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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and
+Sardinia, by Thomas Forester
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia
+       with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition.
+
+Author: Thomas Forester
+
+Release Date: April 6, 2009 [EBook #28510]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carlo Traverso, Barbara Magni and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://dp.rastko.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+RAMBLES
+
+IN
+
+CORSICA AND SARDINIA.
+
+
+
+  WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+  I.
+
+  RAMBLES IN NORWAY, 1848-1849; including Remarks on its Political,
+    Military, Ecclesiastical, and Social Organization. With a Map,
+    Wood Engravings, and Lithographic Illustrations. 1 vol. 8vo.
+    Longman and Co., 1860.
+
+    * * A few copies only of this Edition are on hand.
+     *
+
+  II.
+
+  THE SAME, in 1 vol. post 8vo. without the Illustrations.
+    (_Traveller's Library._) Longman and Co., 1855.
+
+  III.
+
+  EVERARD TUNSTALL: A South-African Tale. Bentley, 1851.
+
+    * * A New Edition is in preparation.
+     *
+
+  IV.
+
+  THE DANUBE AND THE BLACK SEA. A Memoir on their Junction by a
+    Railway and Port; with Remarks on the Navigation of the Danube,
+    the Danubian Provinces, the Corn Trade, the Antient and Present
+    Commerce of the Euxine; and Notices of History, Antiquities,
+    &c. With a Map and Sketch of the Town and Harbour of
+    Kustendjie. 1 vol. 8vo. E. Stanford, 6 Charing Cross, 1857.
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
+  NEW-STREET SQUARE.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+                            RAMBLES
+
+                       IN THE ISLANDS OF
+
+                     CORSICA AND SARDINIA.
+
+
+                             WITH
+
+NOTICES OF THEIR HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES, AND PRESENT CONDITION.
+
+
+                      BY THOMAS FORESTER
+
+            AUTHOR OF “NORWAY IN 1818-1819,” ETC.
+
+
+
+
+                            LONDON
+
+         LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS.
+
+                             1858
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Nearly a century ago, James Boswell made an expedition to Corsica, and
+was entertained with distinction by Pascal Paoli. Next to conducting
+Samuel Johnson to the Hebrides, the exploit of penetrating to what was
+then considered a sort of _Ultima Thule_ in southern Europe, was the
+greatest event in the famous biographer's life; and, next to his
+devotion to the English sage, was the homage he paid to the Corsican
+chief.
+
+Soon after his return from this expedition, in 1767, Boswell printed his
+Journal, with a valuable account of the island; but from that time to
+the present, no Englishman has written on Corsica except Mr. Robert
+Benson, who published some short “Sketches” of its history, scenery, and
+people in 1825. During the war of the revolution, Nelson's squadron hung
+like a thunder-cloud round the coast, and for some time an
+expeditionary force of British troops held possession of the island. Our
+George the Third accepted the Corsican crown, but his reign was as
+ephemeral as that of King Theodore, the aspiring adventurer, who ended
+his days in the Fleet Prison.
+
+These occurrences, with any knowledge of the country and people arising
+out of them, have passed from the memory of the present generation; and
+it may be affirmed, without exaggeration, that when the tour forming the
+subject of the present work was projected and carried out, Corsica was
+less known in England than New Zealand. The general impression
+concerning it was tolerably correct. Imagination painted it as a wild
+and romantic country,—romantic in its scenery and the character of its
+inhabitants; a very region of romance and sentiment; a fine field for
+the novelist and the dramatist; and to that class of writers it was
+abandoned.
+
+Corsica had yet to be faithfully pictured to the just apprehension of
+the discerning inquirer. Naturally therefore the author, whose
+narratives of his wanderings in more than one quarter of the globe had
+been favourably received, was not indisposed to commit to the press the
+result of his observations during his Corsican rambles. Just then,
+translations of an account of a Tour in the island by a German
+traveller, appeared in England, and being written in an attractive
+style, the work commanded considerable attention. It seemed to fill the
+gap in English literature on the subject of Corsica; and though the
+writer of these pages felt that M. Gregorovius' pictures of Corsican
+life were too highly coloured, he was inclined to leave the field in the
+hands which had cultivated it with talent and success. Eventually,
+however, being led to think that Corsica was still open to survey from
+an English point of view, and that it possessed sufficient legitimate
+attractions to sustain the interest of such a work as he had designed,
+the author was induced to undertake it.
+
+If the field of literature connected with Corsica was found barren when
+examined in prospect of this expedition, that of Sardinia presented an
+_embarras de richesses_. The works of La Marmora, Captain, now Admiral,
+Smyth, and Mr. Warre Tyndale, had seemingly exhausted the subject, with
+a success the mere Rambler can make no pretensions to rival; but the
+former being a foreign work, and the two latter out of print, neither of
+them is easily accessible. They have been sometimes used, in the
+following pages, to throw light on subjects which came under the
+author's own observation. He has also consulted a valuable work,
+recently published at Naples, by F. Antonio Bresciani, of the Society
+of Jesus[1], on the manners and habits of the Sardes compared with those
+of the oldest Oriental nations. The comparisons are chiefly gathered
+from scenes and usages depicted in the narratives of Homer and the
+Bible, still singularly reflected in the habits and traditions of the
+primitive and insular people of Sardinia.
+
+Some of these are noticed in the present volume, and the author intended
+to draw more largely on the rich stores accumulated by the researches of
+the learned Jesuit; but time and space failed. Like truant boys, the
+Ramblers had loitered on their early path, idly amusing themselves with
+very trifles, or stopping to gather the wild flowers that fell in their
+way, till the harvest-field was reached too late to be carefully
+gleaned. For a work, however, of this description, attention enough has
+perhaps been paid to the subject of Sarde antiquities; it being intended
+to be amusing as well as instructive, to convey information on the
+character of the people on whom it treats, as well as on their
+institutions and monuments.
+
+If, in conclusion, it be mentioned that the delay in bringing out the
+volume, long since announced, has been caused by ill health and other
+painful circumstances, the Author is only anxious that it should not be
+misinterpreted, as attaching to the work an importance to which it does
+not pretend. But there is the less reason for regretting this delay, as
+it has afforded him another opportunity of visiting Sardinia, as well as
+of witnessing the operation of laying down the submarine electric
+telegraph cable between Cagliari and the African coast; an event in
+Sardinian history, some notice of which, with the accompanying trip to
+Algeria, may form a not uninteresting episode to the Rambles in that
+island.
+
+  May, 1858.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+  Inducements to the Expedition.—Early impressions concerning
+    Corsica.—Plan of the Tour.—Routes to Marseilles.—Meeting
+    there                                                      Page 1
+
+
+CHAP. II.
+
+  Marseilles.—Cafe de l'Orient.—Cannebière and Port.—Sail to the
+    Islands in the Gulf.—The Château-d'If and Count de
+    Monte-Cristo.—A sudden Squall                                   8
+
+
+CHAP. III.
+
+  Embark for Corsica.—Coast of France and Italy.—Toulon.—Hyères
+    Islands, Frejus, &c.—A stormy Night.—Crossing the Tuscan Sea
+                                                                   21
+
+
+CHAP. IV.
+
+  Coast of Capo Corso.—Peculiarity of Scenery.—Verdure, and
+    Mountain Villages.—Il Torre di Seneca.—Land at Bastia          28
+
+
+CHAP. V.
+
+  Bastia.—Territorial Divisions.—Plan of the Rambles.—Hiring
+    Mules.—The Start                                               38
+
+
+CHAP. VI.
+
+  Leave Bastia.—The Road.—View of Elba, Pianosa, and
+    Monte-Cristo.—The Littorale.—An Adventure.—The Stagna di
+    Biguglia                                                       44
+
+
+CHAP. VII.
+
+  Evergreen Thickets.—Their remarkable Character.—A fortunate
+    Rencontre.—Moonlight in the Mountains.—Cross a high
+    Col.—Corsican Shepherds.—The Vendetta.—Village Quarters        53
+
+
+CHAP. VIII.
+
+  The Littorale.—Corsican Agriculture.—Greek and Roman
+    Colonies.—Sketch of Mediæval and Modern History.—Memoirs of
+    King Theodore de Neuhoff                                       65
+
+
+CHAP. IX.
+
+  Environs of Olmeta.—Bandit-Life and the Vendetta.—Its
+    Atrocities.—The Population disarmed.—The Bandits exterminated
+                                                                   77
+
+
+CHAP. X.
+
+  The Basin of Oletta.—The Olive.—Corsican Tales.—The Heroine of
+    Oletta.—Zones of Climate and Vegetation                        90
+
+
+CHAP. XI.
+
+  Pisan Church at Murato.—Chestnut Woods.—Gulf of San
+    Fiorenzo.—Nelson's Exploit there.—He conducts the Siege of
+    Bastia.—Ilex Woods.—Mountain Pastures.—The Corsican Shepherd
+                                                                  102
+
+
+CHAP. XII.
+
+  Chain of the Serra di Tenda.—A Night at Bigorno.—A hospitable
+    Priest.—Descent to the Golo                                   117
+
+
+CHAP. XIII.
+
+  Ponte Nuovo.—The Battle-field.—Antoine's Story                  129
+
+
+CHAP. XIV.
+
+  Filial Duty, Love, and Revenge: a Corsican Tale                 134
+
+
+CHAP. XV.
+
+  Morosaglia, Seat of the Paolis.—Higher Valley of the
+    Golo.—Orography of Corsica.—Its Geology                       145
+
+
+CHAP. XVI.
+
+  Approach to Corte.—Our “Man of the Woods.”—Casa Paoli.—The
+    Gaffori.—Citadel.—An Evening Stroll                           156
+
+
+CHAP. XVII.
+
+  Pascal Paoli more honoured than Napoleon Buonaparte.—His
+    Memoirs.—George III. King of Corsica.—Remarks on the
+    Union.—Paoli's Death and Tomb                                 164
+
+
+CHAP. XVIII.
+
+  Excursion to a Forest.—Borders of the
+    Niolo.—Adventures.—Corsican Pines.—The Pinus Maritima and
+    Pinus Lariccio.—Government Forests                            179
+
+
+CHAP. XIX.
+
+  The Forest of Asco.—Corsican Beasts of Chase.—The
+    Moufflon.—Increase of Wild Animals.—The last of the Banditti
+                                                                  191
+
+
+CHAP. XX.
+
+  Leave Corte for Ajaccio.—A Legend of Venaco.—Arrival at
+    Vivario                                                       200
+
+
+CHAP. XXI.
+
+  Leave Vivario.—Forest of Vizzavona.—A roadside
+    Adventure.—Bocagnono.—Arrive late at Ajaccio                  205
+
+
+CHAP. XXII.
+
+  Ajaccio.—Collège-Fesch.—Reminiscences of the Buonaparte
+    Family.—Excursion in the Gulf.—Chapel of the Greeks.—Evening
+    Scenes.—Council-General of the Department.—Statistics.—State
+    of Agriculture in Corsica.—Her Prospects                      213
+
+
+CHAP. XXIII.
+
+  Leave Ajaccio.—Neighbourhood of Olmeto.—Sollacaró.—James
+    Boswell's Residence there.—Scene in the “Corsican Brothers”
+    laid there.—Quarrel of the Vincenti and Grimaldi.—Road to
+    Sartene.—Corsican Marbles.—Arrive at Bonifacio                227
+
+
+CHAP. XXIV.
+
+  Bonifacio.—Foundation and History.—Besieged by Alfonso of
+    Arragon.—By Dragut and the Turks.—Singularity of the
+    Place.—Its Medieval Aspect.—The
+    Post-office.—Passports.—Detention.—Marine Grottoes.—Ruined
+    Convent of St. Julian                                         242
+
+
+CHAP. XXV.
+
+  ISLAND OF SARDINIA.—Cross the Straits of Bonifacio.—The
+    Town and Harbour of La Madelena.—Agincourt Sound, the Station
+    of the British Fleet in 1803.—Anecdotes of Nelson.—Napoleon
+    Bonaparte repulsed at La Madelena                             258
+
+
+CHAP. XXVI.
+
+  Ferried over to the Main Island.—Start for the Mountain Passes
+    of the Gallura.—Sarde Horses and Cavallante.—Valley of the
+    Liscia.—Pass some Holy Places on the Hills.—Festivals held
+    there.—Usages of the Sardes indicating their Eastern Origin
+                                                                  272
+
+
+CHAP. XXVII.
+
+  The Valley narrows.—Romantic Glen.—Al fresco Meal.—Forest of
+    Cork Trees.—Salvator Rosa Scenery.—Haunts of Outlaws.—Their
+    Atrocities.—Anecdotes of them in a better Spirit.—The Defile
+    in the Mountains.—Elevated Plateau.—A Night March.—Arrival
+    at Tempio, the Capital of Gallura.—Our Reception              280
+
+
+CHAP. XXVIII.
+
+  Tempio.—The Town and Environs.—The Limbara
+    Mountains.—Vineyards.—The Governor or Intendente of the
+    Province.—Deadly Feuds.—Sarde Girls at the
+    Fountains.—Hunting in Sardinia.—Singular Conference with the
+    Tempiese Hunters.—Society at the Casino.—Description of a
+    Boar Hunt                                                     295
+
+
+CHAP. XXIX.
+
+  Leave Tempio.—Sunrise.—Light Wreaths of Mist across the
+    Valley.—A Pass of the Limbara.—View from the Summit.—Dense
+    Vapour over the Plain beneath.—The Lowlands unhealthy.—The
+    deadly Intempérie.—It recently carried off an English
+    Traveller.—Descend a romantic Glen to the Level of the
+    Campidano.—Its peculiar Character.—Gallop over it.—Reach
+    Ozieri                                                        310
+
+
+CHAP. XXX.
+
+  Effects of vast Levels as compared with Mountain
+    Scenery.—Sketches of Sardinian Geology.—The primitive Chains
+    and other Formations.—Traces of extensive Volcanic
+    action.—The “Campidani,” or Plains.—Mineral Products          320
+
+
+CHAP. XXXI.
+
+  Ozieri.—A Refugee Colonel turned Cook and Traiteur.—Traces of
+    Phenician Superstitions in Sarde Usages.—The Rites of
+    Adonis.—Passing through the Fire to Moloch                    331
+
+
+CHAP. XXXII.
+
+  Expedition to the Mountains.—Environs of Ozieri.—First View of
+    the Peaks of Genargentu.—Forests.—Value of the Oak
+    Timber.—Cork Trees; their Produce, and Statistics of the
+    Trade.—Hunting the Wild Boar, &c.—The Hunters' Feast.—A
+    Bivouac in the Woods.—Notices of the Province of
+    Barbagia.—Independence of the Mountaineers                    344
+
+
+CHAP. XXXIII.
+
+  Leave Ozieri.—The New Road, and Travelling in the
+    Campagna.—Monte Santo.—Scenes at the Halfway House.—Volcanic
+    Hills.—Sassari; its History.—Liberal Opinions of the
+    Sassarese.—Constitutional Government.—Reforms wanted in
+    Sardinia.—Means for its Improvement                           358
+
+
+CHAP. XXXIV.
+
+  Alghero—Notice of.—The Cathedral of
+    Sassari.—University.—Museum.—A Student's private
+    Cabinet.—Excursion to a Nuraghe.—Description of.—Remarks on
+    the Origin and Design of these Structures                     376
+
+
+CHAP. XXXV.
+
+  Sardinian Monoliths.—The Sepolture, or “Tombs of the
+    Giants.”—Traditions regarding Giant Races.—The Anakim, &c.,
+    of Canaan.—Their supposed Migration to Sardinia.—Remarks on
+    Aboriginal Races.—Antiquity of the Nuraghe and
+    Sepolture.—Their Founders unknown                             389
+
+
+CHAP. XXXVI.
+
+  Oristano.—Orange-groves of Milis.—Cagliari.—Description
+    of.—The Cathedral and Churches.—Religious
+    Laxity.—Ecclesiastical Statistics.—Vegetable and Fruit
+    Market.—Royal Museum.—Antiquities.—Coins found in
+    Sardinia.—Phenician Remains.—The Sarde Idols                  407
+
+
+CHAP. XXXVII.
+
+  Porto-Torres.—Another Italian Refugee.—Embark for Genoa.—West
+    Coast of Corsica.—Turin.—The Sardinian Electric
+    Telegraph.—The Wires laid to Cagliari                         422
+
+
+CHAP. XXXVIII.
+
+  Sardinian Electric Telegraph.—The Land Line completed.—Failures
+    in Attempts to lay a Submarine Cable to Algeria.—The Work
+    resumed.—A Trip to Bona on the African Coast.—The Cable
+    laid.—Importance of Cagliari as a Telegraph Station.—Its
+    Commerce.—The return Voyage.—CONCLUSION                       432
+
+
+
+
+  INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+  LITHOGRAPHS.
+
+  AJACCIO                               _frontispiece_
+  MAP OF CORSICA AND SARDINIA          _facing p._   1
+  ERSA, CAPO CORSO                         “        33
+  CORTE                                    “       157
+  VIVARIO                                  “       205
+  BONIFACIO                                “       242
+  VALLEY OF THE LISCIA, SARDINIA           “       275
+  THE LIMBARA, FROM TEMPIO                 “       296
+  THE PLAN OF OZIERI                       “       318
+
+
+  WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
+
+  CORSICA.
+
+  MARSEILLES, FROM THE RAILWAY                       7
+  ISLETS OFF MARSEILLES                             12
+  CHÂTEAU-D'IF                                      14
+  MARSEILLES, FROM THE CHÂTEAU-D'IF                 17
+  FRENCH COAST, OFF CIOTAT                          23
+  OFF TOULON                                        24
+  IL TORRE DI SENECA                                34
+  ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO                              47
+  MEETING OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN NEAR BASTIA         48
+  OLMETA                                            77
+  ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO, THROUGH A GORGE             91
+  BETWEEN OLMETA AND BIGORNO                        95
+  PONTE MURATO                                     103
+  CAPO CORSO, FROM CHESTNUT WOODS                  107
+  NEAR BIGORNO                                     122
+  CITADEL OF CORTE                                 161
+  PINUS MARITIMA                                   185
+  PINUS LARICCIO                                   185
+  CONE OF THE PINUS LARICCIO                       186
+  BARK OF THE PINUS LARICCIO                       186
+  BOCAGNONO                                        209
+  HARBOUR OF AJACCIO                               217
+  BONIFACIO, ON THE SEA-SIDE                       240
+  OUTLINE OF SARDINIA, FROM BONIFACIO              253
+  CAVES UNDER BONIFACIO                            255
+  BONIFACIO, FROM THE CONVENT IN THE VALLEY        256
+
+
+  SARDINIA.
+
+  LOOKING BACK ON CORSICA                          259
+  A SALVATOR ROSA SCENE                            282
+  DESCENT TO THE CAMPIDANO                         313
+  THE CAMPIDANO                                    321
+  EXTERIOR OF A NURAGHE                            379
+  ENTRANCE TO A NURAGHE                            381
+  INTERIOR OF A NURAGHE                            381
+  SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES                         390
+  THE SAME                                         391
+  SARDO-ROMAN COIN                                 417
+  CARTHAGINEAN COIN                                418
+  SARACEN COIN                                     418
+  PORTO-TORRES                                     425
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CORSICA AND SARDINIA (MAP)]
+
+
+
+
+RAMBLES
+
+IN
+
+CORSICA AND SARDINIA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+  _Inducements to the Expedition.—Early impressions concerning
+    Corsica.—Plan of the Tour.—Routes to Marseilles.—Meeting
+    there._
+
+
+It would be difficult to say, and it matters little, what principally
+led to the selection of two islands in the Mediterranean, not generally
+supposed to possess any particular attractions for the tourist, as the
+object for an autumn's expedition with the companion of former rambles.
+At any rate, we should break fresh ground; and I imagine the hope of
+shooting _moufflons_ was no small inducement to my friend, who had
+succeeded in the wild sport of hunting reindeer on the high Fjelds of
+Norway. If, too, his comrade should fail in climbing to the vast
+solitudes in which the bounding _moufflon_ harbours, there were boar
+hunts in the prospect for him; not such courtly pageants as one sees in
+the pictures of Velasquez, but more stirring, and in nobler covers.
+
+Should these prove to be false hopes, the enthusiastic sketcher, and the
+lover of the grand and beautiful in nature, must find ample compensation
+in the scenery of mountains lifting their snowy peaks from bases washed
+by the sunny Mediterranean,—mountain systems of a character yet
+unvisited, and with which we could at least compare those of Norway and
+Switzerland. This power of comparison is what imparts the most lively
+interest to travelling; and thus it becomes, for the time,
+all-engrossing, the eyes and the memory alike employed at every turn on
+contrasts of form, colour, and clothing.
+
+Not less attractive, to any one desirous of extending his knowledge of
+human kind, would be the prospect of studying the races inhabiting
+islands as yet unknown to him. The oldest writer of travels, bringing on
+the stage his hero-wanderer along the shores of the Mediterranean, gives
+the finishing touch to his character in two significant words, νόον
+ἐγνῶ.[2] Not only did he “visit the abodes of many people,” but he
+“studied their Νοῦς;” all that the term involves of its impress on
+character, habits, and institutions was keenly investigated by the
+accomplished navigator. And what studies must be afforded by these
+singular islanders, who, we were informed, in the centre of the
+Mediterranean, at the very threshold of civilisation, combined many of
+the virtues, with more than the ferocity, of barbarous tribes!
+
+My own impressions regarding Corsica were early received. In my younger
+days, there was the same sort of sympathy with the Corsicans which we
+now find more noisily, and sometimes absurdly, displayed for the Poles.
+I had seen Pascal Paoli, and talked with General Dumouriez about his
+first campaign against the Corsican mountaineers, of which his
+recollections were by no means agreeable. Pascal Paoli had found an
+asylum in England, where he maintained a dignified seclusion, not always
+imitated by patriot exiles. His memory has almost passed away, and it is
+quite imaginable that some stump orator may reckon him among the exiled
+Poles of former days. Pascal Paoli was, however, a truly great man. In
+my boyish enthusiasm—all “Grecians” are in the heroics about patriots
+who have fought and struggled for their country's liberty—I compared him
+with Aristides or Themistocles; the Corsicans were heroes; the country
+which rudely nursed those brave mountaineers—I had also a touch of
+sentiment for the sublime and beautiful in nature which a schoolboy does
+not always get from books,—such a country must be romantic. Should I
+ever ramble among its mountains, forests, and sunny valleys?
+
+At last, long after the chimera, for such it inevitably was, of Corsican
+independence had vanished, my cherished hopes have been realised,—with
+what success will appear in the following pages. I will only say for
+myself, and I believe my fellow-traveller participates the feeling, a
+more delightful tour I never made.
+
+Corsica had an ugly reputation for _banditisme_, and Sardinia for a
+deadly _intempérie_; but we did not attach much importance to such
+rumours. The enthusiastic traveller disregards danger. If told that
+there is “a lion in his path,” he only goes the more resolutely forward.
+As for the banditti, we would fraternise with them if they, best knowing
+the mountain paths, would track the moufflons for us.
+
+The true traveller must “become all things to all men,” if he desires to
+familiarise himself with the habits and characters of other races.
+Without forgetting that he is an Englishman, he will cast off that
+self-conceit and cold exclusiveness which make so many of your
+countrymen ridiculous in the eyes of foreigners, and, adapting himself
+to the situation, become, if needs be, a bandit in Corsica, a bonder in
+Norway, drink sour milk without a wry face in a Caffre's kraal, take
+snuff with his wives—be any thing except a Turk in Turkey; though even
+there, when he comes to talk the language, he will adopt the eastern
+custom of taking his pipe, his coffee, and his repose, not chattering,
+but sententiously uttering his words between whiffs of smoke, which,
+meanwhile, he _drinks_, as the Turks well express it.
+
+We envy not the man, the T. G. (travelling gent.) of society, whose
+principal aim in travelling is to gratify a miserable vanity; to be able
+to boast of crossing or climbing such a mountain; to have to say, “I
+have been here, I have been there; I have done Bagdad; I have seen the
+Nile,” or such and such a place. The true traveller is unselfish. Though
+to him it is food, breath, a renewal of life, a fresh existence, to
+travel,—half his pleasure is to carry home from his wanderings, to an
+English fireside, a tale of other lands. That happy English home is ever
+present to his mind, and, with all his enthusiasm, he meets with nothing
+in his rambles he would exchange for its blessings.
+
+Being strongly recommended to defer our visit to Sardinia until the
+latest possible period of the autumn, the plan finally laid was to take
+Corsica in detail from Capo Corso to Bonifaccio, and then cross the
+straits, as best we might, there being no regular communication. Having
+landed in Sardinia, we should continue the tour through that island as
+long as circumstances permitted; leaving it by one of the Sardinian
+government's steam-boats which ply between the island and Genoa and so
+take the route by Turin, over the Mont-Cenis, to Lyons, Paris, and
+Boulogne.
+
+As these islands lie on the same parallel of longitude (11° 50' E.
+nearly cutting the centre of both), by the route thus chalked out, we
+should make a straight course from north to south, with no considerable
+deviations, the islands being, as every one knows, in the form of
+parallelograms of much greater length than breadth.
+
+Marseilles was finally arranged to be our port of embarkation, and the
+postponement of the visit to Sardinia till November leaving time on our
+hands, we had ample leisure for the accomplishment of some secondary
+projects, which brought us into training for the _grand coup_. My friend
+pushed through the more frequented parts of Switzerland for Zermatt and
+the Matterhorn. He was much struck by the remarkable contrast of that
+stupendous obelisk of rock, piercing the clouds, with the vast, but
+still sublime, expanse of the high Fjelds of snow we had seen in Norway;
+and the remark applies generally to the grand distinctive features of
+the two countries. Descending the valley of Aosta, my friend travelled
+by Genoa and Nice through the Maritime Alps to Marseilles, going on to
+Avignon with some friends he happened to fall in with on the way;—such
+meetings with those we know, and sometimes with those we do not know,
+being among the pleasures of travelling in the more frequented routes.
+Agreeable acquaintances are made or renewed; perhaps a day or two is
+spent in travelling together, with a charm that is very delightful; and
+you part with the hope of meeting again.
+
+Meanwhile the author, who had been delving in the Norman Chronicles till
+every castle and abbey through the length and depth of the old Duchy
+were become familiar names, feeling a strong desire to revisit scenes
+thus brought fresh to his memory, shouldered his knapsack at Dieppe, and
+spent a most delightful fortnight in rambling through that fine
+province.
+
+Many a pleasant story he could tell of wayside greetings and fireside
+hospitalities among the Norman peasantry. The old soldier of the empire
+stopped his _camarade_, as something in our _tenue_ led him to imagine,
+asking eager questions about the coming war and the united service, both
+which seemed to be popular; while market and fair, and the communal
+school, each in their turn, drew forth amusing companions for the road.
+But these episodes, and more serious talk of Norman abbeys buried in the
+depths of forests or girded round by the winding Seine—rich in memories
+of the past, but ruins all—and of Norman churches and cathedrals, in all
+their ancient grandeur, or well restored, are beside the present
+purpose.
+
+Hastening southward by _diligence_ and _chemin-de-fer_, the first
+vineyards appeared between Chartres and Orleans, with an effect much
+inferior, as it seemed, to that produced by the orchards of Normandy,
+loaded as they were with ruddy fruit; but this may be the prejudice of a
+native of the West of England. From Lyons, one of the long narrow
+steamboats afforded a most agreeable passage down the stream of the
+rapid Rhone to Avignon. The autumn rains, which sometimes caused a weary
+march through the byroads of Normandy, had cooled the air, freshened
+vegetation, and made travelling in the south of France pleasant. While
+journeying on, every hour and every league bringing me nearer to the
+intended meeting, it was natural to feel some anxiety lest in such great
+distances to be traversed, with little or no intermediate communication,
+something might go wrong, and our plans, however well laid, be delayed
+or frustrated. The last stage of the journey commenced—should I be first
+at the rendezvous, or was my companion for the future waiting my
+arrival?
+
+    [Illustration: MARSEILLES FROM THE RAILWAY.]
+
+At last, after spending the warm noon of an unclouded day amongst the
+noble ruins of Arles, the train landed me at the station at Marseilles,
+and my friend was on the platform. The pleasure of casual meetings _en
+route_ has been just adverted to. How joyous was that of two travellers,
+wanderers together in times gone by, who now met so far from home, after
+their separate courses, with a fresh field opening before them!—the
+recognition, doubt and uncertainty vanishing, the glorious chat,—all
+this the warm-hearted reader will easily imagine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. II.
+
+  _Marseilles.—Café de l'Orient.—Cannebière and Port.—Sail to the
+    Islands in the Gulf.—The Château d'If and Count de
+    Monte-Cristo.—A sudden Squall._
+
+
+We met then at Marseilles in the second week of October, punctual to the
+appointed day. Our several lines of route had well converged. Want of
+companionship was the only drawback on the pleasure they had afforded;
+but they were only preludes to the joint undertaking on which we now
+entered. Each recounted his past adventures, and measures were concerted
+for the future.
+
+Steamboats leave Marseilles three times every week for Corsica;—I like
+to be particular, especially when one gets beyond Murray's beat. One of
+these boats calls at Bastia on its way to Leghorn; the others make each
+a voyage direct to Calvi, or l'Isle de Rousse, and Ajaccio.
+
+It suited us best to land at Bastia, but we were detained three days at
+Marseilles waiting for the boat. That also happened to suit us. We had
+hitherto travelled in the lightest possible marching order, and some
+heavier baggage, containing equipments for our expedition in the
+islands, had not yet turned up. Knapsack tours are not the style beyond
+the Alps. In the south and east, all above the lowest grade ride. It is
+so in Corsica; still more in Sardinia,—where all is eastern. We trudged
+on foot sometimes in Corsica, to get into the country, and should have
+been considered mad; but, as Englishmen, we were only eccentric. We
+waited then for our baggage, which contained, among other things,
+English saddles,—a great luxury. My companion thought it a professional
+duty to reconnoitre the fortifications of Toulon. By travelling in the
+night, going and returning, he contrived to get a clear day for the
+purpose.
+
+Marseilles had interest enough to occupy my attention during his
+absence. Being the great _entrepôt_ of commerce, and centre of
+communication, in the Mediterranean, all the races dwelling on its
+shores, and many others, are represented there.
+
+“Let us go to the _Grand Café_,”—I think it is called _Café de
+l'Orient_—said my companion, the evening we met.
+
+Any one who has merely visited Paris may imagine the brilliance of this
+vast _salon_, the lights reflected on a hundred mirrors. But where else
+than at Marseilles could be found such an assemblage as now crowded it?
+
+See that Turk, with the magnificent beard. What yards of snowy
+gauze-like cambric, with gold-embroidered ends, are wound in graceful
+folds round the fez, contrasting with the dark mahogany colour of his
+sun-burnt brow. And what a rich crimson caftan! Perhaps he is from Tunis
+or Barbary. He sits alone, smoking, with eyes half-closed, grave and
+taciturn.
+
+They must be Greeks,—those two figures in dark-flowing robes. They too
+wear the red fez. Mark the neat moustache, the clean chiselled outline
+of their features, the active eye. They are eagerly conversing over that
+round marble table while they sip their coffee. Their talk must be of
+the corn markets. Now is their opportunity, as the harvest in France
+has failed. And see that man with the olive complexion, keen features,
+and ringlets of black hair and pendent ear-rings under his dark
+_barrette_. He may be the _padróne_ of some felucca from Leghorn or
+Naples. Beside him is a Spaniard. He, too, seems a seafaring man; and no
+felucca-rigged vessels in the Mediterranean are smarter, finer-looking
+craft than the Spanish.
+
+There are plenty of Arabs, swarthy, high-cheeked-boned, keen-eyed
+fellows, in snowy bournouses, with hair and moustache of almost
+unnatural blackness. French officers of every arm in the service are
+grouped round the tables, drinking _eau-sucré_ and playing at dominoes
+or cards, or lounge on the sofas reading the gazettes. The _garçons_ in
+scarlet tunics, relieved by their white turbans and cambric trowsers,
+are hurrying to and fro at the call of the motley guests.
+
+“Those two gentlemen just entering are Americans, not of the Yankee
+type, with free and easy air, and tall lanky forms. I made their
+acquaintance in the steam-boat down the Rhone. They are men of great
+intelligence, perfect _savoir-vivre_, and calm dignity of manner,
+patrician citizens of a republic. One of them wore his plaid as
+gracefully as a toga. I set him down for a senator from one of the
+Southern states.”
+
+“I have seen no English here,” said my companion. Next day he met his
+friend Captain H—— returning on leave from Malta to England. Marseilles
+is on the highway to all the East, and on the arrival or departure of
+the packets connected with the “Overland Route” there must be a strong
+muster of our countrymen, and women too.
+
+Turning out of the shady avenue of the Corso on a sultry afternoon, I
+sauntered down the _Rue de la Cannebière_ towards the port. It was the
+busiest part of the day, for there seemed to be no idle time for the
+_siesta_ here. The streets and quays were thronged with people of the
+same varieties of race we had seen in the _café_; most of them, of
+course, of an inferior class. There can be no mistaking that
+wild-looking creature, bare-legged, and in a white bournouse, who is
+staring with curious eyes at the splendid array of jewellery and plate
+displayed to his eager gaze in that shop window. Again he pauses before
+that elegant assortment of silks and shawls. What tales of European
+luxury will the child of the desert carry back to the tents of the
+Bedouins!
+
+I found the port crowded with ships of all nations, the quays encumbered
+with piles of _barriques_ and mountains of Egyptian wheat discharged in
+bulk. What blinding dust as they shovel it up! What a suffocating heat!
+What smells in this hollow trough which receives the filth of all the
+town! How curiously names on the sterns of vessels, and _annonces_ over
+the shops of _traiteurs_ and ship-chandlers, in very readable Greek,
+carry the mind back to the Phocæan founders of this great emporium of
+commerce!
+
+It was a cooler walk along the _Rue de Rome_, and by the
+_Marché-aux-Capucins_, gay with fruits and flowers, to the Museum
+library, in search of books relating to Corsica. There was some
+difficulty in discovering it. Literature and science do not appear to be
+much in vogue in this seat of commerce. The Museum was closed, the
+_custode_ absent, but a good-humoured porter allowed me a stranger's
+privilege, and took me into the library; giving me also some details of
+Corsican roads from his personal knowledge. The only book I discovered
+was Vallery's Travels. I made a few extracts, and found no reason to
+desire more. Few foreigners write travels in a style suited to the
+English taste. They are at home among cities, and galleries, and works
+of art, but have little real feeling for natural objects, and ill
+disguise it by pompous phrases, glitter, and sentiment.
+
+“Let us take a boat and sail over to the islands lying off the harbour,”
+said my fellow-traveller one afternoon.
+
+“With all my heart.”
+
+    [Illustration: ISLETS OFF MARSEILLES.]
+
+These islets, most of them mere rocks, form a sort of sheltered strait,
+or roadstead, of which the island of Rion, with Cape Morgion on the
+mainland opposite, are the extreme points. Pomègue and Ratoneau are
+connected by a breakwater.
+
+“_Garçon_, put a roast fowl and some _pâtés_, with a loaf of bread and a
+bottle of Bordeaux, into a _corbeille_ and send it down to the port.”
+
+We bought some grapes as we went along. There are landing-stairs at the
+upper end of the harbour, where pleasure-boats lie. We stepped into one,
+and were rowed down in a narrow channel between four or five tiers of
+ships, loading and unloading at the quays on each side. An arm of the
+Mediterranean, a thousand yards long, forms a noble harbour; but, foul,
+black, and stagnant, how different were its waters from the bright sea
+without! After passing the forts defending the narrow entrance, we
+hoisted sail. On the right was the new harbour of _La Joliette_,
+connected with the old port by a canal. At present it did not appear to
+be much frequented, but, during the war in the East, both scarcely
+sufficed for the vast flotilla employed in conveying troops and stores.
+It must be difficult for any one who has not witnessed it to conceive
+the scene Marseilles then presented.
+
+We now discussed the contents of our hamper with great _goût_, the
+boatman occasionally pulling an oar as the wind was scant. But we had
+sufficiently receded from the shore to command a view of the basin in
+which Marseilles stands, and the amphitheatre of hills surrounding it,
+studded with the country-houses of the citizens; small cottages, called
+_bastides_, thousands of which spot the slopes of the hills like white
+specks.
+
+High upon a rocky summit stands the chapel of _Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde_,
+held in great reverence, and much resorted to, by mariners and
+fishermen; the walls and roof being hung with votive offerings,
+commemorating deliverances from shipwreck and other ills to which
+mariner-flesh is heir.
+
+Seaward lay the islands for which we were bound, but without any
+immediate prospect of reaching them, as the wind died away. It was
+pleasant enough to lie listlessly floating on the blue Mediterranean,
+with such charming views of the coast and the islands, and the
+picturesque craft in every direction becalmed like our own skiff: but we
+had another object in our evening's excursion; so, lowering the lateen
+sail, my companion took one of the oars, and the boatman, reinforced by
+a strong and steady stroke, pulling with a will, we soon landed at the
+foot of the black and frowning rock, crowned on the summit by the square
+massive donjon of the _Château d'If_.
+
+    [Illustration: CHÂTEAU D'IF.]
+
+The whole circuit of the cliffs, containing an area of, perhaps, two
+acres, is surrounded by fortifications. Climbing some rocky steps, we
+waited in the guardroom till the _concièrge_ brought the keys of the
+castle. It was formerly used as a state prison; and the vaulted
+passages, echoing to the clang of keys and bolts, and deep and gloomy
+dungeons, from which air and light were almost excluded by the thick
+walls, reminded one of the unhappy wretches, victims of despotic or
+revolutionary tyranny, who had been immured there without trial and
+without hope. The island now serves as a depôt for recruits to fill up
+the regiments serving in Algiers; and some of the larger apartments of
+the château are used as a caserne.
+
+But the _Château d'If_ is probably best known to many of my readers as
+connected with a remarkable incident in the adventures of the Count de
+Monte-Cristo, the hero of the celebrated novel of Alexandre Dumas. The
+story is shortly this:
+
+Dantès (the count) being thrown into one of the dungeons, remains in
+hopeless captivity for a great number of years. In the end, by working
+his way through the massive walls, he establishes a communication with
+the cell of another prisoner, who was in a still more deplorable
+condition. His fellow-prisoner dies, and Dantès effects his escape by
+contriving to insert himself in the sack in which the corpse of his
+friend was deposited; having first dressed the body in his own clothes,
+and placed it in his bed, to deceive the gaolers. In the dead of the
+night the sack is thrown into the sea from the castle walls, and Dantès
+sinks with a thirty-two-pound shot fastened to his feet. He cuts the
+cord with a knife he had secreted, and, disengaged from the sack, rises
+to the surface and swims to a neighbouring island.
+
+We were looking over the battlements towards these islands. One of them
+is covered by a vast lazzeretto,—a place, for the time, only a few
+degrees worse than the prison. The isles of Ratoneau and Pomègue lay
+nearest. Farther off was Lémaire, to which Dantès is described as
+swimming. They are all mere rocky islets washed by the sea, the group
+being very picturesque.
+
+“_Mon ami_,” said I, pointing to the isle of Lémaire, “do you think you
+could do what the count is represented to have done.”
+
+“What! swim from hence to that island? I would try, if I was shut up in
+this horrid place, and had the chance.”
+
+The distance I reckoned to be about three miles; and as my friend has
+since swum across the Bosphorus, where the current is strong, he would
+probably have found no difficulty in that part of the affair.
+
+“But how about cutting the cord to get rid of the thirty-two-pound shot,
+and extricating yourself from the sack?”
+
+“_Ça dépend!_ All this is not impossible for a strong man in good
+health; for a prisoner, exhausted by fourteen years' captivity in a
+dungeon—_c'est autre chose_. Have you read the book?”
+
+“Not much of it; I tried, but could not get on. That class of works is
+by no means to my taste.”
+
+“French literature of this school is, I admit, bad for the weak: it is
+pastime to the strong, and serves to wile away an idle hour. This work
+exhibits great genius, and a powerful imagination.”
+
+“So, indeed, it seems; but may not the _vraisemblable_ be preserved even
+in works of fiction? Let us have a story which, _se non è vero, è ben
+trovato_. Writers of this school, my dear fellow, create, or pander to,
+a vicious taste.”
+
+“In a play or novel, I grant you, the plot, characters, and incidents,
+in order to enlist our sympathies, should be true to nature and real
+life. But who looks for this in a romance? such works are not read for
+profit, and the boldest nights of fancy, and some extravagance, are
+fairly admissible.”
+
+“_Ah, mon cher_, my age is double yours, and that makes a great
+difference in our views on such subjects.”
+
+The recruits flocked round us, asking for _eau-de-vie_. Many of them
+were Italians, deserters from the armies in Lombardy, Piedmont, and
+the Papal states, glad to change their service for better pay and
+treatment under the French flag, even on the burning plains of Africa.
+Perhaps some of them were drafted into that “foreign legion” which
+rivalled the Zouaves in the Crimea,—_âmes perdus_, the most reckless
+before the enemy, the most licentious in the camp. These were merry
+fellows, launching witty shafts against Austrians, Pope, and
+Cardinals,—_maladetti tutti_, and good-humoured gibes at their
+comrade, who, standing in an embrasure, bent his back with laudable
+patience to the right angle for an easel, while my friend was making
+sketches of the rocky islets and lateen-sail vessels reflected on the
+mirror-like sea, or of the amphitheatre of mountains at the foot of
+which Marseilles stands.
+
+    [Illustration: MARSEILLES FROM THE CHÂTEAU D'IF.]
+
+Others, leaning over the battlements, whiled away the listless evening
+hours, watching fishermen drawing the seine at the foot of the rocks.
+
+We pulled round to the cove and watched them too; a very different set
+of fellows from the _malbigatti_ stationed above. Fine, athletic,
+muscular men, their heads bare, except that a few wore the red cap so
+common in the Mediterranean,—in woollen shirts, with naked feet planted
+on the slippery rocks, they were hauling up and coiling the rope,
+singing cheerily.
+
+The wind had shifted some points while we were on the island, and it now
+freshened to a stiff breeze,—one of those sudden squalls for which these
+seas are remarkable. The craft, which an hour before lay sleeping on the
+waters, had caught the breeze. A brigantine came dashing up the straits
+under all sail, her topgallants still set, though the poles quivered;
+and smaller craft, with their long, pointed sails, like sea-fowl with
+expanded wings, were crossing in all directions on their several tacks,
+making for the harbour or inlets along the coast.
+
+The sea was already lashed into foam, and tiny waves broke on the rocks.
+Loud and hoarse rung the fishermen's voices as they hauled away to save
+their nets. It was time for us to make for the port. A few strokes
+shoved the boat from under the lee of the island; the oars were shipped,
+and the lateen sail run up by all hands. Hauling close to the wind, my
+friend seized the tiller: it was doubtful if we could make the harbour,
+which the little craft, struggling with the breeze, just headed; the
+towers of St. Victor being the point of sight in the increasing haze.
+
+“_Comme les Anglais font des braves marins_,” said the _padróne_, as he
+stood by the halyards, looking out ahead, after all was made snug.
+
+We were, indeed, in our element. The sudden squall had stirred our
+blood. Many such rough cruises we had shared together in old times.
+
+The boat flew through the water, which roared and broke over the bows.
+“It will be a short run,” said the steersman, “if the wind holds on.”
+
+“_Port, monsieur, port!_” cried the _padróne_, who had learnt some
+English nautical phrases.
+
+But it would not do. Approaching the land, the wind veered and headed
+us.
+
+“We must make a short tack to gain the harbour.”
+
+“_Je l'ai prévu_,” said the _padróne_.
+
+“About” it was. She stayed beautifully, even under the single sail, and
+in a trice was lying well upon the other tack, as we stood out to sea.
+In five minutes we went about again, fetching under the stern of a
+felucca, also beating into the port; perhaps from Algiers or the Spanish
+coast. It was now a dead race with the felucca, which had forged ahead
+while we were in stays.
+
+“_Nous gagnerons, j'en gagerais une bouteille de vin!_” cried the
+_padróne_, much excited, for he was proud of his boat.
+
+“_Vous l'aurez, toutefois, pour boire à la santé de vos camarades
+Anglais._”
+
+Again we flew through the water, making a straight course for the
+harbour. The felucca had much the advantage of us in breadth of canvas
+and her high-peaked sails; but being heavily laden, she was deep in the
+water. As it turned out, we did not overhaul her till just before she
+lowered her foresail at the _consigne_ office, to wait for her _permis
+d'entrer_, when we shot ahead right into the port.
+
+We made out the evening at the theatre, well entertained by a _petite
+comédie_. “One is sure to be amused,” said my companion; “and it is good
+practice. It helps to get up one's French.”
+
+“_Monsieur ne manque que d'être plus habitué_,” as it is politely
+suggested when one is at a loss for a phrase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. III.
+
+  _Embark for Corsica—Coast of France and Italy.—Toulon.—Hyères
+    Islands, Frejus, &c.—A Stormy night.—Crossing the Tuscan Sea._
+
+
+Once more we are at the water stairs. A stout boat is ready to convey us
+with our baggage to _L'Industrie_, one of Messrs. Vallery's fine
+steam-boats, in turn for Bastia. Just as we are pushing off, a carriage
+drives to the quay, with a niece of General the Count di Rivarola,
+formerly in the British service. She is returning to Corsica. We do the
+civil, spread plaids, and place her in the stern sheets; and she is very
+agreeable.
+
+It is Sunday morning. The bells of the old church of St. Victor are
+ringing at early mass. The ships in the port have hoisted their colours.
+There is our dear, time-honoured jack, “the flag that has braved,” &c.,
+as we say on all occasions; and the stars and stripes, the crescent and
+star, and the towers of Castille; with crosses of all shapes and
+colours, in as great variety as the costumes we saw in the _café_. The
+tricolor floated on the forts of St. Jean and St. Nicholas, as well as
+on French craft of all descriptions.
+
+All was gay, but not more joyous than our own buoyant spirits. Time had
+been spent pleasantly enough at Marseilles, but it was a delay; and
+there is nothing an Englishman hates more than delays in travelling.
+Thwarted in his humour, he becomes quite childish, and frets and chafes
+more at having to wait two or three days for a steamboat than at any
+other hindrance I know. Now, when _L'Industrie_, with her ensign at the
+peak, had, somehow or other, with a din of unutterable cries in maritime
+French, been extricated from the dense tiers of vessels along the quay,
+and hauling out of the harbour, we were at last fairly on the high road
+to Corsica, never did the sun appear to shine more brightly; the
+Mediterranean looked more blue than any blue one had seen before, there
+was a ripple from the fresh breeze, the waves sparkled, and seemed
+positively to laugh and partake of our joy.
+
+We hardly cared to speculate on our fellow-passengers, as one is apt to
+do when there is nothing else to engross the thoughts; and yet there
+were some among them we should wish to sketch. Besides French officers
+joining their regiments in the island, there was one, a Corsican, who
+had served in Algeria, returning home on sick leave. It was to be feared
+that it had come too late, for the poor invalid was so feeble, worn, and
+emaciated that it seemed his native country could offer him nothing but
+a grave. There was a Corsican priest on board, a pleasant, well-informed
+man, who met our advances to an acquaintance with great readiness, and
+was delighted with our proposed visit to his island. Some Corsican
+gentlemen, a lady or two, and commercial men _en route_ for Leghorn,
+completed the party. We seemed to be the only English. I was mistaken.
+
+“After all, there is a countryman of ours on board,” I said, pointing to
+a pair of broad shoulders, disappearing under the companion-hatch. I
+caught sight of him just now; a fine, hale man, rather advanced in
+years, with a fair complexion, ruddy, and a profusion of grey hair. He
+wears a suit of drab; very plain, but well turned out.
+
+“Unmistakeably English, as you say; it may be pleasant. I wonder we did
+not make him out before among these sallow-faced and rather
+dirty-looking gentry in green and sky-blue trousers.”
+
+We were soon abreast of the group of rocky islets off the harbour,
+passing close under the _Château d'If_. The sea was smooth, the sky
+unclouded, but a gentle breeze deliciously tempered the heat, and
+vessels of every description—square-rigged ships, and coasting feluccas
+and xebecs—on their different courses, gave life to the scene. Thus
+pleasantly we ran along the French coast, here much indented and
+swelling into rocky hills of considerable elevation.
+
+    [Illustration: FRENCH COAST OFF CIOTAT.]
+
+We had an excellent _déjeûner_, for which we were quite ready, having
+only taken the usual early cup of coffee. The genial influence of this
+meal had the effect of putting us on the best footing with our
+fellow-voyagers. Pacing the deck afterwards with the Corsican priest, we
+were joined by the stout Englishman. Observing our disappointment at
+hearing we should be probably baulked of shooting in Corsica, he
+expressed a hope that we would extend our excursion to Tuscany, where,
+he was good enough to say, he would show us sport. He had been settled
+there many years, and was now returning to his family by way of Leghorn.
+Under a somewhat homely exterior, which had puzzled us at first as to
+his position, we found our new acquaintance to be a man of refined
+taste, great simplicity, as well as urbanity, of manners, and keenly
+alive to the beautiful in nature and art. Such a specimen of the hearty
+old English gentleman, unchanged—I was about to say uncontaminated—by
+long residence abroad, it has been rarely my lot to meet with.
+
+On rounding a projecting headland, we peeped into the mouth of Toulon
+harbour, and every eye and glass were directed to the heights crowned
+with forts, and the bold mountain masses towering above them.
+
+    [Illustration: OFF TOULON.]
+
+Presently, we were threading the channel between the main land and the
+Hyères Islands. They appeared to us a paradise of verdure, on which the
+eye, weary of gazing at the bare and furrowed mountain-sides bounding
+this coast, rested with delight. One imagined orange groves and myrtle
+bowers, impervious to the summer's sun and sheltered by the lofty ridges
+from the northern blasts—all this verdure fringing the edge of a bright
+and tideless sea. Elsewhere, except rarely in the hollows, the mountain
+ranges extending along this coast exhibit no signs of vegetation; the
+whole mass appearing, with the sun full on them, not only scorched but
+actually burnt to the colour of kiln-dried bricks.
+
+All the afternoon we continued running at the steamer's full speed along
+the shores of France and Italy. Notwithstanding their arid and sterile
+aspect, nothing can be finer than the mountain ranges which bound this
+coast, as every one who has crossed them in travelling from Nice well
+knows. Glimpses, too, successively of Frejus, Cannes, and Nice, more or
+less distant, as, crossing the Gulf of Genoa, we gradually increased our
+distance from the shore, together with a capital dinner, were pleasant
+interludes to the grand spectacle of Alps piled on Alps in endless
+succession, and glowing a fiery red, which all the waters over which we
+flew—deep, dark, or azure—could not quench.
+
+Towards evening there were evident tokens in the sky, on the water, and
+in the vessel's motion, of a change of weather. We were threatened with
+a stormy night; and as we now began to lose the shelter of the land,
+holding a course somewhat to the S.E. in order to round the northern
+point of Corsica, there was no reason to regret that the passage across
+the Tuscan sea would be performed while we were in our berths.
