A TOWER OF SKULLS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10967, 6 January 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

A TOWER OF SKULLS.

A strange monument of modern barbarism still survives at Nish in southcast Servia. During the war of independence in, 1809 the Servian garrison here exploded a powder magazine and perished therein rather than- fall into the hands of the Turks. A battle had previously taken place and the Turks commemorated their victory by erecting a rude .tower, ornamented with the heads of their enemies. .Old "peopk; will" toll you that there were once 1200 heads, but as the was never more than twenty-five feet high, this is probably an exaggeration. Lamartine. and other travellers relate that they saw hair still clinging to the skulls, which must have Tormed a gruesome spectacle. During many, years visitors were in tho habit of carrying off skulls as souvenirs, but when Nish became Servian the remainder were taken away for decent liurial, all save a few .that were too deeply embedded. Recently the remains of the" tower .have heen covered oyer with" a roof to "protect them against the elements, and they, are regarded as a pious 6bject;of patriotic pilgrimage.