PEEPS INTO THE PAST.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 201, 22 August 1912, Page 9

PEEPS INTO THE PAST.

THE POMPELAST BAR. Tn the "Street of Abundance" at Pompeii, wliich has already yielded many treasures, a large and important house, apparently belonging to one Obellius Fidnriis. has l>een unearthed, and it is established that he, with his wife and four children, perished in one of the rooms. .Six skeletons of a man, a womau, and four children were found, tho people having evidently been suffocated in the rain ot hut a.-bes*. One of the rooms, believed to lie the children's nursery, has pictures of horses and gladiators scribbled on tlin walls. It has been decided not to disturb the skeletons, and a glass case is to be built over the room. A small altar in a side street is about "ft high, and apparently belonged to a public shrine, for there is a channel cut so that the blood of the sacrifice should run off into the street. The wails of the house are plastered with white stucco, on which are inscriptions written by two women, whose names arc inscribed beneath. Beyond this wall is a door of the wineshop" evidently the "bar" of the ancient city. Every portion is beautifully preserved. There is the white-tiled table or counter, and in round apertures are inserted ttrra-cotta wine jars. In the corner of the shop lie a number of amphorae, leaning against the counter, and on the counter is the barman's till. This is a small square box of stone, in which were found several coins. ' In various corners are other objects, one being a beautiful jar of opaline glass, -with delicate handles attached to *he neck, the latter ending in a fine point, so that the liquor could only be issued in drops. There are many cups of glass, and tiny clay lamps, a small tub two iron hoops, and a copper tap. The rtone architrave of another house ■which has only been partly excavated is broken np, but on the parapet of the verandah several small clay vessels for sratter have been found. It is believed that the new portion of the "Street of Abundance," as was its name, was a imsiness thoroughfare of Pompeii.