+
+However, we walked the deck long after the other passengers had gone
+below; enjoying the fresh breeze, though it was no soft zephyr wafting
+sweet odours from the Ausonian shore. It is a sublime thing to stand on
+the poop of a good ship when she is surging through the waves at ten
+knots an hour in utter darkness, whether impelled by wind or steam;
+especially when the elements are in strife. Nothing can give a higher
+idea of the power of man to control them. With no horizon, not a star
+visible in the vault above, and only the white curl on the crest of the
+boiling waves, glimmering in our wake, on—on, we rush, the ship dipping
+and rising over the long swells, and dashing floods of water and clouds
+of spray from her bows.
+
+But whither are we driving through these dark waters, and this
+impenetrable, and seemingly boundless, gloom? The eye rests on the light
+in the binnacle. We stoop to examine the compass; the card marks S.S.E.
+Imagination expands the dark horizon. It is not boundless: the island
+mountain-tops loom in the distance. They beckon us on; we realise them
+now; at dawn the grey peaks of Cape Corso will be unveiled; we shall
+dream of them to-night.
+
+One of the watch struck the hour on the bell. “It is ten o'clock; let us
+turn in.” There is an inviting glimmer through the cabin skylights. We
+are better off in this floating hotel than has often been our lot,
+baffling with storm and tempest, benighted, weary, cold and wet, in
+rough roads, forest or desert waste, with dubious hopes of shelter and
+comfort at the end of our march.
+
+We paused for a moment, leaning over the brass rail which protected the
+quarter deck. Below, on the main deck, a number of French soldiers,
+wrapped in their grey coats, were huddled together, cowering under the
+bulwarks, or wherever they could find shelter from the bitter night
+wind.
+
+The cabin lamps shed a cheerful light, reflected by the highly-polished
+furniture and fittings. All the passengers were in their berths. We had
+chosen ours near the door for fresher air. My companion climbed to his
+cot in the upper tier, above mine.
+
+“If you wake first, call me at daylight. We shall be off the coast of
+Corsica. _Felicissima notte!_”
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. IV.
+
+  _Coast of Capo Corso.—Peculiarity of Scenery.—Verdure, and
+    Mountain Villages.—Il Torre di Seneca.—Land at Bastia._
+
+
+The voyage from Marseilles to Bastia is performed, under favourable
+circumstances, in eighteen hours; but we had only just made the extreme
+northern point of Corsica when I was hastily roused, at six o'clock,
+from a blissful state of unconsciousness of the gale of wind and rough
+sea which had retarded our progress during the night.
+
+Hurrying on deck, the first objects which met the eye were a rocky islet
+with a lighthouse on a projecting point, and then it rested on the
+glorious mountains of Capo Corso, lifting their grey summits to the
+clouds, and stretching away to the southward in endless variety of
+outline. We were abreast of the rocky island of Capraja; on the other
+hand lay Elba, with its mountain peaks; Pianosa and Monte-Cristo rose
+out of the Tuscan sea further on. Behind these picturesque islands, the
+distant range of the Apennines hung like a cloud in the horizon. The sun
+rose over them in unclouded glory, no trace being left of the
+night-storm, but a fresh breeze, and the heaving and swelling of the
+deep waters.
+
+Banging along the eastern coast of Capo Corso, at a short distance from
+the shore, with the early light now thrown upon it, the natural
+features of the country—groups of houses, villages, and even single
+buildings of a marked character—were distinctly visible. We were not
+long in discovering that Corsican scenery is of a peculiar and highly
+interesting character.
+
+The infinite variety existing in all the Creator's works is remarkably
+exhibited in the physical aspect of different countries, though the
+landscape be formed of the same materials, whether mountains, forests,
+wood, water, and extended plains, or a composition of all or any of
+these features on a greater or less scale. The change is sometimes very
+abrupt. Thus, the character of Sardinian scenery is essentially
+different from the Corsican, notwithstanding the two islands are only
+separated by a strait twenty miles broad. Climate, atmosphere,
+geological formation, and vegetable growth, all contribute to this
+variety. The impress given to the face of nature by the hand of man,
+whether by cultivation, or in the forms, and, as we shall presently see,
+the position, of the various buildings which betoken his presence, give,
+of course, in a secondary degree, a difference of character to the
+landscape.
+
+Remarks of this kind occurred in a conversation with our stout English
+friend and my fellow-traveller, while they were sketching the coast of
+Capo Corso from the deck of the _Industrie_. Trite as they may appear,
+it is surprising how little even many persons who have travelled are
+alive to such distinctions. What more natural than to say, “I have seen
+Alpine scenery in Switzerland; why should I encounter the difficulties
+of a northern tour to witness the same thing on a smaller scale in
+Norway? What can the islands in the Tuscan sea have to offer
+essentially different from Italian scenery with which I am already
+familiar?”
+
+Only a practised eye can make the discrimination, and it requires some
+knowledge of physical geography, and the vegetable kingdom, to be able
+to analyse causes producing these diversified effects. Every class of
+rock, every species of tree, the various elevations of the surface of
+the globe, and the plants which clothe its different regions, have each
+their own forms and characteristics; and, of course, a landscape, being
+an aggregate of these several parts, ought to reflect the varieties of
+the materials composing it. An artist must have carefully studied from
+nature to have acquired a nice perception of these varied effects, and
+even should he be able to grasp the result, he may not succeed in
+transferring it to his sketch. Far less can words convey an adequate
+idea of the varied effects of natural scenery; so that one does not
+wonder when the reader complains of the sameness of the representation.
+
+In the present instance, were there pictured to his imagination the
+distant peaks of Elba on the one hand, and on the other the long
+mountain ranges of Capo Corso, bathed in purple light, as the sun rose
+in the eastern horizon, the grey cliffs of rocks and promontories
+bordering the coast, contrasted with the verdure of the valleys and
+lower elevations, vineyards and olive grounds on the hill-sides, and the
+landscape dotted with villages, churches, and ancient towers, we should
+doubtless have a very charming sketch, but it would not convey a
+distinct idea of the peculiarities of Corsican scenery.
+
+What struck us most, independently of the general effect, was the
+extraordinary verdure and exuberance of the vegetation which overspread
+the surface of the country far up the mountain sides, not only as
+contrasted with the sterile aspect of the coasts of the continent we had
+just left, but as being, in itself, different from anything which had
+before fallen under our observation in other countries, whether forest,
+underwood, or grassy slope. For the moment, we were unable to conjecture
+of what it consisted; but we had not long set foot on shore before we
+were at no loss to account for our admiration of this singular feature
+in Corsican, and in this particular, also, of Sardinian scenery.
+
+Not to dwell now on the peculiar character of the mountain ranges of
+Corsica, I will only mention one other peculiarity in the landscape
+which strikes the eye throughout the island, but is nowhere more
+remarkable than in the views presented as we ranged along the coast of
+Capo Corso. As the former instance belongs to the department of physical
+geography, this comes under the class of effects produced by the works
+of man. The peculiarity consists in the villages being all placed at
+high elevations. They are seen perched far up the mountain sides,
+straggling along the scarp of a narrow terrace, or crowded together on
+the platform of some projecting spur; churches, convents, towers, and
+hamlets crowning the peaked summits of lower eminences almost equally
+inaccessible. The only extensive plains in the island are so
+insalubrious as to be almost uninhabitable, and this has been their
+character from the time the island was first colonised. For this reason,
+probably, in some measure, but more especially for defence, in the
+hostilities to which the island has been exposed from foreign invaders
+during many ages, as well as by internal feuds hardly yet extinct,
+nearly the whole population is collected in the elevated villages or
+_paese_ forming this singular and picturesque feature in Corsican
+scenery. They are visible from a great distance, and sometimes ten or a
+dozen of them are in sight at one time.
+
+Capo Corso is not, as might be supposed, a mere cape or headland, but a
+narrow peninsula, containing a number of villages, and washed on both
+sides by the Tuscan sea; being about twenty-five miles long, though only
+from five to ten miles broad. Nearly the whole area is occupied by a
+continuation of the central chain which traverses the island from north
+to south. The average height of the range through Capo Corso, where it
+is called _La Serra_, does not exceed 1500 feet above the level of the
+sea, but it swells into lofty peaks; the highest, _Monte Stella_,
+between Brando and Nonza, rising 5180 feet above the shore of the
+Mediterranean.
+
+    [Illustration: ERSA, CAPO CORSO.]
+
+From the central chain spurs branch off to the sea on both coasts,
+forming narrow valleys at the base and in the gorges of the mountains,
+of which the principal on the eastern side are Lota, Cagnano, and Luri;
+the last-named being the most fertile and picturesque, as well as the
+largest of these mountain valleys, though only six miles long and three
+wide. On the western side lie the valleys of Olmeta, Olcani, and
+Ogliastro; Olmeta being the largest. The valleys are watered by mountain
+torrents, often diverted to irrigate the lands under tillage, as well as
+gardens and vine and olive plantations. Each _paese_ has its small tract
+of more fertile land, marked by a deeper verdure, where the valleys open
+out and the streams discharge their waters into the Mediterranean. At
+this point, called the _Marino_, there is generally a little port, with
+a hamlet inhabited by a hardy race of sailors engaged in the traffic
+carried on coastwise between the villages of the interior and the
+seaports.
+
+This mountainous district contains a considerable population, and the
+inhabitants are distinguished for their industry and economy. They live
+in much comfort on the produce obtained by persevering labour from the
+small portions of cultivated soil. Numerous flocks of sheep are herded
+on the vast wastes overhanging the valleys. The olive and vine flourish,
+and extensive chestnut woods supply at some seasons the staple diet of
+the poorer classes. The slopes of the hills about the villages are
+converted into gardens and orchards, in which we find figs, peaches,
+apples, pears,—with oranges and lemons in the more sheltered spots. The
+wines are in general sound, and we found them excellent where special
+care had been bestowed on the manufacture.
+
+The Corsicans are generally indolent, but it is said that there are no
+less than a hundred families in the mountainous province of Capo Corso
+who are considered rich, some of them wealthy; and all these owe their
+improved fortunes to the enterprising spirit of some relative who left
+it poor, and after years of toil in Mexico, in Brazil, or some other
+part of South America, returned with his savings to his native village.
+
+One valley after another opened as the steamer ran down the coast, each
+with its _Marino_ distinguished by a fresher verdure, and its cluster of
+white houses on the beach. The night mists still filled the hollows, and
+villages and hamlets hung like cloud-wreaths on the mountain-sides and
+the summits of the hills; the most inaccessible of which were crowned
+with ruins of castles and towers.
+
+Tradition asserts that one of these towers was the prison of Seneca the
+Philosopher. _Il Torre di Seneca_, as it is called, stands on an
+escarped pinnacle of rock, terminating one of the loftiest of the
+detached sugar-loaf hills.
+
+    [Illustration: IL TORRE DI SENECA.]
+
+Seneca spent seven years in exile, having been banished to Corsica by
+the emperor Claudius, on suspicion of an illicit intercourse with the
+profligate Julia. The islands in the Tuscan sea were the Tasmania of the
+Roman empire, places of transportation for political offenders, and
+those who fell under the imperial frown—which was the same thing. Some
+smaller islands off the Italian coast, Procida, Ischia, &c., served the
+same purpose. _Relegatio ad insulam_ was the legal phrase for this
+punishment. Augustus banished his grandson Agrippa to the desolate
+island of _Planosa_, the Pianosa mentioned just before in connection
+with Elba. There he was strangled by order of Tiberius.
+
+In some of his Epigrams, and the Books _de Consolatione_, composed
+during his exile, Seneca paints the country and the climate in the
+darkest colours. There is no doubt but these islands, though in sight of
+the coast of Italy, appeared to the polished Romans as barbarous and
+full of horrors as our penal settlements at the antipodes were
+considered long after their first occupation; so that the picture of
+Corsica, drawn by Seneca, may have been much exaggerated by his
+distempered and splenetic state of mind. The probability is, that he
+resided during his exile at one of the Roman colonies on the eastern
+coast, Aleria or Mariana. What is called the _Torre di Seneca_ is the
+ruin of a stronghold or watch-tower of the middle ages; and it is not
+likely that the spot was occupied by the Romans at any period of their
+dominion in Corsica, their possessions consisting only of the two
+colonies, and some harbours on the coast.
+
+But those lonely towers standing close to the shore, which we see from
+time to time as we coast along—massive, round, and grey with lichens as
+the rocks at their base; what do their ruins tell of times past? Were
+they a chain of forts for the defence of the coast against Saracen, or
+other invaders, in the middle ages? They appear too small to hold a
+garrison, and too insulated for mutual support. More probably they were
+watch-towers, from which signals were made when the vessels of the
+corsairs hovered on the coast, that the inhabitants might betake
+themselves, with their cattle and goods, to the fortified villages and
+castles on the hills. We are told that, at the beginning of the
+eighteenth century, there were fifteen of those towers on the north
+coast of the island, and eighty-five in its whole circuit; but many of
+them are now fallen to ruin.
+
+At length, Bastia appeared in sight, rising in an amphitheatre to a
+ridge studded with villas; the houses of the old town being crowded
+about the port. Sweeping round the mole, we found ourselves in a
+diminutive harbour, among vessels of small burthen. This basin is
+surrounded on three sides by tall gloomy buildings, of the roughest
+construction, piled up, tier above tier, to a great height. A
+man-of-war's boat shoves off from the shore in good style, and lands the
+Count's niece with due honours. Other boats come alongside the steamer,
+and all is confusion.
+
+“Did you see the meeting between the two Corsican brothers—the sallow,
+fever-worn soldier from Algiers, our poor fellow-traveller, and the
+hearty mountaineer?”
+
+“No; I was paying my last _devoirs_ to _madame_.”
+
+“The contrast between the two was striking. I shall never forget the way
+they were laced in each other's arms, and the glance of keen anxiety
+with which the mountaineer looked into his sick brother's face, marking
+the ravages which time and disease had worked on those much-loved
+features.”
+
+In the air of his mountain-village that brother, we would hope, grew
+strong again. Perhaps, having rejoined his regiment, his bones are left
+in the Crimea; perhaps, he again survives, and breathes once more his
+native air. Who can tell?
+
+Our hale English friend remained on board to pursue the voyage to
+Leghorn. What a din, what frantic gestures, what a rush of these
+irascible Corsicans at our baggage! It is borne off to the
+custom-house, and undergoes an examination far from rigorous. We mount
+several flights of steps, leading from one narrow street to another in
+this old quarter of the town, and are led to an hotel, which had much
+the air of a second or third-rate Italian _locanda_—lofty and spacious
+apartments, neither clean nor well arranged; and the _déjeûner_ was a
+sorry affair. _N'importe_; we shall not stay longer in Bastia than is
+necessary, and we may go further and fare worse. Meanwhile, a battalion
+of French infantry were on parade, with the band playing in the
+barrack-yard under our windows. We threw them open to enjoy the fresh
+breeze and sweeten the room. They commanded a fine view of the coast we
+had passed, now seen in profile under the effect of a bright sunshine,
+with the waves washing in wreaths of foam on every jutting point and
+rock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. V.
+
+  _Bastia.—Territorial Divisions.—Plan of the Rambles.—Hiring
+    Mules.—The Start._
+
+
+I cannot imagine any one's loitering in Bastia longer than he can help.
+Its only attractions are the sea and the mountain views from the
+environs; and those are commanded equally well from many points along
+the coast. What the old town is we have already seen—narrow and crooked
+streets, with gaunt houses piled up about the port; and there is the old
+Genoese fortress frowning over it, and the church of St. John, of Pisan
+architecture, the interior rich in marbles and gilding, but the _façade_
+below notice as a work of art. A new quarter has been added to the town,
+higher up, in which there are some handsome houses, particularly in the
+_Rue de la Traverse_.
+
+In early times a few poor traders from Cardo, a _paese_ on the heights,
+settled at the mouth of a stream which formed here a small harbour. It
+was their _Marino_, so that Cardo may be said to be in some sort the
+Fiesole of Bastia. About the close of the fourteenth century, the
+Genoese built the Donjon, which is still standing, to defend the port,
+then becoming of importance. From this _bastióne_, the new town derived
+its name. It was the capital of the island during the Pisan and Genoese
+occupation, and so continued under the French government till 1811, when
+the prefecture and general administration of affairs were transferred
+to Ajaccio, where also the Council-general of Corsica, now forming a
+department of France, holds its sessions. Bastia, however, is still the
+_Quartier-général_ of the military in the island, and the seat of the
+_Cour de Cassation_ and _Cour d'Appel_, tribunals exercising superior
+jurisdiction over all the other courts. It is also the most populous
+town in Corsica (14,000 souls being the return of the last census), and
+has by far the largest commerce, exporting olive-oil and wine, fruits
+and fish; and importing _corn_, groceries, tobacco, and manufactured
+articles of all kinds.
+
+Bastia was the standing point from which the old division of Corsica
+into the _di quà_ and the _di là dei monti_—the country on this side and
+the country on the other side of the mountains—was made; the line of
+intersection commencing at the point of Gargalo, below Aleria, on the
+eastern coast, and following a range of mountains westward to the
+_Marino_ of Solenzara. The division was by no means equal; the country
+_di quà_, including the present arrondissements of Bastia, Corte, and
+Calve, being one-third larger than the _di là_, comprising the
+arrondissements of Ajaccio and Sartene.
+
+Another ancient division of Corsica was into _pieves_, originally
+ecclesiastical districts,—and _paeses_, which, I imagine, are equivalent
+to parishes, including the village and the hamlets belonging to them. A
+detached farm-house, such as are scattered everywhere in England, is
+hardly to be seen in Corsica, the inhabitants being gathered in these
+villages and hamlets, invariably built, as already observed, on elevated
+points. By what corruption these were called _paeses_, _countries_, one
+does not understand; but it sounds rather droll to a stranger, when he
+is told in Corsica, that he may travel many miles, _senza vedère uno
+paése_, without seeing a country.
+
+Bastia must, doubtless, from the circumstances mentioned, have good
+society; but we thought Ajaccio a much pleasanter place, and Corte, in
+its rudeness, has a nobler aspect than either, and is associated with
+glorious recollections. We were for escaping the _di quà_ of Bastia and
+the _littorale_, and getting as soon as possible _di là_ the mountains,
+not, however, according to the old political division of the island, but
+in the sense of crossing the central chain by one of the nearest passes.
+
+The plan we sketched, after consulting our maps, was to cross the Serra
+by a _col_ leading into the valleys in the south-west of Capo Corso,
+and, after rambling through that district, to descend into the upper
+valley of the Golo, and pursue it in the direction of Corte, making
+Ajaccio our next point. There are good highroads throughout the island,
+with regular _diligences_ all the way from Bastia to Bonifaccio; but to
+avail ourselves of these, taking up our quarters in the towns and making
+excursions in the neighbourhood, was not to our taste. We proposed,
+therefore, to hire mules for the expedition, sending our heavier baggage
+forward to Ajaccio by _voiture_, and retaining only the indispensables
+for a journey of more than 150 miles, in the course of which not a
+single decent _albergo_ was to be met with, except at Corte.
+
+The horses in Corsica are diminutive and of an inferior breed, mules
+being almost exclusively employed for draught on the great roads, and as
+beasts of burthen in the byways and mountain tracks. In Sardinia, on the
+contrary, though lying so much further south, the mules disappeared, and
+were replaced by hardy and active horses.
+
+We inquired for mules. There are generally to be found hanging about
+foreign hotels people ready to undertake anything the traveller may
+require, little as they may be competent to fulfil their engagements.
+One of this class presented himself, his appearance by no means
+prepossessing; but the view he took of our present scheme afforded us
+some amusement.
+
+“Are you well acquainted with the roads in Corsica?”
+
+“I have had the honour to conduct _signore forestiere_ throughout the
+island from Bastia to Bonifaccio.”
+
+“We shall not travel _en voiture_. We require mules for the baggage and
+riding. Can you supply them?”
+
+“_Ça serait possible, mais, à l'improviste, un peu difficile_.”
+
+“It is indispensable, as we mean to cross the mountains and make a
+_détour, en route_ to Corte by slow stages, resting in the villages.”
+
+The man's countenance assumed a rueful expression. He had probably been
+used to make easy work of it from town to town, and there was evidently
+a ludicrous struggle between the temptation of a profitable job and his
+disinclination for rugged roads and a spare diet.
+
+“Are _messieurs_ aware that there are no _auberges_ in the villages
+offering accommodations fit for them?”
+
+“It is very possible; that does not occasion us any uneasiness.”
+
+“_Les chemins sont affreux._”
+
+“_N'importe_; we have travelled in worse.”
+
+“In some places they are dangerous, absolutely precipitous.”
+
+“We shall walk; _en effet_, it is possible we may walk great part of the
+journey.”
+
+That our muleteer could not understand at all: “_la fatigue serait
+pénible_;” and with true Corsican indolence, he protested against being
+included in that part of our plan.
+
+“Then you can ride.”
+
+So far all objections were dismissed. The banditti had not been
+mentioned among the lions in our path, but I imagined they were darkly
+shadowed forth in the guide's picture of horrors; so I put the question
+to him point blank.
+
+“Are the roads safe in these districts? Are there no bad people
+(_mauvais gens_—_cattive genti_) abroad?”
+
+His only reply was a shrug of the shoulders, the foreign substitute for
+a Burleigh shake of the head; leaving us to infer that we must not make
+too sure of coming off with a whole skin. Knowing well enough that all
+apprehensions of that kind were imaginary, we had been only amusing
+ourselves with him. If there had been any danger, he seemed just the
+fellow to be in league with the brigands.
+
+All topics of intimidation being now exhausted, our muleteer, with the
+best grace he could, professed himself ready to comply with our wishes.
+
+The hire demanded for the mules was five francs per day each, exclusive
+of their keep; and their return journey was to be paid for at the same
+rate. The latter part of the demand was an imposition, but we had only
+“Hobson's choice,” and made no difficulties.
+
+When would it be our pleasure to depart? As early in the afternoon as
+possible. “It would be late;” and a last effort was made to induce us to
+remain at the hotel till the next morning, but we were inexorable.
+
+“Would there be time for us to reach the first village on the road
+before dark?”—“We might.”—“Then we will go. Our baggage will be ready by
+three o'clock. Be punctual.”
+
+We disliked the man, and determined to discharge him at Corte unless
+things turned out better than we expected. As it happened, we were under
+his convoy for a much shorter space. We found the Sard _cavallante_, a
+much finer race, trudging on foot through all the roughest part of the
+tracks, and perching themselves at the top of a much heavier load of
+baggage on the pack-horse, when they were tired of walking.
+
+It was a strange “turn out,” that, by unusual exertions, appeared at the
+door within an hour of the time appointed. The mules were no bigger than
+donkeys.
+
+“_Queste bestie non sono muli; sono dei asini._”
+
+It was vexatious; but we laughed too much to be seriously angry; the
+muleteer, too, deprecating our wrath by assuring us that his mules had
+first-rate qualities for scrambling up and down precipices. So we took
+it all in good part, and, more amused than annoyed, assisted in
+contriving to adjust the girths of the English saddles to the poor
+beasts' wizened sides; and then, declining a march through Coventry with
+such a cavalcade, walked forward, leaving the guide to load the baggage
+and follow with the mules.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. VI.
+
+  _Leave Bastia.—The Road.—View of Elba, Pianosa, and
+    Monte-Cristo.—The_ Littorale.—_An Adventure.—The Stagna di
+    Biguglia._
+
+
+The Corsicans are apt to say, that the national roads were the only
+benefit Napoleon conferred on his native country. Like all his great
+works of construction, they are worthy of his genius. One of these
+traverses the whole eastern coast of the island from Bastia, by Cervione
+and Porto-Vecchio, to Bonifaccio. Another line branches off near
+Vescovato, about ten miles from Bastia, and following the valley of the
+Golo, is carried among the mountains to Corte, whence it is continued
+through a wild and mountainous district to Ajaccio. Similar engineering
+skill is displayed in its continuation on the western side of the
+mountains to Sartene, and thence to Bonifaccio, where it also
+terminates.
+
+On clearing Bastia, we found ourselves on this high road,—a magnificent
+causeway carried nearly in a straight line for many miles through the
+plain extending between the sea and the mountains. Orange groves
+embowering sheltered nooks in the environs of the town, and hedges of
+the Indian fig (_cactus opuntia_), betokened the warmth of this southern
+shore; and, as we advanced, the rank growth of vegetation on the flats
+realised all we had heard of the teeming richness of the _littorale_.
+It was hot walking, and the causeway and flats would have been
+monotonous enough but for the glorious views on either hand.
+
+To the left, the Mediterranean was calmly subsiding from the effects of
+the gale, its undulations still sparkling in the sunbeams. Far within
+the horizon was the group of islands which lend a charm to all this
+coast, and are associated with great historical names. There rises Elba,
+with the sharp outline of its lofty peaks and dark shores, too narrow
+for the mighty spirit which ere long burst the bounds of his Empire
+Island. Far away in the southern hemisphere I had visited that other
+island, where the chains were riveted too firmly for release, except by
+the grave over which I had pondered. Now we stood on the soil that gave
+him birth. Why was not this the “Island Empire?” The Allied Sovereigns
+were disposed to be magnanimous. It was offered to him; why did he
+refuse it? Was it that, with far-sighted policy, he considered Corsica
+too bright a gem in the crown of France for him to pluck, without sooner
+or later giving umbrage to the Bourbons? May his refusal be cited as a
+further proof of the little love he bore for the land of his birth? Or
+was it that, when once hurled from the throne of his creation, the
+conqueror of kingdoms could not descend to compare one petty island with
+another? “At Elba he found the horizon, the sky, the air, the waves of
+his childhood; and the history of his island-state, would be to him a
+constant lesson of the mutability of human things.”[3]
+
+Napoleon emperor in Corsica! On this spot, with Elba in view, one dwells
+for a moment on the idea! Then, indeed, Corsica's long-cherished dreams
+of national independence—it was her last chance—would have been
+strangely realised. But her fate was sealed. She had sunk to the rank of
+an outlying department of France, and so remained; with what results we
+may perhaps discover.
+
+Near Elba, and strongly contrasting with its bold outline, lies the
+little island of _Pianosa_, the ancient Planosa. Its surface is flat, as
+the name indicates. That island, too, has its tale of imperial exile.
+The young Agrippa, grandson of Augustus, and heir-presumptive to an
+empire wider than that of Napoleon's most ambitious dreams, was banished
+to Planosa by his grandfather, at the instance of Livia. Augustus is
+said to have visited him there. It was Agrippa's fate to find a grave,
+as well as a prison, in the Mediterranean island; the tyrant Tiberius,
+with the jealousy of an eastern monarch, having caused his rival to be
+strangled on his own accession to the empire.
+
+Soon after Napoleon's arrival in Elba he sent some troops to take
+possession of Pianosa; which, ravaged by the Genoese in the thirteenth
+century, had never since flourished. The fallen emperor himself could
+not help laughing at this mighty expedition, for which thirty of his
+guards, some Elban militia, and six pieces of artillery were detailed;
+exclaiming, as he gave orders to erect batteries and fire upon any
+enemies who might present themselves, “Europe will say that I have
+already made a conquest.” Napoleon partially restored the fortifications
+of an old castle, which had been bombarded by an English squadron,
+landing the marines, in 1809, during the revolutionary war. The island
+now belongs, with Elba, to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany.
+
+Further to the south appears the rocky island of Monte-Cristo. This,
+too, has its tale of exile, insignificant as it looks except for its
+sharply serrated outline, and a worldwide fame. The emperor Diocletian
+banished here St. Mamilian, Archbishop of Palermo. A convent was
+afterwards founded on the site of the Saint's rude cell. The monks of
+Monte-Cristo flourished, as they deserved; the worthy fathers having
+founded many hospitals in Tuscany and done much good. Saracen corsairs
+carried off the monks; the convent was laid in ruins; and the lone
+island remained uninhabited for a long course of years, except by wild
+goats. It was in this state when Alexandre Dumas made it the scene of
+his hero's successful adventure after his escape from the _Château
+d'If_, and adopted it as the title of his popular novel. The island
+having been recently purchased and colonised by Mr. Watson Taylor, he
+has built a house on it for his own residence.
+
+    [Illustration: ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO.]
+
+It is about nine miles in circumference, and I should judge from its
+appearance that the greatest part of the surface is rocky, though not
+without green hollows, dells, and verdant slopes. But the olive and the
+vine usually thrive, and are largely cultivated, on such spots; and if,
+as I should imagine, the natural vegetation and the climate are similar
+to those of the other islands in the Tuscan sea with which we are
+acquainted, happy may the lord of Monte-Cristo be; for, in the hands of
+a wealthy English gentleman, such a spot may be made an earthly
+paradise.
+
+After about an hour's walk we halted for the muleteer to come up. A
+glorious point of view it was, embracing a wide expanse of the bright
+sea, with the islands which had supplied so many striking and pleasant
+recollections. Looking backward, the purple mountains of Capo Corso now
+appeared massed together in endless variety of outline, with Bastia at
+their base, the citadel and white houses glowing in the evening
+sunshine. Turning to the right, the eye caught the fine effect of the
+meeting of the plain and mountains—the interminable level, stretching
+far away till it was lost in distance, and teeming with luxuriant
+vegetation, but with only here and there a solitary clump of trees,—and
+the long mountain-range line after line rising into peaks above the
+gracefully rounded hills that swelled up from the level of the plain.
+Woods, orchards, vineyards overspread the lower slopes, the hollows were
+buried in thickets of evergreen, and picturesque villages and towers
+appeared, though rarely, on the summits of the hills.
+
+    [Illustration: MEETING OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN, NEAR BASTIA.]
+
+Who would not linger at the sight of Furiani, the most important of
+these villages, its ivy-mantled towers crumbling to ruins?—Furiani,
+where the Corsicans, in a national assembly, first organised their
+insurrection against the Genoese, and elected the prudent and intrepid
+Giaffori one of their leaders; with cries of “_Evviva la libertà! evviva
+il popolo!_”—Furiani, where, in almost their last struggle, two hundred
+Corsicans held the fortifications long after they were a heap of ruins,
+and at length cut their way by night to the shore.
+
+The muleteer at last made his appearance with his sorry cavalcade, and
+my companion having taken advantage of our halt to make the sketch of
+the “Meeting of the mountains and plain,” which was not quite finished,
+that we might not lose time, as the sun was descending behind the
+mountains, one of the mules was tied to a stake, in order that my friend
+might overtake us, while we made the best of our way forward.
+
+I still preferred walking, and pushed on at a pace which suited none of
+my company, human or asinine. We had got ahead about a mile, when shouts
+from behind opened a scene perfectly ludicrous. There was the little
+mule trotting up the road at most unusual speed, impelled by my friend's
+shouts and the big stones with which he was pelting the miserable beast.
+He too came up at a long trot, rather excited, and calling to the
+muleteer, “Catch your mule, Giovanni! I'll have nothing more to do with
+the brute.”
+
+“What is it all about?”
+
+It appeared that my friend, having finished his sketch, prepared to
+mount and push after us. The mule, however, had a design diametrically
+opposed to this. No sooner was it loosed from the stake to which it was
+tied, than the poor beast very naturally felt a strong impulse to return
+to its stable at Bastia. Could instinct have forewarned it what it
+would have to encounter before midnight, the retrograde impulse would
+have been still stronger. Every one knows how difficult it is to deal
+with a mule when it is in the mood either not to go at all, or to go the
+wrong way. Having driven a team of these animals—fine Calabrian mules
+they were, equal to the best Spanish—all the way from Naples to Dieppe,
+I can boast of some experience in the mulish temperament.
+
+To make matters worse, the English saddle being all too large for its
+wizened sides, in spite of all our care in knotting the girths, it
+twisted round in the attempt to mount, and my very excellent friend—no
+disparagement to his noble horsemanship, for one has no firm seat even
+when mounted on a vicious pony—before he could bring the saddle to a
+level and gain his equilibrium, was fairly pitched over the side of the
+road. Mule having now achieved that glorious _libertà_, the instinctive
+aspiration of Corsican existence, whether man, mule, or moufflon,
+started forward alone, my friend following, I have no doubt, in rather a
+thundering rage.
+
+“At every attempt I made to take the mule by the head”—such was his
+account—“he reversed his position, and launched his heels at me with a
+viciousness that rendered the enterprise not a little dangerous, for I
+do not know anything so funky as an ass's heels. Had it not been for
+saving the saddle, mule might have taken himself off to Bastia, or a
+worse place, for any trouble I would have taken to stop him.”
+
+It may be supposed that this story was not told or listened to without
+shouts of laughter, the muleteer being the only one of the party who was
+seriously disconcerted.
+
+“_Andiamo, Giovanni_,” said I, cutting short all discussion, and moved
+forward. We had lost time, and the evening was closing in.
+
+“Won't you ride, then?—try the other mule.”
+
+“No, I thank you; I am not in the least fatigued, and have no desire to
+be pitched into a bush of prickly cactus, or rolled down the bank of the
+causeway.”
+
+“Let us push on, then; if we are belated, we may have worse adventures,
+this first day of our rambles in Corsica, before we get to our night's
+quarters; and where we are to find them, I am sure I have no idea.”
+
+We walked on at a smart pace, and gradually drew far ahead of Giovanni
+and his mules. They were not to be hurried, and if they had been gifted
+like Balaam's ass, I imagine they would have agreed with Giovanni in
+wishing _l'Inglesi all'Inferno_. I don't know, speaking from
+experience, which is worst, riding, leading, or driving a malcontent
+mule.
+
+The rays of the setting sun were now faintly gleaming on a vast sheet of
+shallow stagnant water, the _Stagna di Biguglia_, between the road and
+the sea, from which it is only separated by a low strip of alluvial
+soil. It was a solitary, a melancholy scene. A luxuriant growth of reeds
+fringes the margin of the lagoon, and heat and moisture combine to throw
+up a rank vegetation on its marshy banks. The peasants fly from its
+pestiferous exhalations, and nothing is heard or seen but the plash of
+the fish in the still waters, the sharp cry of the heron and gull,
+wheeling and hovering till they dart on their prey, and some rude
+fisherman's boat piled with baskets of eels for the market at Bastia.
+
+This vast sheet of water was formerly open to the sea, forming a noble
+harbour, in which floated the galleys of the powerful republics that in
+the middle ages disputed the empire of the Mediterranean and the
+possession of its islands. On a hill above stood the town of Biguglia,
+the capital of the island under the Pisans and Genoese, till in the
+fourteenth century Henri della Rocca, with the insurgent Corsicans,
+carried it by assault. The Genoese then erected the fortress at Bastia,
+which, with the town growing up under its protection, became the chief
+seat of their power in the island, and Biguglia fell to decay.
+
+Mariana, a Roman colony, stood on the coast near the lower extremity of
+this present lagoon; and Aleria, another still further south, on the
+sea-line of the great plain extending for forty miles below Bastia. Our
+proposed route led in another direction, and, not to interrupt the
+thread of the narrative, a notice of these colonies is reserved for
+another opportunity.
+
+We had reached the neighbourhood at which, according to calculation, we
+ought to strike off from the high-road towards the mountains. Now, if
+ever, a guide was needed; but Giovanni and his mules had fallen far in
+the rear. A by-road turned to the right, apparently in the desired
+direction. At the angle of the roads we took counsel,—should we venture
+to take the by-path, or wait till Giovanni came up?—which involved a
+loss of time we could ill spare at that period of the day. A mistake
+might be awkward, but we had carefully studied the bearings of the
+country on our maps, and deciding to risk it, struck boldly into the
+lane. For a short distance it led between inclosures, but presently
+opened, and we found ourselves on the boundless waste, with only a
+narrow track for our guidance through its mazes. We were in the bush,
+the _Macchia_ as the natives call it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. VII.
+
+  _Evergreen Thickets.—Their remarkable Character.—A fortunate
+    Rencontre.—Moonlight in the Mountains.—Cross a high
+    Col.—Corsican Shepherds.—The Vendetta.—Village Quarters._
+
+
+A slight ascent over a stony bank landed us at once on the verge of the
+thickets. It had been browsed by cattle, and scattered myrtle-bushes, of
+low growth, were the first objects that gladdened our eyes. A new
+botany, a fresh scenery was before us. The change from the littoral,
+with its rank vegetation, close atmosphere, and weary length of
+interminable causeway, was so sudden, that it took us by surprise.
+Presently we were winding through a dense thicket of arbutus,
+tree-heaths, alaternus, daphne, lentiscus, blended with myrtles, cystus,
+and other aromatic shrubs, massed and mingled in endless variety—the
+splendid arbutus, with its white bell-shaped flowers and pendulous
+bunches of red and orange berries, most prevailing.
+
+The _Macchia_ is, in fact, a natural shrubbery of exquisite beauty. We
+travelled through it, in the two islands, for many hundred miles, and I
+feel confident that, to English taste, it forms the unique feature in
+Corsican and Sardinian scenery. This sort of underwood prevails also, I
+understand, in Elba, and, more or less, in the other islands of the
+central Mediterranean basin. We now fully comprehended how it was that,
+when sailing along the coast, our attention had been so riveted on the
+rich verdure clothing the hills and mountain-sides of Capo Corso,
+although at the time we were unable to satisfy ourselves in what its
+striking peculiarity consisted.
+
+The air is so perfumed by the aromatic plants, that there was no
+exaggeration in Napoleon's language when conversing, at St. Helena, of
+the recollections of his youth, he said:
+
+“_La Corse avait mille charmes; tout y était meilleur jusqu'à l'odeur du
+sol même. Elle lui eût suffi pour la deviner, les yeux fermés. Il ne
+l'avait retrouvée nulle part._”
+
+A trifling occurrence in my own travels gives some faint idea of the
+sentiment which dictated this remark. At St. Helena the flora of the
+North and South singularly meet. Patches of gorse (_Ulex Europæa_)—that
+idol of Linnæus and ornament of our English and Cambrian wastes—grow
+freely on the higher grounds, rivalling the purple heath in their golden
+bloom, and shrubs of warmer climates in their sweet perfume. Returning
+to England after lonely wanderings in the southern hemisphere, I well
+remember how the sight and the scent of this rude plant, dear in its
+very homeliness, recalled former scenes associated with it. I recollect,
+too, that the mettlesome barb which bounded over the downs surrounding
+Longwood did not partake of my sympathy for the golden bough I had
+plucked. The smooth turf and the yellow furze had no charms for the
+exile of St. Helena. Never was the “_lasciate ogni speranza_” more
+applicable than to his island-prison, and in his melancholy hours his
+thoughts naturally reverted, with a gush of fond tenderness, to the land
+of his birth, little as he had shown partiality for it in his hour of
+prosperity.
+
+On its picturesque scenes we were now entering, with everything to give
+them the highest zest. The autumn rains had refreshed the arid soil,
+and the aromatic shrubs filled the air with their richest perfume.
+Escaped from cities, and from steam-boats, redolent of far other odours,
+and having turned our backs on marsh, and _stagna_, and wearisome
+causeway, well strung to our work, and gaining fresh vigour in the
+evening breeze, we brushed through the waving thickets with little
+thought of Giovanni and his mules, left far behind, and as little
+concern whither our path would lead us. It was a beaten track, and must
+be our guide to some habitation. A few hours ago we set foot on shore,
+and we were already engaged in some sort of adventure—and that, too, in
+Corsica, which has an ugly reputation! “_N'importe_; it is our usual
+luck; it will turn out right.” But let us push on, for the sun has long
+set, and the twilight is fading.
+
+Fortune favoured us, for the enterprise on which we had stumbled turned
+out rather a more serious affair than we anticipated. It was getting
+dark, when the footprints of a mule on the sandy path attracted our
+notice, the fresh marks pointing in the direction we were taking. Soon
+we caught sight of a small party winding through the tall shrubbery. The
+turning of a zigzag on a slight rocky ascent brought the party full in
+view, and we closed with it. There were two girls riding astride on the
+same mule, with a stout peasant trudging behind. It was a pleasant
+rencontre.
+
+“Good evening, friend. How far is it to the next village?”
+
+“Three hours.”
+
+“What is it called?”
+
+“Olmeta.”
+
+“Is the road good?”
+
+“Mountainous and very steep.”
+
+“Allow us to join your party?”
+
+“By all means.” “_Allons donc_; we shall be late.”
+
+And the party moved on. Antoine, our new acquaintance, was, like most
+Corsicans, of the middle size, with a frame well knit. He had a pleasant
+expression of countenance, with a frank and independent air, the very
+reverse of our muleteer, Giovanni. We amused ourselves at having given
+him the slip, and continued to question our new guide.
+
+“Shall we be able to procure beds and something to eat at Olmeta?”—the
+“_qualche cosa per mangiare_” being always a question of first
+importance.
+
+“Never fear; you will find hospitality?”
+
+We had no misgivings of any kind. Under Antoine's guidance we could now
+proceed boldly, quite at ease to enjoy all the charms of our wild
+adventure.
+
+    “E pur per selve oscure e calli obliqui,
+    Insieme van, senza sospetto aversi.”—ARIOST. Canto I.
+
+    “Together through dark woods and winding ways
+    They walk, nor on their hearts suspicion preys.”
+
+In about an hour, the moon, then at her full, rose above the hills on
+our left, shedding a soft and silvery light on the mountain-tops; our
+narrow path through the thickets being still buried in gloom. Presently
+a full tide of lustrous radiance was poured on the waving sea of verdure
+and the face of the mountains. We made good speed, for the family mule,
+homeward bound, stepped on briskly under its double burden. Sometimes we
+kept up with the party, joining in the talk of the good peasants; at
+others, falling behind to enjoy the stillness of the scene, and abandon
+ourselves to the contemplation of its ever-varying features. Now we
+threaded the bank of a mountain torrent far beneath in shade, the depth
+of which the eye was unable to penetrate as we plunged downwards through
+the thickets; then, crossing the stream and scrambling up the opposite
+bank, once more emerged from the gloom, and, standing for a few instants
+on the summit we had gained, the grey mountain-tops again showed
+themselves touched with the silver light, and the quivering foliage of
+the evergreen shrubs, which covered the undulating expanse beneath,
+twinkled like diamond sprays.
+
+In these alternations of light and shade, and precipitous descents which
+led on to still increasing altitudes, we followed our rocky path for
+about two hours, when Antoine halted his party to prepare for
+surmounting the main difficulty of the route, in evident surprise all
+the while at finding two Englishmen engaged in an adventure of which he
+could not comprehend the motive. And yet Antoine had seen something of
+the world beyond the narrow bounds of his native island. He had been a
+_matelot_, he said,—made a long voyage, and once touched at an English
+port. Antoine seemed to be now leading a vagabond life. He was not
+communicative as to why he left his country or why he returned, and was
+gay and melancholy by fits. He did not belong to Olmeta, but had friends
+there, to whom he was conducting the girls.
+
+It is not often that the Corsican women ride while the men walk, the
+reverse being generally the case. But Antoine was gallant, and, on the
+whole, a good fellow. The girls, we have said, rode astride; but now, in
+preparation for the ascent, one of them slipped off the mule, over the
+crupper, with amusing agility, relieving the poor beast of half its
+burden, and they afterwards rode by turns.
+
+We now began the ascent of the pass, the Col di S.to Leonardo, leading
+into the valley of Olmeta. The Col is nearly 3000 feet above the level
+of the sea, and the passage proved to be almost as difficult as any I
+recollect having encountered. We had no idea, when we left Bastia, of
+attempting it that evening, and, had we not parted from Giovanni, should
+probably have made for some village near the high-road, and lost the
+splendid effects of moonlight on such scenery. The face of the mountain
+is scaled either by rocky steps or by terraces cut in the escarped
+flanks, with quick returns, in the way such elevations are usually
+surmounted. The passing and repassing, as we traversed the successive
+stages, brought out the effects of light and shade even better than we
+had remarked them below. The path, too, was extremely picturesque.
+Masses of grey rock, half in shade, jutted out among the shrubbery with
+which the mountain-side was covered; giant heaths, five or six feet
+high, hung feathering, and the arbutus threw its broad branches, over
+our heads.
+
+We had made some progress, and stood, as it were, suspended over the
+valley, when Antoine's quick ear caught sounds from below. We halted to
+take breath and listen. Presently, the sounds became more distinct, and
+we made out the tramp of mules coming up the path, but still far
+beneath. It was probably Giovanni with his mules, following our steps.
+Again we stood and listened, looking over the precipice at an angle
+which commanded the descent for many hundred feet beneath. The thicket
+shrouding the narrow track was so dense, that nothing could be seen,
+even in that bright moonlight, but its glistening slope. The sounds
+from below rose more dearly. Thwack, thwack, fell Giovanni's cudgel on
+the ribs of his unfortunate mules; and we could hear them scrambling,
+and his hoarse voice uttering strange cries, as he urged them on.
+
+We were too much amused at having given him the slip to think much of
+the great tribulation in which he was panting and toiling to overtake
+us. Vain hope! “He will be in time for supper; let us push
+on;”—beginning to think that the sooner we realised the comforts which
+Antoine had encouraged us to expect, the better.
+
+“Are we near the top of the pass?”
+
+“Do you see that rock with the bush hanging from it?” pointing to a
+huge, insulated mass, its sharp outline clearly defined against the blue
+sky; “it is a thousand feet above the spot on which we stand. The path
+lies round the base of that rock. In an hour we shall reach it.”
+
+We climbed on, the ascent becoming steeper and steeper as we mounted
+upwards, often casting wistful looks at the beacon rock. Just before we
+gained the summit, smoke was seen curling up from the copse at a little
+distance from the path.
+
+“_Ci sono pastori_,” cried Antoine.
+
+“Perhaps they can give us some milk.” We had need enough of some
+refreshment, the breakfast at Bastia having been our only meal.
+
+“_Vedéremmo_,” said Antoine; and he led the way through the bushes.
+
+Some rough dogs leapt out, fiercely barking at the approach of
+strangers. They were called off by the shepherds, who, wrapped in their
+shaggy mantles, the Corsican _pelone_, were sitting and lying round a
+fire of blazing logs, under the shelter of a rock. A mixed flock of
+sheep and goats lay closely packed round the bivouac. Unfortunately
+they had no milk to give us.
+
+The Corsican shepherds are a singular race. We found them leading a
+nomad life in all parts of the island. They wander, as the season
+permits, from the highest mountain-ranges to the verge of the cultivated
+lands and vineyards, where the goats do infinite mischief; and drive
+their flocks in the winter to the vast plains of the littoral, and the
+warm and sheltered valleys. Home they have none; the side of a rock, a
+cave, a hut of loose stones, lends them temporary shelter. Chestnuts are
+their principal food; and their clothing, sheepskins, or the black wool
+of their flocks spun and woven by the women of the valleys into the
+coarse cloth of the _pelone_. Their greatest luxuries are the immense
+fires, for which the materials are boundless, or to bask in the sun, and
+tell national tales, and sing their simple _canzone_. But though a rude,
+they are not a bad, race; contented, hospitable, tolerably honest, and,
+as we found, often intelligent. We were not fortunate in our first
+introduction to these people. Antoine exchanged a few words with them;
+but they were sullen, and showed no signs of surprise or curiosity on
+the sudden appearance of strangers at their fireside. The sample was far
+from prepossessing. One of the men, who seemed to eye us with suspicion,
+had just the physiognomy one should assign to a bandit.
+
+It was perhaps this idea which led me to question Antoine on a subject
+we had hitherto avoided.
+
+“Are there any outlaws harboured in these wild mountains?”
+
+“Not now; they have been hunted out; all that is changed; but blood has
+been often spilt in this _maquis_. One terrible _vendetta_ was taken not
+far from hence; but that was many years ago. I will show you the spot.”
+
+Antoine strode rapidly onward; and we overtook the women, who had rode
+on. In ten minutes we were rounding the mass of rock crowning the pass.
+
+“This was the spot,” said Antoine, taking a step towards me, the rest of
+the party having passed; and he added calmly, but with decision, and a
+slightly triumphant air, “I did it myself.” (“_J'ai donné le coup
+moi-même._”)
+
+It may be well supposed that I stood aghast. We had not then learnt with
+what little reserve such deeds of blood are avowed in Corsica; how
+thoroughly they are extenuated by the popular code of morals or honour.
+Such avowals were afterwards made to us with far less feeling than
+Antoine betrayed; indeed, with the utmost levity. “_Je lui ai donné un
+coup_,” mentioning the individual and giving the details, was the climax
+of a story of some sudden quarrel or long-harboured animosity. It was
+uttered with the _sang froid_ with which an Englishman would say, “I
+knocked the fellow down;” and it might have been our impression that
+nothing more was meant, but for the circumstances related, which left no
+doubt on the subject. When a Corsican says that he has given his enemy a
+_coup_, the phrase is a decorous ellipse for _coup-de-fusil_.
+Occasionally, perhaps, it may mean a _coup-de-poignard_, which amounts
+to much the same thing; but since carrying the knife has been rigorously
+prohibited by the French Government, stabbing has not been much in vogue
+in Corsica. Now, it is to be hoped, the murderous _fusil_ has equally
+disappeared.
+
+There was no time for asking what led to the quarrel or encounter.
+Antoine coolly turned away, saying, “The descent is easy; we shall have
+a good road now down the hill to Olmeta;” and, most opportunely, the
+view which opened from the summit of the pass was calculated to divert
+my thoughts from what had just occurred.
+
+It has been often remarked, that the Corsican villages are most commonly
+built on high ground. We now counted, by their cheerful lights, nine or
+ten of them dotting the hills in all directions; some perched on the
+heights beyond the Bevinco, which wound through the valley beneath, the
+moonlight flashing on patches of the stream and faintly revealing a dark
+chain of mountains beyond—the Serra di Stella, dividing the valley of
+the Bevinco from that of the Golo.
+
+The descent was easy, according to Antoine's augury. We tear down the
+hill, pass the village church at a sharp angle, its white _façade_
+glistening in the moonbeams; and a straight avenue, shaded by trees,
+brings us into a labyrinth of narrow lanes, overhung by tall, gaunt
+houses of the roughest fabric and materials. Antoine bids us stop before
+one of these gloomy abodes; an old woman appears at the door of the
+first story with a feeble oil-lamp in her hand. The ground-floor of
+these houses, as usual in the South, are all stables or cellars. After a
+short conference, Antoine disappears, and we see him no more that night.
+We mount a flight of steep, unhewn stone steps, at the risk of breaking
+our necks, for there is no rail; the good dame welcomes us to all that
+she has, little though it be, and we land in a grim apartment containing
+the usual raised hearth for cooking, with a very limited apparatus of
+utensils—a few shallow kettles of copper and iron, a table, some
+chairs, and a very questionable bed in a corner.
+
+There were two other apartments, _en suite_, the next being a _salle_,
+with a brick floor like the kitchen, tolerably clean. A few Scripture
+prints on the walls, a large table, some rickety chairs, and a settee,
+convertible, we found, into a very satisfactory shakedown, composed the
+furniture. The inner apartment, which contained a really good bed,
+seemed to be the widow's wardrobe and storeroom of all her most valuable
+effects; being crowded with chests, and tables covered with all sorts of
+things, helped out by pegs on the walls. These were ornamented with
+little coloured prints of the Virgin, and Saints, and there was a
+crucifix at the bed's head. After showing her apartments, the widow
+placed the lamp on the table in the _salle_, with the usual _felice
+notte_, and there was a running fire of questions and answers between
+her and the two hungry travellers about the _qualche cosa per mangiare_.
