of the staircase is a long narrow gallery, the sides and roof of which are supported by masonry. This gallery, in which oidy two persons can walk abreast, leads to a spacious vault beneath the Plaine de Mont Souis, and in which vault are. collected the bones formerly removed from the old ceme- teries of Paris. Near the entrance to the vault is the inscription N'insultez pas aux maines des moris About twenty minutes are occupied in reaching this spot, and it is generally remarked that the visitors, in- fluenced by the strangeness of the situation and by the peculiar odour which prevails, soon become s?rious and silent. In the vault tie bones are piled up 7"e wood in a timber-yard- id galleries are formed ;1 them for visitors to pass alot? j. The bones are auacged a regular order to the height of S'x feet, the larger bones being outside, and the sliulls being placed on the top. Here and there are inscriptions indicating from what cemeteries the bones were brought, and also scraps of verse from different poets. There is one onomous heap of bones which has not yet been classified, it is calculated that no fewer than 3,000,000 persons must have been interred in the cemeteries from which the bones were removed. In the vault are some subter- ranean springs, which have been co"ected in a basin c "ed the Fontaine de la Semaritaine. In this fountain some gold fish were placed in 18.13; they lived for a long time, but did not breed. In the other patos of the catacombs the galleries are very numerous, and one of them is nearly five miles long.

.. ------.-ENGLAND'S METEOPOLIS.

THE STRUGGLES OF A SELF-TAUGHT…