The Wondrous City.

ROME, ITALY, Mar. 15, 1881.

TO THE ELELE POAKOLU (Wednesday Express): Aloha to you:—

We departed the splendid marble city of Genoa on the 7th of February and traveled aboard the “Wondrous Carriage” that Rome is so famous for—among the hills and valleys—the chilling winds of the mountains and the līpoa-wafting breeze of the seashores, among olive trees and orange groves extending out in front of us multicolored like a painting before our very eyes. Our “Wondrous Carriage” did not drive for very long, and we passed by the famed city of Pisa, where leans the round tower that is 300 feet high; there the famous scientist Galileo of centuries past had demonstrated to the entirety of the world, bringing rule to the secrets of this world by his divine theories, by the simultaneous landing on the ground of cannonballs of different weights dropped from the top of the leaning tower of Pisa, falling faster with every second. A half-hour there then we rode with short stops at some rest stops and finally arrived in the city of the god-like Romans of that era, the people who built the marvelous monuments that astonishes those of today; where the renown Galileo demonstrated for the very first time to the world that his intellect could examine the stars of the heavens, the earth was round like the planets, his intellect brought rule to the pendulum in a clock, and he gave the people of this world a new eye (a telescope) to be able to see the spherical shapes of the planets in the heavens.

Here is this Hawaiian Youth treading upon the famed earth recounted millions of times, where the soles of the feet of the ever-famous philosophers of that age to whom belonged divine-intellect had stepped, the home of the extraordinary Romans, the residence of the ultimate warrior, Caesar the great, the one who swept down the powers of the world like a lion before little dogs. The wellspring of knowledge, intellect, strength, and Christianity, that flowed out to all corners of this world.

Pope Leo XIII currently reigns. Rome is absolutely filled with the most beautiful Catholic churches of many-hued marble and gold.

The Wonders of Rome

The Basilica of Saint Peter (St. Peter’s—) This is the greatest church in the entire world by way of size and beauty; its grounds cover an area of almost 7 acres, and its height up to the steeple above is 600 feet. As we entered and gazed here and there, we were shocked, as we observed carefully, there were marble pillars in many colors and all sorts that were valued like that of gold, and above its walls gleamed gold and within that glittering stood figures of angels, apostles, popes, etc. each with astonishing beauty of every manner, and the Messiah is right in the center up on His glorious cross of gold, with the splendid marble tombs of the bones of the popes on every side; only the heavenly home of the angels could compare. What was most puzzling was it was as if this wonderful church of the world was built only yesterday, whereas it is a thousand years old or more. The wondrous images of the apostles standing above a circle of marble columns before our eyes had blackened partially, and the entire basilica could continue to stand until the coming of the end of the world.

On the righthand side stands the residence of the pope, the Vatican; there are guards at the entrances, and an entire regiment inside. These are the pope’s guards. We were not allowed to go inside that day because there are days set aside to enter.

The Pantheon Rotunda

This is a round structure built by the Emperor Agrippa 27 years before Christ; it is almost two thousand years old. Inside this building is where the body of King Victor Emmanuel was placed. This building exists with the beauty of its interior still preserved, as if it was built yesterday. The exterior is what has aged, but the huge marble pillars each 2 yards in circumference and 15 yards tall remain the same. The top of the building is covered by a dome with a round oculus in its center 6 feet or more in diameter. We were told, many brilliant minds of today have strived to find the means to be able to build a structure this way without any joints to support it—they found none—The intellectuals of today are bewildered with the outstanding ingenuity of the Romans of that time. Napoleon I tried to construct a building like this in France, but on the day it was dedicated it collapsed and everyone perished. Another brilliant mind of England tried twice, and twice it collapsed on the people that entered the structure their very own knowledge-seeker had made!

These truly remarkable things were made through the skill of the Roman people, and they have become an enigma for today’s world to uncover. Huge marble pillars like no other still stand, that no one bodybuilder of those days could haul, except maybe if there was a firetruck pulling along! Did the Romans have firetrucks in those days? If there were no firetrucks, did the Romans have iron bodies and very tough lungs that pumped steam?

The Colosseum.

This is the house of amusement for the Romans of old, and it is thousands of years old. The roof and a portion of the outermost side have collapsed. This is a circular building almost a hundred yards in diameter, with a base area of five acres of land, and its walls are somewhat like the walls of the crater of Haleakalā that stand as cliffs. It is in this place that the Emperors of Rome were entertained by the people in the old days—where lions, elephants, bulls, etc., were fought by men. Admirable is the genius of the Romans who covered this mountainous structure with wide roofs in those days. Here and there in this place lay remnants of old structures of Ancient Rome, showing that the Romans of that time were a wondrous people. Until next week.