+The larder was of course empty, and the discussion resolved itself into
+some rashers of bacon, a loaf of very sweet bread, and a bottle of the
+light and excellent wine for which Capo Corso is famous, procured from a
+neighbour.
+
+This was not accomplished without a great deal of bustle and screeching,
+and running to and fro of the widow and some female friends, withered
+old crones, who had come to her aid on so unexpected an emergency as our
+appearance on the scene. This continued after supper till the chests in
+the inner apartment had delivered up their stores of sheets, coverlets,
+and towels, all as white as the driven snow. How we ate, drank, and
+lodged during our rambles is not the most agreeable of our
+recollections, and can have little interest except as affording glimpses
+of the habits of the people. This first essay of Corsican hospitality
+was not amiss.
+
+Just as we had finished our frugal meal, Giovanni made his appearance.
+Wishing to give him his _congé_, we expected a sharp altercation; to
+avoid which, and not forfeit our engagement that he should conduct us to
+Corte, it was proposed to him to leave the malcontent mule till his
+return, procuring at Olmeta a more serviceable beast, or to proceed with
+the others only. Giovanni was crestfallen; he had had enough of it, and
+did not bluster, as we expected. Though disliking him, we had amused
+ourselves at his expence, and could hardly now refrain from laughing at
+his piteous aspect. Giovanni, however, was quite as ready to be quit of
+us as we were to get rid of him. His reply to our proposal about the
+mule was quite touching:—
+
+“_Je ne veux pas me séparer de mon pauvre âne!_”
+
+So the inseparables were dismissed to return to Bastia, after an
+equitable adjustment, and we parted good friends. Giovanni was no
+favourite of ours, but that touch of sentiment for his “_pauvre âne_”
+was a redeeming trait. As for ourselves, we were left without a guide,
+which did not matter, and without the means of carrying forward our
+baggage, which did. This dilemma did not spoil our rest; it was such as
+weary travellers earn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. VIII.
+
+  _The_ Littorale.—_Corsican Agriculture.—Greek and Roman
+    Colonies.—Sketch of Mediæval and Modern History.—Memoirs of
+    King Theodore de Neuhoff._
+
+
+Let us now return for a short space to the point at which we quitted the
+high-road from Bastia. More attractive metal drew us off to the
+mountain-paths; but the _Littorale_ is not without interest, especially
+as the seat of the earliest and most thriving colonies in the island.
+These and its subsequent fortunes claim a passing notice.
+
+It may be recollected that our road lay for some miles through the plain
+between the mountains and the Mediterranean. This level is between fifty
+and sixty miles long. Intersected by the rivers flowing from the central
+chain, alluvial marshes are formed at their mouths, and there are also,
+from similar causes, several lagoons on the coast, of which the Stagna
+di Biguglia, near which we turned off into the _maquis_, is the largest.
+The exhalations from these marshes and waters render the climate so
+pestiferous, that the _littorale_ is almost uninhabited. The soil is
+extremely fertile, producing large crops where it is cultivated, and
+affording pasturage to immense herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. The
+country people inhabit villages on the neighbouring hills, descending
+into the plains at the seasons when their labour is required for
+tilling and sowing the land, and harvesting the crops; and but too
+frequently carrying back the seeds of wasting or fatal diseases.
+
+Even under the double disadvantages of exposure to malaria, and the
+natural indolence of the Corsican peasant, this district supplies a very
+large proportion of the corn consumed in the island. So great is this
+indolence, that not more than three-tenths of the surface of Corsica is
+brought under cultivation, although it is calculated that double that
+area is capable of it. I was unable to ascertain the number of acres
+under tillage, planted with vines and olive-trees, or otherwise
+requiring agricultural labour; but it might have been supposed that a
+population of 230,000 souls would at least have met the demand for
+labour on the portion of the surface thus occupied. So far, however,
+from this being the case, it is a curious fact that from 2000 to 3000
+labourers come into the island every year from Lucca, Modena, and Parma,
+to engage in agricultural employment. They generally arrive about the
+middle of April, and take their departure in November. They are an
+intelligent, laborious, and frugal class; and as the savings of each
+individual are calculated at 100 or 110 francs, no less a sum than
+200,000 francs is thus annually carried to the Continent instead of
+being earned by native industry. The climate of Corsica is described by
+many ancient writers as insalubrious; but there does not seem to be any
+foundation for the statement, except as regards the _littorale_, the
+only part of the island which appears to have been colonised in early
+times, and with which they were acquainted.
+
+Who were its primitive inhabitants and first colonists, whether Corsus,
+the supposed leader of a band of immigrants, who gave his name to the
+island, was a son of Hercules or a Trojan, are facts lost in the mist of
+ages, through which the origin of few races can be penetrated. An
+inquiry into such traditions would be a waste of time, and is foreign to
+a work of this kind.
+
+There is reason to believe that the light of civilisation first beamed
+on its shores from Sardinia—an island which some brief records, and,
+still more, its existing monuments, lead us to consider as civilised
+long before the period of authentic history.
+
+The island of Sardinia, placed in the great highway from the East, was a
+convenient station for the people who, in the first ages, were driven
+thence by a providential impulse towards the shores of the West, and,
+with the torch of civilisation in their hands, passed successively by
+Asia Minor and the islands of Crete, Sicily, and Sardinia to Greece, to
+Italy, and the other countries of the West.
+
+A smaller branch of the torrent of this great and primitive emigration
+poured from the mountain ranges in the north of Sardinia, and, crossing
+the straits, overspread the south of Corsica, bearing with it the
+civilisation of the East, of which records are found in the most ancient
+Corsican monuments. Some of these are identical with those in Sardinia,
+which will be mentioned hereafter. Such are the Dolmen, called in
+Corsica _Stazzone_; and the Menhir, to which they give the fanciful name
+of _Stantare_. When a child at play stands on its head with its heels
+self-balanced in the air, making itself a pyramid instead of cutting a
+pirouette, that is, in the language of mothers and nurses, _far la
+Stantare_.
+
+However this may be, there are numerous testimonies that the island of
+Corsica was known and visited in the most remote times by navigators of
+the several races on the shores of the Mediterranean—Phœnicians,
+Pelasgians, Tyrrhenians, Ligurians, and Iberians. Herodotus, who calls
+the island Cyrnos, describes an attempt at colonisation by Phocæans,
+driven from Ionia, who founded the city of Alalia, afterwards called
+Aleria, 448 years before the Christian era. But the genuine history of
+Corsica commences with the period when the Roman republic, on the decay
+of the Carthaginian power, began to extend its conquests in the
+Mediterranean.
+
+In the year 260 B.C., Lucius Cornelius Scipio led an expedition into the
+island, which was crowned with success. Every traveller who has visited
+Rome must have been interested in one of the few relics of the
+republican era, remarkable for its primitive simplicity—the tomb of the
+Scipios. It chanced that the writer, when there, procured a model of the
+sarcophagus which contained the ashes of this first of a race of heroes,
+L. C. Scipio. The monuments of Rome were not of marble in the times of
+the republic, and this sarcophagus being cut out of a block of the
+volcanic _peperino_, so common in the Campagna, the author had his model
+made of the same material, with the inscription cut in rude characters
+round the margin; that is to say, such part of it as had been preserved,
+so that it is a perfect fac-simile. He reads on it—
+
+  HEC CEPIT CORSICA ALERIAQUE URBE.
+
+That fragment contains the earliest record of Roman conquest in Corsica.
+But the conquest was incomplete, and for upwards of a century the
+Corsicans maintained an unequal struggle against the Roman legions,
+strong in their mountain fastnesses, while the Roman armies appear to
+have seldom advanced beyond the plains. The natives held their ground
+with such obstinacy that, on one occasion, after a bloody battle, a
+consular army, under Caius Papirius, was so nearly defeated, when rashly
+entangled in the gorges of the mountains, that the Corsicans obtained
+honourable terms of peace. The Roman historians relate that this battle
+was fought on “The Field of Myrtles,” a name appropriate to a Corsican
+_macchia_; and they do not otherwise describe the locality.[4] It is
+easy to imagine the scenes and the issue of a deadly struggle between
+the mountaineers and the disciplined legions, on ground such as that
+described in the preceding chapter.
+
+In these wars great numbers of the natives were carried off as slaves to
+Rome, and the annual tribute paid on submission consisted of wax, which
+was raised to 200,000 lbs. after one defeat.
+
+A two hours' walk over the plains from the point at which we quitted the
+high-road would bring us to the ruins of Mariana, a colony founded by
+Marius on the banks of the Golo, and to which he gave his name. Not a
+vestige of Roman architecture can now be found on the spot.
+
+During the civil wars, the rivals, Marius and Sylla, established each a
+colony in Corsica. That of Sylla (Aleria) stood forty miles further down
+the coast, at the mouth of the Tavignano, the seat of the ancient Greek
+colony of Alalia. Sylla restored it, sending over some of his veteran
+soldiers, among whom he distributed the conquered lands, and it became
+the capital of the island during the Roman period, and so continued
+during the earlier part of the middle ages. Sacked and laid in ruins by
+the Arabs, some iron rings on the Stagna di Diana, the ancient port,
+large blocks of stone on the site of a mole at the mouth of the
+Tavignano, some arches, a few steps of a circus, with coins and cameos
+occasionally turned up, are the sole vestiges of the Roman colonisation
+in Corsica. Their only road led from Mariana by Aleria to Palæ, a
+station near the modern Bonifaccio, from whence there was a _trajectus_
+to Portus Tibulus (Longo Sardo), in Sardinia; and the road was continued
+through that island to its southern extremity, near Cagliari.
+
+In the decline of the Roman power, Corsica shared the fate of the other
+territories in the Mediterranean attached to the eastern empire. Seized
+by the Vandals under Genseric, despotically governed by the Byzantine
+emperors, pillaged by Saracen corsairs, protected by Charlemagne, and,
+on the fall of his empire, parcelled out, like the rest of Europe, among
+a host of feudal barons, mostly of foreign extraction—who, from their
+rock-girt towers, waged perpetual hostilities with each other, and
+tyrannised over the enthralled natives—claimed by the Popes in virtue of
+Pepin's donation, and granted by them to the Pisans,—after a long
+struggle between the two rival republics contending for the supremacy of
+the Mediterranean, the island at last fell under the dominion of the
+Genoese.
+
+This dominion the republic of Genoa exercised for more than four
+centuries (from the thirteenth to the eighteenth) in an almost
+uninterrupted course of gross misrule. Instead of endeavouring to
+amalgamate the islanders with her own citizens, she treated them as a
+degraded cast, worthy only of slavery. A governor, frequently chosen by
+the republic from amongst men of desperate circumstances, had the
+absolute sovereignty of the island: by his mere sentence, on secret
+information, without trial, a person might be condemned to death or to
+the galleys. The venality of the Genoese tribunals was so notorious,
+that the murderer felt sure to escape if he could pay the judge for his
+liberation.[5]
+
+The Corsicans were not a race which would tamely submit to this tyranny,
+and their annals during this long period exhibit a series of bloody
+struggles against the Genoese republic, and devoted efforts to maintain
+their rights and recover their independence. In these contests the
+_signori_ either allied themselves with the Genoese, or took part with
+their countrymen, as their interest inclined; while a succession of
+patriot leaders, such as few countries of greater pretensions can
+boast—Sambucchio, Sampiero, the Gaffori, the Paoli—all sprung from the
+ranks of the people; the bravest in the field and the wisest in council,
+carried aloft the banner of Corsican _libertà_.
+
+The hostilities were not confined to the parties immediately interested
+in the quarrel. Foreign aid was invoked on the one side and on the
+other, and for a long period the little island of Corsica became the
+battle-field of the great European powers; Spaniards, Austrians, French,
+and English, at one time or the other, and especially in the decay of
+the Genoese republic, throwing their forces into the scale, and
+occupying portions of the island, but with no definitive result, until
+its final absorption in the dominion of its present masters.
+
+Little interest would now attach to the details of a struggle confined
+to so insignificant a territory, and having so little influence on
+European politics; and it would be alike foreign to the province of a
+traveller, and wearisome to the reader, that the subject should be
+pursued, except incidentally, where events or persons connected with the
+localities he visits call forth some passing remarks. An exception may
+perhaps be allowed in the course of this narrative for some account of
+the English intervention in Corsican affairs. It is little known that
+our George III. was once the constitutional king of Corsica. Nelson,
+too, performed there one of his most dashing exploits.
+
+Just now we have been talking of Aleria, a place identified with a
+curious and somewhat romantic episode in Corsican history. Corsica
+cradled and sent forth a soldier of fortune, to become in his
+aspirations, and almost in effect, the Cæsar of the western empire.
+Corsica received into her bosom a German adventurer, who, for a brief
+space, played on this narrow stage the part of her crowned king. That
+there is but a short interval between the sublime and the ridiculous,
+was exemplified in the career of these upstart monarchs. Both sought an
+asylum in England. The one pined in an island-prison, the other in a
+London gaol.
+
+
+THEODORE DE NEUHOFF, KING OF CORSICA.[6]
+
+On the 25th March, 1736, a small merchant-ship, carrying the English
+ensign, anchored off Aleria. There landed from it a personage of noble
+appearance, with a suite of sixteen persons, who was received with the
+deference due to a monarch. He superintended the disembarkation of
+cannon and military stores, and gratuitously distributed powder,
+muskets, and other accoutrements, to the Corsicans who crowded to the
+shore.
+
+The imagination exercises a powerful sway over the people of the South.
+The mystery which surrounded this personage, his dignified and polished
+manners, the important succour he brought, and even the fantastical and
+semi-Oriental cast of his dress, all contributed to produce a great
+influence on ardent minds naturally inclined to the marvellous. This was
+Theodore de Neuhoff.
+
+Theodore Antoine, Baron de Neuhoff, a native of Westphalia, had been in
+his youth page to the Duchess of Orleans, and afterwards served in
+Spain. Returning to France, he attached himself to the speculations of
+Law, and partook the vicissitudes of splendour and misery which were the
+fortunes of his patron. When that bubble burst, our adventurer wandered
+through Europe, seeking his fortune with a perseverance, combined with
+incontestable talent, which, sooner or later, must seize some
+opportunity of accomplishing his schemes.
+
+At Genoa he fell in with Giaffori and some other Corsican patriots, then
+exiled; and representing himself to be possessed of immense resources,
+and even to have it in his power to secure the support of powerful
+courts, offered to drive the Genoese out of the island, on condition of
+his being recognised as King of Corsica. The patriot chiefs, seduced by
+these magnificent promises, and, perhaps, too apt to seek for foreign
+aid wherever it could be found, accepted Theodore's offers.
+
+Not to follow him through all the course of his romantic adventures, it
+appears that he found means of credit—perhaps from the Jews, with whom
+he was already deeply involved—for a considerable sum of ready money,
+and the arms, ammunition, and stores necessary for his expedition.
+Landing in Corsica, in the manner already described, the Corsican
+chiefs, although they had concerted his descent on the island, had the
+address to cherish the popular idea that Theodore's arrival was a mark
+of the interest taken by Heaven in the liberty of the Corsicans.
+
+In a popular assembly held at the Convent of Alesani, a Constitution was
+resolved on, by which the kingdom of Corsica was settled hereditarily in
+the family of the Baron de Neuhoff; taxation was reserved to the Diet,
+and it was provided that all offices should be filled by natives of the
+island. The baron, having sworn on the Gospels to adhere to the
+Constitution, was crowned with a chaplet of laurel and oak in the
+presence of immense crowds, who flocked to the ceremony from all
+quarters, amid shouts of “_Evviva Teodoro, re di Corsica!_”
+
+Theodore took possession of the deserted episcopal residence at
+Cervione, where he assumed every mark of royal dignity. He had his
+court, his guards, and his officers of state; levied troops, coined
+money, instituted an order of knighthood, and created nobility, among
+whom such names as _Marchese_ Giaffori and _Marchese_ Paoli (Pasquale's
+father) singularly figure. His manifesto, in answer to Genoese
+proclamations denouncing his pretensions and painting him as a
+charlatan, affected as great a sensitiveness of insult as could exist in
+the mind of a Capet. For some time all things went well; Theodore became
+master of nearly the whole island except the Genoese fortresses, which
+he blockaded. These were, in fact, the keys of the island. But the
+succours which he had boasted of receiving did not arrive, and, after
+employing various artifices to keep alive the expectations of foreign
+aid and fresh supplies of the muniments of war, finding, when he had
+held the reins of power about eight months, that his new subjects began
+to cool in their attachment to his person, and did not act with the same
+ardour as before, he determined to go over to the Continent, with the
+hope of obtaining the means of carrying on the war, and thus reinstating
+himself in the confidence of the Corsicans.
+
+Appointing a regency to conduct the affairs of his kingdom during his
+absence, he went to Holland, and, though even his royal credit was
+probably at a discount, after long delay, he succeeded in negotiating a
+considerable loan, at what rate of interest or on what security we are
+not told. However, a ship was freighted with cannon and other warlike
+stores, on board of which he returned to Corsica two years after he had
+quitted the island. But it was too late; the French were then in
+possession of the principal places, the patriot leaders were negotiating
+with them, and the people had lost all confidence in their mock-king.
+Theodore found, to use a colloquial expression, that “the game was up,”
+and wisely retracing his steps, found his way to England, the last
+refuge of abdicated monarchs.
+
+Fortune still frowned on him. Pursued by his relentless creditors, the
+ex-king was thrown into the King's Bench prison. His distresses
+attracted the commiseration of Horace Walpole, who, as Boswell informs
+us, “wrote a paper in the ‘World,’ with great elegance and humour,
+soliciting a contribution for the monarch in distress, to be paid to Mr.
+Robert Dodsley, bookseller, as lord high treasurer. This brought in a
+very handsome sum, and he was allowed to get out of prison.” “Walpole,”
+he adds, “has the original deed by which Theodore made over the kingdom
+of Corsica in security to his creditors.” Mr. Benson's statement, which
+is more exact, and agrees with the epitaph, is, that the subscription
+was not sufficient to extricate King Theodore from his difficulties, and
+that he was released from gaol as an insolvent debtor. However that may
+be, he died soon afterwards. Former writers have stated that he was
+buried in an obscure corner, among the paupers, in the churchyard of St.
+Anne's, Westminster, but they are mistaken. We find a neat mural tablet
+fixed against the exterior wall of the church of St. Anne's, Soho, at
+the west end, on which, surmounted by a coronet, is inscribed the
+following epitaph, written by Horace Walpole:—
+
+    [Illustration: coronet]
+
+         “Near this place is interred
+           THEODORE, KING OF CORSICA,
+            Who died in this parish
+                 Dec. 11, 1756,
+           Immediately after leaving
+            The King's Bench Prison
+    By the benefit of the Act of Insolvency;
+            In consequence of which
+      He registered his kingdom of Corsica
+         For the use of his Creditors.
+
+    The grave, great teacher, to a level brings
+    Heroes and beggars, galley-slaves and Kings:
+    But Theodore this moral learned, ere dead:
+    Fate poured his lesson on his living head,
+    Bestow'd a kingdom, and denied him bread.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. IX.
+
+  _Environs of Olmeta.—Bandit-Life and the Vendetta—Its
+    Atrocities.—The Population disarmed.—The Bandits exterminated._
+
+    [Illustration: OLMETA.]
+
+
+Olmeta stands, like most Corsican villages, on the point of a hill,
+forming one side of an oval basin, the slopes of which are laid out in
+terraced gardens and vineyards. Here and there, in sheltered nooks, we
+find plantations of orange-trees, now showing green fruit under their
+glossy leaves. Some fine chestnut and walnut trees about the place, and
+the magnificent elms (_olme_) from which it derives its name, soften the
+aspect of its bleak, exposed site, and gaunt houses.
+
+Charming as the natural landscapes are in Corsica, one finds most of the
+villages, however picturesque at a distance, on a nearer approach, a
+conglomeration of tall, shapeless houses, black and frowning, with
+windows guarded by rusty iron _grilles_, and generally unglazed.
+Altogether, they look more like the holds of banditti than the abodes of
+peaceful vinedressers; while the filth of the purlieus is unutterable.
+Throwing open the double casements of the widow's sanctum, I may not
+call it boudoir, when I leapt out of bed to enjoy the fresh morning
+air,—underneath was a noisome dunghill, grim gables frowned on either
+hand, but beyond was the _riant_ landscape just described. Here truly
+God made the country, man the town.
+
+While my friend was sketching, I strolled up to the pretty church we had
+seen by moonlight. Close by is a large, roomy mansion, which belonged to
+Marshal Sebastiani. He was a native of Olmeta, and, from an obscure
+origin, arriving at high rank as well as great wealth, partly, I
+understood, through a brilliant marriage, bought a large property in the
+neighbourhood, which has been recently sold for 150,000 francs to a
+French _Directeur_. I went over the château: to the original mansion the
+marshal had added a handsome _salle_, and a lofty tower commanding
+varied and extensive views towards Fiorenzo and the Mediterranean. My
+conductor was a gentleman of Olmeta, who accidentally meeting me,
+proffered his services, pressing me afterwards to take breakfast with
+him. We had done very well at the widow's long before, with delicious
+bread, eggs, apples, and figs, and coffee in the smallest of cups. We
+brewed our own tea in a bran-new coffee-pot, purchased for that purpose
+at Bastia. Butter and milk were wanting, but whipped eggs make a very
+tolerable substitute for the latter.
+
+My new acquaintance informed me that the decree, passed the year before
+for disarming the whole population, combined with measures for
+increasing the force of the _gendarmerie_, and making it highly penal to
+harbour the bandits or afford them any succour, had been actively and
+rigorously carried out, and were completely successful. The life of a
+citizen is as safe in Corsica as in any other department of France. “You
+may walk through the island,” added my informant, “with a purse of gold
+in your bosom.”
+
+This was true, I imagine, with regard to strangers, in the worst of
+times; their security from molestation being nearly allied to the
+national virtue of hospitality, which is not quite extinct. Nor were the
+Corsican banditti associated, like those of Italy, for the mere purpose
+of plunder, though they have heavily taxed the peaceable inhabitants,
+both by drawing from the poor the means for their subsistence in the
+woods and mountains, and by levying, under terror, direct contributions
+in money from the more wealthy inhabitants in the towns and villages.
+These are, however, but trifling ingredients in the mass of crime for
+which Corsica has been so painfully distinguished. Would, indeed, that
+robbery and pillage were the sins of the darkest dye which have to be
+laid to the account of the Corsican bandit! Most commonly, his hands
+have been stained with innocent blood, shed recklessly, relentlessly,
+in private quarrels, often of the most frivolous description, and not in
+open fight, as in the feuds of the middle ages, not in the heat of
+sudden passion, but by cool, premeditated murder.
+
+Philippini, the best Corsican historian, who lived in the sixteenth
+century, states that in his time 28,000 Corsicans were murdered in the
+course of thirty years. A later Corsican historian calculates that
+between the years 1683 and 1715, a period of thirty-two years, 28,715
+murders were perpetrated in Corsica; and he reckons that an equal number
+were wounded. The average, then, in their days, was about 900 souls
+yearly sent to their account by the dagger and the _fusil_ in murderous
+assaults; besides vast multitudes who fell in the wars.
+
+It was still worse in earlier ages; but those of which we speak were
+times of high civilisation, and Corsica lay in the centre of it. What do
+we find in recent times, up to the very year before we visited the
+island?
+
+I have before me the _Procès verbal_ of the deliberations of the Council
+General of the department of Corsica for each of the years 1850, '51,
+and '52. From these I gather that 4,300 _assassinats_ had been
+perpetrated in Corsica since 1821; and, in the three years before
+mentioned, the “_Assassinats, ou tentatives d'assassiner_,” averaged
+ninety-eight annually from the 1st of January to the 1st of August, to
+which day the annual reports are made up; so that, reckoning for the
+remaining five months in the same proportion, the list of these heinous
+crimes is brought up to the fearful amount, for these days, of 160 in
+each year.
+
+Well might M. le Préfet observe, in his address at the opening of the
+session of 1851: “_La situation du département à cet égard est sans
+doute profondément triste. Le nombre des crimes n'a pas diminué
+sensiblement_.” So low, however, is the moral sense in Corsica with
+regard to the sanctity of human life, that these atrocities excite no
+horror, and the sympathies of vast numbers of the population are with
+the bandits. They are the heroes of the popular tales and _canzoni_; one
+hears of them from one end of the island to the other, round the
+watchfires of the shepherds on the mountains, in the remote _paése_, by
+the roadside. They are the tales of the nursery,—the Corsican child
+learns, with his Ave Maria, that it is rightful and glorious to take the
+life of any one who injures or offends him.
+
+To a passionate and imaginative people, these tales of daring courage
+and wild adventure have an inconceivable charm; though stained with
+blood, they are full of poetry and romance. Such stories have been
+eagerly seized upon by writers on Corsica,—they make excellent literary
+capital. Unfortunately, _banditisme_ forms so striking a feature in
+Corsican history, that it must necessarily occupy a conspicuous place in
+a faithful review of the genius and manners of the people. There are
+doubtless traits of a heroism worthy a better cause, and sometimes of a
+redeeming humanity, in the lives of the banditti; but one regrets to
+find, though happily not in the works of the English travellers who have
+given accounts of Corsica, a tendency to palliate so atrocious a system
+as blood-revenge. _Vendetta_, the name given it, has a romantic sound;
+and it is treated as a sort of national institution, originating in high
+and laudable feelings, the injured sense of right, and the love of
+family; so that, with the glory shed around it by a false heroism, it is
+almost raised to the rank of a virtue.
+
+To take blood for blood, not by the hand of public justice, but by the
+kinsmen of the slain, was, we are reminded, a primitive custom,
+sanctioned by the usages of many nations, and even by the laws of Moses.
+We know, however, that among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors the laws humanely
+commuted this right of revenge for fines commensurate with the rank of
+the murdered person. But while the Mosaic law forbad the acceptance of
+any pecuniary compensation for the crime of manslaughter, and expressly
+recognised the right of the “avenger of blood” to exact summary
+vengeance, it provided for even the murderer's security until he were
+brought to a fair trial. But Corsica, alas! has had no “Cities of
+Refuge,” and examples drawn from remote and barbarous times can afford
+no apology for the inveterate cruelties of a people enjoying the light
+of modern civilisation and professing the religion of the New Testament.
+
+The _vendetta_ is also represented as a kind of rude justice, to which
+the people were driven in the long ages of misrule during which law was
+in abeyance or corruptly administered. There is, no doubt, much truth in
+this as applied to those times; but the prodigious amount of human
+slaughter shown in the statistics just quoted, as well as the
+continuance of this atrocious system to the present day, long after the
+slightest shadow of any pretence of legal injustice has vanished, seem
+to argue that the ferocity which has shed such rivers of blood, if not
+instinctive in the national character, at least found a soil in which it
+took deep root.
+
+For more than half a century, there can be no question but, under a
+settled government, strict justice has been done by the ordinary
+proceedings of the courts of law, in all cases of injury to person or
+property, submitted to them. But the turbulent Corsicans were ever
+impatient of regular government—one great cause of their ultimate
+degradation, not a little connected also with the growth of
+_banditisme_; and the failure of justice has not lain with the
+authorities, but with the population which harbours and screens the
+criminals, and with the juries who refuse to convict them.[7]
+
+The only other instance in the present day of crimes similar to those
+which have been the scourge of Corsica, is found in the case of unhappy
+Ireland. There, however, the blood-revenge has been mostly confined to
+cases of supposed agrarian grievances, and the number of victims
+sacrificed to it is comparatively limited; more innocent blood having
+been shed in Corsica in a single year, than in Ireland during, perhaps,
+a quarter of a century.
+
+The _vendetta_, is also palliated as vindicating wrongs for which no
+courts of law, however upright, can afford redress. Among the most
+polished nations, “the point of honour” has been held to justify an
+injured man for challenging his adversary to mortal combat. But the
+duel, from its first origin among our Scandinavian ancestors, savage as
+they were, and through all its forms, whether legalised or treated as
+felonious, to its last shape in civilised society, has nothing
+practically in common with the Corsican _vendetta_. In the one, the
+appeal to arms has always been tempered by a punctilious chivalry, which
+recoiled from the slightest unfairness in the attendant circumstances;
+in the other, the enemy is, if possible, taken unawares, shot down by a
+cowardly miscreant lurking behind a tree or a rock, or suddenly stabbed
+without an opportunity of putting himself on his defence. The practice
+of the _vendetta_ is mere assassination.
+
+Stript of the colouring shed round it by sentiment and romance,
+_banditisme_, in its latter days at least, has been a very common-place
+affair. Great numbers of the Corsicans, too indolent to work, were happy
+to lead a vagabond life, harbouring in the woods and mountains with a
+gun on their shoulders, and as ready to shoot a man as a wild beast.
+“_C'est qu'en général_,” said the Préfet, in the address already quoted,
+“_ces crimes proviennent moins du banditisme que de la déplorable
+habitude de marcher toujours armés, par suite de laquelle les moindres
+rixes dégénèrent si souvent en attentats contre la vie._” One hears
+continually for what trifles assassinations have been perpetrated; and a
+recent traveller informs us that his life was threatened for having
+merely resisted the extortionate demand of his guide to the mountains.
+
+The hardships to which the bandit is exposed in his wild life in the
+_maquis_ cannot be much greater than those of the shepherd who, from
+fear or favour, shares with him his chestnuts, his goat's milk, and
+cheese. The _gendarmes_, indeed, are sometimes on his track, but there
+is stirring adventure in eluding their pursuit, triumph in the ambuscade
+to which they become victims, glory even in death heroically met. With
+all its perils and hardships, such a life of lawless independence has
+its charms; and the bandit knows that his memory will be honoured, and
+his death, if possible, revenged. But who laments the unfortunate
+_gendarme_ who falls in these encounters? Who pities the widow and
+orphans of men as bold, resolute, and enterprising as those against whom
+they are matched? In the tales of banditti life, the ministers of
+justice are _sbirri_, conventionally a term of disgrace; all the
+sympathy is with the culprit against whom the _gendarmerie_ peril their
+lives in an arduous service.
+
+The brigands must live by plunder in one shape or another. It is not
+likely that bands of armed men, the terror of a whole neighbourhood,
+would be always content with the mere subsistence wrung from the scanty
+resources of the poor shepherds. Not that they robbed on the highways;
+it answered better to levy contributions, under pain of death, from such
+of the defenceless inhabitants as were able to pay them. Mr. Benson
+tells a story of one of the most celebrated of the bandit chiefs, who
+levied black mail in the wild districts bordering on the forest of
+Vizzavona.
+
+“Leaving Vivario, we heard from the lips of the poor _curé_, that
+Galluchio and his followers were in the _maquis_ of a range of mountains
+to our right. The _curé_ was busy in his vineyard when we passed, but as
+soon as he recognised our French companion, he left his work for a few
+moments to join us. ‘Sir,’ said he, addressing himself to M. Cottard, ‘I
+feel myself in imminent danger; Galluchio and his band are in yonder
+mountains, and only a few evenings ago I received a peremptory message
+from him, requiring 300 francs, and threatening my speedy assassination
+should I delay many days to comply with his demand. I have not the
+money, and I have sent for some military to protect me.’”[8]
+
+There is reason to believe that these forced contributions have not
+diminished since Mr. Benson's journey. We were told of a case in which a
+wealthy man, having received notice to pay 10,000 francs, under penalty
+of being shot, was so terrified, that after shutting himself up in his
+house for a year in constant alarm, his health and spirits became so
+shattered by the state of continual terror and watchfulness in which he
+lived, that he sank under it, and was carried out dead. In another case,
+a young man of more resolute character was called upon for 1000 francs,
+and having no ready money, was allowed three months to raise it, on
+giving his bill for security. He armed himself, and went to the
+appointed rendezvous. The brigand was waiting for him; he made him lay
+down his arms, and searched him. The young man had filled his pockets
+with chestnuts, and had contrived to secrete a small pistol about his
+person, which escaped discovery. The brigand, producing paper and ink,
+ordered his victim to draw the bill. The young man excused himself on
+the ground that he was so frightened, and his hand trembled so that he
+could not write;—he would sign the bill if the other drew it out. The
+brigand knelt down by the side of a flat stone to do so. Meanwhile the
+young man walked up and down eating his chestnuts, and throwing the
+shells carelessly away. Some of them struck the brigand. “What are you
+doing?” said he, startled. “Eating my chestnuts;” and he took out
+another handful. Occasionally he stopped and looked down on the bandit
+while engaged in writing; still, with apparent _sang froid_, munching
+his chestnuts. Presently the bill was finished; he pretended to look it
+over, found some error, which he pointed out, and while the brigand
+stooped to correct it, drew his concealed pistol and shot him through
+the head.—The so-called _vendetta_ has shrunk more and more to the level
+of vulgar crime. It is even notorious that bandits have become hired
+assassins, employed by others to take off persons against whom they had
+a grudge,—“_mais plus pour amitié que pour argent_,” said my informant,
+giving the fact the most favourable turn.
+
+It seems surprising that such enormities should have been permitted in a
+European country, at an advanced period of the nineteenth century. Could
+a strong national government have been established in Corsica—which,
+however, seems to have been impracticable with so lawless and factious a
+people—its first duty would have been, as was the case under Pascal
+Paoli's administration, to give security to life, _coûte que coûte_. The
+successive Governments of France appear to have been too much occupied
+by their own affairs to pay any regard to the social state of their
+Corsican department, flagrant as was the disgrace it reflected on them.
+Perhaps they were impressed with the idea that the passion of revenge,
+the thirst for blood, were so inherent in the native character, that law
+and force were alike powerless, and the _vendetta_ could only be
+extirpated by a moral change more to be hoped for than expected. Thus
+speaks the Préfet, in his inaugural address of 1851:—“_Ici, messieurs,
+vous en conviendrez, l'administration est sans force. C'est à la
+religion seule qu'appartient la touchante prérogative de prêcher l'oubli
+des injures:_” and a traveller who spent some time in the island during
+the year following, gives the result of his observations in the
+following words:—“There is probably no other means of certainly putting
+down the blood-revenge, murder, and bandit-life, than culture; and
+culture advances in Corsica but slowly.”[9]
+
+The same author says of the general disarming, proposed in 1852:
+“Whether, and how, this will be capable of execution, I know not. It
+will cost mischief enough in the execution; for they will not be able to
+disarm the banditti at the same time, and their enemies will then be
+exposed, unarmed, to their bullets.” These doubts and forebodings are
+proved to have been imaginary. It might have been long, indeed, before
+preaching and moral culture had eradicated evils so deeply rooted in the
+genius of the people. In such an extreme case, the exercise of a
+despotic power was required to put an end to the reign of terror and
+blood which has desolated this fair island for so many centuries. One
+bold stroke has broken the spell; the measures adopted for the
+suppression of _banditisme_ have completely succeeded. “The prisons are
+full,” said my informant; “in the last year, 400 of the brigands have
+been sentenced or shot down, and as many more driven out of the country:
+the land is at peace.”
+
+The only wonder is that the experiment was not tried before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. X.
+
+  _The Basin of Oletta.—The Olive.—Corsican Tales.—The Heroine of
+    Oletta.—Zones of Climate and Vegetation._
+
+
+We found that no mules could be hired at Olmeta, and intending to wander
+for a few days in the neighbouring valleys, and on the skirts of the
+mountainous district of Nebbio, though we preferred walking, were at
+some loss how to get forward our baggage. The Bastia muleteer was
+dismissed, and as we were travelling somewhat at our ease, the luggage
+was more than could be conveniently carried. In this dilemma, Antoine
+proffered the services of himself and the mule which had done its work
+so well the evening before. His offer was readily accepted, and we had
+much reason to be pleased with the change we had made in our conductor.
+Antoine relieved us from all care as to our baggage and entertainment,
+knew the roads, and where we could best put up, had by heart many a
+story of times past, and something to tell of all the places we visited,
+and, having been a rover himself, entered into the spirit of our
+rambles: altogether, as I have observed before, Antoine was an excellent
+specimen of a Capo Corso peasant. To be sure, he had killed his man, but
+that was in a _duello_, according to Corsican ideas; as singular, if one
+may jest on such a subject, as Captain Marryat's famous triangular duel.
+
+The valleys of Olmeta, Oletta, and some others, form a sort of basin
+between the mountains bounding the _littorale_, already spoken of, and
+the Serra di Tenda, a noble range in the western line of the principal
+chain. Broken by numberless hills, the whole basin is a scene of fertile
+beauty, similar to the picture drawn of Olmeta—vineyards, olive-grounds
+and gardens, orange, citron, fig, almond, apple, and pear-trees,
+clustering at every turn with groups of magnificent chestnut-trees, and
+alternating with spots devoted to tillage. The country people were now
+sowing wheat or preparing the ground with most primitive ploughs, of the
+Roman fashion, drawn sometimes by a single ox or mule. Patches, on which
+the green blade was already springing, showed that it is the practice to
+sow wheat as soon as possible after the autumnal rains.
+
+    [Illustration: ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO, THROUGH A GORGE.]
+
+Retracing our steps of the preceding night nearly to the summit of the
+pass, under the persuasion that it commanded a fine prospect, we turned
+to the right, and strolled along a terrace above the broad valley
+through which the Bevinco flows into the Stagno di Biguglia, somewhat
+below the point at which we left it. Looking backward, we had a charming
+peep at the Mediterranean through a gorge in the mountains, with the
+lonely island of Monte-Cristo, seen from this point of view detached
+from the rest of the group of islands to which it belongs. Across the
+valley was a range of mountains, a branch of the central chain dividing
+it from that of the Golo. Mists hung about them, pierced by the Cima dei
+Taffoni, the most elevated point of the range, which rose magnificently,
+being about 3000 feet high, twenty miles to the south-east. The ridge
+along which we strolled was covered partly by patches of the
+never-failing evergreen shrubbery, rendered more beautiful by the
+quantities of cyclamen, one of the prettiest plants we have in our
+greenhouses at home, now in full flower under the shelter of the arbutus
+and other shrubs. Small flocks of sheep, all black, and no larger than
+our Welsh mountain breed, were browsing among the barren patches of
+heath, and sometimes crossed our path, with their tinkling bells. There
+was a slight shower; but it soon cleared off, and the sun shone out, and
+the air and surface of the ground, cooled and freshened by the gentle
+rain, were in the best state for the continuation of our rambles.
+
+The cultivation, as may be supposed, is indolent and imperfect, the
+surface being merely scratched, and little care taken to free it of
+weeds. We need not, therefore, be surprised at finding that the average
+produce of the wheat-crop throughout Corsica is only an increase of nine
+on the seed sown. Of maize, or Indian corn, it is thirty-eight or forty.
+
+The canton of Oletta is called by the Corsicans “the pearl of the
+Nebbio.” It contains two or three hamlets, the principal village seeming
+to hang on the rocky slope of a hill, embowered in fruit trees. The
+olive flourishes particularly well here; and Oletta takes its name from
+its olive-trees, as Olmeta does from its elms. Many of them are of
+great age and size, and, with their silvery leaves, have a soft and
+pleasing effect, especially when contrasted with the richer foliage of
+the spreading chestnut-trees. The olive-yards are neatly dug and kept
+clear of weeds; and we observed that the soil was drawn round the stems
+of the trees, probably in well-manured heaps, such a produce as the
+olive truly requiring to feed on the fat of the land. The berries were
+now full formed, but had not begun to fall. I believe they hang till
+Christmas, when they are collected, and carried to the vats. When
+pressed, twenty pounds of olives yield five of pure oil. It is stored in
+large pottery jars, and forms the principal export from Corsica; this
+district, with the Balagna and the neighbourhood of Bonifaccio,
+producing the largest quantity. An inferior sort of oil is used in the
+lamps throughout the island; the lamps being of glass, with tall stems
+containing the oil, and crowned by a socket, through which the cotton
+burner is passed, and having nothing of the antique or classical about
+them. The birds scattering the berries in all directions, and carrying
+them to great distances, the number of wild olive-trees is immense. An
+attempt was made to count them, by order of the Government, in 1820,
+with a view to foster so valuable a source of national wealth by the
+encouragement of grafting; and it is said that as many as twelve
+millions of wild olive-trees were then counted.
+
+There is a story of love and heroism connected with Oletta. One hears
+such tales everywhere in Corsica—by the wayside, at the shepherd's
+watch-fire, lying in the shade, or basking in the sun. Antoine was an
+excellent _raconteur_; so are all such vagabonds. I possess a
+collection of these tales by Renucci, published at Bastia[10], and
+proposed to interweave some of them into my narrative. They may be
+worked up, with invention and embellishment, into pretty romances; but
+that is not our business. In Renucci, we have stories of _Ospitalità_,
+_Magnanimità_, _Fedeltà_, _Probità_, _Generosità_, _Incorruttibilità_,
+all the virtues under the sun with names ending in _tà_, and many
+others. One wearies of the eternal laudation lavished on these
+islanders, not only by their own writers, but by all travellers, from
+Boswell downwards.
+
+The story of the heroine of Oletta is told by Renucci[11], and, more
+simply, by Marmocchi.[12] During the occupation of Capo Corso by the
+French, in 1751, some of the villagers were sentenced to be broken on
+the wheel for a conspiracy to seize the place, which was garrisoned by
+the French; their bodies were exposed on the scaffold, and their friends
+prohibited, under severe penalties, from giving them Christian burial.
+But a young woman, _giovinetta scelta e robusta_, as she must have been
+to perform the exploit assigned to her in the tale, eluded the sentries,
+and, taking the body of her lover, one of the conspirators executed, on
+her shoulders, carried it off. The general in command, struck by her
+exalted virtue, pardons the offence, and she is borne home in triumph
+amidst the shouts of the villagers.
+
+All honour to the French marquis for his gallantry to a woman, though
+his tactics were somewhat savage for the reign of Louis XVI.; and all
+glory to Maria Gentili of Oletta, stout of heart and strong of limb, fit
+to be the wife and mother of bandits; still better, to have fought at
+Borgo, where Corsican women, in male attire, with sword and gun, rushed
+forward in the ranks of the island militia which triumphantly defeated a
+French army, composed of some of the finest troops in Europe.[13]
+
+But let us proceed with our rambles; and, before we change the scene
+from the region of the vine and the orange to that of the chestnut and
+ilex, a short digression on the climatic zones of Corsica may not be out
+of place.
+
+    [Illustration: BETWEEN OLMETA AND BIGORNO.]
+
+The island may be divided, as to climate and vegetation, into three
+zones, corresponding with the degrees of elevation of its surface. The
+_first_, ranging to about 1,700 feet above the level of the
+Mediterranean, and embracing the deeper valleys of the island, as well
+as the sea-coast, has the characteristics conformable to its latitude;
+that is to say, similar to those of the parallel shores of Italy and
+Spain. Properly speaking, there is no winter; they have but two seasons,
+spring and summer. The thermometer seldom falls more than a degree or
+two below the freezing point, and then only for a few hours. The nights
+are, however, cold at all seasons.
+
+When we were at Ajaccio, towards the end of October, the heat was
+oppressive; my thermometer at noon stood at 80° in the shade, in an airy
+room closed by Venetian blinds. In January, we were told, the sun
+becomes again powerful, and then for eight months succeeds a torrid
+heat. The sky is generally cloudless, the thermometer rises from 70 to
+80 and even 90 degrees in the shade, and scarcely any rain falls after
+the month of April; nor indeed always then, so that there are often long
+and excessive droughts.
+
+The indigenous vegetation is generally of a class suited to resist the
+droughts, having hard, coriaceous leaves. Such is the shrubbery
+described in a former chapter, which, exempt from severe frosts on the
+one hand, and thriving in an arid soil and parching heat on the other,
+clothes half the surface of the island with perpetual verdure. There
+have been seasons when even these shrubs were so burnt up that the
+slightest accident might have caused a wide-spread conflagration. When
+we travelled, the leaves of the rock-roses, which here grow to the
+height of four or five feet, were hanging on the bushes scorched and
+withered by the summer heat, somewhat marring the beauty of the
+evergreen thickets.
+
+Most of the fruit-trees suited to flourish in such a climate have been
+already noticed in passing. We saw also almonds, pomegranates, and
+standard peaches and apricots. To the list of shrubs which most struck
+us, I may also add the brilliant flowering oleander, and the tamarisk.
+Corsica is said to be famous for its orchids, verbenas, and cotyledinous
+and caryophyllaceous plants; but I only speak of what I saw, and these
+were out of season.
+
+The _second_ zone ranges from about 2000 feet to between 5000 and 6000
+feet above the level of the Mediterranean, the climate corresponding
+with that of the central districts of France. The temperature is,
+however, very variable, and its changes are sudden. Frost and snow make
+their appearance in November, and often last for fifteen or twenty days
+together. It is remarked, that frost does not injure the olive-trees up
+to the level of about 3800 feet; and snow even renders them more
+fruitful.
+
+The chestnut appears to be the characteristic feature in the vegetation
+of this zone. Thriving also among hills and valleys of a lower
+elevation, here it spreads into extensive woods, till at the height of
+about 6000 feet it is exchanged for the pine, and Marmocchi says[14], I
+think incorrectly, _cède la place_ to the oak and the _beech_. We
+certainly found the oak, both evergreen (ilex) and deciduous, growing
+very freely and in extensive woods in close contiguity with the chestnut
+at an elevation far below the limit of the _second_ zone, as well as
+mixed with the pine in the forest of Vizzavona, also below that limit.
+But, from my own observation, I should class the oak of both kinds
+among the trees belonging to the second zone, though the chestnut is its
+most characteristic feature; and should much doubt its flourishing at
+the height of between 6000 and 7000 feet above the sea-level,—still more
+the beech. The highest point at which we found the beech was the Col di
+Vizzavona, on the road from Vivario to Bocagnono, 3435 feet above the
+level of the Mediterranean, and I was surprised to see it flourishing
+there.
+
+While the principal cities and towns in Corsica stand within the limits
+of the first zone, it is in the second that by far the greatest part of
+the population live,—dispersed, as we have often had occasion to remark,
+in valleys and hamlets placed on the summits or ridges of hills. The
+choice of such positions is a necessary condition of health, as in this
+region, no less than in the former, the valleys are notorious for the
+insalubrity of the air.
+
+The _third_ zone, ranging from an elevation of about 6000 feet to the
+summits of the highest mountains, is a region of storms and tempests
+during eight months of the year; but during the short summer the air is
+said to be generally serene, and the sky unclouded. This elevated region
+has, of course, no settled inhabitants, but during the fine season the
+shepherds occupy cabins on its verge, their sheep and goats browsing
+among the dwarf bushes on the mountain sides. The vegetation is scanty.
+Even the pine cannot thrive at such an elevation, and the birch, which
+one generally finds, though dwarf, still higher up the mountains, I did
+not happen to see in Corsica, though it is mentioned in _Marmocchi's_
+list of indigenous trees.
+
+The summits of the Monte Rotondo and Monte d'Oro are capped with snow at
+all seasons, and beautiful are snowy peaks, piercing the blue heavens
+in the sunny region of the Mediterranean, and well does the glistening
+tiara, marking from afar their pre-eminence among the countless domes
+and peaks which cluster round them, or break the outline of a long
+chain, assist the eye in computing their relative heights. We had no
+opportunity of ascertaining how low perpetual snow hangs on the sides of
+the highest Corsican mountains. According to M. Arago, Monte Rotondo is
+2762 _mètres_ (about 8976 feet) above the level of the sea; and he says
+that there are seven others exceeding 2000 _mètres_ (about 6500 feet).
+Among these must be included Monte d'Oro, which figures in Marmocchi's
+list at 2653 _mètres_, or about 8622 feet. The season was too late for
+our making an ascent with any prospect of advantage; but at that time of
+the year (the end of October) none of the peaks we saw, except the two
+named, though some of them are only from 500 to 800 feet lower than
+Monte d'Oro, had snow upon them.
+
+While rounding the base of Monte d'Oro, we observed long streaks on the
+side of the cone, descending, perhaps, 1000 feet below the compact mass
+on the summit; but they had the appearance of fresh-fallen snow, and
+from our observing that all the other summits were free from snow, I am
+inclined to assign the height of about 7500 or 8000 feet above the level
+of the Mediterranean as the line of perpetual snow in Corsica.
+
+In Norway, between 59°-62° N. latitude, we calculated it at about 4500
+feet on the average, the line varying considerably in different seasons.
+In the summer of 1849 there was snow on the shores of the Miös-Vand,
+which are under 3000 feet, while the summer before the lakes on the
+table-land of the Hardanger Fjeld, 4000 feet high, were free from ice,
+and throughout the passage of the Fjeld the surface covered with snow
+was less than that which was bare. In 1849, crossing the Hardanger from
+Vinje to Odde, the whole of the plateau was a continued field of
+snow.[15] Taking the entire mountain system of central Norway, from the
+Gousta-Fjeld to Sneehættan and the Hörungurne, with elevations of from
+5000 to near 8000 feet, the average of the snow-level may be taken, as
+before observed, at about 4500 feet; that of the Corsican mountains,
+with elevations of from 6000 to nearly 9000 feet, being, as we have
+seen, from 7000 to 8000 feet.
+
+In Switzerland, where the elevations are so much greater, the snow-line
+varies from 8000 to 8800 feet above the level of the sea.[16] On Mont
+Blanc it is stated to be 8500 feet. The height differs on the northern
+and southern faces of the chain within those portions of the Alps that
+run east and west, but 8500 feet may be taken as the average.
+
+We may be surprised to find that congelation rests at the same, or
+nearly the same, level in the Alps of Switzerland, and on the Corsican
+mountains eight degrees further south. But difference of latitude is no
+determinate rule for calculating the level to which the line of
+perpetual snow descends. There are other influences to be taken into the
+account, such as the duration and intensity of summer heats, the
+comparative dryness of climate, the extent of the snow-clad surface in
+the system generally, and more especially the height and exposure of
+particular mountains.[17] Thus the snow-line on the southern slope of
+the Alps is in some cases as high as 9500 feet. It may be conceived that
+as the great extent of snow-clad surface on the high Fjelds of Norway so
+much depresses the level of the snow-line in that country, so the great
+superincumbent mass resting on the summits of the higher Alps has a
+similar effect, reducing the average snow-line in Switzerland to nearly
+that of the Corsican mountains. The wonder is that Monte Rotondo and
+Monte d'Oro,—rising from a chain surrounded by the Mediterranean, in
+insulated peaks of no very considerable height, without glaciers or
+snowy basins to reduce the temperature,—should, in a climate where the
+sun's heat is excessive for eight months of the year, have snow on their
+summits in the months of July and August. I have observed the _Pico di
+Teyde_ in Teneriffe with no snow upon it in the first days of November,
+though it is 3000 feet higher than Monte Rotondo, and only five degrees
+further south. Mount Ætna, also, nearly 11,000 feet high, in about the
+same latitude as the Peak of Teneriffe (37° N.), is free from perpetual
+snow; but that may arise from local causes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XI.
+
+  _Pisan Church at Murato.—Chestnut Woods.—Gulf of San
+    Fiorenzo.—Nelson's Exploit there.—He conducts the Siege of
+    Bastia.—Ilex Woods.—Mountain Pastures.—The Corsican Shepherd._
+
+
+Murato, a large, scattered village, which formerly gave its name to a
+_piève_, and is now the _chef-lieu_ of a canton, stands on the verge of
+a woody and mountainous district. Just before entering the village, we
+were struck by the superior character of the _façade_ of a little
+solitary church by the roadside. We afterwards learnt that it was
+dedicated to St. Michael, and reckoned one of the most remarkable
+churches in the island, having been erected by the Pisans, before the
+Genoese established themselves in Corsica. The _façade_ is constructed
+of alternate courses of black and white marble, and put me in mind of
+the magnificent cathedrals of Pisa and Sienna, of which it is a model in
+miniature. Indeed, most of the churches in Corsica are built on these
+and similar Italian models, though few of them with such chaste
+simplicity of design as this little roadside chapel.
+
+The smiling aspect of the vine-clad hills, umbrageous fruit-orchards,
+and silvery olive-groves of the canton of Oletta now changed for a
+bolder landscape and wilder accompaniments. Soon after leaving Murato,
+the ilex began to appear, scattered among rough brakes, and a sharp
+descent led down to the Bevinco, here a mountain-torrent, hurrying along
+through deep banks, tufted with underwood, the box, which grows largely
+in Corsica, being profusely intermixed. The road—like all the other
+byroads, merely a horse-track—crosses the stream by a bold arch.
+
+    [Illustration: PONTE MURATO.]
+
+Immediately in front of the bridge stands a pyramidal rock, remarkable
+for all its segments having the same character, and for the way in which
+evergreen shrubs hang from the fissures in graceful festoons,
+contrasting with some gigantic gourds, in a small cultivated patch at
+the foot of the rock, and sloping down to the edge of the stream.
+
+Higher up we entered the first chestnut wood we had yet seen. At the
+outskirts it had all the character of a natural wood; the trees were
+irregularly massed, and many of them of great age and vast dimensions.
+Further on they stood in rows, this tree being extensively planted in
+Corsica for the sake of the fruit. We were just in the right season for
+this important harvest, it being now ripe, and the ground under the
+trees was thickly strewed with the brown nuts bursting from their husky
+shells.
+
+It being about noon, we halted in the shade by the side of a little
+rill, trickling among the trees into the river beneath, to rest and
+lunch. Nothing could be more delightful, after a long walk in the sun;
+for the temperature of the valleys is high even at this season. Antoine
+had charge of a basket of grapes, with a loaf of bread and a bottle of
+the excellent Frontigniac of Capo Corso; to these were added handfuls of
+chestnuts, so sweet and tender when perfectly fresh; so that, tempering
+our wine in the cool stream, we fared luxuriously.
+
+While we sip our wine and munch our chestnuts, seasoned by talk with
+Antoine, the reader may like to hear something of a crop which is of
+more importance than might be supposed in the agricultural statistics of
+Corsica.
+
+There are several cantons, Murato being one of the principal, in which
+the chestnut woods, either natural or planted, are so extensive that the
+districts have acquired the name of _Paése di Castagniccia_. The
+Corsican peasant seldom sets forth on a journey without providing
+himself with a bag of chestnuts, and with these and a gourd of wine or
+of water slung by his side, he is never at a loss. Eaten raw or roasted
+on the embers, chestnuts form, during half the year, the principal diet
+of the herdsmen and shepherds on the hills, and of great numbers of the
+poorer population in the districts where the tree flourishes. They are
+also made into puddings, and served up in various other ways. It is said
+that in the canton of Alesanni, one of the Castagniccia districts just
+referred to, on the occasion of a peasant making a feast at his
+daughter's marriage, no less than twenty-two dishes have been prepared
+from the meal of the chestnut.
+
+I recollect that the innkeeper at Bonifaccio, boasting his culinary
+skill, said that he could dress a potato sixteen different ways, and
+though we earnestly entreated him not to give himself the trouble of
+making experiments not suited to our taste, it was with great
+difficulty, and after several failures, we made him comprehend that an
+Englishman preferred but one way—and that was “_au naturel_.”
+
+The cultivation of the potato has made considerable advance in Corsica,
+and there are now seventeen or eighteen hundred acres annually planted
+with it. But in many parts of the island the chestnut fills the same
+place which the potato once occupied in the dietary of the Irish
+peasant. A political economist would find no difficulty in deciding that
+in both cases the results have been similar, and much to be lamented.
+Indeed, the Corsican fruit is still more adapted to cherish habits of
+indolence than the Irish root, as the chestnut does not even require the
+brief exertion, either in cultivation or cookery, which the potato does.
+It drops, I may say, into the Corsican's mouth, and living like the
+
+    “Prisca gens mortalium.”
+
+“the primitive race of mortals,” of whom the poet sings, who ran about
+in the woods, eating acorns and drinking water, the Corsicans are, for
+the most part, satisfied with their chestnuts literally “_au naturel_.”
+
+Most French writers on Corsica declare war against the chestnut-trees
+for the encouragement they afford to a life of idleness, and M. de
+Beaumont does not scruple to assert, that a tempest which levelled them
+all with the ground would, in the end, prove a great blessing. There is
+some truth in these opinions, but humanity shudders at the misery such a
+catastrophe—like the potato blight, which truly struck at the root of
+the evil in Ireland—would entail on tens of thousands of the poor
+Corsicans, to whom the chestnut is the staff of life. In the interests
+of that humanity, as well as from our deep love and veneration for these
+noble woods, we say, God forbid!
+
+Many years ago, an attempt was made to discountenance the growth of
+chestnuts, by prohibiting their plantation in soils capable of other
+kinds of cultivation; but shortly afterwards the decree was revoked on
+the report of no less a political economist than the celebrated
+Turgot.[18] _Vivent donc ces châtaigniers magnifiques, quand même!_ And
+may the Corsicans learn not to abuse the gifts which Providence
+gratuitously showers from their spreading boughs!
+
+Our _al fresco_ repast on chestnuts and grapes being concluded, we left
+Antoine to load his mule, which had been grazing in the cool shade, and
+following a track through the wood, it became so steep that we soon
+gained a very considerable elevation. Of this we were more sensible
+when, turning round, we found that our range of sight embraced one of
+the finest views imaginable. In the distance, the long chain of
+mountains intersecting Capo Corso appeared grouped in one central mass,
+with their rocky summits and varied outlines more or less boldly
+defined, as they receded from the point of view. The western coast of
+the peninsula stretched far away to the northward, broken by a
+succession of mountainous ridges, branching out from the central chain,
+and having their bases washed by the Mediterranean, point after point
+appealing in perspective.
+
+    [Illustration: CAPO CORSO FROM THE CHESTNUT WOODS.]
+
+Of these indentations in the coast, the nearest, as well as the most
+important, is the Gulf of San Fiorenzo, one of the finest harbours in
+the Mediterranean. The town stands on a hill, above the marshy delta of
+the Aliso, the course of which we could trace through the most extended
+of these high valleys. Close beneath our standing point, as it appeared,
+lay the basin of Oletta, with its villages on the hill-tops, and its
+gentle eminences, with slopes and hollows richly clothed, now grouped
+together like the mountain ranges above, but in softer forms. This view,
+whether as partially seen in our first position through the glades and
+under the branching canopy of the chestnut wood, or shortly afterwards,
+still better, from a more commanding point on the summit of the ridge,
+had all the advantages which the most exquisite colouring, and the
+finest atmospheric effects could lend. Indeed, I felt persuaded, that
+the extraordinary richness of the warm tints on some of the mountain
+sides was not merely an atmospheric effect, but aided by the natural
+colour of the formation.
+
+The whole country lying beneath, the ancient province of Nebbio, with
+the Gulf of San Fiorenzo for its outlet, guarded by the mountain ridges
+and embracing the districts of Oletta, Murato, and Sorio, is of such
+importance in a strategical view, that the fate of Corsica has often
+been decided by campaigns conducted on this ground; and it is said that
+whatever power obtains possession of it, will sooner or later become
+masters of the whole island.
+
+San Fiorenzo, a fortified place, was bombarded in 1745 by an English
+fleet acting in concert with the King of Sardinia for the support of the
+Corsicans against the Genoese, and on the surrender of the place it was
+given up to the patriots. Then first the British Government interfered
+in Corsican affairs; but shortly afterwards, when some of the patriot
+leaders sent emissaries to Lord Bristol, our ambassador at the court of
+Turin, offering to put themselves under the protection of the English
+Government, the court of St. James's, deterred probably by the
+jealousies then subsisting among the supporters of the patriotic cause,
+civilly declined the offer, and withdrew their fleet. Having thus lost
+by their own misconduct the powerful co-operation of England, the
+Corsicans, left to their own resources, after a long and determined
+struggle, at length yielded to a power with which they were unable to
+cope.
+
+San Fiorenzo was again the scene of British intervention, when the
+Corsicans, throwing off in 1793 the yoke of the French revolutionary
+government, applied to Lord Hood, the commander-in-chief in the
+Mediterranean, for assistance. In consequence, Nelson, then commanding
+the “Agamemnon,” and cruising off the island with a small squadron, to
+prevent the enemy from throwing in supplies, made a sudden descent on
+San Fiorenzo, where he landed with 120 men. Close to the port the French
+had a storehouse of flour adjoining their only mill, Nelson threw the
+flour into the sea, burnt the mill, and re-embarked in the face of 1000
+men and some gun-boats, which opened fire upon him. In the following
+spring, five English regiments were landed in the island under General
+Dundas, and Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Moore having taken
+possession of the heights overlooking the port of San Fiorenzo, the
+French found themselves unable to hold the place, and sinking one of
+their frigates, and burning another, retreated to Bastia.
+
+Nelson's dashing enterprise was succeeded by another of far greater
+moment, characteristic of the times when our old 74's had not been
+superseded by costly screw three-deckers, and our naval commanders,
+though not wanting in discretion, acted on the impulses of their own
+brave hearts, without any very nice calculations of responsibilities and
+possible consequences.
+
+On a _reconnaissance_ made by Nelson on the 19th of February, when he
+drove the French under shelter of their works, it appeared that the
+defences of Bastia were strong. Besides the citadel, mounting thirty
+pieces of cannon and eight mortars, with seventy embrasures counted in
+the town-wall near the sea, there were four stone redoubts on the
+heights south of the town, and two or three others further in advance;
+one a new work, with guns mounted _en barbette_. A frigate, “La Flèche,”
+lay in the harbour, but dismasted; her guns were removed to the works.
+These works were held by 1000 regular troops, 1500 national guards, and
+a large body of Corsicans, making a total of 4000 men under arms.[19]
+
+To attack this formidable force, manning such defences, Nelson could
+only muster 218 marines, 787 troops of the line under orders to serve as
+such, the admiral insisting on having them restored to this service, 66
+men of the Royal Artillery, and 112 Corsican chasseurs, making a total
+of 1183 troops. To these were added 250 sailors. Meanwhile, the English
+general made a _reconnaissance_ in force from San Fiorenzo, and retired
+without attempting to strike a blow, though he had 2000 of the finest
+troops in the world lying idle; declaring that the enterprise was so
+rash that no officer would be justified in undertaking it. He even
+refused to furnish Lord Hood with a single soldier, cannon, or store.
+
+The Admiral replied, that he was most willing to take upon himself the
+whole responsibility, and Nelson, nothing daunted, landed his small
+force on the 9th of April, three miles from the town, and the siege
+operations commenced. Encamping near a high rock, 2500 yards from the
+citadel, and the seamen working hard for several days in throwing up
+works, making roads, and carrying up ammunition, the fire was opened on
+the 12th of the same month. The works of the besiegers were mounted with
+four 13-inch and 10-inch mortars, an 18-inch howitzer, five 24-pounder
+guns, and two 18-pounder carronades. I give these details in order to
+show with what small means the daring enterprise was accomplished.
+
+Lord Hood had sent in a flag of truce, summoning the city to surrender;
+to which M. La Combe St. Michel, the Commissioner of the National
+Convention, replied, “that he had red-hot shot for our ships and
+bayonets for our troops, and when two-thirds of his men were killed, he
+would trust to the generosity of the English.”
+
+The place being now regularly invested, there was heavy firing on both
+sides, “the seamen minding shot,” as Nelson characteristically wrote to
+his wife, “no more than peas.” The besiegers' works were advanced, first
+to 1600 yards, and afterwards to a ridge 900 yards from the citadel; and
+on the 19th of May, thirty-five days after the fire was opened, the
+enemy offered to capitulate. The same evening, while the terms were
+negotiating, the advanced guard of the troops from San Fiorenzo made
+their appearance on the hills above the place, and on the following
+morning the whole army, under the command of General D'Aubant, who had
+succeeded Dundas, arrived just in time to take possession of Bastia.
+
+Nelson had anticipated this, for in a letter to his wife, written
+during the siege, he says, “My only fear is, that the soldiers will
+advance when Bastia is about to surrender, and deprive our handful of
+brave men of part of their glory.”
+
+But the work was already done, and Nelson writes after the surrender of
+the place, “I am all astonishment when I reflect on what we have
+achieved.” A force of 4000 men in strong defences had laid down their
+arms to 1200 soldiers, marines, and British seamen.
+
+The political results of these operations, which for the time numbered
+the Corsicans among the willing subjects of the British crown, will
+claim a short notice on a fitting opportunity. History is not our
+province, but a traveller may be allowed to trace the footsteps of his
+countrymen during their brief occupation of a soil fiercely trodden by
+all the European nations; and, on a standing point between Fiorenzo and
+Bastia, naturally lingers for a moment on a feat of arms memorable among
+our naval exploits in the Mediterranean.
+
+After leaving the chestnut woods, the wildness of the scene increased at
+every step. Our track skirted a forest of ilex spreading far up the base
+of the mountains, and filling the glens below, round the gorges of which
+the path led. The trees were of all ages, from the young growth, with a
+shapely _contour_ of silvery grey foliage, to the gigantic patriarchs of
+the forest, spreading their huge limbs, hoar with lichens, in most
+fantastic and often angular forms, and their boles black and rugged with
+the growth of centuries. Some were rifted by the tempests, and bared
+their scathed and bleached tops to the winds of heaven. Others had
+yielded to the storms or age, and lay prostrate on the ground, charred
+and blackened by the fires which the shepherds in these wilds leave
+recklessly burning. The destruction thus caused to valuable timber
+throughout the island is enormous. Among the ilex were scattered a few
+deciduous oaks, contrasting well in their autumnal tints with their
+evergreen congeners. We thought the colouring was not so rich as that of
+our English oak woods at this season, being of a paler or more tawny
+hue, resembling the maple and sycamore. Precipitous cliffs and insulated
+masses of grey rock broke the outline of the forest, and the charming
+cyclamen still tufted the edge of the path with its delicate flowers,
+nestling among the roots of the gigantic oaks; between the tall trunks
+of which glimpses were occasionally caught of the distant mountain
+peaks.
+
+We had been ascending, generally at a pretty sharp angle, from the time
+we crossed the Bevinco, and had walked about three hours, when, emerging
+from the skirts of the ilex forest, we found ourselves on an elevated
+ridge connected with the vast wastes of which the greater part of the
+east and north-east of the province of Nebbio is composed. The surface
+is bare and stony, with a very scanty herbage among aromatic plants and
+bushes of low growth, consisting principally of the branching cistuses,
+which, however they may enliven these barren heaths by their flowers in
+the earlier part of the year, increased its parched and arid appearance
+now that the leaves hung withered on their stems.
+
+Yet on these barren solitudes the Corsican shepherd spends his listless
+days and watchful nights. He has no fixed habitation, and never sleeps
+under a roof, but when he piles some loose stones against a rock to form
+a hut. Roaming over the boundless waste as the necessity of changing
+the pasturage of his flock requires, he finds his best shelter in the
+skirts of the forest, and his food in the chestnuts, which he
+luxuriously roasts in the embers of his watchfire when he is tired of
+eating them raw. The ground was so undulating that at one view we could
+see a number of these flocks on the distant hill sides; the little black
+sheep in countless numbers dotting the heaths, and the shepherds, in
+their brown _pelone_, either following them as they browsed in scattered
+groups, or perched on strong outline on some rocky pinnacle commanding a
+wide area over which their charge was scattered. Their bleating and the
+tinkling of the sheep-bells were wafted on the breeze, and more than
+once a flock crossed our path, and we had a nearer view of the wild and
+uncouth conductor.
+
+My companion sat down to sketch, while I walked on. This often happened.
+Indeed, his rambles were often discursive, so that I lost sight of him
+for hours together; once in Sardinia, when there was reason to fear his
+having been carried off to the mountains by banditti. Thus, each had his
+separate adventures; on the present occasion I had opened out a new and
+splendid view, and, having retraced my steps to lead him to the spot, he
+related his.
+
+Intent on his sketch, my friend was startled, on raising his head, at
+seeing a wild figure standing at his elbow. Leaning on a staff, its keen
+eyes were intently fixed on him. My friend at once perceived that one of
+the shepherds had crept upon him unawares. A year before, when they all
+carried arms, there would have been nothing in his exterior to
+distinguish him from a bandit, but an ingenuous countenance and a gentle
+demeanour.
+
+The young shepherd seemed much interested in my friend's occupation, the
+object of which, however, he could not comprehend. His face brightened
+with pleasure and surprise on learning that the visitor to his wilds was
+an Englishman. The memory of the red-coats, who came to espouse the
+cause of Corsican liberty, lingers in Corsican traditions, and the
+English are esteemed as their truest friends. It was something new in
+the monotonous existence of the young shepherd to fall in with one of
+that race, though he had not the slightest idea where on the face of the
+earth they lived; still he was intelligent, inquisitive, and hospitable.
+
+“Would the stranger accompany him to his hut?”
+
+“It would give me pleasure, but it is growing late.”
+
+“We are poor, but we could give you milk and cheese. You would be
+welcome.”
+
+“I know it. Like you, I love the forest and the mountain, the shade and
+the sunshine; but yours must be a rough life.”
+
+“It is our lot, and we are content. We toil not, and we love our
+freedom.”
+
+“It is well.”
+
+“I should like some memorial of having met you, anything to show that I
+have talked with an Englishman.”
+
+My friend rapidly dashed off a slight sketch, a rough portrait, I think,
+of his gaunt visitor—no bad subject for the pencil.
+
+“I would rather it had been your own portrait; but I shall keep it in
+remembrance of you.”
+
+And so they parted; the civilised man to tell his little story of human
+feeling and native intelligence, “spending their sweetness in the
+desert air,”—the shepherd to relate his adventure over the watchfire,
+and perhaps draw forth from some sexagenarian herdsman his boyish
+recollections of the fall of San Fiorenzo and Bastia, and the march of
+the English red-coats over the mountains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XII.
+
+  _Chain of the Serra di Tenda.—A Night at Bigorno.—A Hospitable
+    Priest.—Descent to the Golo._
+
+
+After crossing for some distance an elevated plateau of this wild
+country, we came to a boundary wall of rough boulders, and turned to
+take a last view of the gulf of San Fiorenzo and the blue Mediterranean.
+A heavy gate was swung open, and, on advancing a few hundred yards, the
+scene suddenly changed. We found ourselves on the brink of a steep
+descent, with a sea of mountains before us, branching from the great
+central chain, and having innumerable ramifications. This part of the
+chain is called the Serra di Tenda; and its highest peak the Monte Asto,
+upwards of 5000 feet above the level of the sea, rose directly in front
+of our point of view. A single altar-shaped rock crowned the summit,
+from which the continuation of the ridge, right and left, fell away in a
+singularly graceful outline, the face of the mountain being precipitous
+with escarped cliffs. In other parts of the line, the summits were
+sharply serrated. Northward it was lost in the far distance among clouds
+and mist, but to the south-west of Monte Asto a similar, but more
+blunted peak towered above all the others. I observed on our maps that
+several of the summits in this range have the name of _Monte Rosso_; and
+the centre of the group was indented by a deep gorge richly wooded, as
+were other ravines, and forests hung on some of the mountain sides.
+
+We were struck with the extraordinary warmth of colouring which pervaded
+the surface of the vast panorama, the slopes as well as the precipitous
+cliffs. They had the ruddy hue of the inner coating of the ilex bark,
+with a piece of which we compared it on the spot. Again, I felt
+convinced that this colouring was not merely an atmospheric
+effect,—though doubtless heightened by the bright sunshine through so
+pure a medium as the mountain air—but that the brilliance indicated the
+nature of the formation. Whether it was granitic or porphyritic, I had
+no opportunity of examining, but incline to think it belonged to the
+latter.
+
+Of the general features of the geological system of Corsica, an
+opportunity may occur for taking a short review. Our present position,
+embracing so vast an amphitheatre, was excellent for forming an idea of
+the physical structure of this lateral branch from the central range.
+Various as were its ramifications, appearing sometimes grouped in wild
+confusion, the general unity of the whole formation, both in colour and
+form, was very observable, from the loftiest peak to the offsets of the
+ridge which gradually descended to the level of the valleys, just as the
+peculiar character of a tree runs through its trunk and boughs to the
+minutest twig. Through a gorge to the northward we traced the pass, the
+Col di Tenda, the summit being 4500 feet, through which a road is
+conducted to Calvi and l'Isle Rousse, on the western coast; while
+immediately under us lay the valley through which the Golo, rising in
+the central chain, makes its long and winding course to the _littorale_,
+eastward.
+
+The bason, on which we now looked down, was distinguished by the same
+features as that of Oletta,—gentle hills, wooded slopes and glens, and
+olive groves, vineyards, and orchards, in almost equally exuberant
+richness. A dozen villages were within view, crowning, as usual, the
+tops of the hills, or perched far up the mountain sides. Of these, Lento
+and Bigorno are the most considerable, although Campittello gives its
+name to the canton. The strong position of Lento caused it to be often
+contested during the wars for Corsican independence, and it was General
+Paoli's head-quarters before his last and fatal battle.
+
+We selected Bigorno, a small village, as our quarters for the night. The
+descent to it, about 1000 feet from the level of the sheep-walks, is
+extremely rapid; the village itself being still many hundred feet above
+the banks of the Golo, which is seen pouring its white torrent several
+miles distant. The approach was interesting, winding through the
+evergreen copse and scattered ilex, with the sound of the church-bell at
+the _Ave-Maria_ rising from below in the still air as we descended the
+mountain side.
+
+Our quarters here were the best we had yet met with. My companion having
+staid behind to sketch the village, and taken shelter from a shower of
+rain, had been courteously invited by a gentleman, who passed, to accept
+the accommodations of his house for the night, but, in the meantime,
+Antoine had conducted me and the baggage to another house. It belonged
+to a small proprietor, who was profuse in his politeness, but, we
+thought, lacked the really hospitable feeling we had found in houses of
+less pretensions. Curiosity or civility brought about us quite a
+_levée_ of the better class while we were arranging our toilet. The
+supper was execrable, consisting of an _olla podrida_ of ham, potatoes,
+and tomatoes stewed in oil and seasoned with garlick, and the wine and
+grapes were sour. However, we had excellent beds. In my room there was a
+small collection of books, on a dusty shelf, which I should not have
+expected to find in such hands. Among them were some old works of
+theological casuistry, Metastasio, a translation of Voltaire's plays,
+and a geographical dictionary in Italian. I learnt that they had
+belonged to the proprietor's uncle, a _medico_ at Padua, and were
+heirlooms with his property, which our host inherited. The position of
+these small proprietors is much to be pitied. By great penuriousness
+they contrive to make a poor living out of a vineyard and garden with a
+few acres of land, having neither the spirit nor industry, and perhaps
+very little opportunity, to better their condition. There was evidently
+some struggle in the mind of our host between his poverty and
+gentility—added to what was due to the national character for
+hospitality—when we came to proffer some acknowledgment for our
+reception. It was just an occasion when, travelling in this way, one is
+rather puzzled how to act, but we were relieved from our difficulty by
+finding that our offering was received without much scruple.
+
+Next morning, to my great surprise, for I was too sleepy to notice it on
+going to bed, I found a gun standing ready loaded on one side of the
+bed, in curious contrast to the crucifix and holy-water pot on the
+other,—succour close at hand against both spiritual and mortal foes. We
+had walked through the country without any alarm, and concluded that
+the reign of the rifle and stiletto was ended in Corsica. But how came
+the gun to be loaded? was it from inveterate habit even now that
+fire-arms were proscribed, or was Louis Napoleon's decree still eluded?
+
+I shall never forget the view from my chamber windows as I threw open
+the long double casement at six o'clock in the morning. It was my first
+view of Monte Rotondo, the loftiest of the Corsican mountains. A long
+ridge and its crowning peak were capped with snow. The range to the
+eastward was in deep shade, but with a rich amber hue behind them as the
+sun rose. I watched its kindling light as it touched the snowy top of
+Monte Rotondo, and spread a purple light over the sides of the eastern
+ridge. The night mists had not yet risen from the valley of the Golo. We
+hastened to descend towards it, after the usual small cup of _café noir_
+and a piece of bread. The environs of Bigorno on this side are very
+beautiful. Groves of olive with their silvery leaves and green berries
+not yet ripened mingled with vines planted in terraces, the vines
+festooning and running free, as one sees them in Italy. Gardens full of
+peach and fig trees filled all the hollows—a charming scene through
+which the path wound down the hill. Antoine brought us fresh figs from
+one of the gardens—a relish to the dry remains of our crust. Before the
+sun had gained much elevation, it became exceedingly warm on a southern
+exposure; the green lizards darted from crevices in the vineyard walls,
+all nature was alive and fresh, and the air serene, with a most heavenly
+sky.
+
+All this was very delightful. Nothing can be more so than this style of
+travelling in such a country, with a friend of congenial spirit and
+taste. My companion was very well in this respect; but, as I before
+observed, his genius led him to be rather excursive in his rambles, so
+that he was sometimes missing when he was most wanted. Now, we had just
+started on this very agreeable morning walk with the prospect of
+breakfast in due time at the post-house on the banks of the Golo. But,
+instead of our enjoying this together, my friend, by a sudden impulse,
+leaped over a vineyard wall, and saying he should like to take a sketch
+from that point, desired me to saunter on, and he would soon overtake
+me.
+
+    [Illustration: NEAR BIGORNO.]
+
+What with a Pisan campanile, a Corsican manse, festooning vines, a
+cluster of bamboo canes—indicative of the warm south—and the group of
+mountains with the truncated peak in the distance, a very clever sketch
+was produced, though not one of my friend's best;—and I have great
+reason to be obliged to him for his sketches, without which I fear this
+would be a dull book. At that moment, indeed, I would have preferred his
+companionship. However, bating this feeling and a certain hankering for
+my breakfast in the course of a two hours' walk, I trudged on alone in a
+very pleasant frame of mind. Nothing could be more charming than the
+green slopes round which the path wound, with occasional glimpses of the
+Golo beneath,—its rapid stream white as the milky Rhone,—after leaving
+behind the orchards and gardens. The rest of the descent lay through
+evergreen shrubbery so frequently mentioned, and a more exquisite piece
+of _máquis_ I had not seen. Thus sauntering on, sometimes talking with
+Antoine, a species of shrub, which I had not much observed before,
+attracted my particular attention among the arbutus and numerous other
+well-known varieties. It was a bushy evergreen, of shapely growth, five
+or six feet high, with masses of foliage and clusters of bright red
+berries, having an aromatic scent.
+
+“What do you call this shrub, Antoine?” plucking a branch.
+
+“_Lustinea_; the country people express an oil from the berries for use
+in their lamps.”
+
+“Ah! I perceive it is the _Lentiscus_.” In Africa and the isle of Scios
+they make incisions in the stems, from which the gum mastic is procured.
+The Turks chew it to sweeten the breath. It grows also in Provence,
+Italy, and Spain.
+
+Presently, I sat down on a bank, casting anxious glances up the path
+after my friend, and, basking in the sun, finished Antoine's basket of
+figs, which only whetted my appetite, while I was endeavouring to
+indoctrinate Antoine with the persuasion that our countrymen in general
+are neither “_Calvinistes_” nor “_Juives_.” Antoine, who had been asking
+a variety of questions about “_Inghilterra_” and “_Londra_” was not
+better informed on this subject than a great many foreigners I have met
+with in Catholic countries, who, by the former term, class all
+Protestants with the Reformed churches of the Continent. I have often
+had to inform them, to their manifest surprise, that we have bishops,
+priests and deacons, cathedrals, choirs, deans and canons, vestments,
+creeds, liturgies and sacraments, in the English church, and were, in
+short, very like themselves, at least in externals. Matters of faith I
+did not feel inclined to meddle with.
+
+The discussion ended as we struck the level of the valley of the Golo,
+not far from Ponte Nuovo. The heat in this deep valley became
+suffocating, and the dusty high road was an ill exchange for the fresh
+mountain paths. Here, then, I made a decided halt, and this being the
+battle-field on which, in 1769, the French, after a desperate struggle,
+gained a decisive victory over General Paoli and the independent
+Corsicans, I had just engaged Antoine in pointing out the positions of
+the two armies, and tracing the tide of battle which, they say, deluged
+the Golo with blood and corpses for many miles,—when my lost companion
+came rushing down the hill-path among the rustling evergreens.
+
+“You have been waiting long—excuse me; I have had a little adventure.
+That has detained me.”
+
+“Humph!” My friend's sketching propensities often led him into a “little
+adventure,” ending in a story which, I should almost have imagined, he
+coined for a peace-offering, but that I had chapter and verse for the
+main incidents. There was that story of his being kicked off the mule,
+and—only the evening before—his _rencontre_ with the interesting young
+shepherd.
+
+“What now?”
+
+“But you want your breakfast.”
+
+“I should think I do.”
+
+“I have had mine.”
+
+“The deuce you have, you are luckier than I am.”
+
+“Now, my dear old fellow, we will push on to Ponte Nuovo, and you will
+soon get your's. I really am very sorry, but I could not help it.”
+
+“But this is the famous battle-field, you know, and Antoine was just
+going to describe it.”
+
+“That will keep. We will make our _reconnaissance_ after you have had
+your breakfast. As we go along, I will tell you how I got mine.”
+
+The story shall be told as nearly as possible in my friend's own words.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“After you left me, I sat down to sketch in a little terraced garden,
+shaded by fig-trees and vines. My sketch was nearly finished, and I was
+thinking how I should overtake you, when a bright-eyed young maiden came
+up, and, with the childlike wonder of a race of people living far out of
+the track of sketching tourists, asked me ‘what I was doing.’
+
+“‘Sit down, pretty maiden, and you shall see.’
+
+“She obeyed with a _naïve_ simplicity, and we soon prattled away, she
+telling me that she had never gone beyond the neighbouring villages, and
+could not understand how I should come so far from _Inghilterra_, a
+country she had never heard of, to draw pictures of their wild
+mountains.
+
+“‘Ah! you cannot comprehend how it is that I love your wild mountains,
+and children of nature like yourself.’
+
+“‘Will you come again?’—a question put with a spice of _espièglerie_
+which, from some other pretty lips, would be rather flattering. ‘Yes,
+you will come again, and I shall be grown up.’
+
+“She did not seem, I found, quite pleased at being called ‘_mon enfant_’
+by a young stranger, though it was all very well from her uncle, who, I
+learnt, was the priest of the church in my sketch. Presently, away she
+ran, blushing and smiling, to tell her uncle that there was a traveller
+come from a far-off land who must be hungry, and who must eat and rest
+under their roof.
+
+“The good priest received me with much _empressement_, having been
+brought out to meet me by the little Graziella, as I was following the
+path to the cottage door.
+
+“‘Ah! you are English, you are a Protestant, no doubt. It matters not;
+the stranger is welcome under my humble roof were he a Jew or a Turk. We
+are all brothers.’
+
+“I found the priest well informed on English affairs, into which, and
+matters connected with them, we soon plunged. Meanwhile, Graziella, with
+the assistance of a hard-faced but kindly old crone, prepared a repast
+of fruits, eggs, coffee; and the priest brought out a bottle of wine,
+the produce of his own vineyard, which I have seldom found equalled. It
+was all very appetising. I only wished you were there.”—
+
+“I was just then, curiously enough, indoctrinating Antoine, nothing
+loath, with the priest's sentiment of universal brotherhood, a simple
+Gospel truth, which, overlaid with ecclesiastical systems, never took
+deep root, and is sadly out of vogue now-a-days. I imagine we shall find
+the Sards far more bigoted than their neighbours here.”
+
+“And you were doing your good work, fasting, while I feasted. It was all
+tempting, but I was puzzled how to eat my egg; there were no spoons.”
+
+“Why not ask for one; you were talking French? Had you been attempting
+Italian, you might have stuck fast. _Cucchiaio_ is one of the most
+uncouth words in that beautiful language. Well I remember it being one
+of the first I had to pronounce, when, in early days, I got out of the
+line of French _garçons_: _cuc—cucchi_,—give me our Anglo-Saxon
+monosyllables for such things as spoons, knives, and forks,—at last I
+blurted out _cucchiaio_, in all its quadrosyllabic fulness. The Rubicon
+was passed (by the way, it was on the _carte_ of my route); after that I
+stuck at nothing, though for some time it was the _lingua Toscana—in
+bocca—Inglese_.—But how did you manage your egg?”
+
+“Why, it is good manners, you know, to do at Rome as others do, so I
+watched the priest. He removed the top, as we do, and then very nicely
+sipped the contents of the shell, which—charming Graziella! excellent
+_duenna!_—were done to a turn, just creamy.”
+
+“Ah! I perceive it was suction, a primitive idea, when spoons were not.
+Now I understand the old proverb about not teaching our venerable
+progenitors ‘to suck eggs.’”
+
+“Old fellow, cease your banter, or I shall never get to the end of my
+story. As to the eggs, I did not manage mine as cleverly as the priest
+did his. I made a mess of it, bestowing good part of the yolk on my
+moustache, much to Graziella's amusement. I perceived she could hardly
+refrain from tittering. But she was soon sobered,—the conversation
+turning on the last days of Corsica—and tears came in her eyes. Alas!
+the ruthless spirit of _vendetta_ in this wild country had cost her the
+lives of her father and brothers; and, her mother being dead, she was
+left an orphan under the care of the good priest.”
+
+“‘Uncle, persuade him to stay, if only for another hour. I should like
+to hear more of those countries where there is no _vendetta_; where they
+plough and reap and dwell in safety; where fathers and brothers are not
+compelled to flee from their villages to the wild _máquis_ and the
+mountain crags.’
+
+“‘My pretty child, I cannot stay now. Perhaps some day I may return.’
+
+“‘_Addio!_ then. _Evviva! Evviva!_ In two years I shall be grown up, and
+uncle will no longer call me child, and you shall tell me more of lands
+I shall never see. But ah! I know it will never be. _Bon voyage!_ Forget
+not the priest's home among the mountains of Corsica.’
+
+“I shall not forget it. How often one says hopefully ‘I will come back,’
+when it would be idle ever to expect it; and yet I would wish to see
+once more the little girl who said, ‘Come, if it is but for an hour!’
+
+“I rushed down the mountain side, and found you scorched with a burning
+sun, thirsty, breakfastless,—the very image of the knight of tho woeful
+countenance,—I all joy and fun with my morning's adventure, you
+perplexed, out of patience, hungry, and tired. I cannot help laughing at
+the contrast.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XIII.
+
+  _Ponte Nuovo.—The Battle-field.—Antoine's Story._
+
+
+Half an hour's walk along the high-road brought us to the solitary
+building of which we were in search. Uniting the character of an
+_albergo_ and a fortified post, of which there are several scattered
+throughout the island on commanding spots, the loop-holed walls, with
+projecting angles for a cross-fire, and the barrack round a court
+within, still occupied by a small party of _gendarmes_, were striking
+mementos of the state of insecurity in Corsica, and what travelling was
+at no very distant period. Shut in by the mountains, the air of the
+valley is close and stifling, disease marked the countenances of the few
+inmates, and the barrack-room into which we climbed, with its benches
+and tables, were all miserably dirty. The promise of a dish of fresh
+trout from the Golo was a redeeming feature in the aspect of affairs to
+one who had waited long, and walked far, without his breakfast. But the
+dish reeked as if the Golo ran oil, and the fish were still floating in
+the unctuous stream, spite of my injunctions to the weird priestess of
+the mysteries of the cave beneath—“_Senza olio, senza olio_,” reversing
+the phrase in the Baron de Grimm's story of the Frenchman, who, having
+sacrificed his own _goût_ to his guest's _penchant_ for asparagus _au
+naturel_, on his friend's falling down in a swoon, rushed to the top of
+the staircase, shouting to his cook, “_Tout à l'huile, tout à l'huile_.”
+
+We stood on the bridge of Ponte Nuovo, just beneath the post, the scene
+of the last struggle for Corsican independence; and there Antoine
+pointed out the details. The Corsicans, under Pascal Paoli, having
+occupied the strong position in the Nebbio through which we had been
+rambling for the last few days, the Count de Vaux, the French
+generalissimo, concentrated his forces, amounting to forty-five
+battalions, four regiments of cavalry, and a powerful artillery,
+determined to crush Paoli's brave but ill-organised militia, and finish
+the war by a single blow. The French commenced the attack on the 3rd of
+May, 1769. For two days it was an affair of outposts, but, on the 3rd,
+De Vaux pressed Paoli with such vigour in his fortified camp at Murato,
+that the Corsican general was forced to retire beyond the Golo. He
+established himself in the _pieve_ of Rostino, a few miles above the
+bridge, leaving orders for Gaffori to hold the strong heights of Lento,
+while Grimaldi was to defend Canavaggia,—two points by which the French
+might penetrate into the interior. Bribed by French gold, Grimaldi—“_Ah!
+il traditore!_” exclaimed Antoine,—and Gaffori, unmindful of his
+honourable name, offered no resistance to the advance of the French.
+
+On the 9th of May, the militia left by Paoli to defend the passes into
+the valley, finding themselves unsupported, abandoned their posts and
+fled.
+
+“Down the pass we descended this morning from Bigorno,” said Antoine,
+“through those other gorges you see in the mountains, our people poured
+in wild confusion, closely pursued by the enemy. They thronged to the
+bridge. It was held by a company of Prussians, who had passed from the
+Genoese to the Corsican service; and a thousand Corsican militia lined
+the river bank. If the French carried the bridge, all was lost. The
+Prussians were the only regular troops in Paoli's army. They stood firm
+in their discipline. The fugitives threw themselves upon them, charged
+with the bayonet by the French in the rear. The Prussians had to hold
+their position against friends and foes, indiscriminately, after a vain
+attempt to rally the flying Corsicans. Unfortunately they fired into the
+mass. A cry of ‘Treachery!’ was raised, the panic became general,
+disorder spread throughout the ranks, the enemy profited by it to secure
+their victory; the rout was complete, and the Corsicans scattered
+themselves among the mountains and forests. The Golo was red with blood,
+and the corpses of my countrymen, mingled with their enemies, floated in
+its current for many miles. It was a day of woe, a fatal day!”
+
+The feeling of nationality still lingers in Corsica, though without an
+object, without a hope. Men such as Antoine, the mountaineers, the
+shepherds,—all true-hearted Corsicans treasure up the traditions of
+former times, and, with the scene before his eyes, Antoine traced the
+action of Ponte Nuovo with as lively an enthusiasm, as deep an interest,
+as if it had been an affair of yesterday, in which he had borne a part.
+
+But the vision passed away. Antoine had pressing cares of immediate
+interest, to which he now gave vent. Here we were to part; we had an
+opportunity of forwarding our baggage to Corte by the _voiture_ which
+daily passes Ponte Nuovo, and there was no further need of the services
+of Antoine and his mule. He would gladly have followed our steps to the
+extremity of Corsica—to the end of the world, and we were sorry to part
+from him. Short as our acquaintance was, he had become attached to us.
+Our rambles had brought us into close intimacy, and suited his taste.
+
+We sat down on the river bank, and he unbosomed his mind more freely
+than he had yet done. We learnt, on our first acquaintance, that he had
+left his country and sailed to foreign parts. What forced him to
+emigrate had been inferred from a fearful disclosure to which no
+reference had been since made. Now, on the eve of parting, he told us
+all his story, and opened out his hopes for the future. For reasons into
+which we did not inquire, there seemed to be no apprehensions as to his
+personal safety; but, lamenting the want of means and opportunity for
+bettering his condition at home, his thoughts again reverted to
+emigration. It was the best thing he could do; and, reminding him of the
+success of many of his neighbours from Capo Corso, who sought their
+fortunes in South America, we exhorted him not to indulge the indolence
+natural to his countrymen, but apply himself manfully to an enterprise
+for which he had many qualifications, and heartily wished him success.
+
+The point on which his story turned was, as I suspected, a tale of love,
+jealousy, revenge. He related the catastrophe with more than usual
+feeling, but without any seeming remorse. He was justified by the
+Corsican code of honour. The details, though simple, might be worked up
+into one of those romantic and sentimental tales for which Corsican life
+supplies abundant materials. But neither is that my _rôle_, nor am I
+willing to betray Antoine's confidence. My readers shall have, instead,
+a similar tale—of which, as it happens, a namesake of Antoine is the
+hero—developing the same powerful passions. It is not one of the stock
+stories borrowed from books which one finds repeated in writers on
+Corsica, but, I believe, from the source from which I derived it, an
+original as well as authentic tale. The scene lies at a village in the
+mountains, not far from Ponte Nuovo, our present halting-place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XIV.
+
+  FILIAL DUTY, LOVE, AND REVENGE: A CORSICAN TALE.
+
+
+On a fine spring morning, some thirty years ago, there was an unusual
+stir in a _paese_ standing near the high-road between Bastia and
+Ajaccio. The village, like most others in Corsica, clustered round a
+hill-top, and stood on the skirts of a deep forest, with which the eye
+linked it through intervening groves of spreading chestnut and other
+fruit-trees. It was Sunday; and, after mass, the whole population
+flocked to the market-place, a large open area in front of the _Mairie_,
+to witness one of those trials of skill in shooting at a mark, formerly
+common in Corsica as well as in Switzerland.
+
+Above the roof of the _Mairie_ sprung a grim tower, serving at once for
+a prison, in which criminals were confined, and for the barracks of the
+_gendarmerie_ stationed in that wild district. On the present occasion
+the target was set up at the foot of this tower, and all the young men
+of the village were, in turn, making a trial of skill with their long
+guns, while the old peasants stood near giving advice, and the village
+girls, ranged in _costume de fête_ round the palisades inclosing the
+place, rewarded the most successful of the competitors with smiles and
+glances of encouragement.
+
+The contest had lasted for some time, and many shots were fired without
+the mark—fixed at the distance of about 300 paces—having been hit, when
+a young man, armed with a short Tyrolese rifle, came up to the barrier.
+He was dressed after the fashion of his fathers, but with great
+neatness. Short breeches of green velvet descended to the knees, and the
+calves of his legs were encased in deer-skin gaiters fastened by metal
+buttons. A broad belt of red leather girded his loins. It concealed a
+small pouch of cartridges, but the hilt of a strong dagger peeped from
+underneath the belt. His open shirt exposed to view a manly breast. He
+wore a sort of jacket of the same stuff as the breeches, but faced with
+crimson, and garnished, after the Spanish fashion, with a number of
+small silver studs. A high-crowned hat of black felt was cocked jantily
+on one side of his head, and a medallion of the _Madre dei Dolori_ stuck
+in the band, completed the picturesque costume of the Corsican peasant.
+
+The young man, on his arrival, received a cordial welcome from all the
+competitors for the honours of the day, and, among the village maidens,
+many a bright eye beamed with a tender but modest delight on his manly
+form, shown to advantage in the national costume. Still he gave no sign
+of an intention to take any part in the sport for which they were
+assembled.
+
+In consequence, after a short interval, during which the firing had
+ceased, an old villager thus addressed him:—
+
+“How is it, Antonio, that you, the best marksman in the village, have
+joined us so late? The sport flags; let us have one of your true,
+unerring shots.”
+
+“Excuse me, father Joachimo, I am in no humour to-day to partake in the
+gaiety of my friends.”
+
+Pressed, however, by repeated entreaties, the young man at last
+yielded, and, advancing to the barrier, and unloosing his rifle from the
+slings, took a cartridge from his pouch, and proceeded to charge his
+piece with much deliberation. While doing this, his eyes were fixed on a
+crevice in the tower, from which was hanging a little iron cage
+containing the mouldering remains of a human skull. At this spectacle
+his countenance changed from its usual ruddy hue to a mortal paleness,
+and tears were seen to fill his eyes.
+
+Having charged his rifle, Antonio took his position in the attitude of
+firing; but, it was remarked, that in taking aim, he levelled the barrel
+higher than the mark at the foot of the tower. A moment of solemn
+silence was followed by a flash, a sharp crack,—and the whizzing bullet
+struck the skull in the cage. The shock brought both to the ground, and,
+at the same instant, the young man, quick as thought, leaped over the
+palisades, and, gathering up the fragments of skull, quickly
+disappeared. The spectators of this strange scene asked each other what
+it meant; and, in the midst of the hubbub, Joachimo, the old peasant who
+had invited Antonio to try his skill in the feat of arms, raised his
+voice to satisfy their curiosity.
+
+“My children,” he said, “Corsican blood has not degenerated; of this you
+have witnessed a striking proof in the act of Antonio. The skull, which
+hung on the tower wall, was that of a man unjustly condemned to death,
+of a man whose only crime was, his having taken vengeance with his own
+hand for the insult offered his wife by an inhabitant of the continent.
+The skull was that of Antonio's father; and a son, a true Corsican,
+could not submit to having his father's remains dishonoured. This day he
+has wiped out the ignominy,—henceforth Antonio is an outlaw, proscribed
+by the men of law, by the French; but we Corsicans shall ever esteem him
+a man of honour and of courage.”
+
+The crowd then dispersed, full of admiration for the brave Antonio, and
+the event of the morning became the theme of the evening's conversation
+in all the families of the neighbourhood.
+
+Meanwhile Antonio, having gained the forest, rapidly threaded its
+tangled paths for nearly an hour. He then stopped in one of its deepest
+recesses, and, having keenly reconnoitred every avenue of approach,
+threw himself weary at the foot of a tree, and opening the handkerchief
+in which he had wrapped his father's skull, gave vent to a flood of
+tears.
+
+“Oh, my father!” he said, “my father! why could I not take vengeance on
+the authors of your death? why could I not avenge myself on the
+descendants of the base Frenchman who insulted my mother? why could I
+not wash out, in their blood, the shame that has fallen on our family,
+and embittered our existence?”
+
+At the thought of vengeance the eyes of the young islander flashed fire,
+his tears dried up, and that heart, just now so open to tender emotions,
+would have prompted him to plunge his dagger in the bosom of those who
+were the cause of his misery.
+
+Again, the fit changed; for, in the midst of this storm of passion, a
+name quivered on his lips, like the star seen in the drifting clouds
+when the tempest is raging.
+
+“Madaléna!” he cried, “all is now finished between us;—Antonio is a
+bandit.”
+
+Then, exercising a strong power over himself, he passed his hand over
+his forehead, as if to drive evil thoughts from his brain, and,
+unsheathing his strong dagger, dug a hole at the foot of the oak, in
+which he deposited his precious burthen. A cross, carved by his dagger
+on the trunk of the tree, served for a memorial of his father's
+fate:—ah! what thoughts, what sorrows, did that cross recall to his
+mind!—and, after a short prayer, he hastened from the spot which had
+witnessed his last act of filial duty.
+
+Wretched Antonio! a solitary outcast, abandoned by all, what refuge was
+left for you but the forest and the _máquis_?—what protector, but your
+good rifle—what hope, but in the grave! Nay, another passion, another
+image, was deeply graven on his heart! Love—that divine passion, which
+ennobles a man, which gives him courage, which fills him with
+heroism—afforded him strength to survive so many calamities.
+
+Some days after these occurrences, a young maiden crept stealthily at
+early dawn from among the houses in the village of Allari, fifteen
+leagues distant from Bastia, and gained unseen the _purlieus_ of the
+neighbouring wood before any of the villagers were abroad. The maiden's
+age was about eighteen years; her step was light, her form slender and
+graceful; health sparkled in her dark eyes; her enterprise lent a
+ruddier hue to her olive skin, and a profusion of raven-black tresses
+floated on her shoulders, as she brushed through the evergreen shrubbery
+on the verge of the wood, where, concealed in the hollow of an aged
+chestnut tree, a young man had been waiting her arrival for upwards of
+an hour. This young man was Antonio, the maiden Madaléna.
+
+On perceiving her approach, Antonio hastened to quit his hiding place,
+and came to meet her.
+
+“How kind you are, Madaléna,” he said: “you, so rich, so young, so
+beautiful—to expose yourself for me to the cold morning air; to brave,
+perhaps, the anger of your parents, for one of whom you know so little.
+
+“It is true that you told me once that you loved me; and love knows no
+obstacles, and makes nothing of distances. But I must not abuse your
+confidence. Madaléna, my bosom labours with a secret which I have too
+long preserved. I have done wrong; I have deceived you. I feared, I
+dreaded, that in disclosing it to you, I should forfeit your love, your
+esteem; that you would avoid me as the world does a man to whom society
+gives an ill name. Yes, Madaléna, you have to learn—Madaléna, hitherto I
+have not had the courage to tell it to you—learn that I am a....”
+
+Antonio shrunk from giving utterance to a word which would probably
+crush all his hopes, and break the last tie which held him to the world.
+So, changing his purpose, he continued in an altered tone:—
+
+“Why should I embitter the moments which ought to be given to love? Is
+it not true, Madaléna, that you love me for myself? Ah! tell me that you
+love me, for there is great need that I should hear it from your own
+lips, and without this love I should be wretched indeed. Tell me that
+you do not want to know my past; that you love me because our hearts
+understand each other; because our two souls, breathed into us by the
+Author of our existence, were formed to love each other for ever.”
+
+Madaléna, perceiving the feebleness of her lover, took his hand, and
+fixing on him an eager gaze, made him sit by her side. On touching that
+much-loved hand, the young man started, and a sudden shivering ran
+through his veins. The maiden perceived it, and a gleam of
+satisfaction, and almost coquetry, sparkled in her eyes. Poor woman's
+heart! Even in the most solemn moments she is always a coquette. Such is
+her nature.
+
+“Antonio,” she said, “you vow that you love me; why then hesitate to
+confide to me your secrets, your sorrows? Am I not some day to be your
+wife? I have sworn it before God and my mother, and I shall be. Why then
+do you defer telling me the cause of your long sufferings. I have long
+perceived that your heart is oppressed by some secret thought. Can it be
+that you are in love with another, Antonio? Tell me if it is so; you
+shall have my forgiveness, and I will say to the woman who is the choice
+of your heart, ‘Love him, for he is worthy of it!’ And if it were
+required that I should shed my blood for your happiness, I would not
+hesitate a single moment to make the sacrifice.”
+
+“Oh no, no, Madaléna, think not so! Do you suppose me capable of
+betraying you, of casting you off? I, who love you with a perfect love,
+a love as pure as that which makes the bliss of angels,—with which a
+child loves its mother? For one fond look from you I would brave the
+fury of men—of men and the elements. Drive this suspicion from your
+heart, and God grant that, when you have learnt my secret, you may
+continue to entertain the same sentiments towards me.”
+
+Thus speaking, Antonio drew near to the maiden, and, hiding his face in
+her hands, whispered in her ear:—
+
+“Madaléna, Madaléna, I am—a bandit.”
+
+The young girl shrieked with terror, and fainted in his arms. Antonio
+laid her on the grass, and, having sprinkled her face with the fresh
+morning dew, knelt by her side. Presently, Madaléna opened her eyes, and
+seeing Antonio kneeling, and still holding her hand, roused herself
+with a sudden effort, and, casting on him a look of mingled horror and
+scorn, said to him,—
+
+“Leave me, Antonio, you make me shudder, your hands are stained with the
+blood of the innocent.”
+
+Antonio, crazed with love, crawled to her feet and wept; but having,
+after much difficulty, prevailed with her to hear him, he related to her
+the story of the skull, the only crime for which he was a bandit. After
+this explanation, Madaléna seemed to be reassured, and her lover awaited
+his final sentence from her lips in breathless suspense. The maiden's
+heart was touched by his tale, and observing him with an air of less
+severity, she said:—
+
+“I am satisfied that you speak the truth; but I have a mother and
+father, and I think, that after this disclosure, I could never become
+your wife without abandoning them for ever. At this moment I am too much
+agitated to come to any decision; return to morrow, and you shall know
+my final resolve. Meanwhile, rest assured that I pity and love you
+still, considering you more unfortunate than guilty, and that I will
+either be your wife, or the wife of no other man.”
+
+Thus saying, she hastened from the spot.
+
+Antonio saw her depart without having the courage to address to her
+another word. That man so brave, who knew no fear, recoiled from no
+danger, wept like a child. A sad presentiment told him that it was his
+last meeting with Madaléna, though her concluding promise tended in some
+degree to reassure him.
+
+Madaléna shut herself up in her chamber and shed floods of tears—tears
+not of love, but of shame. For her—the daughter of a wealthy citizen of
+Ajaccio, brought up in the manners, and tinctured with the prejudices
+of the continent, who knew nothing of the world but its empty phantoms,
+nor of love but its coquetry—it was disgrace to love and be loved by the
+son of a bandit, by one who was himself a bandit.
+
+From that day Madaléna never returned to the wood. Every morning the
+unhappy Antonio retraced his steps to the place of meeting, but only to
+have his hopes crushed. He was forgotten, perhaps scorned. Love, the
+sentiment of the heart, had yielded to the influence of the frivolous
+ideas of society, the conventional maxims of the world. This young
+maiden had not the courage to affirm in the face of all, “I love
+Antonio, because he is not guilty of any crime; I love him because he
+has avenged his father, because he is a true son of Corsica.” But she
+had not the spirit, the strength of mind, to say this. The Corsican
+blood had degenerated in her veins, or she would have felt that it was
+no crime for Antonio to achieve the removal from public view of the
+horrid spectacle which was a continual witness of shame and
+ignominy,—exposed by a relic of barbarism, called law, to the gaze and
+scorn of all who passed along the streets,—that no stain rested on the
+memory of Antonio's father, because, as a husband and a father, he had
+avenged the honour of his wife and his children.
+
+A year after these events, the whole population of the village of Allari
+was again astir. Its only bell clanged incessantly, and gay troops of
+both sexes, in holiday dress, flocked through the streets in the
+direction of the _Mairie_. It was a bright morning of the month of
+April; joy floated in the air, and pleasure sparkled in every eye.
+Presently, a nuptial procession was formed, and took its way towards
+the church. All eyes rested on the bride and bridegroom; they did not
+wear the Corsican dress, but adopted French fashions. Everything about
+them betokened wealth, and an affectation of continental manners.
+
+As soon as the procession had entered the church, the streets became
+deserted; but a young man, who from an early hour had concealed himself
+in the cemetery, now glided round the church, casting anxious glances on
+every side, as if apprehensive of being discovered. His clothes, torn to
+tatters, his unshorn beard and long, dishevelled, hair, blood-shot eyes,
+and haggard countenance, betokened the extremity of anguish and want.
+His feet were naked, and he carried in his hand a short rifle.
+
+Arrived at the church door, and having glanced within, he paused for a
+moment, leaning against the pillar. The nuptial ceremony had reached the
+point where the minister of God, after pronouncing the mystic words,
+demands of the betrothed their assent to the marriage union; when, just
+as the bride was in the act of uttering the word which binds for ever
+the destinies of both, the barrel of the rifle, held by the man
+stationed at the door, was levelled, and the _fiancée_ fell, pierced in
+the breast with a mortal wound. The man, who fired, threw down his
+rifle, and, dashing into the church like one demented, took the dying
+woman in his arms, and cried,—
+
+“Madaléna, you broke your troth to me; you rendered me desperate; we die
+together!”
+
+And, unsheathing his dagger, he plunged it several times into his
+breast, falling on the dying woman, who opened her eyes, and,
+recognising her lover, expired with the name of “Antonio” on her lips.
+
+Her betrothed was conveyed away by his relations, and the recollection
+of this terrible scene disturbed for a long while the tranquillity of
+the village. The church in which it took place was, after the
+catastrophe, stripped of all its sacred ornaments, and left to decay.
+Its ruins may still be seen on a point of rising ground, and, if an
+inquiring traveller takes a turn behind the church, he will find in the
+cemetery, on the spot where Antonio was concealed, a grave-stone
+inscribed with the names of Madaléna and Antonio, surmounted by a rude
+representation of a rifle and a dagger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XV.
+
+  _Morosaglia, Seat of the Paolis.—Higher Valley of the
+    Golo.—Orography of Corsica.—Its Geology._
+
+
+On crossing to the right bank of the Golo at _Ponte Nuovo_, we enter the
+canton of Morosaglia, the former _piève_ of Rostino, and the home of the
+Paoli family. The canton takes its present name from a Franciscan
+convent, still standing, and part of it used as an elementary school,
+founded by the will of Pascal Paoli.
+
+It is about two hours' walk from Ponte Nuovo to the hamlet in which the
+Paolis were born. The house is one of those gaunt, misshapen, rude
+structures, built of rough stones, and blackened by age, which one sees
+everywhere in the mountain villages; without even glass to the windows.
+Standing on the craggy summit of an insulated rock, the access to it is
+by a rough wooden staircase. Here Pascal Paoli resided, as a simple
+citizen, after the manner of his fathers, polished as his manners were,
+and highly as he was accomplished, after he had attained to almost
+sovereign power. The rooms are so small that he transacted public
+business in the neighbouring convent of Morosaglia.
+
+There also his brother, Clemente Paoli, had a cell to which he often
+retired. His was a singular character. Of a saturnine cast of
+disposition, he seldom spoke to those by whom he was surrounded; a great
+part of his time was spent in religious observances, and in the practice
+of the most rigid austerities. In short, he was the monk when at home,
+and the most intrepid warrior when engaged with the enemy of his
+country. The sanctity of his private life procured him singular
+veneration, and his presence in battle produced a wonderful effect on
+the patriots. Even when pulling the trigger to destroy his enemy, he is
+said to have prayed for the soul of his falling antagonist.[20] After
+the fatal field of Ponte Nuovo, declining to follow his brother to
+England, he spent twenty years in prayer and penance in the Benedictine
+Abbey of Vallombrosa, that shady and sequestered retreat in the heart of
+the Apennines, returning to his native Corsica only to die. Such was
+Clemente Paoli. Of his brother Pasquale, a fitting place for some more
+extended notice will be found at Corte, the seat of his island throne.
+
+The country on the right bank of the river is rugged; rude _paése_ crown
+the heights, and the hollows are shrouded in magnificent chestnut woods.
+The mountains seen from beyond Bigorno shut in the valley of the Golo so
+closely in some places, that it is a mere defile giving passage to the
+river and the road. The river is a torrent, and the valley is ascended
+at a sharp angle. At _Ponte à la Leccia_, we recrossed to the left bank
+of the river; the valley expanded, and there was much cultivated land,
+though the soil was poor. Rounded hills in the foreground were backed by
+a serrated range of mountains, Monte Rotondo being just visible.
+
+Approaching now, through the high valleys, the central region of the
+mountain system of Corsica, this may be a proper place for a brief
+survey of the main features in its orography and geological structure.
+We have hitherto spoken of a central chain and its ramifications in a
+loose manner; but it would be desirable to convey more precise ideas of
+the structure of this mountain island; and, as the system happens to be
+very simple and intelligible, it affords an example, on a small scale,
+which may give the unscientific reader a general idea of the nature of
+grander operations. Having traversed the island from north to south, and
+from east to west, not without an eye to its general structure and
+composition, though making no pretensions to exact scientific knowledge,
+I may be able to furnish a not unfaithful digest of the observations of
+the foreign geologists _Elie de Beaumont_, _Raynaud_, _Gueymard_ and
+others, as I find them quoted in Marmocchi's work.
+
+
+OROGRAPHY OF CORSICA.
+
+At first sight, Corsica presents the aspect of a chaos of mountains
+piled one on another, with their escarped sides rising from the sea to
+great elevations; but on a closer examination, and with the assistance
+of an accurate map, it is soon perceived that these mountains,
+apparently heaped up in wild confusion, are distinctly arranged in three
+principal directions,—from north-east to south-west, from north-west to
+south-east, and from north to south.
+
+The point which forms the main link of the whole system lies high, near
+the snowy sources of the Golo. This elevated part of the island, with
+the districts immediately surrounding it,—an Alpine and forest region
+in which the principal rivers and streams take their rise,—this region
+so sublime in its vast solitudes, so poetic, so savagely wild, so
+picturesque,—may be called the Switzerland of Corsica.
+
+From this central link two great chains, forming, so to speak, the
+backbone of the island, diverge in opposite directions. One section,
+tending to the south-east, traverses the centre of the island, where the
+Monte Rotondo and Monte d'Oro lift to the skies their ever snowy peaks,
+and terminates at the Monte Incudine. This high chain throws out its
+longest branches to the south-west, each of them forming at its
+extremity a lofty promontory washed by the Mediterranean, and the
+successive ridges inclosing delightful and fertile valleys.
+
+The other section of the central chain describes a curved line to the
+north-north-east, as far as Monte Grosso; and, over the Bevinco, links
+itself with the system of Capo Corso by the offsets of Monte Antonio and
+San Leonardo, by which latter _col_ we crossed the ridge on the evening
+of our landing in Corsica. The spurs from this second chain take, in
+general, a north-west direction towards the sea. Less considerable than
+those connected with the first, they inclose narrower valleys, and form
+promontories less _saillants_, and of inferior elevation on the western
+coast.
+
+The mountains of Capo Corso, extending in a chain nearly north and
+south, at a short distance from the east coast, form the third
+orographic division of the island; this chain, as observed in a former
+chapter, being cut by deep valleys of short extent, the channels of
+torrents discharging themselves into the Tuscan Sea.
+
+Between this long chain, extending from Monte Antonio to Monte
+Incudine, and the tortuous ranges detached obliquely from it, lies a
+central area equal in surface to a fifth part of the whole island of
+which it forms the heart—the interior. The general inclination of this
+area, with the openings of the valleys, tends to the east. It does not
+form one single bason, but, intersected as it is in various directions
+by secondary ranges, and by mountains linking the principal chain, its
+_contour_ is composed of a series of deep and generally narrow valleys,
+rising one above the other. The grandest as well as the most elevated of
+these basons is that of the _Niolo_, the citadel of Corsica.
+
+These lofty mountain chains, with the numerous ramifications detached
+from them, and extending in all directions, render the communications
+between one place and another, between the coasts on opposite sides of
+the island, extremely difficult. The passage from the western to the
+eastern shore can only be effected by climbing to great elevations,
+through long and narrow gorges, through deep ravines of savage aspect,
+and covered with dense forests. The Corsicans give a lively idea of some
+of these toilsome paths by calling them _scale_,—ladders,
+staircases;—and such, indeed, they are, the steps, often prolonged for
+miles, being partly the work of Nature, partly cut in the rock by the
+hand of man.
+
+
+GEOLOGY OF CORSICA.
+
+In the present state of science there can be no difficulty in ascribing
+the origin of the three great lines of the Corsican mountains, to which
+all the others are subordinate, to three vast upheavings of the soil in
+the direction they take. The order of these elevations above the
+surface of the ancient sea thrice repeated in the long series of past
+ages, giving the first existence to the island, and by successive
+conglomerations shaping its present bold and irregular profile, may be
+also distinctly traced.
+
+The masses first raised to the surface of the sea, supposed to be of
+igneous origin, lifted by the intense action of fire or subterranean
+heat from vast depths, and called by English geologists “Plutonic
+rocks,” as differing from “Volcanic,”—these masses constitute nearly the
+whole south-western coast of Corsica, one half of the whole island.
+
+If an ideal line be drawn diagonally from a point so far north-west as
+Cape _Revellata_, near Calvi, to the point of _Araso_, far down the
+south-east coast near Porto Vecchio, this primary eruption may be traced
+in the several ranges, perpendicular to the ideal line and parallel with
+each other, which descending to the sea in the direction of from
+north-east to south-west, terminate in the principal promontories on the
+western coast, and form the numerous valleys which appear in succession
+from the Straits of Bonifacio to the Gulf of Porto.
+
+Thus at the earliest epoch the principal axis of the island had its
+direction from the north-west to the south-east. The Capo Corso of those
+times lifted its head above the Sea of Calvi, and who can say how far
+the island extended at the opposite extremity? All we know is, that the
+group of rocky islets called the _Isole Cerbicale_, south-west of Porto
+Vecchio, with the _Isola du Cavallo_, and that _Di Lavazzi_ off the
+coast at Bonifacio; and again, the islets _Die Razzoli_ and _Budelli_ on
+the opposite side of the Straits, with the larger islands of _La
+Madaléna_ and _Caprera_, all of a similar formation with the primary
+Corsican range,—like detached fragments of some vast ruined
+structure,—appear to form the links of a chain which united Corsica with
+the mountain system of the north-eastern portion of the island of
+Sardinia.
+
+These primitive masses are almost entirely granitic; and thus, at the
+epoch of its first emergence from the waters of the Mediterranean, no
+spark of animal or vegetable life existed in the new island.
+
+So also one half of the masses raised by the _second_ upheaval, having
+the same general direction, are granitic. But, as we advance towards the
+north-east, the granites insensibly resolve themselves into _ophiolitic_
+rocks,—a name given by French geologists to certain volcanic eruptions
+of the cretaceous era,—which are also found in the Morea.[21] There are
+but few traces remaining of this second upheaval, which evidently laid
+in ruins great part of the northern extremity of the former one, cutting
+it at right angles to the east of the Gulf of Porto. This line, ranging
+from the south-west to the north-east into the heart of the _Nebbio_, is
+broken up and destroyed through nearly its whole length.
+
+The disorder and ruin of these several points of the original system,
+and the almost total destruction of its northern part, were undoubtedly
+caused by the _third_ and last upheaval which gave the island the form
+it presents at the present day. Its direction was from north to south,
+and so long as the mass then raised did not come in contact with the
+land created by former upheavals, it preserved its regular line, as we
+find in the mountain-chain of Capo Corso. But when, on emerging above
+the surface of the sea, this mass had to overcome at its southern
+extremity the resistance of the primary rocks upheaved long before, and
+now become hard and consolidated,—in that terrible shock, on the one
+hand, it changed, crushed, or ruined all that obstructed its progress,
+while, on the other, it varied its own direction and was itself broken
+up in many places, as appears from the openings of the valleys
+communicating from the interior with the plains of the eastern littoral
+and giving a passage to the torrents which fall into the sea on this
+coast,—the Bevinco, the Golo, the Tavignano, the Fiumorbo.
+
+The fundamental rocks brought up by this third and last upheaval are
+ophiolitic, and metamorphic, or primary, limestone, overlaid in some
+places by secondary formations. “The granites on the west, as well as
+the south, of the island include some beds of _gneiss_ and _schistes_ at
+their extremities.”—(_Gueymard_). Almost everywhere the granite is
+covered—an evident proof that the epoch of its eruption preceded that
+when the deposits were formed in the depths of the sea, and deposited in
+horizontal strata on the crystalline masses of the granite.
+
+Masses of euritic and porphyritic rocks intersect the granites, and a
+distinct formation of porphyries crowns Monte Cinto, Vagliorba, and
+Pertusato, the highest summits of the _Niolo_, covering the granite.
+These porphyries are pierced by greenstone two or three feet thick, and
+the granites are intersected by numerous veins of amphibolite
+(hornblende) and greenstone, generally running from east to west.
+
+Transition rocks, as they are called, occupy the whole of Capo Corso and
+the east of the island. They consist of talcose-schiste, bluish-grey
+limestone, talc in beds, serpentine, black marble similar to the oldest
+in the Alps, quartz, feldspar, and porphyries.
+
+The tertiary strata are only found at certain points in isolated
+fragments. One of these occupies the bottom of the Gulf of San Fiorenzo
+and part of its eastern shore. There the beds rest with a strong
+inclination against the lower declivities of the chain of Capo Corso,
+rising from upwards of 600 to 900 feet above the level of the
+Mediterranean,—a distinct proof that their formation at the bottom of
+the sea was anterior to the upheaval of that chain, and of the whole
+system of mountains having their direction north and south.
+
+In the deep escarped valleys between San Fiorenzo and the tower of
+_Farinole_, the tertiary deposits are seen in successive layers forming
+beds which in some places are in the aggregate from 400 to 500 feet
+thick, and the calcareous beds contain great quantities of fossil
+remains of marine animals of low organisation, such as sea-urchins,
+pectens, and other shells; forming a compact mass, of which the greater
+part of the formation consists. The singular phenomenon of the presence
+of rounded boulders of euritic porphyry, resembling that of the _Niolo_,
+embedded in these strata, proves to a certainty that at an epoch
+anterior to the upheaval of the system running north and south, and of
+the mountains of _La Tenda_ depending on it, the high valleys of the
+present bason of the Golo, and especially that of the Golo, were
+prolonged to the sea.
+
+A _second_ tertiary deposit exists near _Volpajola_, on the left bank of
+the Golo, nearly eight miles from the eastern coast. The beds lying
+horizontally are full of shells.
+
+We find a third fragment of a tertiary formation on the part of the
+_littorale_ stretching from the mouth of the Alistro to that of the
+Fiumorbo, in the middle of which stood the ancient city of Aleria. In
+some places these beds have been lifted without any sensible alteration
+of their original form of deposit in horizontal strata, and throughout
+they bear a close resemblance to the tertiary formation of San Fiorenzo.
+
+A _fourth_, and more striking, example of the same formation is
+exhibited at the southern extremity of the island. There we find an
+horizontal _plateau_ from 200 to 300 feet high between the Gulf of
+Sta-Manza and Bonifacio. The promontory on which that town and fortress
+stands, and the whole adjoining coast along the straits, present exactly
+the same appearances as the white chalk cliffs of Dover; and at the
+_Cala di Canetta_ these calcareous rocks rise _à pic_ over the sea 150
+and 200 feet. There is a perfect analogy between this formation and
+those of San Fiorenzo and the Fiumorbo already mentioned. Only, this
+last contains a much greater variety of fossil remains, both animal and
+vegetable, consisting of lignites, oyster-shells, large pectens,
+operculites, and fragments of sea-urchins, polypi, &c. We shall have an
+opportunity of mentioning hereafter the curious caverns worn in the soft
+calcareous rock by the force of the waves lashing this coast with so
+much violence in the storms to which the Straits of Bonifacio are
+exposed.
+
+Coming now to the alluvial deposits, we find them extending over the
+great plains on the eastern coast of the island, the _littorale_
+mentioned in an early chapter of this work. The plain of Biguglia, for
+instance, was formed by one of those vast inundations which have
+received the name of diluvial currents, and swept away a great number
+of species of animals. In fact, we find traces of one of these
+inundations in a breccia formed of the fossil bones of animals in the
+hills near Bastia. Among these fossil bones Cuvier has remarked the head
+of a _lagomys_, a little hare without any tail,—a species still existing
+in Siberia.[22] It would too much lengthen these remarks were we to
+enter on an inquiry into the age and character of these osseous breccia,
+but the curious reader is referred to Lyell's “Elements”[23] for some
+interesting observations on fossil mammalia found in alluvial deposits
+alternating with breccia. We are not aware, however, that the hills near
+Bastia are connected with volcanic action as those of Auvergne, to which
+Mr. Lyell refers.
+
+Indeed, in concluding this notice of Corsican geology, we have only to
+remark that, although Corsica has no existing volcanoes, it would
+appear, from fragments preserved in the cabinets of Natural History,
+that, here and there, a few rare traces of extinct volcanoes of very
+ancient date have been discovered, in the neighbourhood of Porto
+Vecchio, Aleria, Cape Balistro, in the Gulf of Sta Manza, and some other
+places.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XVI.
+
+  _Approach to Corte.—Our “Man of the Woods.”—Casa Paoli.—The
+    Gaffori.—Citadel.—An Evening Stroll._
+
+
+At Ponte Francardo we left the valley of the Golo, and followed up a
+stream tributary to it, among hills and woods; being now on the
+outskirts of one of the great forest districts of Corsica.
+
+When mounting the last hill in the approach to Corte we were joined by
+an inhabitant of the town, who at first seemed disposed to amuse himself
+at our expense. He was surprised, as we afterwards found, at meeting two
+foreigners of somewhat rough exterior, without baggage or attendance,
+engaged on rather a forlorn enterprise. He told us that not very long
+before he had met an Englishman under similar circumstances, and related
+some ridiculous stories respecting him. But as I do not believe that any
+of our countrymen have been recently tourists in Corsica, I am disposed
+to think that the person he made his butt was a German traveller,—a
+mistake we have often found occurring in our own case in remote parts of
+the Continent. We got, however, into conversation, and it turning on
+forests,—a subject on which we happened to be rather at home,—finding us
+to be practical people, and, much as we admired his wild country, not
+inclined to over-indulgence in sentiment and romance, he altered his
+tone, and even went into the opposite extreme of supposing that our
+journey was connected with a speculation in timber. That being his
+hobby, we soon became great friends. He informed us that he possessed
+some large tracts of forest, which he should be happy to show us, and
+our “man of the woods” not only performed his promise, but, being a
+person of considerable intelligence, gave us much valuable information,
+and rendered us many services during our stay in Corte.
+
+    [Illustration: CORTE.]
+
+The approach to Corte on this side is sufficiently striking, though not
+so picturesque as from the point of view on the road to Ajaccio, from
+which my friend's sketch, lithographed for this work, was taken. After
+winding up along a steep ascent, the town suddenly burst on our sight
+from the summit of the ridge. Its position is admirable. Seated nearly
+in the centre of the island, in the heart of the elevated _plateau_
+described in the preceding chapter, and surrounded by lofty mountains,
+the passes of which admit of being easily defended, with a bold
+insulated rock for the base of its almost impregnable fortress, the
+houses of the town clustering round it, and, beneath, a valley of
+exuberant fertility, watered by two rivers, having their confluence just
+above, it seems formed to be the capital of an island-kingdom, of a
+nation of mountaineers. Such it was under the government of Pascal
+Paoli, and during the earlier period of the English occupation.
+
+We entered the town by the Corso, its modern _boulevard_,—a long avenue
+planted with trees. This and a suburb beyond the castle, built down the
+slope of the hill towards the bridge over the Tavignano, are the only
+regular streets in the place. Roomy and well-furnished apartments were
+found at the Hotel Paoli on the Corso, where we met with most kind
+treatment and excellent fare. My notes mention the mutton and trout as
+being of superior flavour, and a very good red wine of the country. The
+_confitures_—of which an _armoire_ in the _salle à manger_ contained
+great store, the pride of our hostess, and the perfection of her
+art—were delicious, especially one composed of slices of pear and other
+fruits, larded with walnuts, and preserved in a syrup of rich
+grape-juice. The coffee, of course, was excellent. Tea we found nowhere,
+except from our own packets, and made, much to the general amusement, in
+the coffee-pot we improvised at Bastia.
+
+True to his appointment, our “man of the woods” called upon us after we
+had dined, and accompanied us to the principal _café_. It was noisy and
+disorderly, and we soon adjourned to the hotel and spent the evening in
+very interesting conversation. An excursion to his forest was arranged.
+He told us that it abounded in game; but it was mortifying to find that
+it was out of his power to afford us any sport, the prohibition to carry
+fire-arms being so rigorously enforced that no relaxation was allowed in
+favour of anyone. So the _chasse_ was deferred till we landed in
+Sardinia.
+
+The next morning was devoted to a survey of the town. The houses and
+churches are mean, the only objects of interest being the Casa Paoli and
+the citadel. The house inhabited by Pascal Paoli, when Corte was the
+seat of his government, is but little changed, though converted into a
+college founded by the general's will. It has an air of rude simplicity.
+There is still the homely cabinet in which he wrote, his library, and a
+laboratory. The library contained about a score of English books; but
+we did not discover among them any of those presented by Boswell. In
+the _salle_ are some second-rate paintings presented by Cardinal Fesch.
+The college did not seem to be flourishing. Perhaps the most curious
+thing in the house are some remains of the supports of a canopy for a
+throne, which tradition says Pascal Paoli caused to be erected in the
+_salle_ on an occasion when his council of state met, the canopy being
+surmounted by a crown. If Paoli affected royalty, he received no
+encouragement from his council, and never sat on the throne.
+
+Nearly opposite is an old house formerly belonging to Gaffori, one of
+the patriot leaders during the Genoese wars. Assaulted by the enemy
+during the general's absence, his heroic wife, with the help of a few
+adherents, barricaded the doors and windows, and, herself, gun in hand,
+made such a stout resistance, rejecting all terms of capitulation, and
+threatening to blow it up and bury herself in the ruins rather than
+submit, that she held it for several days against all attacks, until her
+husband brought a strong force to rescue her. The shot-holes made in the
+walls by the fire of the assailants are still pointed out.
+
+There is another story connected with the Gaffori family, which the
+inhabitants of Corte relate with great pride. During the War of
+Independence, the general's son was carried off by the Genoese and
+imprisoned in the citadel of Corte, which they then held. Assaulted by
+the Corsicans with great vigour, the Genoese had the inhumanity to
+suspend the boy from an embrasure where the enemy's fire was the
+hottest. At this spectacle the assailants paused in their attack, till
+the general ordered them to continue their fire. Renucci, who works up
+the story in his usual florid style, makes Gaffori exclaim, “_Pera il
+figlio; pera la mia famiglia tutta, e trionfi la causa della patria._” I
+prefer the version given me by a native of Corte, whose father was an
+eye-witness of the scene:—“_J'étais citoyen avant que je n'étais père._”
+We shuddered as we looked up from below at the battlement from which the
+child was suspended. The fire was renewed with still more vigour; but
+the child marvellously escaped, and the garrison was forced to
+surrender.
+
+A _permis_ to visit the castle having been obtained from the French
+commandant, we climbed the rocky ascent by corkscrew steps. At present,
+the whole area of the rock is embraced by the fortifications which at
+different periods have grown round the massive citadel on its summit,
+founded by Vincintello d'Istria in the fifteenth century. Recently the
+French have cleared away some old houses within the _enceinte_ to
+strengthen the works.
+
+“What can be the use,” I said to our conductor, “of strengthening this
+place now?”
+
+“_Chi sà?_” was the short reply. Our friend, like many other Corsicans
+we met with, still nourished the visionary hopes which had caused his
+country so much blood and misery during her long and fruitless struggles
+for a national independence.
+
+“_Là_,” said he, pointing to the _grille_ of a dungeon, “_mon père était
+prisonnier._”
+
+On going our rounds, we came to the platform of a bastion formed on the
+site of some of the demolished houses.
+
+“Here,” he said, with emotion, planting his stick on a particular spot,
+“my mother gave me birth. Here we lived twenty-five years. She used to
+talk of the English red-coats and the house of King George.”
+
+It is now the residence of the family of Arrhigi, Duc de Padoue, and
+contains a portrait of Madame Buonaparte, Napoleon's mother, and several
+pictures connected with the events of the emperor's life.
+
+One of the sketches in my friend's portfolio was taken in the recess of
+a bastion, and it required some manœuvring to interpose our Corsican
+friend's portly person between the sketcher and the French sentry, as he
+passed and repassed—an office which our patriotic guide performed with
+much satisfaction—while a liberty was taken contrary to the rules of
+fortified places.
+
+    [Illustration: CITADEL OF CORTE.]
+
+The view from the top of the citadel, the centre of so magnificent a
+panorama, may be well imagined. We now commanded the confluence of the
+two rivers, the Tavignano and the Restonica, beneath the walls, the eye
+tracing up the torrents to the gorges from which they rushed, while the
+details of the town, the gardens, and vineyards, and the ruined convents
+on the neighbouring hills, were brought distinctly under view; and the
+mountains towered above our heads, fitting bulwarks of the island
+capital.
+
+In the evening we strolled down the eastern suburb, and, crossing the
+bridge over the Tavignano, rambled on to the hill above, and the ruins
+of the Franciscan convent where Paoli assembled the legislative
+assembly, and in which the Anglo-Corsican parliament met while Corsica
+was united to England. The lithographic sketch of Corte was taken from
+beyond the bridge. Faithful as it is, one feels that neither pen nor
+pencil can do justice to such a scene. Art fails to lend the colouring
+of the tawny-orange vines, the pale-green olive-trees, the warm evening
+tints glowing on the purple hills, the mass of shade on the mountain
+sides first buried in twilight, the grey rocks, and, far away, aērial
+peaks vanishing in distance.
+
+A pleasant thing is the evening stroll on the outskirts of town or
+village, where life offers so much novelty. How graceful the forms of
+those girls at the fountain, dipping their pitchers of antique form and
+a glossy green! Poising them on their heads with one arm raised, how
+lightly they trip back to the town, laughing and talking in the sweetest
+of tongues—sweet in their mouths even in its insular dialect!
+
+A lazy Corsican is leading a goat, scarcely more bearded and shaggy than
+its owner. Others, still lazier, and wrapped in the rough _pelone_
+hanging from their shoulders like an Irishman's frieze coat, bestride
+diminutive mules, while their wives trudge by the side, carrying
+burdens of firewood or vegetables on their heads and shoulders. Waggons,
+drawn by oxen and loaded with wine-casks, slowly creak along the road.
+
+It is dusk as we lounge up the suburb, and the rude houses piled up
+round the base of the citadel look gloomier than ever. Light from a
+blazing pine-torch flashes from the door of a _cave_; it is a wine
+vault. The owner welcomes us to its dark recesses. Smeared with the
+juice of the ruddy grape, he is a very priest of Bacchus; but the
+processes carried on in his cave are only initiatory to the orgies. Here
+are vats filled with the new-pressed juice; there vats in the various
+stages of fermentation. Jolly, as becomes his profession, he gives us to
+taste the sweet must and drink the purer extract. He explains the
+process, and tells us that the vintage is a fair average, though the
+vine disease, the oïdion, has penetrated even into these mountains.
+_Evoe Bacche!_ The fumes of the reeking cave mount to our heads, the
+floor is slippery with the lees and trodden vine-leaves. We reel to the
+door, glad to breathe a fresher atmosphere.
+
+Calling at the _café_ on the Corso, not from choice but by appointment
+with our “man of the woods,” we find it, as before, dirty, disorderly,
+and noisy. Where, we ask ourselves, are the gentlemen of Corte? But what
+has any one, above the classes who toil for a livelihood, to do in
+Corte, except to lounge the long day under the melancholy elms in the
+Corso, and wile away the evenings by petty gambling in its wretched
+_cafés_?
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XVII.
+
+  _Pascal Paoli more honoured than Napoleon Buonaparte.—His
+    Memoirs.—George III. King of Corsica.—Remarks on the
+    Union.—Paoli's Death and Tomb._
+
+
+The suppression of brigandage, security for life and property, the
+stains of blood washed from the soil, the shame in the face of Europe
+wiped out,—these are signal benefits which claim from the Corsicans a
+warmer homage to the younger Napoleon than they ever paid to the first
+of that name. Not even the honour of having given an emperor to France,
+a conqueror to continental Europe, enlisted the sympathies, the
+enthusiasm, of the islanders in the wonderful career of their
+illustrious countryman. A party, a faction, the Salicete, the Arena, the
+Bacchiochi, the Abatucci, rallied round him in the first steps of his
+political life, and the Cervoni, the Sebastiani, soldiers of fortune, of
+the true Corsican stamp, fought his battles, and were richly rewarded.
+Some of his countrymen, to their honour, adhered to him to the end,
+sharing his exile in St. Helena. But the great emperor was never popular
+in his own country; he neither loved, nor was beloved by, his own
+people. He did nothing for them, as before remarked, but construct the
+great national roads; and that was purely a military measure. He left
+them—designedly, it would seem—to cut one another's throats, and
+despised them for their barbarism.
+
+Pascal Paoli was, and ever will be, the popular hero of the Corsicans.
+He fought their last battles for the national independence; moulded
+their wild aspirations for liberty and self-government into a
+constitutional form; administered affairs unselfishly, purely, justly;
+encouraged industry, and checked outrage. He was a man of the people,
+one of themselves, and he never forgot it; nor have they.
+
+In an Englishman's eyes, Pascal Paoli has the additional merit of having
+conceived a just idea of the advantage his country would derive from the
+closest union with the only European power under whose protection a weak
+State struggling for freedom could hope for repose. He did homage to our
+principles, and the public feeling was with him in England as well as in
+Corsica.
+
+A work on Corsica that did not tell of banditti, that did not speak of
+Pascal Paoli, would fail in the two points with which the name of this
+island is instinctively associated. References to the great Corsican
+chief have repeatedly occurred in these Rambles, connected with
+localities, and may again. We have visited his birthplace, the scenes of
+his last campaign and disastrous defeat, and now the seat of his
+government, Corte. We must not leave it, though impatient to proceed on
+our journey and by no means wishing to fill our pages with extraneous
+matter, till we have linked together our desultory notices by a summary
+review of the principal occurrences in Pascal Paoli's remarkable life,
+and of the strange event which terminated his political career,—the
+creation of an Anglo-Corsican kingdom united for a time to the British
+Crown.
+
+Pascal (Pasquale) Paoli was born at Rostino on the 25th of April, 1725,
+being the second son of Giacinto Paoli, one of the leaders of the
+Corsican people in their last great struggle against the tyranny of the
+Genoese. Compelled by the course of events to retire to Naples in 1739,
+Giacinto Paoli was accompanied by his son Pascal, who, inheriting his
+father's talents and patriotism, there received a finished education,
+both civil and military. Being much about the court, the young Corsican
+acquired, with high accomplishments, those polished manners for which he
+was afterwards distinguished; and he held a commission in a regiment of
+cavalry, in which he did good service in Calabria.
+
+Recalled to Corsica in 1755, at the early age of thirty, to take the
+supreme management of affairs in consequence of the divisions prevailing
+among the patriot leaders, the expulsion of the Genoese became his first
+duty; and he soon succeeded, at least, in freeing the interior of the
+island, and confining their occupation to the narrow limits of the
+fortified towns on the coasts. His next step was to remodel, or rather
+to create, the civil government; and in so doing he introduced an
+admirable form of a representative constitution, founded as far as
+possible on the old Corsican institutions. It was, in fact, a republic,
+of which Pascal Paoli was the chief magistrate, and commander of the
+forces. One of the earliest acts of his administration was a severe law
+for the suppression of the bloody practice of the _vendetta_, followed
+in course of time by measures for the encouragement of agriculture, and
+by the foundation of a university at Corte. The necessity of meeting the
+Genoese on their own element led him to get together and equip a small
+squadron of ships, no country being better fitted than Corsica, from its
+position and resources, to acquire some share of naval power in the
+Mediterranean. With this squadron, after repulsing the Genoese fleet, he
+landed a body of troops in the island of Capraja, lying off the coast of
+Corsica, and succeeded in wresting it from the Republic.
+
+Intestine divisions had always been the bane of Corsican independence,
+and even Paoli's just and popular administration could not escape the
+rivalry of Emanuel Matra, a man of ancient family and great power, who
+became jealous of Paoli's pre-eminence. All attempts at conciliation on
+the part of Paoli proving useless, Matra and his adherents rose in arms,
+and, calling the Genoese to their aid, it was only after a long and
+bloody struggle, and some sharp defeats, that Paoli and the Nationals
+were able to crush the insurrection; Matra falling, after fighting
+desperately, in the battle which terminated the war.
+
+Pascal Paoli, being now firmly seated in power, and the island, settled
+under a regular form of government, growing in strength, the Genoese
+found themselves unequal to cope with a brave and united people. After
+some further ineffectual attempts, they once more applied to France for
+succour, and engaged her to occupy the strong places in the island, as
+she had already done from 1737 to 1741. French troops accordingly,
+landing in Corsica, established a footing which has never been
+relinquished, except during the short period of English occupation. But
+by the Treaty of Compiegne, signed before the expedition sailed (1764),
+the French limited their support of the Genoese to a term of four years.
+During that period they maintained a strict neutrality towards the
+Corsican Nationals, confining themselves to the limits of their
+occupation. Their generals maintained harmonious relations with Pascal
+Paoli, and, the Genoese power in the island having shrunk to nothing,
+the patriots had the entire possession of the country, except the
+fortified places, and the Commonwealth flourished under the firm and
+active administration of its wise chief. It was at this time that James
+Boswell visited the island. Residing some time with General Paoli, and
+admitted to familiar intercourse with him, he collected the materials
+from which he afterwards compiled “An Account of Corsica, and Memoirs of
+Pascal Paoli,” published in London in 1767,—a work, the details of which
+are only equalled by his _Johnsoniana_ for their minute and vivid
+portraiture of his hero's life, opinions, character, and habits. The
+“Account of Corsica” has been the standard, indeed the only English,
+work relating to that island from that day to the present.
+
+The time fixed by the Treaty of Compiegne for the evacuation of Corsica
+by the French troops was on the point of expiring. They had already
+withdrawn from Ajaccio and Calvi, when the Genoese, finding themselves
+utterly incapable of retaining possession of the island, offered to cede
+their rights to the king of France. This was in 1768. The Duc de
+Choiseul, the minister of Louis XV., lent a willing ear to a proposal
+which opened the way to the conquest of Corsica—a prize, from its
+situation, its forests, its fertility, worthy the ambition of the _Grand
+Monarque_. The French generals, receiving immediate orders to cross the
+neutral lines, soon made themselves masters of Capo Corso, and pushed
+their successes on the eastern side of the island.
+
+Pascal Paoli, his brother Clemente, and the other national leaders, were
+not wanting in this crisis of the fate of Corsica, and the people rose
+_en masse_ against the overwhelming force that threatened to crush
+them. The war, though necessarily short, was marked by obstinate bravery
+on the part of the Corsicans. The French troops having met with many
+repulses, received a signal defeat at Borgo. There is scarcely a village
+in the interior that is not illustrious for its patriotic efforts at
+this period. Chauvelin, the French general-in-chief, was recalled, and,
+ultimately, the Count de Vaux, an officer of experience, took the field
+as generalissimo of the French army, swelled by successive
+reinforcements to the vast force of 40,000 men.
+
+The great blow which decided the fate of Corsica was struck at the
+battle of Ponte Nuovo, of which some particulars are given in a former
+chapter.[24] This defeat entirely demoralised the island militia, and
+crushed Paoli's hopes of maintaining the nationality of Corsica.
+Retiring to Corte, and thence, almost as a fugitive, to Vivario, in the
+heart of the mountains, though he might still have maintained a
+_guerilla_ warfare against the French, he resolved to abandon a forlorn
+hope, and, pressed by a large body of the enemy's troops, embarked in an
+English frigate at Porto Vecchio, with his brother Clemente and 300 of
+his followers.
+
+The conquest of Corsica cost France largely both in men and money, it
+appearing by the official returns, that the loss sustained in killed and
+wounded was 10,721 men, while the expense of the war was estimated at 18
+millions of livres. The fate of the Corsicans met with general sympathy.
+Rousseau on this occasion accused the French people of the basest love
+of tyranny:—“_S'ils savoient un homme libre à l'autre bout du monde, je
+crois qu'ils y iroient pour le seul plaisir de l'exterminer._”
+
+After a short stay in Italy, Pascal Paoli proceeded to England, landing
+at Harwich on the 18th of September, 1769. The succeeding twenty years
+of his life were spent in London. He was well received by the king and
+queen, and the ministers paid him the attention due to his rank and
+services. But, though an object of much general interest, he shunned
+publicity, living in Oxford Street in a dignified retirement. He joined,
+however, in good society, and associated with the most eminent literary
+men of the day, among whom it was observed that his talents and
+accomplishments as much fitted him to shine, as at the head of his
+patriotic countrymen. Boswell had the happiness of introducing him to
+Johnson, and revelled in the glory of exhibiting his two lions on the
+same stage.
+
+The French Revolution opened the way for Pascal Paoli's return to
+Corsica, with the prospect of again devoting himself to the service of
+his country under a constitutional monarchy, the form of government he
+most approved. At Paris, the unfortunate Louis XVI. and his queen
+received him with marks of favour, La Fayette greeted him as a brother,
+and the National Assembly gave him an enthusiastic reception. He was
+named President of the Department of Corte and Commander of the National
+Guard.
+
+Landing in Corsica, amidst the congratulations of his countrymen, all
+flocked round him, and mothers raised their babes in their arms that
+they might behold the common father of their country. The hopes of the
+Corsicans again revived; for, if they had not a national and independent
+government, they were members of a free state, with the man of their
+choice to administer affairs.
+
+Paoli was, however, soon disgusted with the excesses of the French
+Revolution, and, like all citizens of distinguished merit, he fell under
+the suspicions of the, so-called, Committee of Public Safety. Summoned
+to the bar of the National Convention, and declining to appear, he was
+proclaimed an enemy of the Republic, and put out of the protection of
+the law. Preparations were made for exterminating the Paolists, who flew
+to arms, resolved once more to assert the nationality of the Corsican
+people, and throw off their dependence on France. But intestine
+divisions again weakened the efforts of the patriots, and Corsica was
+divided into two parties—the Paolists and the Republicans; the
+Buonaparte family at this time supporting the patriot chief.
+
+In the face of the new invasion threatened by the French Republic, Paoli
+perceived that there was nothing to be done but to call the English,
+whose fleet hovered on the coast, to the aid of the Nationals, and place
+the island under British protection. The firstfruits of this alliance
+were the reduction of San Fiorenzo and the surrender of Bastia to the
+bold attack of Nelson already described.[25] The fall of these
+fortresses was succeeded by the siege of Calvi, in which Nelson also
+distinguished himself; and on the reduction of that place—Ajaccio and
+Bonifacio being already in the hands of the patriots—the French troops
+withdrew from the island.
+
+Corsica being once more free to establish a national government, the
+representatives of the people, assembled in a convention at Corte on the
+14th of June, 1794, accepted a constitution framed by Pascal Paoli, in
+conjunction with Sir Gilbert Elliot, the British Plenipotentiary. By
+this national act the sovereignty of Corsica was hereditarily conferred
+on the King of Great Britain with full executive rights; the legislative
+power, including especially the levying of taxes, being vested in an
+assembly called a parliament, composed of representatives elected in the
+several _pièves_ and towns. All Corsicans of the age of twenty-five
+years, possessed of real property (_beni fondi_), and domiciled for one
+year in a _piève_ or town, were entitled to vote at the elections. The
+king's consent was required to give force to all laws, and he had the
+prerogative of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the parliament. A
+viceroy, appointed by the sovereign, with a council and secretary of
+state, were to execute the functions of government. The press was to be
+free. In short, the kingdom of Corsica—so called even under the dominion
+of the Genoese Republic—was to be a limited monarchy, with institutions
+nearly resembling those of Great Britain, except that there was no House
+of Peers.
+
+The subject has some interest, even at this present day, as showing how
+the principles of a limited monarchy were adapted by such a man as
+Pascal Paoli to a _quasi_-Italian nation, than which none could be more
+ardent in their love of freedom, or have made greater struggles in its
+cause. The Constitutional Act[26] will be found in the appendix to Mr.
+Benson's work. It is curious also to find that in the time of our
+George III. a kingdom in the Mediterranean was as closely united to the
+Crown of Great Britain, as the kingdom of Ireland was at that time.
+
+Sir Gilbert Elliot was appointed viceroy. Unfortunately, with the best
+dispositions, his government was not administered with the tact required
+to conciliate so irascible a people as the Corsicans. While the viceroy
+was personally esteemed and beloved, he pursued a course of policy
+little calculated to calm the irritation which speedily arose. Pascal
+Paoli felt disappointment at not having been nominated viceroy, and was
+suspected of secretly fomenting the disaffection to the government. So
+far from this, he published an address to his countrymen, endeavouring
+to allay the ferment, and induce obedience to the English authorities.
+Jealousy, however, of his great and well-earned influence over the
+Corsicans appears to have led to his removal from the island. Towards
+the close of the year 1795 the king's command that he should repair to
+England was conveyed to him, couched, however, in gracious terms. He
+immediately obeyed, and arrived in London towards the end of December.
+
+No sooner had Paoli departed than discontent assumed a more alarming
+form. His presence and example had kept many calm who had been secretly
+hostile to the English, but who now openly displayed their animosity.
+Petitions were presented to the viceroy by some of the leading
+inhabitants assembled at Bistuglio, declaring the grounds of Corsican
+opposition, and proposing means of conciliation; while many bodies of
+the disaffected assembled in the wild neighbourhood of Bocagnono. These
+disorders, coupled with the mutual distrust with which the Corsicans and
+English viewed each other, finally led to the abandonment of the island
+by the latter; and, accordingly, between the 14th and 20th of October,
+1796, the viceroy and troops, under the protection of Nelson, embarked
+for Porto Ferrajo, leaving the island once more a prey to French
+invasion.
+
+Foreign writers sneer at the ignorance and mismanagement which so soon
+alienated the minds of the Corsicans from those whom they had lately
+hailed as their liberators and protectors; and it may perhaps be
+lamented that so noble a dependency of the British Crown was thus lost.
+Its commanding position in the Mediterranean, its fine harbours and
+magnificent forests, made it a most desirable position, at least during
+the revolutionary war. Such was Nelson's opinion, expressed in a letter
+to his wife when a descent on the coast was first contemplated. Added
+to these, its products of corn, wine, and oil, capable of almost
+indefinite augmentation under a good system of government, gave it great
+value as a permanent possession. What are Malta and Gibraltar? Merely
+rock fortresses, compared with such an island, capable of defence by the
+bravest people in the world, and possessed of such resources that, so
+far from being a burden on the finances, a very considerable surplus of
+the revenue now flows into the Imperial exchequer. Nothing was wanting
+but to reconcile the natives to the rule of their new masters, making
+it, as it constitutionally professed to be, national. This was doubtless
+a difficult task with a spirited people, alien in race, religion, and
+habits. The ministers of the day committed a great error in not giving
+the vice-royalty to Pascal Paoli. He was a thorough Anglo-Corsican, and
+perfectly understood the working of a constitutional government. The
+union had been his policy, and he alone could have carried it out.
+
+Whether the annexation of the island to the British Empire would have
+survived the deliberations of the Congress of Vienna is another
+question. One does not see why it should not have done so. We retained
+the Ionian Islands, less important in many respects, and with a
+population as turbulent, it seems, and as alien, as the Corsicans. The
+possession of Corsica by the Bourbons was very recent, and acquired by
+the most flagrant injustice. The French were scarcely more popular than
+the English with the national party; nor are they, according to the
+impression made during our Rambles, at the present day. The island had
+been offered to Napoleon, and might have become his island-empire. Had
+it even followed the fate of Genoa, its former mistress, and been
+assigned to Sardinia, there would be reason now for all friends of
+constitutional government to rejoice; and the Corsicans, essentially an
+Italian people, would more easily have amalgamated with their rulers.
+
+However, these are mere speculations. Pascal Paoli's retirement left his
+native island no resource but submission to the French, and it became
+once more a department of France, one and undivided. On his return to
+England, Paoli had a small pension from the English Government, which he
+shared with other exiles from his own country. Little is known of the
+latter years of his life. He probably resumed, as far as his advanced
+years admitted, the habits he had formed during his former residence in
+London. He died there, on the 25th of February, 1807, at the age of
+eighty-two, and was interred in the burial-ground of Old St. Pancras. It
+is ground especially hallowed in the estimation of Roman Catholics; and
+if any reader should chance to turn his steps in that direction, he will
+be surprised to see what a large proportion of the monuments and
+gravestones in the vast area are inscribed to the memory of foreigners
+of all ranks, who, during a long course of years, have ended their days
+in London. The little antique church, too—one of the oldest, if not the
+oldest, in London—is well worth a visit, as an interesting specimen of
+Romanesque architecture, well restored a few years ago.
+
+In the south-western corner of the churchyard, not far from the boundary
+wall, he will find a rather handsome tomb marking the spot in which the
+remains of the great Corsican are deposited. It bears on one face a long
+Latin inscription, said to have been penned by one of his countrymen,
+and the east slab bears a coronet, on what authority we are at a loss
+to conceive. So also the more humble monument of Theodore of Corsica at
+St. Anne's, Soho, is dignified with a shadowy crown. The mock king
+created Giacinto Paoli, Pascal's father, and one of his first ministers
+of state, a marquis or count. Can it be that, under that patent, Pascal
+Paoli assumed the insignia of nobility in his intercourse with the
+courtly circles of London? Was it a weakness in the man of the people,
+who, simple as his general habits were, had high breeding, and, as we
+learn from Boswell's gossip, was not entirely free from aristocratic
+tendencies,—nay, is said to have aspired to a royal crown?[27] Or is the
+coronet on his tomb an unauthorised device of the officious friends who
+are said to have spent 500_l._ in giving the exile a pompous funeral?
+
+Peace to his memory! In death, as in life, his heart was with the people
+he had loved and served so well. Still caring for their best interests,
+by a codicil to his will he appropriated the annual sum of 200_l._ to
+the endowment of four professors in a college he proposed to found at
+Corte. They were to teach—1st. The Evidences of Christianity;—2nd.
+Ethics and the Laws of Nations;—3rd. The Principles of Natural
+Philosophy;—and 4th. The Elements of Mathematics. He also bequeathed a
+salary of 50_l._ to a schoolmaster in his native _piève_ of Rostino, who
+was to instruct the children in reading, writing, and arithmetic. It
+appears to have been the object of Mr. Benson's journey to Corsica to
+carry into effect these wise and benevolent provisions, and Paoli's
+bequests to his poor relations.
+
+Paoli said when dying:—“My nephews have little to expect from me; but I
+will bequeath to them, as a memorial and consolation, this Bible—saying,
+‘I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their
+bread.’”
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XVIII.
+
+  _Excursion to a Forest.—Borders of the
+    Niolo.—Adventures.—Corsican Pines.—The Pinus Maritima and Pinus
+    Luriccio.—Government Forests._
+
+
+Our excursion to the forest came off on the day before we left Corte,
+under the auspices of our “man of the woods.” He procured us mules, and
+our hostess supplied a basket of provisions and wine; for it promised to
+be a hard day's work, carrying us far into the heart of the mountains.
+
+Leaving Corte by the Corso, we soon turned up a valley to the left,
+winding among hills of no great elevation and cultivated to their
+summits. Not much farther than a mile from the town, we passed a lone
+house, the door of which was riddled with bullets. The brigands attacked
+it not long before. It was an affair, I believe, of summary justice for
+some trespass on property.
+
+“No one was safe,” said our conductor, “two years ago, outside the town.
+If you had been in the island then, you would have seen half Corsica
+armed to the teeth.”—
+
+“The disarming has been complete, for since our landing we have only
+once seen fire-arms except in the hands of the military. Then the
+banditti, of whom we have heard more than enough, no longer exist?”
+
+“No; they have been shot down, brought to justice, or driven out of the
+island. Many of them escaped to Sardinia; if you go there, you will
+find things just in the same state they were here; perhaps worse, if our
+outlaws are roaming there. I will tell you, some time, the story of the
+last of the banditti. Not far from hence they fell in a desperate
+conflict with the gendarmes.”
+
+The hollows between some of the hills among which we wound were
+embosomed in chestnut-trees, and the husks were beginning to burst and
+shed the nuts on the ground.
+
+“The harvest is approaching,” said our guide. “Soon every house will
+have great heaps gathered in for the winter's store.”
+
+We were on the borders of the mountainous district of the _Niolo_, the
+most primitive, not only geologically, as we have lately seen, but in
+point of manners, of any in Corsica. This it owes to its sequestered
+situation, hemmed in by the southern branch of the great central chain.
+It is approached by difficult paths and steps hewn out of the rock, the
+best being the pass of the _Santa Regina_. The interior of the bason is,
+however, extremely fertile. We had now in view the Monte Cinto and Monte
+Artica, the principal summits of the Niolo group, nearly 8000 feet high;
+and from part of our route Monte Rotondo was seen rising, with its snowy
+crest, a thousand feet higher, further to the south.
+
+The country now assumed a wilder and more rugged character, cultivation
+disappeared, and the surface was either rocky or thickly covered with
+the natural shrubbery so often mentioned. Once more we were in the
+_Macchia_, threading it by a rough and narrow path. Flocks of sheep and
+goats were browsing among the bushes; and the sight of rude shepherds'
+huts, with their blazing fires, gave us to understand that we had
+reached the wilds beyond human habitation. At last, a steep ascent
+through the thickets by a slippery path surmounted a ridge commanding
+the prospect of one flank of a mountain, the forest property of our “man
+of the woods.” A furious torrent, its natural boundary, tumbled and
+dashed in its rocky channel far beneath. Our mules slid down the almost
+precipitous descent clothed with dense underwood; we forded the stream,
+and met our friend's forester, who was expecting our arrival, and had
+shouted to us as we crossed the ridge.
+
+A storm of rain poured down in torrents while we were clambering up the
+opposite heights, making for shelter with as much speed as such an
+ascent permitted. Our place of refuge was a well-known haunt of the
+shepherds and banditti. It could not be called a cave, but was a hollow
+under a mass of insulated rock, worn away in the disintegrated granite,
+the harder shell of which formed an umbrella-shaped canopy, protecting
+us from the rain. It was miserably cold; but there were no dry materials
+at hand for lighting a fire, though the blackened rock and heaps of
+ashes and half-burnt logs looked very tempting.
+
+Under such circumstances, the best thing to be done was to apply
+ourselves to the contents of Madame ——'s basket, as we had still harder
+work before us. The contents were just displayed when my
+fellow-traveller made his appearance. I had lost sight of him in the
+bush while hurrying on, he having dismounted, and left his mule to be
+led up by a shepherd. He, too, had sought shelter in the nearest rock he
+could find. It had a cavity with a low aperture, into which he thrust
+himself head-foremost. What was his surprise at beholding a pair of
+eyes glaring at him through the gloom! The thing—whether it were man or
+beast he could not at the moment distinguish—shrunk back. He, too,
+recoiled and made a sudden exit. Presently he saw a pair of legs
+protruding on the further side of the rock, which it appeared was
+perforated from both extremities, and the thing, serpent-like, gradually
+wriggled itself out. Then stood erect, shaggy and rough as a wild beast
+startled from its lair, one of the shepherd boys, who had also crept
+into the cavity for refuge from the storm. He cast one look of
+astonishment at the intruder, turned round, and, leaping into the bush,
+disappeared without uttering a word.
+
+“Perhaps he took you for a detective in plain clothes, conscience-struck
+for having assisted to harbour the proscribed brigands!”
+
+Our meal despatched, and the weather clearing, we began clambering up a
+mountain side, as steep as the ridge of a house; and the mules, being
+useless, were sent down in charge of the muleteer to the ford of the
+torrent. Signor F——'s forest spread over the whole face of the mountain,
+and how much further he best knew. We understood that he had a larger
+tract in another direction.
+
+Trackless pine forests—some belonging to the communes, others to private
+individuals,—clothe the lower ranges of the mountains through all this
+part of the island. Vizzavona, which we crossed on our way to Ajaccio,
+and Aitona, lying to the south-west of the Niolo, belong to the State,
+and the French Admiralty draw from them large supplies of timber shipped
+to Toulon; especially the finest masts used in their navy. The Corsican
+pine-forests have been famous from early times. Theophrastus[28]
+mentions a ship built by the Romans with this timber, of such large
+dimensions as to carry fifty sails; and Sextus Pompeius, seizing this
+island as well as Sicily and Sardinia, drew from its forests the means
+of maintaining his naval supremacy.
+
+Our “man of the woods” appeared to have hardly earned, and well to
+merit, the noble property in the possession of which he rejoiced. Yet he
+described himself as poor in the midst of his seeming wealth,
+impoverished to get together vast tracts of country, from which, at
+present, he received no return. His object was to obtain a market for
+sale of his timber, which he said could be floated down the rivers to
+the sea-coast at a moderate expense. Having seen, as we had, the
+Norwegian timber floating down rivers, precipitated over rapids, and
+rafted over immense lakes, during a _flottage_ to the sea which it
+sometimes takes two years to accomplish[29], we could find no difficulty
+in believing that advantage might be taken of the rivers on either
+watershed of the central chain in Corsica, to bear this, the only wealth
+of these elevated regions, to the coast, which is nowhere more than
+about fifty miles distant. Of the anchorage and depth of water at the
+mouths of the rivers, I have no precise information, except so far that
+Signor F—— assured us there would be no difficulty in shipping his
+timber.
+
+I had not counted on such an exhausting effort as climbing a thousand
+feet nearly perpendicular on the rocky and rugged surface of a mountain
+forest in Corsica demanded. Accustomed to traverse some of the finest
+pine-forests of Norway in a light _carriole_ on excellent roads, or to
+canter along their avenues on little spirited horses, its native breed,
+without any feeling of fatigue, I had imagined our present enterprise to
+be much easier than it proved. Indeed, had it not been that the tangled
+roots of the pines, forming a network on the denuded surface of the
+rocks, afforded secure footing and a firm hold, and that, clasping the
+giant stems, one could take breath on the edge of the shelving cliffs, I
+should never have scrambled, and pulled myself, up to the summit.
+
+    [Illustration: PINUS MARITIMA.]
+
+    [Illustration: PINUS LARICCIO.]
+
+    [Illustration: CONE OF THE PINUS LARICCIO.]
+
+Our “man of the woods,” notwithstanding his great bulk, was agile as a
+mountain-goat, leaping from crag to crag, and striking off in every
+direction where he could show us trees of the largest growth. Marmocchi
+mentions four species of the pine in his catalogue of the indigenous
+trees growing in Corsica. Of two of these, _Pinus Pinea_ (the stone
+pine), and _Pinus Sylvestris_ (our common Scotch fir), I did not remark
+any specimens in the forests we had an opportunity of examining, nor do
+they equal the others in grandeur and value. But both the _Pinus
+Lariccio_ and the _Pinus Maritima_ are magnificent trees. They were
+mingled in the forest I am now describing, the _Lariccio_ prevailing.
+
+The _Pinus Maritima_, so well known to all travellers in Italy and
+Greece, and to others by its picturesque effect in the landscapes of
+Claude, has often its trunk clear of boughs till near the top, which
+spreads out in an umbrella-shaped head, with a dense mass of foliage;
+and, where the stem is not so denuded, the tree has the same rounded
+contour of boughs. Both are figured and described in Lambert's
+magnificent work on the GENUS PINUS; but, unfortunately, from very
+insignificant specimens; those of the Pinus Maritima being taken from a
+tree at Sion House, only twenty feet high. The spines of the Pinus
+Maritima are longer than those of the Pinus Lariccio, and the branches
+more pensile. The engravings for the present work are from specimens
+brought from Corsica. Mr. Lambert's description, however, coincides with
+my own observations in the Corsican forests. He says:—“The branches are
+very numerous, and bear long filiform leaves. The cones are nearly the
+same size as Pinus Rigida. They are so remarkably smooth and glossy,
+that they at once distinguish their species. In shedding their seeds,
+they seem to expand very little.”[30] Mr. Lambert considers it to be the
+same species as the πεύκος, _Pinus Picea_ of Greece, which grow on the
+high mountains, Olympus, Pindus, Parnassus, &c.; and quotes an extract
+from Dr. Sibthorp's papers, published in Walpole's _Turkey_, remarking
+that the πεύκος furnished a useful resin, used in Attica to preserve
+wine from becoming acid, and supplying tar and pitch for shipping. “The
+resinous parts of the wood,” he says, “are cut into small pieces, and
+serve for candles.”
+
+The _Pinus Lariccio_ is more disposed to retain its lower branches than
+the Pinus Maritima, and has a more angular character both in the boughs
+and the footstalks of its tassels. The spines are shorter. The boughs
+slightly droop, but by no means in the degree of the spruce fir or the
+_larch_. From this circumstance, however, it probably derives its name,
+though it has nothing else in the slightest degree common with the
+larch; and writers who speak of the “Corsican larch” betray their
+readers into serious error. The Pinus Lariccio is figured in Mr.
+Lambert's work from two specimens in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris,
+about thirty feet high and three feet in girth, in 1823. Their age is
+not mentioned. Don, quoted in this work, remarks that “this pine is
+totally distinct from all the varieties of Pinus Sylvestris, with which,
+however, it in some respects agrees. It differs in the branches being
+shorter and more regularly verticellate. The leaves are one-third
+longer; cones shorter, ovate, and quite straight, with depressed scales,
+opening freely to shed the seed. The wood is more weighty, resinous,
+and, consequently, more compact, stronger, and more flexible than Pinus
+Sylvestris. Its bark is finer and much more entire.” The Pinus Lariccio
+is also at once distinguishable from the Pinus Maritima growing in the
+same forest, by the bark alone. Drawings are here given of (1) the
+exterior and (2) interior coats, from specimens brought from Corsica.
+They are very thick, and peel off in large flakes, the inner layer being
+most delicately veined, and of a rich crimson hue.
+
+    [Illustration: BARK OF THE PINUS LARICCIO.]
+
+“I observed,” says Mr. Hawkins, quoted by Lambert, “on Cyllene,
+Taygetus, and the mountains of Thasos, a sort of fir, which, though
+called πεύκος by the inhabitants, and resembling that of the lower
+regions, has the foliage much darker, and the growth of the tree more
+regular and straight. The elevated region on which it grew leads me to
+suspect it must be different from the common πεύκος.”[31] Mr. Lambert
+adds:—“The Pinus Lariccio is, I have no doubt, the tree here mentioned,
+especially as it is known to grow in Greece, and has been found by Mr.
+Webb near the summit of Mount Ida, in Phrygia.”[32] We are inclined,
+however, to think that this remark requires confirmation by more exact
+details.
+
+The Pinus Lariccio grows to a greater height than the Pinus Maritima. In
+this forest Signor F—— estimated some of the finest specimens of the
+latter at from sixty to seventy feet in length, while those of the
+Lariccio could not be less than 120 feet, and perhaps more, with an
+average circumference of about nine feet. Some little experience enabled
+us to confirm this estimate.
+
+But these dimensions are often exceeded. In the neighbouring forest of
+Valdianello, which, again, abuts on that of Aitona, the chief of the
+government reserves, there lately stood a Pinus Lariccio, called by the
+Corsicans “_Le Roi des Arbres_.” At five feet from the ground its girth
+was upwards of nineteen feet. The height of the tree is not mentioned.
+The king of the forest is dead, but it boasts a successor worthy of its
+honours, the girth being, as Marmocchi relates on report, twenty-six
+feet at one mètre (three feet three inches) from the ground, and only
+reduced to twenty-one feet where the trunk is fifty-eight feet high.
+Its entire height is 150 feet, and its branches cover a circumference
+nearly 100 feet in diameter.
+
+These dimensions are large for European pines, about averaging those of
+the Norwegian. Growing in a rocky soil, I can easily believe that the
+timber is, as represented, extremely durable. It was surprising to see
+in Signor F——'s forest trees of such magnitude springing from fissures
+in the granite cliffs, and from ledges of rocks having only a scanty
+covering of barren soil. The growth must be slow; by counting the rings
+in some of the fallen trees, I calculated that they had stood about two
+centuries. The choicest specimens were usually grouped on some platform,
+or in hollows of the precipitous cliffs. In these positions they are
+often exposed to the worst of enemies, such spots being the haunts of
+the brigands and shepherds; and it was lamentable to observe the
+destruction caused by their fires in all parts of the wood. Huge
+half-burnt logs lay at the foot of some of the finest pines, and the
+flames had not only scorched all vegetation within reach, but eaten into
+the heart of the trees.
+
+This may be considered as one of the few virgin forests remaining in
+Corsica. The vast consumption by the Genoese, and afterwards by the
+French, governments, has greatly exhausted the forests; and it is only
+in the inaccessible parts of the country, where there are no roads, that
+timber of large dimensions is found. Even here they were felling the
+smaller trees, sawing them into planks, and carrying them away on mules,
+one plank balancing another on each side of the pack-saddle. We ventured
+to suggest to our “man of the woods” the advantages of sawmills, a
+machinery of the simplest possible construction, adopted in North
+America, Norway, and all forest countries, where, as here, there is
+abundant water-power. All such industrial resources are wanting in
+Corsica, but our friend was too shrewd not to be alive to the value of
+the suggestion.
+
+Our course through the forest had led us round to the flank of the
+mountain, shelving down to the torrent we forded on our arrival. A
+descent is generally considered an easy affair: so we found this in
+comparison with the ascent; but the declivity was formidable, there
+being no sort of path, and we had to work our way over and amongst huge
+masses of rock and slippery boulders, and jumping from crag to crag,
+sliding, rolling, and tumbling, not without some severe falls, we at
+last reached the bottom.
+
+Remounting our mules, a very pleasant change—active, light-stepping
+beasts as they were,—we rode slowly on our return to Corte, often
+looking back at the broad forest-clad mountains, with the snowy dome of
+Monte Rotondo in the distance. Signor F——, anxious to supply us with all
+the information we required, lost no opportunity of pointing out
+remarkable objects.
+
+“Do you see that _paése_?” he said, pointing to some grey buildings
+about five miles off, on the right bank of the Golo; “that is Soveria,
+the birth-place of Cervione, one of Napoleon's best generals. He fell in
+the battle of Ratisbon. His last words to the emperor, when ordered on a
+desperate attack,” said our friend, with Corsican feeling “were, ‘_Je
+vous recommande ma famille_.’”
+
+Valery relates an amusing anecdote of this General Cervione. Having the
+command at Rome, which he exercised with great severity, it became his
+duty to convey the order to Pope Pius VII. for abdicating his temporal
+power and being sent away, which he executed harshly. When Pius VII.
+was afterwards at the Tuileries, Cervione, with other generals, came to
+pay him his respects. The pope, struck by his pure Italian
+pronunciation, complimented him on it. “_Santo Padre_,” said Cervione,
+“_sono quasi Italiano._”—“_Come?_”—“_Sono Corso._”—“_Oh! oh!_”—“_Sono
+Cervione._”—“_Oh! oh! oh!_” At this terrible recollection the pope
+shrank aghast, hastily retreating to the fireside.
+
+“Further on,” said our conductor, “I see it plainly, there is an old
+grey house on the top of a rock; a poor place, but the birthplace of
+Pascal Paoli. He resided there after he became our chief, but would not
+have the home of his fathers altered.”
+
+Near Soveria is Alando, the native place of Sambuccio, the patriot
+leader in the first insurrection against the Genoese. All the
+neighbourhood of Corte is classic ground in Corsican history.
+
+We returned there to a late dinner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XIX.
+
+  _The Forest of Asco.—Corsican Beasts of Chase.—The
+    Moufflon.—Increase of Wild Animals.—The last of the Banditti._
+
+
+Our good “man of the woods” joined us at dinner. It was a just source of
+pride to him that he had shown his magnificent forest to foreigners as
+enthusiastic as himself, and who might, perhaps, forward his designs for
+making it profitable. In this view he now wrote the subjoined
+particulars.[33]
+
+We had already inquired what sport such covers afforded, and the account
+given of deer and wild boars, not to speak of smaller game, was very
+tempting. There were bears in the forests in the time of Flippini the
+historian, but for the last century they have been extinct. There are no
+wolves; but the foxes are plentiful, and so strong that they venture to
+attack the flocks of sheep and goats. The Corsican _cerf_ is like the
+red deer. Their colour is ferruginous. In size they are a little larger
+than fallow deer with a heavier body, and stronger horns, springing
+upright, spreading less than any other variety, and slightly palmated.
+Both male and female have a dark line down the back, rump, and scut. The
+_moufflon_ or _muffori_ is a most curious animal, almost peculiar, I
+believe, to this island and Sardinia, though a variety of the species is
+found in Morocco. Something between a sheep, a deer, and a goat, the
+male has spiral horns like a goat, rather turned back, with the legs and
+hind-quarter of a goat, but the head of a sheep. The colour is a reddish
+brown, with some admixture of black and white, brown predominating. The
+skin is fine-grained, not woolly but fine-haired, like a deer. It is
+extremely agile, jumping from rock to rock with surprising leaps, and so
+wild that, like the chamois and the reindeer, it frequents only the
+highest mountains, close to the snow-line, in summer, descending, as the
+snow extends, to lower regions. When the winters are very severe, and
+the snow covers the ground, it is driven into some of the higher
+valleys, and has been known to take refuge in the stables among the tame
+sheep and goats. The _moufflon_ goes in troops of from four to twenty.
+The females drop their young on the edge of the snow in the month of
+May. There are full-grown specimens of the _moufflon_ in the Zoological
+Gardens, Regent's Park, and in the _Jardin de Plantes_, at Paris.
+
+Of smaller game, Corsica abounds in hares and red partridges, the only
+species found in the island. In winter there are woodcocks, snipes, and
+water-fowl, and a _grande chasse_ of thrushes, which, feeding on the
+berries of the arbutus, the lentiscus, and the myrtle, become very fat,
+have a fine flavour, and are esteemed a great delicacy.
+
+But all these varieties of game were forbidden fruit, as a _permis_ to
+carry fire-arms could not be obtained by any class of persons, or for
+any purpose whatever. The shepherds have only their dogs to protect
+their flocks. If the prohibition continues long, the wild animals must
+become the pest of the island, and with their natural increase there
+will be splendid shooting when the use of fire-arms is again allowed.
+But for the hope of better sport in Sardinia, we thought of getting up a
+boar hunt, with spears, in the fashion so picturesquely seen in old
+pictures, and a much more spirited affair than shooting pigs. For deer
+and birds there is nothing left but to fall back on bows and arrows, as
+long as the Corsicans cannot be trusted with fire-arms, lest the _genus
+homo_ should be their prey.
+
+It was the last evening we spent with our “man of the woods.” He was
+very communicative, and, among other things, told us many stories of the
+heroic deeds of his countrymen in former times, and of the wild life of
+Corsica, which has only just expired. I preserve one of his tales,
+relating a recent event, which happily closes the bloody chapter of
+Corsican banditism.
+
+
+_The Last of the Banditti._
+
+Two brothers, Pierre-Jean and Xavier-Saverio Massoni, men of
+extraordinary vigour and desperate courage, banded with Arrhigi, another
+determined outlaw, had for many years been the terror of the wild
+district of the _Niolo_ in which they harboured, and of the neighbouring
+country. Many were the families they had reduced to misery by cutting
+off their fathers and brothers; but they had numerous friends, whom they
+protected. They shared the scanty fare of the shepherds in the
+mountains, and the people entertained them in their houses; some, _par
+amitié_, with cordiality and kindness, others from fear. Such was the
+renown of these banditti chiefs that the authorities used every effort
+to exterminate them, offering large rewards for their heads, and
+threatening with severe penalties any who should supply them with the
+means of existence.
+
+At length a shepherd, who had received some injury from one of the band,
+betrayed their hiding-place in the fastnesses of the _Niolo_ to the
+_gendarmes_. Led by him through tracks known only to the shepherds and
+banditti, before daylight on a morning of the month of October, 1851, a
+body of the _gendarmerie_, twenty or thirty in number, reached the
+neighbourhood in which the three resolute bandits were concealed. It was
+a place called Penna-Rosa, near Corscia, a village in the canton of
+Calacuccia, not very far from Corte.
+
+The bandits are in the habit of separating for their greater security.
+At this time Pierre Massoni was alone in one of the caves among the
+rocks; Xavier Massoni and Arrhigi together occupied another. The
+_gendarmes_, as active and resolute as the banditti, their mortal foes,
+with whom they often had desperate encounters, crept towards the cave
+occupied by Pierre, who, seeing the disparity of numbers, crept into the
+bush, and attempted to escape, probably intending to join his friends,
+and with them make a determined resistance. The _gendarmes_ fired a
+volley, and Pierre fell mortally wounded.
+
+Xavier and Arrhigi had, somehow, received intelligence of the approach
+of the _gendarmes_, and hastening to the spot found them posted in front
+of the cave. A shot from each of the brigands brought down two of their
+enemies; and during the confusion caused by this unexpected diversion,
+the _gendarmes_ drawing off, Xavier Massoni, supposing that his brother
+was concealed in the cave, shouted to him—
+
+“Pierre, come out; I have cleared the way.”
+
+This cry drew the attention of the _gendarmes_, and at the same moment
+he was shot in the thigh by one of the party. A general fire was then
+opened, but Xavier contrived to creep into the bush, and afterwards made
+his escape over the mountains, while Arrhigi fled for refuge to a deep
+and almost inaccessible cavern. The party followed him, and posted
+themselves, under cover of the rocks, near the mouth of the cave into
+which they supposed he had retired, for they had not seen him enter; and
+as the access was so narrow that it could only be attempted by one at a
+time, the attempt to reconnoitre would have been certain death.
+
+The _gendarmes_, though numbering at least twenty to one, thus held at
+bay by one man, the bravest of the brave, sent a messenger to Corte to
+demand a reinforcement. Four hundred troops were detached for this
+service. They were accompanied by the _sous-préfet_, the _procureur
+imperial_, a captain of engineers, and men with ammunition to blow up
+the cave. It was a four hours' march from Corte, and they arrived late
+in the day.
+
+Meanwhile the _gendarmes_ beleaguered the spot, keeping under cover. The
+brave Arrhigi kept close, watchful no doubt. He must have had a stout
+heart; but we do not paint, we only give the leading details; the
+reader's imagination will supply the rest.
+
+At length the troops marched up. A French _gendarme_, boldly or
+incautiously, approached the entrance; he was shot dead on the spot.
+Then, no doubt was left that Arrhigi was there. Either to spare life, or
+because no one was found bold enough to lead the forlorn hope in
+storming the entrance, it was resolved to blow up the cave. The
+engineers set to work, a shaft was sunk from above, a barrel of
+gunpowder was lodged in it—the explosion was ineffectual; it left the
+massive vault and sides of the narrow cavern as firm as ever. It was too
+deep to be reached without regular mining. Besides, the night was
+bitter, and the whole party shaking with cold.
+
+Engineering operations were abandoned. As they could neither beard the
+bandit in his den, nor blow him up, it was determined to starve him out.
+The troops bivouacked, fires were lighted, and sentinels posted. The
+siege was converted into a blockade, all in due military order.
+
+“_Centinelle, prend garde à vous!_” was passed from post to post.
+“_Centinelle, prend garde à moi!_” answered the bold Arrhigi from his
+rocky hold.
+
+The blockade was maintained for five days and four nights, not without
+some loss on the part of the besiegers, for Arrhigi opened fire from
+time to time, as opportunity offered, and no less than seven of his
+enemies were struck down by his unerring bullets. Some were wounded.
+
+“Brave soldiers of Napoleon,” cried Arrhigi, “carry off your wounded
+comrades, who want your assistance.”
+
+It seems extraordinary that 400 troops should be held at bay by a single
+man for so long a period; but such was the fact. Perhaps the officials
+hoped to take him alive, or they might wish to spare a further effusion
+of blood in actual conflict with the desperate bandit. Arrhigi's cavern
+had a small store of provisions and some gourds of water. When these
+were expended, he resolved on making a last effort to force his way
+through the troops. Could he have stood out a day longer, he might
+probably have escaped, as the weather became so tempestuous that it
+would have been impossible for them to maintain their exposed position
+in those bleak mountains.
+
+On the fourth night, just before the dawn of day, he made the attempt.
+Dashing from the cavern, and shooting down the nearest sentries right
+and left with his double-barrelled gun, he gained the thickets. An alarm
+was raised, and there was a general pursuit. Arrhigi fled towards the
+Golo, intending, probably, to place that river between him and his
+pursuers. It was now daylight, and they were upon him before he reached
+it. Again brought to bay, he took his stand sheltered by a rock. The
+soldiers cried out to him to surrender; but the resolute bandit,
+refusing quarter, continued to resist till he was shot through the head.
+
+We left Xavier Massoni escaping into the _maquis_, but slightly wounded
+in the thigh. The _gendarmes_ were so occupied with his brother Pierre
+and Arrhigi, that he reached, unpursued, a distant forest in the heart
+of the mountains. Soon, however, an officer of the _Gendarmerie Corse_,
+with a detachment of forty or fifty men, was laid on his track. After
+seven days they discovered the lone cave in which, the last of his band,
+he had hoped for concealment. It was high up the face of the mountain,
+but the party scaled it, and summoning Xavier to surrender, he gave his
+_parole_. Just at that moment a _gendarme_ offering a shot, the bandit
+levelled his gun at him and killed him. He then threw down his arms and
+came out of the cave, prepared to surrender himself. A sentry posted
+near, imagining that he intended to escape, shot him dead without
+challenging him or allowing him time to give himself up. The sentry was
+punished, as they wished to take the bandit alive, hoping that he would
+discover those who were in league with him.
+
+Thus fell, with a gallantry worthy of a better cause, these renowned
+banditti chiefs, who for many years had infested the country, and filled
+it with alarm and grief. The rest of the band dispersed, were killed, or
+taken prisoners. Arrhigi's heroic defence closed the series of romantic
+stories on which the Corsicans delight to dwell. His example might have
+encouraged the outlaws to emulate his daring resistance; but the unusual
+force brought against him convinced them that the authorities were no
+longer to be trifled with. The brigands became thoroughly disheartened,
+and we hear of no more desperate encounters with the _gendarmerie_. In
+the course of the following year, the deep solitudes of the Corsican
+forests and mountains, echoing no longer to the crack of the rifle, were
+left in the undisturbed possession of the shepherds and their flocks,
+the foxes and the _moufflons_.
+
+There is another version of the story of the Massoni and Arrhigi,
+cleverly wrought up, and giving it, what was scarcely needed, a more
+romantic character. It differs from that here given in many of the
+circumstances, and in passing, perhaps, from hand to hand, even the
+scene has been transferred to the neighbourhood of Monte Rotondo, many
+miles distant from the spot where the events occurred. My informant was
+not likely to omit any actual occurrence of a striking nature; and as he
+lived at Corte, and his occupation often led him to the canton of
+Callacuccia, he had the best opportunities of learning the facts, if
+indeed he was not present at the time. His simple narrative is therefore
+adhered to.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XX.
+
+  _Leave Corte for Ajaccio.—A legend of Venaco.—Arrival at
+    Vivario._
+
+
+The distance from Corte to Ajaccio is about fifty miles; the most
+interesting objects on the road being the great forest of Vizzavona, and
+Bocagnono embosomed in chestnut woods. In order to take these leisurely,
+mules were bespoken at Vivario, a mountain village at the foot of Monte
+d'Oro, as far as which we determined to avail ourselves of the
+_diligence_ passing through Corte, _en route_ from Bastia to Ajaccio.
+For the first two stages after leaving Corte we knew that there was
+little temptation to linger on the way; and it is unadvisable to waste
+time and strength by walking or riding on high-roads when coach or rail
+will hurry you on to a good starting point for independent rambling. To
+travel systematically from one great town to another by such
+conveyances, with perhaps an occasional excursion in the neighbourhood,
+is a very different affair.
+
+We were called at midnight, and walking to the _bureau_, shortly
+afterwards the _voiture_ came rumbling up, a small primitive vehicle,
+drawn by three mules. It contained five passengers, “booked through;”
+three rough fellows, all smoking, and a woman with a squalling
+_bambino_, dignified by the name of Auguste. Under these circumstances,
+we proposed taking our seat on the roof, as there was no _banquette_.
+The _commis du bureau_ objected;—we should fall off, and he would be
+blamed; it was _contre les régles_; and every traveller knows how
+despotically the rules are administered by foreign officials. He must
+submit to be a mere machine in their hands, to be stowed away and
+conveyed like his portmanteau. The rules are, however, generally
+enforced with great civility; but the _commis_ was not civil. Early
+rising, or sitting up late, had put him out of temper, and the passion
+into which he worked himself about this trifle was very amusing. “There
+was room inside, and why could not _messieurs_ accommodate themselves in
+the _voiture_ like sensible people?”
+
+We did not lose our temper, and carrying our point, had every reason to
+rejoice in our victory. The moon was up, and showed the sort of scenery
+through which we passed, by a very hilly but well-engineered road, to
+great advantage, in its various aspects. Now we were slowly ascending a
+bare hill-side in the full light; then plunging into hollows buried in
+the deepest shade of chestnut woods branching over the road. Then there
+were scattered groups of the rugged ilex, with its pale green leaves
+silvered by the moonbeams; and, where the land was cultivated, there was
+the livelier green of the young wheat, and the dark verdure of luxuriant
+crops of sainfoin: scarcely a house was passed; a solitary habitation is
+a rare sight in Corsica.
+
+Our position also gave us the advantage of the _voiturier's_
+conversation, which, under the inspiration of the scene, the woods, and
+moonlight on a lonely road, was well spiced with stories of banditti. At
+that corner they stole from the thicket, and gave their victim a mortal
+stab. There was a cross over his grave, but it has been removed. A
+deadly shot from behind that grey rock struck down another. Here they
+had a bloody fight with the _sbirri_. Such tales, as it has been already
+remarked, are heard everywhere. I forget the particulars; but they are
+all variations of one wild strain, of which the key-note is blood.
+
+One legend of another kind I remember. The _voiturier_ related it as we
+approached Venaco:—
+
+“A long while ago—it was in the tenth century, I believe—there lived
+here a Count of Corsica, by name Arrhigo Colonna, who was so handsome
+that he was called _Il Bel Messere_. He had a beautiful wife and seven
+beautiful children. Feuds arose in the country, and his enemies, jealous
+of his great power, slew the Count and his seven children, and threw
+their bodies into a little lake among the hills. There was deep
+lamentation among the vassals of the _Bel Messere_; and his wife, having
+escaped, led them against the assassins, who had taken refuge in a
+neighbouring castle, stormed it, and put them all to the sword. Often
+are the ghosts of the _Bel Messere_ and his seven children seen flitting
+by the pale moonlight—on such a night as this—among the woods and on the
+green hills of Venaco; and the shepherds on the mountains all around
+preserve the tradition of their sorrowful fate.”
+
+We reached Vivario before daylight, and leaving the _voiture_, scrambled
+up a lane, then some dark stairs, and found ourselves in the gaunt rooms
+of a rude _locanda_. The people were astir, expecting us, and the best
+sight was, not indeed a blazing fire of logs—though Vivario is close to
+the forest, such fires are not to be seen indoors—but at least some
+lighted embers on the cooking-hearth, giving promise of a speedy cup of
+hot coffee, for we were very cold. The mountain air was keen, Vivario
+standing nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The best news was
+that the mules for our journey were forthcoming. Meanwhile, we got our
+wash, and, it being too early to eat, had our _déjeûner_ of bread and
+wine, grapes and ham, packed in a basket, to be eaten on the road.
+
+We were objects of much curiosity. Whence did we come? where were we
+going? what was our business?—were questions of course.
+
+“From London.”
+
+“_Sono chiesi in Londra?_”
+
+“_Inglesi—sono tutti Christiani?_”
+
+It may easily be imagined that the communal schools in Corsica give
+little instruction in ethnology; and even intelligent persons, like our
+former guide Antoine, appeared to doubt our right to be called
+Christians. That was often questioned, the people seeming little better
+informed than they were when Boswell travelled in Corsica, almost a
+century ago.
+
+“_Inglesi_,” said a strong black fellow to him, “_sono barbare; non
+credono in Dio grande._”
+
+“Excuse me, sir,” replied Boswell; “we do believe in God, and in Jesus
+Christ too.”
+
+“_Um,_” said he, “_e nel Papa?_” (and in the Pope?)
+
+“No.”
+
+“_E perche?_” (And why?)
+
+This was a puzzling question under the circumstances, for there was a
+great audience listening to the controversy. So Boswell thought he would
+try a method of his own, and he very gravely replied:—
+
+“_Perche siamo troppo lontano._” (Because we are too far off.) A very
+new argument against the universal infallibility of the Pope. It took,
+however; for his opponent mused awhile, and then said:—
+
+“_Troppo lontano! Ha—Sicilia è tanto lontano che l'Inghilterra; e in
+Sicilia si credono nel Papa._” (Too far off! why Sicily is as far off as
+England; yet in Sicily they believe in the Pope.)
+
+“Ah!” said Boswell, “_Noi siamo dieci volte più lontano che la
+Sicilia._” (We are ten times farther off than Sicily.)
+
+“_Aha!_” said the questioner; and seemed quite satisfied. “In this
+manner,” concludes Boswell, “I got off very well. I question much
+whether any of the learned reasonings of our Protestant divines would
+have had so good an effect.”
+
+_Barbari_, _heretici_, whatever we were, we parted on good terms with
+our kind hostess. Two mules were at the door, attended by a lad, who, at
+first sight, appeared too young for the long and rather fatiguing
+journey before us; but he had a most intelligent countenance, with hair,
+eyes, and features of the true Italian character, and he handled his
+mules well, and proved a most active and agreeable attendant.
+
+    [Illustration: VIVARIO.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXI.
+
+  _Leave Vivario.—Forest of Vizzavona.—A roadside
+    adventure.—Bocagnono.—Arrive late at Ajaccio._
+
+
+It was broad daylight when we wound up a narrow path to the heights
+above the village of Vivario, thus saving an angle of the
+well-engineered high-road by which the _voiture_, preceding us, had
+gained the summit. Here we seated ourselves on a bank while my friend
+sketched. His view, reproduced in these pages, happily dispenses with
+the necessity of any lengthened description. Below, the eye rested on
+the tall and graceful _campanile_ of the village church, with the houses
+radiating from it, half concealed by the groves of chestnut-trees
+embowering the valley. The slope beneath our point of view, as well as
+that on the left under the high-road, was covered by vineyards in
+terraces and gardens. The contrast of this verdure with the bare ridge
+beyond the fertile basin, still in deep shade, and the atmospheric
+effects of a soft and not overpowering light on the foreground, as well
+as of the vapour rising in the gorge, and hanging in aërial folds about
+the mountain tops, can only be imagined.
+
+Smoke now began to curl up from the village hearths, and men, in rough
+jackets of black sheep's wool, with axes slung in their belts, are seen
+slowly winding up the steep to their work in the forest. The villages on
+the tops of the hills under the mountain ranges, of which we counted
+ten or more, reflect the early sunlight. A small fortified barrack,
+garrisoned by a party of _gendarmes_, held in check the banditti, whose
+strongest fastnesses were in this wild neighbourhood, and commands the
+high-road.
+
+This we now follow; and the views from it are exceedingly picturesque,
+the engineers having obtained their level for it by pursuing the
+sinuosities of the defiles round Monte d'Oro, the rival monarch with
+Monte Rotondo of the Corsican Alps. Its snowy summit is continually in
+sight on our right, and we observe streaks of new-fallen snow for some
+distance beneath. On the left, we have the great forest of Vizzavona,
+which we shortly entered. Having before described a Corsican pine-forest
+of similar character, repetition would be wearisome. The trees here are
+of the same species, with some admixture of oak, many of them on a scale
+of equal or greater magnificence. The finest masts for the French navy
+have been drawn from this forest.
+
+Heat and hunger now combined to make us look out for a rill of water at
+a convenient spot for taking our _déjeûner_, and a torrent crossing the
+road, with a rude bridge over it, we sat down on the low parapet, and,
+opening our baskets, the boy, Filippi, fetched water from the pure
+stream to cool and temper our wine. Bread, slices of ham, and grapes,
+were rapidly disappearing, when unexpected visitors appeared on the
+scene, in the shape of two country girls, travellers to Ajaccio like
+ourselves.
+
+We had not been so much struck, to speak the truth, as some travellers
+seem to have been with the beauty and gracefulness of the Corsican
+women; but these really were two very pretty girls, of the age of
+fifteen or sixteen, brunettes, bright eyed, slightly formed, and with
+pleasing and expressive features. They were lightly clad, and one of
+them carried a small bundle. Accosted by Filippi, we learnt that they
+came from Corte, and were on their way to Ajaccio, in search of domestic
+service. Filippi appeared to know some of their family. To desire the
+boy to share with them the meal he was making at some little distance
+was only returning Corsican hospitality. The girls were shy at first,
+and it was only by degrees that we were able to establish a chat with
+them; and I was struck with the manner in which the eldest, taking a
+handful of new chestnuts from a bag, offered the contribution to our
+pic-nic. Poor girls! chestnuts and the running brooks were probably all
+they had to depend upon for refreshment during their journey. Happily,
+both were easily to be found.
+
+Our road lying the same way, and the girls having walked from Vivario,
+while we had been riding, they were offered a ride on the mules, and,
+after some hesitation, the offer was accepted. With Filippi for their
+squire, the trio being about the same age, they were a merry party,
+making the glades of the old forest ring with their laughter and the
+sound of their young voices in the sweetest of tongues. The girls were
+in such glee, Filippi pressing the mules to a gallop, that though we
+enjoyed the fun, we really feared they would be thrown off. Our fears
+were groundless; riding astride, as is the fashion of the country—but
+with all propriety—they had a firm seat, and laughed at our
+apprehensions.
+
+With all this exuberance of spirits, there were the greatest modesty and
+simplicity in the demeanour of these poor girls. When they proceeded in
+a more sober mood, we joined in the conversation, asking questions
+about their prospects at Ajaccio, and the schooling they had received.
+They had no friends at Ajaccio; but the “Mother of Mercy” would guide
+and protect them!
+
+The number of the girls receiving education at the communal and
+conventual schools in Corsica is very disproportionate to that of the
+boys. Marmocchi states the number of the former, in 1851 or 1852, as
+2362, while the males receiving public instruction were 14,196. Of the
+girls, only 546 are educated in the communal schools, and 1816 in the
+establishments of the _Sœurs de St. Joseph_ or the _Filles de Marie_.
+The proportion of boys frequenting the Corsican schools, relatively with
+those of France, is 137 to 100 in the winter, and 226 to 100 in the
+summer; but that of the girls is in the inverse, the relative number
+being much smaller in Corsica—12 only to 100 in the winter, and 21 to
+100 in the summer.
+
+Our fellow-travellers were among the favoured number. Bridget, the
+eldest, opened her bundle, and took from among the folds of their
+slender stock of clothes two little books, which she showed us with
+modest pride. They contained catechisms, the _Pater-noster_, the _Ave
+Maria_, and a short litany to the Blessed Virgin. Poor girls! their
+trust was in Heaven! They had little else to trust in; but there was a
+“Mother of Mercy” to befriend her loving children. That was the most
+comfortable article in their creed—ideal, but very beautiful.
+
+At the highest point of the _Col_ of Vizzavona, nearly 4000 feet above
+the level of the sea, we find a loopholed barrack, surrounded by a
+ditch, where a small force of the _gendarmerie_ is stationed to operate
+against the brigands. Standing among bare rocks, with the precipices of
+Monte d'Oro frowning above it, the position is most dismal. Fancy that
+bleak barrack in the long, dreary winter of such an elevation, when ice
+and snow reign over the whole _plateau_! And what must have been the
+severity of the service when the bleak forest was the hiding-place, and
+Bocagnono, just under, the head-quarters, of the most desperate
+banditti!
+
+    [Illustration: BOCAGNONO.]
+
+We still walked on, really preferring it, and glad not only to give the
+girls a lift, but to spare the mules, while carrying their light weight,
+for the hard service yet before them. After passing the _col_, we had a
+splendid view of Bocagnono and its hamlets, buried in trees, with bold
+mountains beyond. The pines now gave way to beech woods, and soon
+afterwards we reached the level of the chestnut. The fall of the ground
+became rapid, but, as usual in such cases, the face of the hill being
+traversed by stages of inclined planes, blasted by gunpowder in the
+rocks, the gradients of the road were easy.
+
+The chestnut trees in the valley are of extraordinary size, and a rich
+_contour_ of growth. Scattered capriciously among the groves are no less
+than ten hamlets, all attached to Bocagnono. It is a wild and romantic
+neighbourhood; and the principal village, though surrounded with
+verdure, has a most desolate aspect, the houses being built of unhewn
+stone, black with age, and the windows unglazed.
+
+Walking down the long, straggling street, noting appearances, a little
+in advance of our singular cavalcade, we observed a very magnificent
+officer of police, with a cocked hat and feathers, and sword by his
+side, sitting on a bench, smoking his pipe. He scrutinised us closely as
+we passed, munching chestnuts, and carelessly throwing the shells not
+very far from his worshipful presence. Filippi soon following with the
+mules, he was stopped by this important personage, who questioned him
+sharply about us. Appearances were rather against us. The spruce
+_gendarme_ might possibly not understand—and it is often a puzzle—how
+gentlemen in light coats and stout shoes, bronzed, dusty, and
+travel-stained, could be walking through the country quite at their
+ease. Foreigners make themselves up for travelling in a very different
+style. Our juvenile _suite_ also was somewhat singular, and, altogether,
+as I have said, circumstances were suspicious. We might be the last of
+the bandits, making their escape to the coast in disguise, with part of
+their little family. The orders to arrest such characters were very
+strict.
+
+However, it is to be presumed that the official was satisfied with
+Filippi's report, and we escaped a detention which might have caused us
+loss of time and patience. Having cleared the town, we took counsel
+together. The day was wearing away, and we were still some thirty miles
+from Ajaccio. It was Saturday, and we wished to get to the end of our
+journey in order to enjoy a quiet Sunday. There was nothing on the road
+to tempt us to linger, and no probability of finding decent
+accommodations; while at Ajaccio, we should be in clover, and get a
+fresh outfit, our baggage having been forwarded there. On the other
+hand, it was a long pull, and Filippi remonstrated on behalf of the
+mules and himself. The first objection was overruled, and the other
+removed by our engaging to take the boy _en croupe_ by turns. Our female
+attendants we dismissed with the means of procuring lodgings for the
+night; and we relieved Bridget of her burthen, desiring her to call for
+it at the hotel at Ajaccio.
+
+Bocagnono stands in the gorge of a long valley, watered by the Gravone.
+This river falls into the sea a little south of Ajaccio, and the road,
+for the most part following its course, is generally easy. After leaving
+Bocagnono, the valley opened. We were among green hills, with the river
+flowing through a rich plain; the Alpine range, from which we had just
+descended, making a fine background to this pleasant landscape. Further
+on, some very picturesque villages, perched as usual on heights,
+increased its interest.
+
+We kept the mules to as sharp a trot as was consistent with the work
+still before us. Unfortunately, in the jolting, poor Bridget's bundle
+got loose, and the contents being scattered on the road, the wardrobe of
+a Corsican girl was exposed to profane eyes, and it became incumbent on
+me, in discharge of my trust, to restore it to order with all possible
+neatness and security. Again we pricked on, and crossing the Gravone at
+the Ponte d'Usciano, the road began to ascend, carrying us for some
+miles over a rugged spur of the mountains. Here we found ourselves again
+among the shrubbery which forms so characteristic a feature in the
+landscape of these islands. Having passed the ruins of a house, the
+inmates of which, even to the infant in the cradle, had been butchered
+in one of the feuds so common in Corsica, we halted at a roadside
+_albergo_, near a _baraque_ of the _gendarmerie_. Bread and grapes, with
+new wine, were spread for us under the shade of a tree, and we refreshed
+ourselves while our mules got their feed of barley.
+
+We had now nearly a level road all the way to Ajaccio. The plain was
+well cultivated, and we remarked some irrigated fields of maize. Soon
+afterwards it became dark, and the mules being much distressed, we could
+only proceed at a slow pace. The fatigue of riding was much lessened by
+having an English saddle; still it was a hard day's travelling: but the
+air was deliciously balmy, and the glowworm's lamp and cricket's chirp
+helped to cheer the weariness of a road which seemed interminable.
+Presently, we met country people returning from the market at Ajaccio,
+lights were seen more frequently on the hills, and, at last, the lantern
+on the pier-head—a welcome beacon—came in view. Half an hour afterwards,
+we dismounted at an hotel on the Corso.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXII.
+
+  _Ajaccio.—Collège-Fesch.—Reminiscences of the Buonaparte
+    Family.—Excursion in the Gulf.—Chapel of the Greeks.—Evening
+    Scenes.—Council-General of the Department.—Statistics.—State of
+    Agriculture in Corsica—Her Prospects._
+
+
+Sunday morning we attended high-mass at the cathedral of Ajaccio, a
+building of the sixteenth century, in the Italian style, having a belfry
+and dome, with the interior richly decorated. The service was well
+performed, there being a fine-toned organ, and the music of the mass
+well selected. The congregation was numerous, the girls' school
+especially. I was struck with the pensive cast of features in many of
+the girls, so like the Madonnas of the Italian masters. There were
+formerly six dioceses in Corsica, Mariana being the principal; for many
+years they have been all administered by the Bishop of Ajaccio, who is
+at present a suffragan of the Archbishop of Aix, in France.
+
+After service, we called on one of the professors of the
+_Collège-Fesch_, to whom we had letters of introduction. This college
+and the _Séminaire_ are the best buildings in Ajaccio, both being finely
+situated fronting the sea. The _Séminaire_ is confined exclusively to
+the education of theological students intended for the clerical orders.
+In the other, founded and endowed by Cardinal Fesch, the course of
+study is that generally pursued in the French colleges. The cardinal
+appears to have had more affection for his native place than any other
+member of the Bonaparte family, giving a proof of it in this noble
+foundation. He also bequeathed to his native place a large collection of
+pictures, few of them, however, of much merit. His remains are deposited
+with those of Madame Letizia, his sister, in a chapel of the cathedral
+of Ajaccio, having been brought from Rome; where I recollect seeing him
+in 1819,—short and portly in person, with a mild and good-humoured
+expression of countenance. He had been a kind guardian of the young
+Bonapartes, and carefully administered the small property they
+inherited.
+
+The _Collège-Fesch_ is a large building, with spacious lecture-rooms,
+long and lofty corridors, and a yard for exercise; the windows of the
+front looking out on the Gulf of Ajaccio and the mountains beyond. The
+professor's apartments had all the air of the rooms of a college fellow
+and tutor in one of our universities, carpets _et aliis mutandis_; only
+they were more airy and spacious. There are fifteen professors, of whom
+the Abbate Porazzi is one of the most distinguished. We were indebted to
+him for many good offices during our stay at Ajaccio. The number of
+students at this time was 260. They appeared to be of all ranks and
+ages; some of them grown men.
+
+Everything here has the southern character. We find rows of lemon-trees
+on the Corso; and the cactus, or Indian fig, flourishes in the
+environs,—the bright oleander thriving in the open air. The heat was
+excessive, my thermometer standing at 80° at noon, in the shade of an
+airy room. From the Corso, a short street leads into the market-place, a
+square, bounded on one side by the port, and embellished by a fountain.
+During the last year it has been further ornamented by a statue of the
+first Napoleon, of white marble, standing on a granite pedestal, and
+facing the harbour. Concealed during the reigns of the restored
+Bourbons, its erection was a homage to the rising fortunes of the
+President of the French Republic. Ajaccio, being the modern capital of
+Corsica, the _chef-lieu_ of the department, and seat of the _préfetture_
+and administration, is more French in habits and feeling than any other
+town in the island. But even here, I apprehend, there has never been
+much enthusiasm for the Bonapartes.[34] Among the native Corsicans,
+Pascal Paoli is the national hero.
+
+We visited, of course, the house in which the first Napoleon was born,
+standing in a little solitary court dignified with the name of the
+_Piazza Lucrezia_, near the market-place. It has been often described.
+Uninhabited, and without a vestige of furniture, except some faded
+tapestry on the walls, the desolate and gloomy air of the birthplace of
+the great emperor struck me even more than the deserted apartments at
+Longwood, from which his spirit took its flight. There, sheaves of corn
+and implements of husbandry still gave signs of human life, singularly
+as they contrasted with the relics of imperial grandeur recently
+witnessed by the homely apartments. A man, born in the first year of the
+French Revolution, and who has followed the career of its “child and
+champion” with the feelings common to most Englishmen, can have no
+Napoleonic sympathies; yet, without forgetting the atrocities, the
+selfishness, and the littleness which stained and disfigured that
+career, it is impossible that such scenes could be contemplated by a
+thoughtful mind, not only without profound reflection on the
+vicissitudes of life, but without a full impression of the genius and
+force of character which lifted the Corsican adventurer to the dangerous
+height from whence he fell.
+
+One afternoon we hired a boat in the harbour, and sailed down the Gulf
+of Ajaccio. This fine inlet, opening to the south-west, is from three to
+four leagues in length and breadth, and forms a basin of about twelve
+leagues in circumference, from the northern extremity, where the old
+city stood, to its outlet between the _Isles Sanguinaires_ and the Capo
+di Moro, on the opposite coast. A range of mountains, considerably
+inferior in elevation to the central chain from which they ramify, rises
+almost from the shore, and stretches along the northern side of the
+gulf. The other coast is more indented, and swells into the ridges of
+the Bastelica, embracing the rich valley of Campo Loro (_Campo del'
+Oro_), washed by the Gravone. The Gulf of Ajaccio, like many others, has
+been compared to the Bay of Naples; but, I think, without much reason,
+except for the colouring lent by a brilliant and transparent atmosphere
+to both sea and land. In the case of Ajaccio, the effects are heightened
+by a still more southern climate, and the grander scale of the mountain
+scenery.
+
+    [Illustration: HARBOUR OF AJACCIO.]
+
+There were only a few small vessels, employed in the coasting trade, in
+the port. We rowed round the mole, under the frowning bastions of the
+citadel, a regular work covering a point stretching into the bay; and
+then hoisting sail, stood out into the gulf. The wind was too light to
+admit of our gaining its entrance; we sailed down it, however, for four
+or five miles in the mid-channel, the rocky islands at the northern
+entrance gradually opening; one crowned with the tower of a lighthouse,
+another with a village on its summit. The coast to our right was
+clothed with the deep verdure of the ever memorable Corsican shrubbery,
+breathing aromatic odours as we drifted along: otherwise, it appeared
+desolate; not a village appeared, and the barren and rugged mountain
+chain towered above.
+
+Finding that we made but little progress, the boat was steered for a
+little reef of rocks on the northern shore, and landing, we dismissed
+the boatman, determining to walk back to Ajaccio along the water's edge.
+Meanwhile we sat down on the rocks while my companion sketched.
+Presently I strolled up to a little chapel, standing by the side of the
+road which winds round the gulf towards _les Isles Sanguinaires_. A
+simple and chaste style of Italian architecture distinguished the white
+_façade_, rising gracefully to a pediment, crowned with a cross;
+pilasters, supporting arches, divided the portico beneath into three
+compartments, the central one forming the entrance. The door was closed,
+but the interior was visible through a _grille_ at the side. The nave
+was paved with blue and white squares, and marble steps led up to the
+sanctuary, forming, with two side chapels, a Greek cross. There was no
+ornament, no furniture, except two or three low chairs for kneeling.
+Under the portico was a marble tablet, inscribed in good Latin, to the
+pious memory of a Pozzo di Borgo[35], who restored the chapel in 1632. I
+read on another tablet:—
+
+  _“Per gli Orfanelli dei Marinari Naufragati.”_
+
+Under an arch supported by pillars of green marble, a lamp was feebly
+glimmering, fed perhaps by the offerings of loving mothers and fond
+wives who here offered their vows for the safe return of those dear to
+them.
+
+The sun was setting behind the islands at the mouth of the gulf, perfect
+stillness reigned, broken only by a gentle ripple on the granite rocks
+forming ledges from the water's edge to the base of the chapel. Struck
+with its singular interest, and wishing to learn more about it, on
+returning to my friend, who was still sketching, I found him in
+conversation with some loungers from the town. They could only tell us
+that it was called “The Chapel of the Greeks,” and, laughing, turned on
+their heels when I pursued my inquiries. Did they suppose that we
+Northerns had no sentiment in our religion, or had they none themselves?
+I afterwards heard two traditions respecting the Chapel of the Greeks.
+One, that it was founded by the remains of a colony from the Morea, who,
+having been expelled with great loss from their settlement at Cargese,
+were granted an asylum here;—the other, that the original building was
+erected, by Greek mariners, in acknowledgment of their escape from
+shipwreck on this coast.
+
+It would be difficult, I imagine, to find a more favourable point of
+view, or a happier moment, than that of which my friend availed himself
+to make the sketch of Ajaccio, which has been selected for the
+frontispiece of this volume. The gulf was perfectly calm, and of the
+deepest green and azure, a slight ripple being only discernible where a
+boat lay in one of the long streams of light reflected from the mass of
+orange and golden clouds in which the sun was setting behind the
+islands; while, to the east, flakes of rosy hue floated in the
+mid-heaven. The sails of the feluccas, becalmed in the gulf, faintly
+caught the light, and it gleamed on the houses of Ajaccio, particularly
+those of the modern town, distinguished by its white walls and red roofs
+from the old buildings about the cathedral. Behind were sugar-loaf
+hills; and the mountain-sides across the gulf glowed with the richest
+purple. Then came gradual changes of colour, softer and deeper hues,
+till, at last, a steamy veil of mist from seaward stole over the gulf. A
+faint glimmer from the lighthouse at the entrance of the harbour was
+scarcely visible in the blaze left behind by the glorious sunset.
+
+The lights began to twinkle from the windows of Ajaccio, and the
+cathedral bells tolling for the Ave Maria, stole on the ear across the
+gulf in the silence of the twilight hour. Reluctant to leave the scene,
+we lingered till it was shrouded from view, and an evening never to be
+forgotten closed in. Then we wound slowly towards the city along the
+shore, at the foot of hills laid out in vineyards hedged by the prickly
+cactus, or lightly sprinkled with myrtles and cystus, and all those
+odoriferous plants which now perfumed the balmy night air. Embowered in
+these, we had remarked some mortuary chapels, the burying-places of
+Ajaccian families. One of them, high up on the hill-side, was in the
+form of a Grecian temple; and we now passed another, standing among
+cypresses, close to the shore. Nearer the city, two stone pillars stand
+at the entrance of an avenue leading up to a dilapidated country-house,
+formerly the residence of Cardinal Fesch, and where Madame Bonaparte and
+her family generally spent the summer. Among the neglected shrubberies,
+and surrounded by the wild olive, the cactus, the clematis, and the
+almond, is a singular and isolated granite rock, called Napoleon's
+grotto, once his favourite retreat.
+
+On our return, we found the streets thronged; braziers with roasted
+chestnuts stood at every corner; strings of mules, loaded with wine
+casks suspended on each side, were returning from the vineyards; and
+there was a gay promenade on the Corso—ladies with no covering for their
+heads but the graceful black _faldetta_, French officers in not very
+brilliant uniforms, and a sprinkling of ecclesiastics in _soutanes_ and
+prodigious beavers.
+
+Professor Porazzi took us to the only bookseller's shop in Ajaccio,
+where we made some purchases. It was a small affair, the book trade
+being combined with the sale of a variety of miscellaneous articles. The
+_préfetture_, a handsome building, lately finished, contains a library
+of 25,000 volumes. We were introduced there to M. Camille Friess, the
+author of a compendious history of Corsica, who was kind enough to show
+us some of the archives, of which he has the custody. Among the
+documents connected with the Bonaparte family is a memorial, addressed
+by Napoleon to the Intendant of Corsica, respecting his mother's right
+to a garden. I jotted down the beginning and end:—
+
+    “_Memoire relative à la pépinière d'Ajaccio._
+
+“_Letizia Ramolini, veuve de Buonaparte, d'Ajaccio, a l'honneur de vous
+exposer...._
+
+        “_Votre très humble
+                et très obeissant serviteur_,
+                    “BUONAPARTE[36], _Officier d'Artillerie_.
+
+“_Hotel de Cherbourg_,
+
+  “_Rue St. Honoré, Paris, le 9 Nov. 1787._”
+
+The claim for a few roods of nursery garden was made by a young man who
+afterwards distributed kingdoms and principalities! It is said that in
+the division of some property which fell to the family after he became
+emperor, his share was an olive-yard in the environs of Ajaccio.
+
+M. Friess obligingly gave me copies of the _procès-verbals_ of the
+proceedings of the Council-General of the Department for the preceding
+years. These reports are printed annually, and, I believe, similar ones
+are made in all the departments of France. Those I possess are models of
+good arrangement in whatever concerns provincial administration. They
+have supplied more information on the present state of Corsica and its
+prospects of improvement than all the books of travel, and works of
+greater pretensions, it has been my fortune to meet with.
+
+The Council-General, as many of my readers know, is a body elected by
+the people; each canton, of which there are sixty-one in Corsica,
+sending representatives in proportion to the population. The _préfet_,
+who is _ex-officio_ president, opens the session by a speech, in which
+he reviews the affairs of the department under the heads of finance,
+public works, education, &c., &c., and presents a budget, with detailed
+reports on the various branches of administration. All these are
+printed, with a short _procès-verbal_ of the debates, and the divisions
+when the Council-General comes to a vote. The proceedings are submitted
+to the Minister of the Interior, who approves or rejects the proposals
+made. Virtually, however, although the Council has no power to act on
+its resolutions until they are confirmed by the central government,
+whatever relates to the assessment of taxes, police, roads, and other
+works, all matters of local interest not only come under discussion in
+these provincial assemblies, but are shaped and decided by them. The
+services thus rendered must therefore be very valuable, and it is worth
+considering whether our over-worked House of Commons might not be
+relieved of some of its burthens, and the business better done, by
+similar representative bodies, entrusted with legislative powers so far
+as concerns matters of local interest. Such assemblies would well accord
+with our Anglo-Saxon institutions. But to give them a fair field, with
+sufficient weight, impartiality, and importance, a considerable area
+should be embraced in each jurisdiction. Durham might be united with
+Yorkshire; the three western counties, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall,
+might form a province; North and South Wales, each one. And what a
+valuable body of statistics would be furnished by an annual report,
+corresponding with those which have led to these remarks!
+
+We gather some general statistics from these documents and other
+sources.
+
+By the census of 1851, the population of Corsica was 236,251 souls, of
+whom 117,938 were males, and 118,313 females. All but 54 were Roman
+Catholics. There were no less than 32,364 proprietors of land. The
+day-labourers were 34,427; government officials, 1229; clergy, 955;
+regular troops, _gendarmes_, &c., 5000. The number of students in all
+the public colleges and schools was from 16,000 to 17,000, of which
+15,000 were male, and only from 2000 to 3000 females. The proportion of
+males frequenting the schools is greater than in France, it being as 137
+to 100 in the winter, and 226 to 100 in the summer; while that of the
+girls is the reverse, being as 12 to 100 in the winter, and 21 to 100 in
+the summer. This disproportion between male and female scholars in
+Corsica is very remarkable.
+
+The superficies of the island is estimated at somewhat less than two
+millions and a quarter of English acres. Of this surface, only a
+six-hundredth part is, on an average, under cultivation, an area which,
+it is said, might be doubled. Vast portions of the soil belong to the
+communes, and measures are in contemplation for their improvement.
+
+Wheat produces, on an average of years, an increase of nine times the
+seed sown; barley and oats, twelve or thirteen; maize, thirty-eight to
+forty; and potatoes, twenty.
+
+The rate of daily wages for the year 1851 was fixed by the
+Council-General at 75 _centimes_ for the towns of Ajaccio and Bastia,
+and 50 _centimes_ for all the other communes.
+
+Among the most important subjects brought to notice by the
+_procès-verbal_ of 1851 is the state of agriculture in the island; on
+which the _Préfet_ finds little to congratulate the Council-General
+except an increase in the cultivation of lucerne and in the plantations
+of mulberry-trees. The obstacles to its progress are found in the
+insecurity of life, the want of inclosures, and the unbounded rights of
+common enjoyed by the shepherds; in the richest plains being
+uninhabited, and their distance from the villages; in the pestilential
+air of these plains, and the want of roads.—A stranger will be disposed
+to add to this list the indolence of the natives. So far as the
+obstacles to improvement can be surmounted by judicious legislation and
+encouragement, the _procès-verbals_ of the Council-General exhibit
+enlightened ideas far in advance of the opinions and habits of the
+people; and there is much good sense and right feeling in the
+observation with which the _Prèfet_, in one of his addresses, concludes
+his statement of the position of affairs:—
+
+“Si la Corse,” he says, “devait passer subitement à l'état des
+civilisations avancées, elle courait risque de perdre dans cette
+transformation (et ce serait à jamais deplorable) tout ce qu'il y a de
+primitif, de généreux, d'énergetique dans ses mœurs séculaires. Je n'en
+citerai qu'un exemple. Le mouvement civilisateur trouve, à certains
+égards, résistance dans la force des sentiments de famille, dans la
+cohésion des membres qui la composent. Et, cependant, qui d'entre vous
+consentirait à acheter les progrès de la civilisation au prix du
+rélâchement de ces liens sacrés qui sont la clef de voûte de toute
+société organisée?”
+
+Delivered from the scourge of _banditisme_ and the _vendetta_ by severe
+measures, supposed to be strongly opposed to the popular instinct, and
+with hopes held out of such further improvement in civilisation as the
+progress of ideas will admit, Corsica may, perhaps, have no reason to
+regret that she failed in her long struggles for national independence.
+But France will not have performed her duty to this outlying department
+of the empire till she promotes the manufactures and commerce of the
+island. It is a part of the protective system to which she clings to
+discourage all direct foreign trade, just as England formerly engrossed
+the commerce of her colonies. The result is that the poor Corsicans,
+compelled to purchase the commodities they require—manufactured goods,
+colonial produce, and even corn and cattle—in the French market, buy at
+enormously high prices. The balance of trade is much against them,
+their annual exports to France being only a million and a half of
+_francs_, while they import from thence articles of the value of three
+millions. The present Emperor of France is understood to entertain
+enlightened views on the subject of free trade; and it is to be hoped
+that, when he is able to carry them out, Corsica will share in the
+benefits of an unrestricted commerce.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXIII.
+
+  _Leave Ajaccio.—Neighbourhood of Olmeto.—Sollacaró.—James
+    Boswell's Residence there.—Scene in the “Corsican Brothers”
+    laid there—Quarrel of the Vincenti and Grimaldi.—Road to
+    Sartene.—Corsican Marbles.—Arrive at Bonifacio._
+
+
+We were quite as well served, and the accommodations were as good, at
+Ajaccio as in any provincial city of France. They gave us a delicate
+white wine made in the neighbourhood, an agreeable beverage, which, we
+thought, resembled _Chablais_; and a _confiture_ of cherries preserved
+in jelly, which was exquisite. I had told the story of our adventure
+with the poor girls from Corte to the mistress of the house, and, on
+Bridget's appearing the day after our arrival to claim her wardrobe, she
+informed me, with great joy, that our good hostess had taken her into
+her service.
+
+On leaving Ajaccio, Sartene was our next point. The road crosses the
+Gravone and the Prunelle, flowing into the gulf through fertile valleys,
+and then winds through a wild and mountainous country, in which Cauro is
+the only village, till, surmounting the Col San Georgio, 2000 feet above
+the level of the sea, it descends into a rich plain, watered by the
+Taravo. In its upper course its branches water two romantic valleys,
+which formed the ancient fiefs of Ornano and Istria, the seats of
+powerful lords in the old times. Picturesque scenery, ruins of castles,
+and mediæval tales lend a charm to this region, in which we would
+gladly have wandered for some days, but that Sardinia was before us.
+
+There are few finer spots in the island than the _paese_ of Olmeto, the
+principal village being surrounded by mountains, with a plain below,
+extending to the deep inlet of the Mediterranean, called the Gulf of
+Valinco, and rich in corn-lands, olive, and fruit trees. At Olmeto we
+were served with a dish of magnificent apples, some of them said to
+weigh two pounds. On the Monte Buturetto, 3000 feet high, are seen the
+ruins of the stronghold of Arrigo della Rocca; and, further on, near
+Sollacaró, another almost inaccessible summit was crowned by a castle,
+built by his nephew, Vincentello d'Istria—both famed in Corsican story.
+
+It was at Sollacaró, standing at the foot of this hill, that our
+countryman, Boswell, first presented himself to Pascal Paoli, in a house
+of the Colonna's, with letters of introduction from the Count de
+Rivarola and Rousseau. Boswell remained some time with Paoli, who was
+then keeping a sort of court at Sollacaró, and admitted him to the most
+familiar intercourse. His conversations with the illustrious Corsican,
+jotted down in his own peculiar style, form the most interesting part of
+the account of his tour, published after his return to England. “From my
+first setting out on this tour,” he states, “I wrote down every night
+what I had observed during the day. Of these particulars the most
+valuable to my readers, as well as to myself, must surely be the memoirs
+and remarkable sayings of Pascal Paoli, which I am proud to record.”[37]
+
+
+Boswell was treated with much distinction, and appears to have been
+flattered with the character, which ignorance or policy attributed to
+him, of being _Il Ambasciadore Inglese_. “In the morning,” he says, “I
+had my chocolate served up on a silver salver, adorned with the arms of
+Corsica. I dined and supped constantly with the general. I was visited
+by all the nobility; and when I chose to make a little tour, I was
+attended by a party of guards. One day, when I rode out, I was mounted
+on Paoli's own horse, with rich furniture of crimson velvet and broad
+gold lace, and had my guards marching along with me.” His vanity so
+flattered, and with what he calls Attic evenings, “_noctes, cœnæque
+Deûm_,” giving scope to his ruling passion, James Boswell must have been
+in the seventh heaven while Paoli's guest at Sollacaró.
+
+But the most amusing part of the affair is the efforts he made to
+ingratiate himself with the lower classes of the Corsicans, his
+admiration of whom is sometimes chequered by a wholesome fear of their
+wild instincts. “I got a Corsican dress made,” he says, “in which I
+walked about with an air of true satisfaction. The general did me the
+honour to present me with his own pistols, made in the island, all of
+Corsican wood and iron, and of excellent workmanship. I had every other
+accoutrement.[38] The peasants and soldiers became quite free and easy
+with me. One day, they would needs hear me play upon my German flute. I
+gave them one or two Italian airs, and then some of our beautiful old
+Scotch tunes—‘Gilderoy,’ ‘The Lass of Patie's Mill,’ ‘Corn-riggs are
+bonny.’ The pathetic simplicity and pastoral gaiety of the Scotch music
+will always please those who have the genuine feelings of nature. The
+Corsicans were charmed with the specimens I gave them.
+
+“My good friends insisted also on having an English song from me. I
+endeavoured to please them in this, too, and was very lucky in what
+occurred to me. I sung to them ‘Hearts of oak are our ships; hearts of
+oak are our men.’ I translated it into Italian for them; and never did I
+see men so delighted with a song as the Corsicans were with ‘Hearts of
+Oak.’ ‘_Cuore di querco_,’ cried they, ‘_bravo Inglese!_’ It was quite a
+joyous riot.”
+
+Boswell's correspondence during this tour is also characteristic. He
+informs us that he walked one day to Corte, from the convent where he
+lodged, purposely to write a letter to Mr. Samuel Johnson.—“I told my
+revered friend, that from a kind of superstition, agreeable in a certain
+degree to him as well as to myself, I had, during my travels, written to
+him from LOCA SOLEMNIA, places in some measure sacred. That, as I had
+written to him from the tomb of Melancthon, sacred to learning and
+piety, I now wrote to him from the palace of Pascal Paoli, sacred to
+wisdom and liberty; knowing that, however his political principles may
+have been represented, he had always a generous zeal for the common
+rights of humanity.
+
+“Mr. Johnson was pleased with what I wrote here; for I received, at
+Paris, an answer from him, which I keep as a valuable charter. ‘When you
+return, you will return to an unaltered and, I hope, unalterable friend.
+All that you have to fear from me is the vexation of disappointing me.
+No man loves to frustrate expectations which have been formed in his
+favour, and the pleasure which I promise myself from your journals and
+remarks is so great, that perhaps no degree of attention or discernment
+will be able to afford it. Come home, however, and take your chance. I
+long to see you and to hear you; and hope that we shall not be so long
+separated again. Come home, and expect such a welcome as is due to him
+whom a wise and noble curiosity has led where, perhaps, no native of
+this country ever was before.’”[39]
+
+We have a certain sympathy for Boswell. He was the first Englishman on
+record who penetrated into Corsica, and none but ourselves, as far as we
+have any account, have followed his steps for nearly a century. Not to
+weary the reader, we have done him injustice in only making extracts
+from his work betraying the weak points of his character; for his
+account of Corsica is valuable for its research, its descriptions, and
+its history of the times. His _memorabilia_ of Pascal Paoli supply ample
+materials for any modern Plutarch who would contrast his character with
+that of his rival countryman, Napoleon Bonaparte. Commencing their
+political career in unison, widely as it diverged, both ended their
+lives in exile on British soil. Though Paoli's sphere was narrow, so was
+that of some of the greatest men in Grecian history; and, like theirs,
+it had far extended relations. The eyes of Europe were upon him; Corsica
+was then its battle-field, and the principles of his conduct and
+administration are of universal application.
+
+But Sollacaró may have more interest for the public of the present day
+from its connection with a romance of Alexandre Dumas, and the play
+founded upon it, than from Paoli's having held court, or Boswell's visit
+to him, there. We have traced the wizard's footsteps, in one of his
+works of genius, at the Château d'If and Monte Cristo[40], we meet them
+again in the wilds of Corsica. Few of my readers can follow us there;
+but let them go to the “Princess's” when “The Corsican Brothers” is
+performed, and they will realise much that we have told them of the
+Corsican temperament and Corsican life. How true to nature is the reply
+of Fabian, in the first act, to the suggestion of his friend, “Then you
+will never leave the village of Sollacaró?”—“It seems strange to you
+that a man should cling to such a miserable country as Corsica; but what
+else can you expect? I am one of those plants that will only live in the
+open air. I must breathe an atmosphere impregnated with the life-giving
+emanations of the mountains and the sharp breezes of the sea. I must
+have my torrents to cross, my rocks to climb, my forests to explore. I
+must have my carbine, room, independence, and liberty. If I were
+transported into a city, methinks I should be stifled, as if I were in a
+prison.”
+
+The scene of the first act is laid in an old mansion of the Colonna's at
+Sollacaró, perhaps that in which Boswell lodged. The action turns upon
+an antient feud between the Orlandi and Colonne, which is with
+difficulty extinguished by the intervention of Fabian, one of the
+Corsican brothers. A short dialogue tells the story:—
+
+“FABIAN. ‘You come among us to witness a _vendetta_; well! you will
+behold something much more rare—you will be present at a
+reconciliation.’
+
+“ALFRED. ‘A reconciliation?’
+
+“FAB. ‘Which will be no easy matter, I assure you, considering the point
+to which things are come.’
+
+“ALF. ‘And from what did this great quarrel originate, which, thanks to
+you, is on the eve of being extinguished?’
+
+“FAB. ‘Why, I confess I feel some difficulty in telling you that. The
+first cause was—’
+
+“ALF. ‘Was what?’
+
+“FAB. ‘The first cause was a hen.’
+
+“ALF. (_astonished_) ‘A hen!’
+
+“FAB. ‘Yes. About ten years ago, a hen escaped from the poultry-yard of
+the Orlandi, and took refuge in that of one of the Colonne. The Orlandi
+claimed the hen. The Colonne maintained it was theirs. In the heat of
+the discussion, an Orlando was imprudent enough to threaten that he
+would summon the Colonne before the _Juge de Paix_, and put them on
+their oath. At this menace, an old woman of the Colonna family, who held
+the hen in her hand, twisted its neck, and threw it in the face of the
+mother of Orlando. “There,” said she, “if the hen be thine, eat it!”
+Upon this, an Orlando picked up the hen by the claws, and raised his
+hand, with the hen in it, to strike her who had thrown it in the face of
+his mother; but at the moment he lifted his hand, a Colonna, who
+unfortunately had his loaded carbine with him, without hesitation,
+fired, and shot him in the breast, and killed him.’
+
+“ALF. ‘Good heavens! And how many lives has this ridiculous squabble
+cost?’[41]
+
+“FAB. ‘There have been nine persons killed and five wounded.’
+
+“ALF. ‘What! and all for a miserable hen?’
+
+“FAB. ‘Yes.’
+
+“ALF. ‘And it is, doubtless, in compliance with the prayers of one of
+these two families that you have interfered to terminate this quarrel?’
+
+“FAB. ‘Oh! not at all. They would have exterminated one another to the
+very last man rather than have made a single step towards each other.
+No, no; it is at the entreaty of my brother.’” ...
+
+The action of this scene consists in the formal but unwilling
+reconciliation of the two clans, represented by their chiefs, in the
+presence of a _juge de paix_; in token of which a hen was to be
+presented by the Orlando to the Colonna. The situation affords scope for
+ludicrous disputes whether it should be a white hen or a black one—dead
+or alive—which should hold out his hand first, and so on; mixed with the
+more serious question, whether they met on equal terms, only four
+Orlandi having been slain against five Colonne, but four Orlandi wounded
+to one Colonna—the Colonne “counting the wounded for nothing,” if they
+did not die of their wounds.
+
+The main plot is beside our purpose. The scene changes to Paris, and
+the catastrophe may be imagined from the words of Fabian in the last
+act, which give, alas! too true a picture of what the social state of
+Corsica was.
+
+“‘A Corsican family is the ancient hydra, one of whose heads has no
+sooner been cut off than there springs forth another, which bites and
+tears in the place of the one that has been severed from the trunk. What
+is my will, sir? My will is to kill him who has killed my brother!’
+
+“‘You are determined to kill me, sir! How?’
+
+“FAB. ‘Oh, be satisfied! Not from behind a wall, not through a hedge, as
+is the mode in my country, as is the practice there; but, as it is done
+here, _à la mode Française_, with a frilled shirt and white gloves;—and
+you see, sir, I am in fighting costume.’”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But we must return to our Rambles, trusting to the indulgent reader's
+forgiveness, if our pen sometimes rambles too. On leaving Olmeto, the
+road skirts the Gulf of Valinco, and, after touching the little port of
+Propriano, ascends to Sartene. This town, the seat of one of the five
+_sous-préfettures_ into which the island is divided, stands on the
+summit of a hill, the plain below being covered with olive-yards and
+fruit-trees, with vineyards on the slopes, and groves of ilex further
+up. The place has a melancholy aspect, all the houses being of the
+rudest construction, built of unhewn granite, black with age, and very
+lofty. It is divided into two quarters; one inhabited by wealthy
+families, among which, we were told, there are fifteen worth 200,000
+_francs_ each; and the other by the lower class of people, a turbulent
+race, between whom and the patricians there have long been bloody feuds,
+breaking out into open war.
+
+The country between Sartene and Bonifacio is wild and mountainous; and
+the road winding along the sides of the hills, many fine points of view
+are presented. To the northward, the eye rested on the lofty peak of
+Monte Incudine, and the long ridge of the Cascione, the high pasturages
+of which are occupied during the summer months by the shepherds of
+Quenza and other villages of the Serra. Southward, we have the coast,
+deeply indented, the blue Mediterranean, and, at about two hours from
+Sartene, the distant mountains of Sardinia, in faint outline. Now, there
+is in sight the grey tower of one of the old feudal castles, overgrown
+with wood, and rising among pinnacles of rock; vast forests clothe some
+of the mountain-sides, and everywhere we find the arbutus, the myrtle,
+and evergreen shrubbery. Here it contrasts well with the red and grey
+rocks we see around. That reddish rock is a compact granite, evidently
+admitting of a high polish. There are quarries by the side of the road,
+which is cut through it; and we are informed that it is sent to Rome for
+works of art.
+
+Corsica is rich in valuable marbles, as yet turned to little account.
+Not far from Olmeto, in this route, in the canton of Santa Lucia, is
+found a beautiful granite, peculiar to the island. They call it
+_orbicularis_. It has a blueish cast, with white and black spots. I have
+observed it among the choice specimens with which the chapel of the
+Medici, at Florence, is so richly inlaid. The Corsican mountains present
+a variety of other fine granites, with porphyry and serpentine, in some
+of which agates and jaspers are incorporated. Of marbles proper, there
+are quarries in the island of a statuary marble, of a pure and dazzling
+whiteness, said to be equal to the best Carrara. Blocks of it, from
+five to eight feet thick, can be obtained from a single layer.
+Blueish-grey and pale yellow marbles are found near Corte and Bastia.
+But of metalliferous rocks and deposits the island cannot boast; a few
+iron mines, that of Olmeta in particular, one of copper, another of
+antimony, and one of manganese, form the scanty catalogue. It is to the
+island of Elba that we must look for mineral wealth.
+
+Connected with the mineralogy of Corsica, I would just mention, in
+passing, that the island abounds in warm, sulphureous, and chalybeate
+springs, some of them strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas. Those
+of Orezza, Puzzichello, and the Fiumorbo, are in great repute; and I
+collect from the _procès-verbals_ of the Council-General, that the
+mineral waters of Corsica are considered objects of much importance,
+considerable sums being annually voted for making baths, with roads to
+them, and encouraging parties engaged in opening them to the public.
+
+Descending from the heights, after halting at a solitary post-house, we
+cross a large tract of partially-cultivated flats, through which the
+Ortolo flows sluggishly into the Gulf of Roccapina. Again we climb a
+ridge, and the mountains of Sardinia rise distinctly before us over the
+straits and islands beneath us. The road now approaches the
+Mediterranean, crossing the heads of the small Gulfs of Figari and
+Ventiligni. Many streams flow into them through a country uninhabited,
+and said to be unhealthy.
+
+Some miles succeed of the undulating shrubbery of the _maquis_, over a
+poor and rugged surface, till we surmount the last ridge, and, suddenly,
+Bonifacio appears across the harbour, crowning a rocky peninsula rising
+boldly from the sea, which washes almost the whole circuit of its base.
+The chalk cliffs are of a dazzling whiteness, and scooped out by the
+action of the waves and the weather into the most fantastic shapes.
+Their entire _enceinte_ is surrounded by fortifications, screening from
+sight most of the town; the church domes, with watch-towers and a
+massive citadel, alone breaking the picturesque outline. At the foot of
+the road, along the harbour-side, lies the _Marino_, inhabited by
+fishermen, and the seat of a small coasting trade and some commerce
+across the straits with the island of Sardinia.
+
+    [Illustration: BONIFACIO ON THE SEA-SIDE.]
+
+To this Marino we rumble down the steep bank on the opposite side of the
+creek, through ilex woods festooned with wild vines, and, lower down,
+through olive groves. We travelled in the _coupé_ of the _diligence_
+from Sartene with a young Corsican officer in the French service, who
+had come on leave from Dieppe to bid farewell to his family at
+Bonifacio, expecting to be employed in the expedition to the East. We
+talked of the coming war, with an almost impregnable fortress before us,
+memorable for its obstinate resistance to sieges, as remarkable in old
+times as that in which both, probably, of my fellow-travellers were,
+twelve months afterwards, engaged. On approaching the place, we
+witnessed a scene which gave us some idea of the warmth of family
+feeling among the Corsicans. At the foot of the descent, a mile from the
+town, the _diligence_ suddenly stopped. By the road-side a group, of all
+ages and both sexes, was waiting its arrival. What fond greetings! what
+tender embraces! A young urchin seized his brother's sword, almost as
+long as himself; the mother and sisters clung to his side. Leaving him
+to walk to the town thus happily escorted, we are set down on the quay.
+The only access to the town itself is by a steep inclined plane, with
+slopes and steps cut in the rock. No wheel carriage ever enters the
+place. We pass under a gloomy arch in the barbican, surmounted by a
+strong tower, and establish ourselves in a very unpromising _locanda_,
+after vainly searching for better quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXIV.
+
+  _Bonifacio.—Foundation and History.—Besieged by Alfonso of
+    Arragon.—By Dragut and the Turks.—Singularity of the Place.—Its
+    Mediæval Aspect.—The Post-office.—Passports.—Detention.—Marine
+    Grottoes.—Ruined Convent of St. Julian._
+
+
+Boniface, Marquis of Tuscany, one of the noblest and bravest of
+Charlemagne's peers, was entrusted by his feeble successor with the
+defence of the most salient point in the southern frontier of his
+dominions against the incessant ravages of the Saracen Corsairs from
+Barbary and Spain. Created Count of Corsica, Boniface founded, in 830,
+the strong fortress, on the southern extremity of the island, which
+bears his name. A massive round tower, called _Il Torrione_, the
+original citadel, still proudly crowns the heights, having withstood for
+ages the storms of war and the tempests which lash its exposed and
+sea-girt site. Three other ancient towers, including the barbican
+already mentioned, strengthened the position; and others, with ramparts,
+curtains, and bastions, were added to the works in succeeding times,
+till the whole circuit of the rocky _plateau_ bristles with defensive
+works. Within these the town is closely packed in narrow streets;—but of
+that hereafter.
+
+    [Illustration: BONIFACIO]
+
+Of its history it need only be mentioned, that after passing to the
+Pisans, the Genoese got possession of the place by a stratagem, and it
+remained for many centuries under their protection, but enjoying great
+independent privileges. Genoese families of distinction settled there,
+and, during the wars with the Corsicans and their allies, Bonifacio
+steadfastly adhered to the fortunes of the Republic.
+
+In the course of these wars, the place sustained two sieges, so
+signalised by the vigour and obstinacy of the attack and defence,
+especially by the heroic resistance of the Bonifacians and the extremity
+of suffering they endured, that these sieges are memorable amongst the
+most famous of either ancient or modern times.
+
+In 1420, Alfonso of Arragon, having pretensions on Corsica, invested
+Bonifacio by sea and land with a powerful force, supported by his
+partisan, Vincintello d'Istria, at the head of his Corsican vassals. The
+siege, which lasted five months, was vigorously pressed on the part of
+the Spaniards, and met by a defence equally determined. Night and day, a
+terrible shower of stone balls and other missiles was hurled at the
+walls and into the town by the besiegers' engines, both from the fleet
+and the position occupied by the king's army on a neighbouring hill. The
+besiegers also threw arrows from the ships' towers and round-tops, and
+leaden acorns from certain hand-bombards, of cast metal, hollow, like a
+reed, as they are described by the Corsican historian, these leaden
+acorns being propelled by fire, and piercing through a man in armour.
+Artillery, the great arm in modern sieges, thus helped to sweep the
+ranks of the devoted Bonifacians. Seventy years before, it had been
+employed, in a rude shape, by the English at the battle of Créci. The
+walls and towers crumbled under the storm of heavier missiles discharged
+by the machines of ancient warfare, and the houses were laid in ruins.
+Twice, practicable breaches were effected, and the Spaniards, bravely
+mounting to the assault, which lasted several days, were repulsed with
+severe loss; the women of Bonifacio, as well as the priests and monks,
+vyeing with the townsmen in heroic courage while defending the breaches.
+Then, both sexes and every age worked night and day in throwing up
+barricades and repairing the walls.
+
+In the face of this obstinate defence, Alfonso, despairing of being able
+to carry the place by assault, determined on forcing the enemy to
+surrender from starvation, during a protracted siege; and, still pouring
+missiles incessantly into the place, he maintained a close blockade by
+sea and land, drawing chains across the harbour to prevent supplies
+being thrown in. The corn magazine had been burnt; and the besieged,
+reduced to the last extremity, were compelled to devour the most
+loathsome herbs and animals. Many, wounded and helpless, would have been
+carried off by hunger had not the compassion of the women afforded them
+relief; for the kind-hearted women of Bonifacio, we are told, actually
+offered their breasts to their brothers, children, blood-relations, and
+sponsors; and there was no one during the terrible siege of Bonifacio
+who had not sucked the breast of a woman. They even, it is said, made a
+cheese of their milk, and sent it to the king, as well as threw bread
+from the walls, to disguise their state of distress from the Spaniards.
+
+The republic of Genoa, receiving intelligence of the extremity to which
+its faithful town was reduced, lost no time in fitting out a fleet to
+convey to its aid a strong reinforcement, with supplies of arms and
+food; but the season was so stormy that for three months, between
+September and January (1421), the expedition was detained in the harbour
+of Genoa.
+
+Meanwhile, the townsmen, almost in despair, listened to the honourable
+terms offered by the King of Arragon, and at last agreed to capitulate
+if no relief arrived within forty days. But the king refusing to allow
+them to send messengers to Genoa, they hastily built a small vessel, and
+lowering it by ropes from the rock, then let down the devoted crew, who,
+at every peril, were to convey the magistrates' letters to the senate of
+Genoa. Followed to the point of rock by multitudes of the citizens, the
+women, it is said, by turns offered them their breasts: food there was
+little or none to take with them.
+
+After fifteen days of terrible suspense, during which the churches were
+open from early morning till late at night, the people praying for
+deliverance from their enemies and for forgiveness of their sins, and
+going in procession, barefoot, though the winter was severe, from the
+cathedral of St. Mary to St. Dominic and the other churches, chanting
+litanies;—at last, when hopes were failing, the little vessel crept
+under the rock by night, and the crew, giving the signal and being drawn
+up by ropes, brought the joyful news to the anxious crowd that the
+Genoese fleet was close at hand. The period for the surrender was come,
+when sorrow was turned to joy. The bells pealed, fire signals were
+lighted on all the towers, and shouts of exultation rose to heaven. The
+Arragonese thundered at the gates, demanding the surrender, for the
+relieving fleet was not yet descried. The Bonifacians asserted that
+relief had arrived in the night; and, to countenance the assertion,
+there appeared bands of armed men, who marched round the battlements,
+with glittering lances and armour, and the standard of Genoa at their
+head; for the women of Bonifacio had put on armour, so that, like the
+female peasantry of the coast of Cardigan, in their red whittles, when
+the French landed during the war of the revolution, the force opposed to
+the enemy was apparently doubled or tripled.
+
+Alfonso of Arragon, seeing this, exclaimed, “Have the Genoese wings,
+that they can come to Bonifacio when we are keeping a strict blockade by
+land and by sea?” And again he gave orders for the assault, and his
+engines shot a storm of missiles against the place. Three days
+afterwards, the relieving fleet anchored off the harbour, and some brave
+Bonifacians, swimming off to the ships, horrified the Genoese by their
+haggard and famine-worn features. After a terrible fight, which lasted
+for seven hours—ship jammed against ship in the narrow channel, and the
+Bonifacians hurling firebrands, harpoons, and all kinds of missiles on
+such of the enemy's ships as they could reach from the walls and
+towers—the Genoese burst the chain across the harbour, and unbounded was
+the joy of the famished townsmen when seven ships, loaded with corn,
+were safely moored along the Marino. Alfonso of Arragon raised the
+siege, and, abandoning his enterprise in deep mortification, sailed for
+Italy.
+
+The citizens of Bonifacio displayed equal heroism in defence of their
+town in 1554. It was then the turn of Henry IV. of France to invade
+Corsica. Invited by Sampiero and the other patriot chiefs, the French
+troops, acting in concert with the island militia, drove the Genoese
+from all their positions except some fortified places on the coast;
+while the Turks, the natural enemies of the republic, co-operating with
+the French, appeared off the island with a powerful fleet, under the
+command of their admiral, Dragut, and laid siege to Bonifacio.
+
+The defence offered by the townsmen was all the more obstinate from
+their being inspired with the sentiment that it was a religious duty to
+fight against the Infidel. Again the women rushed to the ramparts, and
+fell gloriously in the breach. The Turks had been repulsed with great
+slaughter in repeated assaults, and Dragut had drawn off his forces to
+some distance, disconcerted, and almost resolved to raise the siege,
+when an unexpected occurrence brought it to an end. An inhabitant of
+Bonifacio was entrusted by the senate of Genoa to carry over a sum of
+money, and announce the approach of succour to the besieged town.
+Landing at Girolata, he was making his way through the island, when,
+betrayed by one of his guides, he was arrested, and brought to De
+Thermes, the French general. Means were found of inducing the Genoese
+emissary to betray his employers. He was instructed to proceed to
+Bonifacio with Da Mare, a Corsican noble, and engage the authorities to
+surrender, informing them that the Genoese could afford them no relief.
+
+The stratagem succeeded. The letters of credence with which the traitor
+had been furnished at Genoa satisfied the commandant of the truth of his
+mission, and he consented to deliver up the place to Da Mare, on
+condition that the town should be saved from pillage, and the soldiers
+conducted to Bastia, and embarked for Genoa. But when the Turks saw
+those brave men, who had foiled all their assaults by an obstinate
+defence, file out of the place, they fell on them, and massacred them
+without mercy. Moreover, Dragut demanded that Bonifacio should be put
+into his hands, or that he should receive an indemnity of 25,000
+crowns. It was impossible to deliver up a town to be sacked by the
+Turks, the inhabitants of which it was policy to conciliate, nor could
+De Thermes provide the sum required. He promised, however, speedy
+payment, and sent his nephew to the Turks as an hostage. Dragut then
+sailed for the Levant, in dudgeon with his allies, and disgusted with an
+enterprise which had terminated so little to his honour. Bonifacio, with
+the rest of Corsica, was soon afterwards restored by the treaty of
+Château-Cambresis to the Genoese, who repaired and considerably added to
+the fortifications.
+
+One easily conceives that the rock fortress must have been impregnable
+in ancient times, if bravely defended. Even now it is a place of
+considerable strength, garrisoned by the French, who have erected
+barracks and improved the works. But the place still singularly
+preserves the character of a fortified town of the Middle Ages. Nothing
+seems changed except that French sentries pace the battlements instead
+of Genoese. There are the old towers, walls, churches, and houses;—the
+houses, tall and gloomy, many of them having the arms of Genoese
+families carved in stone over the portals. A network of narrow and
+irregular streets spreads over the whole _plateau_ within the walls,
+which rise from the very edge of the cliffs. There is not a yard of
+vacant space, except an esplanade and _place d'armes_, where the
+promontory narrows at its southern extremity. The only entrance is under
+the vaulted archway of the barbican, still as jealously guarded as if
+Saracen, Turk, or Spaniard threatened an attack. This tower commands the
+approach from the Marino by the broad ramp, a long inclined plane, at a
+sharp angle, the ascent of which, _en échelon_, by the troops of
+diminutive mules and asses employed for conveying all articles necessary
+for subsistence and use in the town, it was painful to witness. The
+streets are as void of every kind of vehicle as those of Venice, and
+almost as unsavoury as its canals. There is scarcely room for two loaded
+mules to pass each other. Every morning, nearly the whole population
+pours forth, with their beasts of burthen, to their labour in the
+country, there being no villages in the canton; returning to their homes
+in the evening. They are an industrious race, snatching their
+subsistence from a barren soil.
+
+Few strangers visit Bonifacio, and those who do must be content with
+very indifferent accommodations. We were lodged _au premier_ of a gaunt
+_locanda_, our last resource, after exploring the place for better
+quarters. Its best recommendation was the zeal and kindness of the host;
+and even the resources of his culinary skill, which, I believe, could
+have produced a _ragout_ from a piece of leather, failed for want of
+materials on which to exercise it. The supplies of flesh, fowl,
+and—strange to say—fish, were scanty and bad. The French officers in
+garrison messed, _en pension_, at our hotel, but their fare, limited by
+a close economy, was not only meagre, but, with all the accompaniments
+of the table, absolutely disgusting.
+
+To make matters worse, we were detained several days beyond our allotted
+time in this ill-provisioned fortress by an unexpected mischance. Armed
+with Foreign Office passports, current at least through the friendly
+states of France and Sardinia without the slightest hindrance, we had
+taken the additional precaution of proposing to have them _visé_ by the
+French and Sardinian Legations in London, that there might be no sort of
+obstacle to our crossing from one of the two islands in our route to
+the other. The _visé_ was refused as perfectly unnecessary; and even at
+Ajaccio, where we passed some hours at the _Préfeture_, our passports
+were returned to us on mere inspection. Greatly, however, to our
+mortification, we discovered, at Bonifacio, that international
+conventions between friendly governments had no force in this
+out-of-the-way corner of the civilised world. We could not be allowed to
+embark for Sardinia without authority from the Administration at
+Ajaccio, which it would take at least forty-eight hours to procure. All
+arguments were vain; the Foreign Office passport could not be
+recognised; the orders were precise for a strict _surveillance_ of all
+persons endeavouring to cross the Straits. As private individuals and
+English gentlemen, we were on particularly pleasant terms with the
+_maire_ and his son; but, officially, such was their language, they had
+nothing to show that we were not brigands meditating escape. Officials
+generally, and foreign officials especially, are not to be moved by any
+force of circumstances from their regular track.
+
+Unwilling to submit, and anxious to get forward, we lost twenty-four
+hours of precious time in vainly negotiating with the master of a small
+vessel to smuggle us over. He would be well paid, and we proposed going
+to some unfrequented part of the coast, from whence he could take us
+off. But, tempting as the offers were, after much deliberation, they
+were rejected. Such things were common a short time before, and hundreds
+of the banditti had been ferried over to the coast of Sardinia; but now
+there was a sharp look-out, and discovery would be ruin. Insignificant
+as is the commerce of Bonifacio, it is well watched by a staff of
+_douaniers_, consisting of a captain, four _sous-officiers_, and
+thirteen or fourteen _préposés_, _matelots_, &c., besides _officiers de
+santé_ and swarms of _gendarmes_. They were everywhere: at our landing;
+while sketching; always in pairs; and seeming to dodge our steps. Two
+presented themselves while we were at supper the evening after our
+arrival. The passports had been exhibited;—what could they want with us?
+what offence had we committed? Their business was with the innkeeper; he
+had omitted to fix a lantern at his door! He hated the French like a
+true Corsican. He would not pay even decent respect to the officers, his
+guests, and boasted of starving them to the last fraction his contract
+for the mess allowed; while nothing was good enough for the Englishmen.
+
+Piétro was, indeed, a true Corsican; had killed his man, given a _coup_,
+as he called it, to his enemy, was condemned to death, but bought off.
+_Encore_; a man he had offended came to his hotel, and called for food.
+They sat down to table in company, Piétro observing that his enemy
+frequently kept his hand on a side-pocket. After supper, the man asked
+for a chamber to sleep. Piétro replied that they were all occupied, but
+he might sleep with him. The other was staggered at his coolness, and,
+hesitating to comply, Piétro seized him, and finding a pistol secreted
+on his person, doubled him up, and kicked him down stairs.
+
+Our host was not singular in his disaffection to the French. The
+Bonifacians feel their thraldom more perhaps than any other people in
+Corsica, overshadowed as their small population is by a strong garrison
+and a host of _douaniers_ and _gendarmes_. Republican ideas prevail; and
+they have not forgotten the days when their important town was more an
+ally, than a dependance, of Genoa. Now, from their small population, a
+single deputy represents them in the departmental council, while
+Ajaccio sends twenty-nine and Bastia twenty-five members. The
+Bonifacians despise their masters. “The French are inconstant,” said an
+inhabitant, high in office, with whom I was talking politics; “they have
+_tant de petitesses_; they have no national character: we have, and
+you;—our very quarrels, which are deep and lasting, show it.”
+
+Everything is primitive in Bonifacio, except the emblems of French
+domination. On the evening of our arrival, having threaded my way alone
+with some difficulty through a labyrinth of dark streets and lanes to
+the Post Office, I found it closed; and there being no apparent means of
+announcing my errand, was departing in despair, when a neighbour
+good-humouredly cried out, “_Tirate la corda, signore!_” After some
+search, for it was getting dark, I discovered a string, running up the
+wall of the house to the third story. Pulling it lustily, at last a
+window opened, and an old woman put her head out, inquiring, in a shrill
+voice, “_Que volete?_” Having made known my wants, after some delay,
+steps were heard slowly descending the stairs. Admitted at length into
+the _bureau_, the old crone, spectacle on nose, proceeded very
+deliberately to spell over, by a feeble lamplight, the addresses of a
+bundle of letters taken from a shelf. The process was excruciating,
+anxious as we were for news from home. She could make nothing of my
+friend's truly Saxon name;—what foreign official can ever decipher
+English names? Mine was more pronounceable, and as I kept repeating
+both, she caught that, and, incapable as I should have thought her of
+making a pun, she exclaimed at last, in despair, “_Forestier, ecco! sono
+tutti forestière_,” tossing me the whole bundle to choose for myself.
+Happily, I was not disappointed.
+
+We shall not easily forget Bonifacio. Our detention within the narrow
+bounds of the fortress-town afforded us leisure to realise the scenes
+which the crowded _enceinte_ must have offered during its memorable
+sieges. The combined effects, too, of loathsome smells—the filth of the
+purlieus being indescribable—of bad diet, confinement, and the
+irritation natural to Englishmen under detention, brought on suddenly
+severe attacks of diarrhœa, though we were both before in robust health.
+Our sufferings shadowed out, however faintly, the miseries endured by a
+crowded population during the sieges, and again when half the
+inhabitants of Bonifacio became victims to the plague in 1582—a scourge
+which then devastated Corsica and parts of Italy.
+
+Gasping for pure air, we were forbidden by the everwatchful _gendarmes_
+to walk on the town ramparts. From early dawn till late evening, the
+eternal clang of hand cornmills forbade repose in our _locanda_. The
+neighbouring country has few attractions, even if we had been in a state
+to profit by them. All interest is concentrated in the place itself. Our
+steps were therefore especially attracted to the open area forming the
+southern extremity of the Cape, as already mentioned. There at least we
+could breathe the fresh air, look down on the blue Mediterranean washing
+the base of the chalk cliffs, far beneath, and trace the outline of the
+coast of Sardinia across the Straits. The Gallura mountains rose boldly
+on the horizon, and the low island of Madaléna, our proposed
+landing-place, was distinctly visible. It needed not that we should
+indulge imagination in picturing to ourselves Castel Sardo, and other
+places along the coast, which we hoped soon to visit. The esplanade was
+generally solitary, and suited our musings. One evening, the silence was
+broken by a melancholy chant from the chapel of a ruined monastery
+within the guarded _enceinte_. It was a service for the dead, at which a
+prostrate crowd assisted in deep devotion. The sentries on the walls
+rested on their arms, and we stood at the open door, facing the western
+sky and the rolling waves, listening to strains of wailing which would
+have suited the times of the siege and the plague.
+
+    [Illustration: OUTLINE OF SARDINIA FROM BONIFACIO.]
+
+Nearer the town stands the old church of the Templars, dedicated to St.
+Dominic, of fine Gothic architecture, full of interest for its armorial
+and other memorials of the knightly defenders of the faith, and of noble
+Genoese families. Over the edge of the cliff towers the massive
+_Torrione_, the original fortress of the Marquis Bonifacio, consecrated
+in memory as long the bulwark of the island against the incursions of
+Saracen corsairs. Here, is the spot where the hastily-built galley, with
+its adventurous crew, was lowered down the face of the cliff, to convey
+to Genoa the intelligence of the extremity to which the citizens of
+Bonifacio were reduced when besieged by Alfonso of Arragon. There, is a
+ladder of rude steps, cut in the chalk cliffs to the edge of the water,
+two hundred feet beneath, the descent of which it made one dizzy to
+contemplate. Perhaps, under cover of night, the now ruinous steps have
+been boldly trodden in a sally for surprising the enemy, or stealthily
+mounted by emissaries from without, conveying intelligence to the
+beleaguered party. Perhaps, in the Genoese times, some Romeo and Juliet,
+of rival families, found the means of elopement by this sequestered
+staircase. One could imagine shrouded figures gliding from the convent
+church close by—the perilous descent, the light skiff tossing beneath,
+with its white sails a-peak, waiting to bear off the lovers to freedom
+and bliss. For what legends and tales of romance, real or imaginary,
+have we materials here!
+
+    [Illustration: CAVE UNDER BONIFACIO.]
+
+It is by sea only that one can escape from Bonifacio, except by miles of
+dreary road. To the sea we looked for ours. _En attendant_, we tried our
+wings to the utmost length of the chain which bound us to the rock.
+Procuring a boat, we pulled out of the harbour, and round the jutting
+points crowned by the fortress, half inclined to pitch the _padrone_
+overboard, and make a straight course for the opposite coast of
+Sardinia. Not driven to that extremity, we wiled away the time
+pleasantly enough in a visit to the caverns worn by the sea in the chalk
+cliffs, which front its surges. Some of these are exceedingly
+picturesque. Their entrances festooned with hanging boughs, they
+penetrate far into the interior of the rocks, and the water percolating
+through their vaulted roofs, has formed stalactites of fantastic shapes.
+The boat glides through the arched entrance, and we find ourselves in
+the cool and grateful shade of these marine grottoes. Fishes are
+flitting in the clear water; limpid streams oozing through the rocks
+form fresh-water basins, with pebbly bottoms; and the channels from the
+blue sea, flowing over the chalk, become cerulean. These are, indeed,
+the halls of Amphitrite, fitting baths of Thetis and her nymphs. Poetic
+imagination has never pictured anything more enchanting.
+
+    [Illustration: BONIFACIO FROM THE CONVENT IN THE VALLEY.]
+
+One afternoon, we walked a mile out of the town, up a narrow valley in
+the limestone cliffs, to the ruined convent of St. Julian. The bottom of
+the valley is laid out in gardens, with cross walls, and channels for
+irrigation. The gardens appeared neglected, but there were some vines
+and fig-trees, pomegranates, and crops of a large-growing kale. The
+ruins lie at the head of the glen, facing Bonifacio and the sea; the
+walls of the convent and church still standing, approached by a broad
+paved way on a flight of marble steps. Seated on these, we enjoyed at
+leisure a charming view.
+
+Vineyards and plots of cultivated land overspread the slopes on either
+side of the valley. There were scattered olive-trees, and bamboos waving
+in the wind. The old convent walls, mantled with ivy, contrasted with a
+chapel at the foot of the steps, having a handsome dome, covered with
+bright glazed tiles of green, red, and black, and surmounted by a
+cross—the only portion of the conventual buildings still perfect. In the
+distance was the little landlocked haven, with a brig and some small
+lateen-sailed vessels moored alongside the Marino. Above it rose the
+fortress-town, with its towers and battlements. The sound of the church
+bells tolling for vespers rose, softened by distance, up the valley.
+Ravens were croaking over the ruins of the convent, and lizards frisking
+on the banks and the marble steps on which we reposed. It was a fitting
+spot for a Sunday afternoon's meditation—our last in Corsica!
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXV.
+
+  ISLAND OF SARDINIA.—_Cross the Straits of Bonifacio.—The Town and
+    Harbour of La Madelena.—Agincourt Sound, the Station of the
+    British Fleet in 1803.—Anecdotes of Nelson.—Napoleon Bonaparte
+    repulsed at La Madelena._
+
+
+Released, at length, from our irksome detention by the return of the
+courier with the passports _visés_ from Ajaccio, and a boat we had
+hired, meanwhile, lying ready at the Marino to carry us over to
+Sardinia, not a moment was lost in getting under sail to cross the
+straits.
+
+The Bocche di Bonifacio were called by the Romans _Fossa Fretum_, and by
+the Greeks _Tappros_, a trench, from their dividing the islands of
+Corsica and Sardinia like a ditch or dyke. These straits are considered
+dangerous by navigators, from the violence of the squalls gushing
+suddenly from the mountains and causing strong currents, especially
+during the prevalence of winds from the north-west during nine months of
+the year. Lord Nelson describes them during one of these squalls as
+“looking tremendous, from the number of rocks and the heavy seas
+breaking over them.” In another letter he says, “We worked the ‘Victory’
+every foot of the way from Asinara to this anchorage, [off La Madelena,]
+blowing hard from Longo Sardo, under double-reefed topsails.” The
+difficulties of the Bonifacio passage can hardly be understood by a
+landsman who has not visited the straits, but they are stated to have
+been so great, “and the ships to have passed in so extraordinary a
+manner, that their captains could only consider it as a providential
+interposition in favour of the great officer who commanded them.”[42]
+
+    [Illustration: LOOKING BACK ON CORSICA.]
+
+It has been my fortune to pass these straits on three several occasions
+when they were perfectly calm. During the passage from Corsica in an
+open boat, which I am now relating, there was so little wind that, with
+all the spread of high-peaked sails a Mediterranean boat can carry, we
+made but little way, and the surface was so unruffled that my friend was
+able to sketch at ease the outline of the Corsican mountains, from which
+we were slowly receding. It was, however, pleasurable to linger midway
+between the two islands, retracing our route in the one by the lines of
+its mountain ranges, and anticipating fresh delight in penetrating those
+of the Gallura now in prospect. The appearance of a French revenue
+cutter to windward tended to reconcile us to the failure of our plan of
+getting smuggled across the straits, which might have led to more
+serious consequences than the detention we suffered.
+
+The coast line on both sides of the channel, as on all the shores of
+the two islands, is remarkably bold; and the scene was diversified by
+the groups of rocky islets scattered across the straits, and described
+in a former chapter as the broken links of a chain which once united
+Corsica with the mountain system of the north-east-portion of the island
+of Sardinia. They are composed entirely of a fine-grained red granite.
+In some of the islets lying nearest the Corsican coast quarries were
+worked to supply blocks and columns for the temples and palaces of
+imperial Rome. Quarries of the same material were also worked by the
+Romans, as we shall find presently, on the coast of Sardinia, opposite
+these islands.
+
+With two exceptions, these “Intermediate Islands” are uninhabited. They
+were considered of so little importance that, till the middle of the
+last century, it was considered a question which of them belonged to
+Sardinia and which to Corsica. It was then easily settled by drawing a
+visual line equidistant from Point Lo Sprono on the latter, and Capo
+Falcone on the former; it being agreed that all north of this line
+should belong to Corsica, and all south of it to Sardinia.
+
+The distance between the two capes is about ten nautical miles. To the
+westward of Capo Falcone lies the small harbour of Longo Sardo, or
+Longone, the nearest landing-place from Bonifacio, from which it has
+long carried on a contraband trade; its proximity to Corsica also making
+it the asylum of the outlaws exiled from that island. A new town, called
+Villa Teresa, built on a more healthy spot on the neighbouring heights,
+has received a considerable access of population from the same source.
+
+The Capes Falcone, with La Marmorata close by, and La Testa forming the
+north-west point of Sardinia, are all of the same formation as the
+rocky islands in the straits already mentioned, and, like them, this
+district furnished the Romans with many of the granite columns which
+still form magnificent ornaments of the Eternal City. Those of the
+Pantheon are said to have been excavated near Longone; and several
+similar ones, as well as rude blocks, may still be seen in the quarries
+on the promontory of Santa Reparata, near which the remains of some
+Roman villas have also been discovered. In later days we find the value
+of the Gallura granite appreciated by the Pisans. Their Duomo, built by
+Buschetto in 1063, soon after their possession of Sardinia, shows the
+beauty of the Marmorata rocks; and the Battisterio, built in 1152 by
+Dioti Salvi, has also much of Gallura material in its construction.
+
+La Madelena is the largest island in the Sardinian group, and while
+Porto Longone is a poor place, the town and harbour of La Madelena are
+much frequented in the communications and trade between Corsica and
+Sardinia. Our course therefore was shaped for the latter, though twice
+the distance from shore to shore. The island of La Madelena, the _Insula
+Ilva_, or _Phintonis_, of the Romans, is about eleven miles in
+circumference. Till about a century ago it was only inhabited or
+frequented by shepherds, natives of Corsica, who led a nomad life, and
+by their constant intercourse with Corsica and Sardinia, and by
+intermarriages with natives of both, formed a mixed but distinct race,
+as the Ilvese are still considered. The town of La Madelena was only
+founded in 1767, some Corsican refugees being among its first settlers;
+but from its fine harbour, the healthiness of its site, and its
+convenience for commerce with Italy, it rapidly became a place of
+considerable population and trade.
+
+There are numerous channels and many sheltered bays frequented by ships
+between the group of islands of which La Madelena is the principal. Our
+own course from the north-west led us through a strait between the main
+land of Sardinia and the islands of Sparagi, Madelena, and Caprera,
+which opened to view all the points of interest in its most celebrated
+harbour. Right ahead, it was almost closed by the little rocky islet of
+Santo Stefano, now defended by a fort, and remarkable for having been
+the scene of a severe repulse received by Napoleon at the outset of his
+long successful career. A point to the south, on the main land of
+Sardinia, marking the entrance of the Gulf of Arsachena, is called the
+Capo dell'Orso, from a mass of granite so exactly resembling the figure
+of a bear recumbent on its hind legs, that it attracted the notice of
+Ptolemy 1400 years ago. The island of Caprera, probably deriving its
+name from the wild goats till lately its sole inhabitants, presents a
+ridge of rugged mountains, rising in the centre to a ridge called
+Tagiolona, upwards of 750 feet high, with some little sheltered bays,
+and a few cultivated spots on its western side.
+
+Sheltered by Caprera, La Madelena, and Santo Stefano, we find the fine
+anchorage of Mezzo Schifo; the town of La Madelena, for which we are
+steering, lying about half a mile south-west of the anchorage. This
+harbour, named by Lord Nelson “Agincourt Sound,” was his head-quarters
+while maintaining the blockade of Toulon, from 1803 to 1805. He formed
+the highest opinion of its position for a naval station, as affording
+safe and sheltered anchorage, and ingress and egress with any winds. His
+public and private correspondence at that period shows the importance
+he attached to its possession, and his anxiety that it should be secured
+permanently to the crown of England.
+
+“If we could possess the island of Sardinia,” he says, in a letter to
+Lord Hobart, “we should want neither Malta nor any other island in the
+Mediterranean. This, which is the finest of them, possesses harbours fit
+for arsenals, and of a capacity to hold our navy,—within twenty-four
+hours' sail of Toulon,—bays to ride our fleets in, and to watch both
+Italy and Toulon.” In another letter, he says:—“What a noble harbour is
+formed by these islands! The world cannot produce a finer. From its
+position, it is worth fifty Maltas.” This opinion we find repeated in a
+variety of forms, and with Nelson's characteristic energy of expression.
+
+When at anchor in Agincourt Sound, he kept two or three frigates
+constantly cruising between Toulon and the Straits of Bonifacio, to
+signal any attempt of the enemy to leave their port; occasionally
+cruising with his whole fleet, and then retreating to head-quarters. His
+sudden appearance and disappearance off Toulon, in one of these
+exercises, with the hope of alluring the French to put to sea, led their
+admiral, M. Latouche-Tréville, to make the ludicrous boast, that he had
+chased the whole British fleet, which fled before him. This bravado so
+irritated Nelson, that it drew from him the well-known threat, contained
+in a letter to his brother: “You will have seen by Latouche's letter how
+he chased me, and how I ran. I keep it; and, if I take him, by God, he
+shall eat it!”
+
+Our boatman pointed out to us the channel through which Lord Nelson led
+his fleet when at length, after more than two years' watching, the
+object of all his hopes and vows was accomplished by the French fleet
+putting to sea. This, the eastern channel, of which the low isle of
+Biscie forms the outer point, is the most dangerous of all, from the
+sunken rocks which lie in the fairway, and its little breadth of sea
+room. Yet Nelson beat through it in a gale of wind, in the dusk of the
+evening, escaping these dangers almost miraculously. Our sailor pointed
+out all this with lively interest, for Nelson's name and heroic deeds
+are still household words among the seafaring people of La Madelena.
+
+It was on the 19th of January, 1805, that the look-out frigate in the
+offing signalled to the admiral that the French fleet had put to sea. At
+that season there was much gaiety, in dances, private theatricals, and
+other amusements, on board the different ships in the harbour, and
+preparations for an evening's entertainment were going on at the moment
+the stirring signal was discovered. It was no sooner acknowledged on
+board the “Victory” than the responding one appeared, “Weigh
+immediately!” The scene of excitement and confusion ensuing the sudden
+departure and interruption of festivities may be easily conceived. It
+was a dark wintry evening; but the suddenness of the order to get under
+way was equalled by the skill and courage with which it was executed.
+The passage is so narrow that only one ship could pass at a time, and
+each was guided only by the stern lights of the preceding vessel. At
+seven o'clock, the whole of the fleet was entirely clear of the passage,
+and, bidding a long farewell to La Madelena, they stood to the southward
+in pursuit of the French fleet. The daring and determined spirit
+exhibited by Nelson on this particular occasion was the subject of
+especial eulogy in the House of Lords by his late Majesty, then Duke of
+Clarence; being cited as the greatest instance of his unflinching
+courage and constant activity.
+
+Thus, as we have already found Corsica, we now see Sardinia, witnessing
+some of the boldest achievements of our great naval hero.
+
+Further interest attaches to La Madelena from its having repulsed the
+attack of Napoleon, and driven him to a precipitate retreat from his
+first field of arms. The young soldier, after being for some months in
+garrison at Bonifacio, was attached, by order of Paschal Paoli, to the
+expedition which sailed from thence in February, 1793, to reduce La
+Madelena. He acted as second in command of the artillery, the whole
+force being under the command of General Colonna-Cesari. A body of
+troops having effected a lodgment on the island of Santo Stefano by
+night, and a battery having been thrown up and armed, a heavy fire was
+opened by Bonaparte on the town and its defences. They were held by a
+garrison of 500 men, and the fire was returned by the islanders with
+equal fury. The opposite shore of Gallura was lined by its brave
+mountaineers, who, on the French frigate being dismasted and bearing up
+for the Gulf of Arsachena, embarked from Parao, and attacked Santo
+Stefano. Their assault was so vigorous that Bonaparte found himself
+compelled to make a precipitate retreat from the island with a few of
+his followers, leaving 200 prisoners, with all the _matériel_, baggage,
+and artillery. In passing between the other islands, the fugitives were
+also attacked by some Gallurese, who, concealing themselves near Capo
+della Caprera, by the precision of their firing committed great havoc on
+the flying enemy.
+
+Mr. Tyndale states that many of the Corsicans and Ilvese who witnessed
+this action, being still living when he visited La Madelena, and
+relating various circumstances relative to it, he heard the following
+story from an old veteran, who was an eyewitness of the fact:—
+
+“Bonaparte was superintending the firing from the battery, and watching
+the effect of it with his telescope, when observing the people at
+Madelena going to mass, he exclaimed, ‘_Voglio tirare alla chiesa, per
+far fuggire le donne!_’ (‘I should like to fire at the church, just to
+frighten the women!’) While in garrison at Bonifacio, as lieutenant [?
+captain] of artillery, he had mortar and gun practice every morning, and
+had on all occasions shown the greatest precision in firing. In this
+instance he was no less successful, for the shell entered the church
+window, and fell at the foot of the image of N.S. di Madelena. It failed
+to burst in this presence, and this miraculous instance of religious
+respect had its due weight with the pious islanders, by whom it was
+taken up, and for a long time preserved among the sacred curiosities of
+the town. A natural cause was, however, soon discovered for the
+harmlessness of the projectile. Napoleon continued his firing; but
+finding that the shells took no effect, though they fell on the very
+spot he intended, he examined some of them, and found that they were
+filled with sand. ‘_Amici_,’ he exclaimed, burning with indignation;
+‘_eccole il tradimento_;’ and the troops, who had been suffering much by
+the fire from Madelena, imagining that the treason was on the part of
+General Cesari, would have put him _alla lanterna_, had he not made his
+escape on board the frigate.”
+
+It has, indeed, been said that Paoli, reluctantly obeying the orders of
+the French Convention to undertake the expedition against Sardinia,
+entrusted the command to Colonna-Cesari, his intimate friend, with
+instructions to secure its failure, considering Sardinia as the natural
+ally of their own island. However this may be, the affair terminated by
+the retreat of the general with the rest of his force, having thrown
+from Santo Stefano 500 shells and 5000 round shot into Madelena, without
+much effect.
+
+We found in the harbour a Sardinian steam-ship of war[43], and ten or
+twelve vessels of very small tonnage, engaged in the trade with Corsica,
+Leghorn, and Marseilles. About twenty of this class belong to the port;
+besides which it is frequented annually by from 200 to 300 other small
+vessels, principally Genoese, their united tonnage amounting to about
+5000 tons. Besides this legitimate commerce, the Ilvese carry on a
+prosperous contraband trade, taking advantage of the numerous little
+creeks and bays along the rocky coasts of the island. They are naturally
+a seafaring people, while the Sardes manifest a decided repugnance to
+engage in seafaring pursuits. The quays round the port of Madelena are
+spacious, and the town, straggling up the side of a hill, has a neat
+appearance, is said to be healthy, and is cleaner than any Sardinian
+town we saw.
+
+There are tolerable accommodations at Santa's Hotel. The reception of
+foreign guests is however, I imagine, a rare occurrence, and the means
+of supplying the table from the resources of the island appeared scanty;
+so that we should have fared ill but for the kindness of an English
+officer long settled at Madelena, who sent some substantial
+contributions to our comforts, in addition to his own hospitality. The
+name of Captain Roberts, R.N., is so well known to all visitors, as well
+as among the Sardes, that it is public property, and I may be allowed to
+bear testimony to the high esteem in which the hearty and genial old
+sailor is generally held. His loss would occasion a blank at Madelena
+not easily filled up; and I was happy to hear on my last visit to
+Sardinia that his health had improved.
+
+More English, I believe, are settled in the neighbourhood of La Madelena
+than in the whole island of Sardinia; if, indeed, there are any to be
+found, we did not hear of them. The English visitors consist principally
+of officers on shooting excursions from Malta. We had a very pleasant
+walk along the shore to the villa of an Australian colonist who, after
+wandering about the world, had, seemingly to his content, settled down
+on a small farm on the slopes of a valley a mile or two from the town. A
+man fond of cultivation might be very happy here, with such a climate,
+and the means of commanding a profusion of vegetables, fruits, and
+flowers. Irrigation was effected from a well provided with the simple
+machinery for lifting the water common in such countries, and by its aid
+the gardens just seeded and planted for the spring, or rather winter,
+crops, so early is vegetation, looked greener and fresher than anything
+we had seen for a long time. The cauliflowers and peas were already
+making forward progress; the latter, indeed, grow wild in this
+neighbourhood. But while these carried us in imagination to the latter
+days of an English spring, the hedges of prickly pear bore witness to
+the arid nature of the soil and the heat of the climate; of that,
+indeed, we were very sensible in our walks, though the month of November
+had now commenced.
+
+A cottage occupied, it was said, by an English botanist was pointed out
+to us; and an English family has been settled for some time in the
+solitude of the island of Caprera, of whose improvements great things
+were said. Every one spoke especially of Mrs. C.'s beautiful flower
+garden, and an anecdote was told respecting it, characteristic, I think,
+rather of Sarde than of English feeling. On some occasion when the king
+visited La Madelena, Mrs. C. having been requested to contribute flowers
+to the decorations of the festa in preparation to do honour to the royal
+visit, she is said to have replied: “I cultivate my flowers for my own
+pleasure—_pour m'amuser_—not to ingratiate myself with a court. If his
+majesty desires to see them, he must come to Caprera.” I cannot vouch
+for the truth of the story, though it was in every one's mouth. What
+amused me was, that the islanders considered this as evincing a truly
+English spirit of independence, which they heartily approved.
+
+The principal church of La Madelena, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is
+a neat structure of granite and marble. Its decorations are less gaudy
+than those one usually sees, the most valued ornaments being a pair of
+massive altar candlesticks and a crucifix, all of silver, the gift of
+Lord Nelson, in acknowledgment of the kindness and hospitality he
+received from the islanders while his fleet lay in the harbour. On the
+base of the candlesticks are enchased the arms of Nelson and Brontë,
+with this inscription:
+
+                        VICE COMES
+                        NELSON NILI
+                     DUX BRONTIS ECC.E
+                    ST.E MAGDAL.E INS.E
+                       ST.E MAGDAL.E
+                          D.D.D.
+
+It is said that when the town publicly thanked Lord Nelson for the
+donation, he replied: “These little ornaments are nothing; wait till I
+catch the French outside their port. If they will but come out, I am
+sure to capture them; and I promise to give you the value of one of
+their frigates to build a church with. I have only to ask you to pray to
+La Santissima Madonna that the French fleet may come out of Toulon. Do
+you pray to her for that, and as for capturing them, I will undertake to
+do all the rest.”
+
+We landed at La Madelena on the anniversary of the day when Nelson first
+anchored his fleet off the town just fifty years before. As we trace his
+career among the Mediterranean islands, recollections of those eventful
+times crowd on our memories. In the half century that has intervened,
+how has the aspect of affairs changed!
+
+It was the eve of the feast of All Saints (1st Nov.), devoutly observed,
+with that of All Souls on the day following, in all Catholic countries.
+From daylight till ten at night the bells of St. Magdalene incessantly
+clanged, and the church was thronged with successive crowds, absorbed
+in pious and affectionate devotion to the memories of their departed
+friends, according to the rites of the Roman Church. How thrilling are
+the deep tones of the _De Profundis_ from the compositions of a good
+musical school! And what observance can be more touching than this
+periodical commemoration of the dead? There is none that more harmonises
+with the best feelings of our nature; and yet of all the dogmas rejected
+by ecclesiastical reforms, I know of none which has less pretensions to
+Scriptural authority or has been more mischievous, corrupting alike the
+priesthood and the laity, than that which makes the masses and prayers
+incident to the commemoration of the dead propitiatory for sins
+committed in the flesh.
+
+The solemn festival brought out all the women of La Madelena, never
+perhaps seen to more advantage than in a costume of black silk, suited
+to the solemnity, with the Genoese mantle of white transparent muslin
+attached to the back of the head, and falling gracefully over the
+shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXVI.
+
+  _Ferried over to the Main Island.—Start for the Mountain Passes
+    of the Gallura.—Sarde Horses and Cavallante.—Valley of the
+    Liscia.—Pass some Holy Places on the Hills.—Festivals held
+    there.—Usages of the Sardes indicating their Eastern Origin._
+
+
+The halt at La Madelena was only a step in our route to the main island.
+We had still to cross a broad channel, and landing at Parao, on the
+Sardinian shore, horses were to be waiting for us. This arrangement,
+kindly made by Captain Roberts, required a day's delay. We were to
+proceed to Tempio, in the heart of the Gallura Mountains, under guidance
+of the courier in charge of the post letters.
+
+Ferried across the channel in less than an hour, we found the horses
+tethered among the bushes. House there was none, which must be
+inconvenient when the weather is too tempestuous for crossing the strait
+from Parao. We took shelter from the heat under a rook, making studies
+of a group of picturesque shepherds, and amusing ourselves with some
+luscious grapes,—baskets of which were waiting for the return of the
+passage-boat to La Madelena,—while a pack-horse was loaded with our
+baggage.
+
+The outfit for this expedition was more than usually cumbersome, as it
+comprised blankets and other appendages for camping out, if occasion
+required. The cavallante, however, made nothing of stowing it away,
+cleverly thrusting bag and baggage into the capacious leather pouches
+which hung balanced on each side of the stout beast, with a portmanteau
+across the pack-saddle. When all was done, the cavallante mounted to the
+top of the load, where he perched himself like an Arab on a dromedary.
+
+The cavallo Sardo _par excellence_, such as the higher classes ride, is
+a strong spirited barb, highly valued. These horses are carefully broken
+to a peculiar step, called the “portante,” something between an amble
+and a trot, for which we have neither a corresponding word or pace. I
+cannot say that I admired the pace. It only makes four or five miles an
+hour, and, to my apprehension, might be described as a shuffle, not
+being so easy as a canter, nor having the invigorating swing of a trot.
+The natives, however, consider the movement delightful; and a writer on
+Sardinia says: “_Il viaggiare in Sardegna è perciò la più dolce cosa del
+mondo; l'antipongo all'andare in barca col vento in poppa_”—“The
+travelling in Sardinia is, on this account, one of the pleasantest
+things in the world; I prefer it to sailing in a vessel with the wind
+astern.”
+
+The ordinary Sarde horse is a hardy, sure-footed animal, undersized, but
+capable of carrying heavy burthens. Great numbers of them are kept, as
+the poorest native disdains walking. They are ill fed, and have rough
+treatment. As pack-horses they convey all the commodities of home
+produce, or imported and interchanged, throughout the interior of the
+island, there being scarcely any roads, and consequently no
+wheel-carriages employed, except on the Strada Reale, through the level
+plains of the Campidano, between Cagliari and Porto Torres.
+
+The _viandanti_ who conduct this traffic are a numerous and hardy class
+of people, much enduring in the long and toilsome journeys through such
+a country as their vocation requires them to traverse. We found them
+civil, patient, and attentive, but hard at a bargain,—so that this mode
+of travelling is more expensive than might be expected,—and occasionally
+rather independent. A curious instance of this occurred at Tempio. We
+had made a bargain, on his own terms, with one of these people, for
+horses to proceed on our route, and they were brought to the door ready
+for loading up and mounting, when the cavallante refused to allow our
+using our English saddles. Not wishing to lose time, we took
+considerable pains to point out that the saddles being well padded would
+not wring his horses' backs, conceiving that to be what he apprehended.
+But it was to no purpose; there seemed to be no other reason for the
+scruple than that a Sarde horse must be caparisoned _à la Sarde_, with
+high-peaked saddle and velvet housings. The cavallante, persisting, led
+his horses back to the stable, losing a profitable engagement rather
+than being willing to submit to their being equipped in a foreign
+fashion. After a short delay we procured others from a cavallante who
+made no such difficulties, and proved a very serviceable and attentive
+conductor.
+
+    [Illustration: VALLEY OF THE LISCIA.]
+
+After leaving Parao, and calling at a solitary _stazza_ or farm, the
+track we pursued led through a wide plain watered by the Liscia. The
+river made many windings among meadows clothed with luxuriant herbage,
+and fed by numerous herds of cattle, and sheep, and goats; forming a
+pastoral scene of singular beauty, of which my companion's sketch,
+here annexed, conveys a good idea. The valley is bounded by ridges of no
+great elevation, partially covered with a shrubbery of myrtle, cistus,
+and other such underwood, among rocks and cliffs worn by the waters into
+fantastic shapes. We occasionally crossed spurs of these ridges,
+commanding extensive views of the Straits of Bonifacio, with the
+mountains of Corsica in the distance on the one hand, and the nearer
+island of Madelena on the other.
+
+Nearly all the province of Gallura, washed by the Mediterranean on three
+sides, consists of mountainous tracts, with valleys intervening, similar
+to this of the Liscia. There is scarcely any cultivation, and they are
+uninhabited; almost all the towns and villages of the Capo di Sopra
+lying on the coast. On these plains a few shepherds lead a nomad life
+during the healthy season, being driven from them by the deadly
+_intempérie_ prevailing in summer and autumn. Until lately, the whole
+district was notorious for the crimes of robbery and vindictive murder,
+for the perpetration of which, and the security of the offenders, its
+solitudes and natural fastnesses afforded the greatest facilities.
+
+Continuing our route we crossed some park-like glades, with scattered
+forest trees, and fringed by the graceful shrubbery, the _macchia_,
+common to both the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. At some distance on
+our left (south-east) appeared a beautifully wooded hill, with a chapel
+on the summit, Santa Maria di Arsachena, one of the sanctuaries held in
+great veneration by the Gallurese. To these holy places they flock in
+great numbers on certain festivals, when the lonely spots, often
+hill-tops, surrounded by the most wild and romantic scenery, witness
+devotions and festivities, to which the revels form the chief
+allurement.
+
+There is a still holier place further to the south of our track, the
+Monte Santo, and I think its lofty summit, with a small chapel scarcely
+visible amid the dark verdure of the surrounding woods, was pointed out
+to us. It overhangs the village of Logo Santo, well described as the
+“Mecca of the Gallurese.” The sanctity of the place was established in
+the thirteenth century, the tradition being that the relics of St.
+Nicholas and St. Trano, anchorites and martyrs here A.D. 362, were
+discovered on the spot by two Franciscan monks, led to Sardinia by a
+vision of the Virgin Mary at Jerusalem. A village grew up round the
+three churches then erected in honour of the Saints and the Blessed
+Virgin, with a Franciscan convent, long stripped of its endowments, and
+fallen to ruin.
+
+On the occurrence of the festivals celebrated at these holy places, the
+people of the neighbouring parishes assemble in multitudes, marching in
+procession, with their banners at their head; and the sacred flag of
+Tempio, surmounted by a silver cross, is brought by the canons of the
+cathedral and planted on the spot. The devotions are accompanied by
+feasting, dancing, music, and sports, the people prolonging the revels
+into the night, as many of them come from far, and the festivals occupy
+more than one day.
+
+That Christian rites were, from very early times, blended with
+festivities accordant to the national habits of the new converts, with
+even some alloy of pagan usages, is understood to have been a policy
+adopted by the founders of the faith among semi-barbarous nations—a
+concession to the weakness of their neophytes. Our own village wakes
+and fairs, with their green boughs and flags, cakes and ale, originally
+held in the precincts of the church on the feast-day of the patron
+saint, partook of a similar character as the festivals of the Gallurese;
+but with us the religious element has been long extinct.
+
+The festivals are not confined to the Gallura; they have their stations
+throughout the island, every district having some shrine of peculiar
+sanctity. Their celebration is distinguished by some peculiarities,
+which, in common with many other customs of the Sardes, and numerous
+existing monuments and remains, leave no doubt of Sardinia having been
+early colonised from the East. Traces may also be found in the customs
+of the Sardes of similarity with the Greek life and manners, derived
+indeed by the Greeks from the same common source.
+
+Thus the usages of the Sardes afford, in a variety of instances, a
+living commentary, perhaps the best still existing, on the modes of life
+and thought recorded in Homer and the Bible. This they owe to their
+insular position, their slight admixture with other races, and the
+consequent tenacity with which they have adhered to their primitive
+traditions.
+
+Of some of these indications of origin we may take occasion to treat
+hereafter, as they fall in our way. For our present purpose may we not
+refer to the worship in “high places” and in “groves,” to which the
+Sardes are so zealously addicted, as a relic of practices often
+denounced in the Old Testament, when the sacrifice was offered to idols?
+They appear also to have been common and legitimate in the patriarchal
+age and the earlier times of the Israelitish commonwealth, Jehovah alone
+being the object of worship. What more biblical, as far as the Old
+Testament is concerned, than the idea that worship and prayer are more
+acceptable to the Almighty when offered on certain spots, holy ground,
+remote, perhaps, from the usual haunts of the worshipper! What a living
+picture we have in the festivities of the religious assemblies at Logo
+Santo and Santa Maria di Arsachena, of the feasting and music, the songs
+and dances accompanying the rites of Israelitish worship in common with
+those of other eastern nations; not to speak of the festive character of
+Greek solemnities, derived, indeed, from the same source, vestiges of
+which, left by the Hellenic colonies, may also be traced.
+
+However contrary these ideas and practices may be to the spirit and
+precepts of the Gospel, they are so inherent in the genius and
+traditions of the Sarde people, that I have heard it asserted that these
+festas give, at the present day, almost the only vitality to the
+ecclesiastical system established in the island. Their religious
+character has almost entirely evaporated, though the forms remain. The
+“solemn meetings,” instead of merely ending in innocent merriment, have
+degenerated into scenes of riot, and often of bloodshed.
+
+I was informed by the same person who made the remark that the festas
+were the main prop of the priesthood in Sardinia—and a more competent
+observer could not be found—that, from his own observation, men of the
+most sober habits of life lost all command of themselves, became
+absolutely frantic when tempted by the force of example, and led by what
+may be called an instinctive national passion to participate in these
+religious orgies. And Captain Smyth, R.N., who gives an interesting
+account of one of these feasts, at which he was present[44], after
+mentioning that “prayers, dances, poems, dinner, and supper concluded
+[occupied] the day,” remarks, “that the feast of Santa Maria di
+Arsachena has seldom been celebrated without the sacrifice of three or
+four lives.” “The year preceding my visit,” he states, “two of the
+carabiniere reale had been killed; and I was shown a young man who, on
+the same occasion, received a ball through the breast, but having thus
+satisfied his foe according to the Sarde code of honour, and fortunately
+recovering, was, with his wife and a beautiful child, now enjoying the
+gaieties of the day.”
+
+Captain Smyth adds:—“I could not learn why there were no carabineers in
+attendance on this anniversary; but the consequence was a numerous
+concourse of banditti from the circumjacent fastnesses, notwithstanding
+the presence of a great many ‘barancelli,’[45] who, it is known, will
+not arrest a man that is only an assassin.”
+
+The themes suggested by wayside objects have led us away from our track,
+and we have still a long and rugged road to Tempio. We shall be in the
+saddle for hours after sunset. Let us devote another chapter to the
+continuation of our journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXVII.
+
+  _The Valley narrows.—Romantic Glen.—Al fresco Meal.—Forest of
+    Cork Trees.—Salvator Rosa Scenery.—Haunts of Outlaws.—Their
+    Atrocities.—Anecdotes of them in a better Spirit.—The Defile in
+    the Mountains—Elevated Plateau.—A Night March.—Arrival at
+    Tempio, the Capital of Gallura.—Our Reception._
+
+
+After following the course of the Liscia for about an hour, we struck up
+a lateral valley, the water of which stood in pools, separated by pebbly
+shallows, but overhung by drooping willows, and fringed with a luxuriant
+growth of ferns and rank weeds. The hills were covered with dense woods,
+intersected by rare clearings and inclosures on their slopes. Here and
+there stood a solitary _stazza_, as the stations or homesteads of the
+few resident farmers are here called. We observed that they were
+generally fixed on rising ground. At some of these the courier stopped,
+his errands consisting not in the delivery of letters, that office
+appearing to be a sinecure in this wild track, but in leaving packets of
+coffee, sugar, &c., and, in one instance, a cotton dress,—commodities
+none of which had probably been taxed to the Customs at La Madelena.
+
+The valley narrowed, and its water quickened into a lively trout stream,
+gurgling over a rocky bed, bordered on one side by thick underwood,
+feathering down to its edge. The myrtles here were thirty feet high,
+and, blended with the tall heath (Erica arborea), the branching arbutus,
+the cistus, lentiscus, with scores of other shrubs, formed thickets of
+as exquisite beauty as any we had seen in Corsica. The stream on its
+hither bank washed a narrow margin of grass beneath the woods. Here we
+rested our horses and dined. Wayfarers in such countries generally
+select the right spot for their halt. This was a delightful one, and we
+fared well enough on the contents of a basket provided at La Madelena.
+Such rough _al fresco_ meals, the uncertainty when you will get another,
+even when and where your ride will end, the living in the present, with
+fresh air and sunshine, and perpetual though gradual change of scene,
+with the absence of all care about the future—these form the charms of
+such travelling as ours.
+
+Again in the saddle, we soon afterwards entered a forest of magnificent
+cork trees, festooned with wild vines, relieving the sombre tints of the
+forest by the bright colours of their fading leaves. It hung on a
+mountain's side, and the gloomy depth of shade became deeper and deeper,
+as, after a while, the dusk of evening came on, and we began to thread
+the gorges which led to the summit of the pass.
+
+Salvator Rosa himself might have studied the wild scenery of Sardinia to
+advantage. If I recollect right, we are informed that he did. Nor would
+it require much effort of the imagination to add life to the picture in
+forms suited to its savage aspect,—to conjure up the grim bandit
+bursting from the thickets on his prey, or lurking behind the rock for
+the hour of vengeance on his enemy. Such scenes are by no means
+imaginary.
+
+    [Illustration: A SALVATOR ROSA SCENE.]
+
+Even now, numbers of the _fuorusciti_ find shelter in the fastnesses of
+the Gallura; the remnant of bands once so formidable that they spread
+terror through the whole province, bidding defiance alike to the law and
+the sword. Only within the present century the government has succeeded
+in quelling their ferocity, but not without desperate resistance to the
+troops employed, eighty of whom were destroyed by a party of the bandits
+in a single attack.
+
+Still, though a better spirit begins to prevail, and outrages have
+become less common and flagrant, we found, in travelling through the
+island, a prevailing sense of insecurity quite incompatible with our
+ideas of the supremacy of law under a well-ordered government. Some of
+the mountainous districts were in so disturbed a state that we were
+cautioned not to approach them; and every one we met throughout our
+journey was armed to the teeth.
+
+For ourselves, we felt no apprehensions, and took no precautions. In the
+first place, we were not to be easily frightened by possible dangers;
+and, in the second, we knew that a peaceable guise, in the character of
+foreign travellers, was our best protection. The violences of the
+_fuorusciti_ are, it is well understood, mingled and tempered with a
+strong sense of honour. I imagine, indeed, that they originate for the
+most part in that principle, developed in _vendetta_, though
+degenerating into rapine and robbery. Outlaws must find means of
+subsistence as well as honest men, and are not likely to be very
+scrupulous as to the mode of obtaining them. Among such characters there
+will be miscreants capable of any crime, and therefore there is always
+danger. But, still, the virtue of hospitality to strangers, so inherent
+amongst the Sardes, as in most semi-barbarous races, is not extinguished
+in hearts which are hardened against every other feeling of humanity. As
+the stranger is secure when he has “eaten salt” in the tent of the
+Bedouin, the Caffre's kraal, or the wigwam of the Red Indian, so there
+are numerous instances of the Sarde outlaws having afforded shelter and
+assistance to strangers throwing themselves on their honour and
+hospitality. Mr. Warre Tyndale relates such an adventure by a friend of
+his. We will venture to give the details.
+
+“In passing over the mountains from Tempio to Longone he fell in with
+five or six _fuorusciti_, who, after the usual questions, finding that
+he was a stranger in the country, offered to escort him a few miles on
+his road, for ‘security.’ According to his story of the occurrence, he
+could not at all comprehend the meaning of their expression; for the
+fact of finding himself completely at the mercy of six men, any one of
+whom might, could, or would in an instant have deprived him of life,
+gave him very different ideas as to the meaning of the word. In thanking
+them for their offer he elicited their interpretation of the phrase, and
+was not a little amused and comforted by their assurance that the
+proffered security consisted in delivering him safely into the hands of
+the very party with whom they were waging deadly warfare. ‘_Incidit in
+Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim_,’ thought my friend; but having no
+alternative he accepted their offer, and, after partaking of an
+excellent breakfast with them, they all proceeded onwards. For three
+hours they continued their slow and cautious march through defiles to
+which he was a perfect stranger; and while in conversation with them on
+matters totally unconnected with the dangers of the place, they made a
+sudden and simultaneous halt. Closing in together, a whispering
+conference ensued among them, and as my friend was excluded from it, he
+began to suspect he had been ensnared by the offer of escort, and that
+the fatal moment had arrived when he was to fall their dupe and victim.
+His suspicions were increased by seeing one of the party ride forward,
+and leave his companions in still closer confabulation; but the
+suspense, though painful, was short, for in a few minutes the envoy
+returned, and an explanation of their mysterious halt and secrecy took
+place. It appeared that the keen eyes and ears of his friends had
+perceived their foes, who were concealed in the adjoining wood, and
+that, having halted, one of them had gone as ambassador with a flag of
+truce and negotiated an armistice for his safe escort. My friend parted
+from his first guard of banditti with all their blessings on his head,
+and having traversed a space of neutral ground, was received by the
+second with no less kindness, and treated with no less honourable
+protection. They accompanied him till he was safely out of their
+district, assuring him that his accidental arrival and demand on their
+mutual honour and hospitality did not at all interfere with their
+dispute and revenge; and that if they were to meet each other the day
+after they had discharged the duty of safely escorting him, they would
+not be deterred by what had happened from instantaneously shedding each
+others' blood.
+
+“This scene,” adds Mr. Warre Tyndale[46], “took place in the forest of
+Cinque-Denti, or ‘five-teeth,’ a tract of several miles in extent, said
+to contain upwards of 100,000,000 trees and shrubs, principally oak,
+ilex, and cork, with an underwood of arbutus and lentiscus; and such is
+the thickness of the foliage, that the sunbeams and the foot of man are
+said never to have entered many parts of it.”
+
+Another instance of the honourable feeling and forbearance hospitably
+shown by the Sarde mountaineer outlaws, under circumstances of great
+temptation to plunder, was related to me by a friend long resident in
+the island, as having occurred in his own experience.
+
+Not many years ago, he was passing through the wild district in the
+defiles of which we have just described ourselves as being engaged. My
+friend had a considerable sum of money in his possession, more, he
+remarked, than he should have liked to lose. “_Cantabit vacuus coram
+latrone viator_”—“A traveller who meets robbers with his purse empty may
+hope to escape scot free.” That was not my friend's case when he fell in
+with a party of outlaws armed to the teeth. The rencontre was not very
+pleasant, but putting the best face on it, he replied to their inquiries
+“whither he was bent,” that he was in search of _them_; knowing that
+they were in the neighbourhood, and would give him shelter, as night was
+approaching, and on the morrow put him on his way, which he had lost.
+This appeal to their best feelings had the desired effect. Pleased with
+my friend's assurance of the confidence he placed in them, the outlaws
+conducted him to their place of refuge, treated him with the best they
+had, and, next morning, escorted him to the high-road, where they parted
+from him with good wishes for the prosecution of his journey. “These men
+must have known,” said my friend, “from the weight of my valise, which
+they handled, that I had a large sum of money with me. It was no less
+than 600_l._” The weight of such an amount of _scudi_ could not have
+escaped their notice.
+
+Pages might be filled with tales of the secret assassinations and
+wholesale butcheries perpetrated, at no very distant period, by the
+_malviventi_ who swarmed in the woods and mountains of Sardinia; of
+deadly feuds in which families, and sometimes whole villages, were
+involved with an implacable thirst for revenge; of places sacked, and of
+travellers murdered and plundered in lone defiles. Some instances of a
+generous sympathy for adversaries in distress, and more of a gallantry
+displayed by some of the bandits which would have graced a better cause,
+might serve to relieve the dark shades of these pictures. But enough of
+this kind has found a place in our chapters on Corsica. I prefer
+relating a story which may leave on the mind pleasing recollections of
+the Robin Hoods of the Sardinian wilds. My friend, lately mentioned, who
+is universally esteemed and respected by all classes of the Sardes
+throughout the island, has been thrown by circumstances into
+communication with the better sort of outlaws, and occasionally been the
+medium of communication between them and the Sardinian authorities, to
+their mutual advantage. He has thus acquired considerable influence over
+those unhappy men, enjoying their full confidence, without which the
+circumstances I am about to relate could not have occurred.
+
+It appeared that, not very long since, my friend had kindly undertaken
+to conduct an English party from La Madelena to Tempio, the same route
+on which we are now engaged. The party consisted of an officer and his
+lady, and I believe some others. The lady was fond of sketching;
+attractive subjects, we know, are not wanting, and the indulgence of her
+taste caused frequent delays on the road, notwithstanding my friend's
+repeated warnings of the ill repute in which that district was held in
+consequence of its proximity to the haunts of the banditti. Of all
+things the tourists would have rejoiced to have seen a real bandit, but,
+probably, under any other circumstances than in a wild pass of the
+Gallura mountains. So when the shades of night were closing in, as they
+do very soon after sunset in southern latitudes, and the party became
+apprehensive that they should be benighted in those dreary solitudes,
+there was considerable alarm:—what was to be done?
+
+My friend, having politely suggested that he had not been remiss in
+pointing out the consequences of delay, replied that they must make for
+shelter in some _stazza_, which they might possibly reach. Accordingly
+he led the way by a rough track through dusky thickets, and after
+pursuing it for some time, great was the joy of his companions at
+discovering a house, where they were received with great hospitality,
+and the promise of all the comforts a mountain farm could offer.
+
+The ladies had thrown aside their travelling equipments, the table was
+spread, and, congratulating themselves on having found such an asylum,
+the party sat down to supper, in all the hilarity which their escape
+from the perils and inconveniences of a night spent in the forest was
+calculated to promote. The occurrence was regarded as one of those
+unexpected adventures which give a zest to rough travelling.
+
+While, however, their gaiety was at the highest, it was interrupted by
+loud knocking at the house door, and hoarse voices were heard without,
+demanding immediate admittance. A short consultation took place between
+my friend and their host, who agreed that no resistance could be
+offered, that the door should be opened, and they must all submit to
+their fate. Then the banditti rushed in with fierce gestures; truculent
+men, with shaggy hair and beards, wrapped in dark _capotes_, with long
+guns in their hands, and daggers in their belts and bosoms. “Spare our
+lives, and take our money, and all that we have,” was the cry of some of
+the travellers. Nor were the bandits slow in falling upon the _sacs_ and
+_malles_, and beginning to rummage their contents, without, however,
+offering the slightest molestation to any of the party, who stood aghast
+witnessing their movements.
+
+So far from it, suddenly, as if by a concerted signal, the outlaws,
+relinquishing their booty, throw off their dark mantles, disclosing all
+the bravery of the picturesque costume of Gallurese mountaineers, and
+grouping themselves round the table, leaned on the slender barrels of
+their fusils with a proud expression of countenance which seemed to
+say:—“We are outlaws, indeed; but we hold sacred the laws of hospitality
+and honour.”
+
+The travellers found that they were safe, and, recovering from their
+panic, finished their supper with renewed gaiety. The outlaws withdrew,
+but shortly returning, some of them accompanied by their wives and
+children _en habits de fête_, the evening was spent in the exhibition of
+national dances, with songs and merriment.
+
+This formed the concluding scene in the little drama which my informant
+had got up for the gratification of his friends. Travellers might
+naturally wish to see specimens of a race so unique and so celebrated as
+the Corsican and Sardinian bandits, if they could do so with impunity,
+just as they would a lion or a tiger uncaged and in his native woods,
+from a safe point of view. My informant was able to gratify his friends
+at the expense of a temporary fright. Perhaps they might have been
+better pleased if the “_Deus ex machinâ_” had not appeared to disclose
+the plot, and they had been suffered to consider the happy _dénouement_
+as the natural result of the outlaws' magnanimity. Such, by all
+accounts, it might have been.
+
+But I can assure my readers that it requires a stout heart, and a strong
+faith in what one has heard of the redeeming qualities in the outlaws'
+character, to meet them in the open field without shuddering. It was in
+the dusk of early morning, that, soon after leaving a village on the
+borders of the Campidano, where we had passed the night, we suddenly
+fell in with a party of ten or twelve of these men, who crossed our
+track making for the hills. They were mounted on small-sized horses,
+stepping lightly under the great weight they carried; for the bandits
+were stalwart men, and heavily accoutred. Their guns were, variously,
+slung behind them, held upright on the thigh, or carried across the
+saddle-bows; short daggers were stuck in each belt, and a longer one
+hung by the side; a large powder-horn was suspended under the arm.
+Saddles _en pique_, with sheepskin housings, and leathern pouches
+attached on both sides, supplying the place of knapsack and haversack,
+completed the equipment. The “cabbanu,” a cloak of coarse brown cloth,
+hung negligently from the shoulders, and underneath appeared the
+tight-fitting pelisse or vest of leather; and the loose white linen
+drawers, which give the Sardes a Moorish appearance, were gathered below
+the knee underneath a long black gaiter tightly buckled.
+
+Already familiar with the garb and equipments of a Sarde mountaineer,
+these details were caught at a glance. The gaze was riveted on the
+features of these desperate men,—the keen black eyes flashing from their
+swarthy countenances, to which a profusion of hair, falling on the
+shoulders from beneath the dark _berette_, gave, with their bushy
+beards, a ferocious aspect;—and, above all, the resolute but melancholy
+cast of features which expressed so well their lot of daring—and
+despair.
+
+Whether the party was bent on a plundering raid, or returning from some
+terrible act of midnight murder, there was nothing to indicate; but the
+impression was that they were the men “to do or die” in whatever
+enterprise they were engaged. The party kept well together, riding in
+single file with almost military precision. Their pace was steady, with
+no appearance of haste, though they must probably have been aware that
+some carabineers were stationed in the place hard by, which we had just
+left. It was a startling apparition,—these “children of the
+mist”—sweeping by us in grim cavalcade over a wild heath, in the cold
+grey dawn of a November day, every hand stained with blood, every bosom
+steeled to vengeance. They took no notice of us, though we passed them
+closely, not even exchanging salutations with our _cavallante_. We gazed
+on them till they were out of sight.
+
+No such thoughts as those suggested by the occurrences just related
+occupied our minds while we ascended the defile which penetrates the
+mountain chain intervening between Tempio and the valleys terminating on
+the coast. The savage character and the traditions of the locality might
+have inspired them, but we were under the protection of the courier, a
+privileged person—probably for good reasons,—and, besides this, as I
+have already said, under no sort of personal apprehension. Our attention
+was divided between the stern magnificence of the gorge, the more
+striking from its being now half veiled in darkness, and the
+difficulties of the ascent which, as usual, increased step by step,
+until, at last, winding stairs cut in the rock surmounted the highest
+cliffs and landed us at the summit of the pass.
+
+On emerging from the gloomy defile, there was a total change of scene.
+We found ourselves on open downs, apparently of great extent, with a
+flood of light shed over them by a bright moon, and two brilliant
+planets in the south-west, pointing like beacon lights to the position
+of Tempio. An easy descent of the sloping downs brought us to the level
+of a vast elevated plateau, extending, with slight undulations, and
+broken by only one rocky ridge, to the vicinity of the town. When at the
+summit of the pass, we had still eight or ten miles to accomplish. Late
+as it was, the ride would have been highly enjoyable, in that pure
+atmosphere, with the vault of heaven blazing overhead, and the stillness
+of the night broken only by our horses' hoofs, but for the weariness of
+the poor beasts after a long day's journey and the toilsome ascent of a
+mountain pass, and the ruggedness of the tracks along which we had to
+pick our way.
+
+Welcome, therefore, were the lights of Agius, Luras, and Nuches,
+villages standing some little way out of the road, at from two to three
+miles' distance from Tempio. These places, Agius in particular, were
+formerly notorious for robbery and vendetta, notwithstanding which the
+population, which is chiefly pastoral, has always maintained a high
+character for kindness, hospitality, industry, and temperance.
+
+Our path lay now through very narrow lanes, dividing vineyards and
+gardens, extending all the way to Tempio. The replies of the courier to
+our inquiries after a hotel had left a complete blank in our prospects
+of bed, board, and lodging at the end of our journey. For travellers,
+such as ourselves, there was no accommodation. Tempio was rarely visited
+by strangers. This looked serious, after a mountain ride of nearly
+thirty miles, and between nine and ten o'clock at night;—what was to be
+done? We had letters of introduction to persons of the highest
+distinction in the place, but they hardly warranted our intruding
+ourselves on them, hungry, travel-stained, and houseless, at that late
+hour. The case, however, being desperate we decided, at last, on
+presenting ourselves to the Commandant of the garrison, as the most
+likely person to give or procure us quarters.
+
+The horses' feet clattered sharply on the _pavé_ in the stillness of the
+narrow deserted streets; and the huge granito-built houses overhanging
+them, gloomy at all hours, appeared doubly inhospitable now that all
+lights were extinguished, the doors closed, and none ready to be opened
+at the call of weary travellers. Thus we traversed the whole city, the
+Commandant's mansion lying at the furthest extremity. Our tramp roused
+to attention a drowsy sentry at the gate; there were lights _à la
+prima_—the family then had not retired for the night. The strange
+arrival is announced, and our _viandante_ makes no scruple of depositing
+our baggage in the hall. The Commandant receives us with politeness,
+regrets that he is so straitened in his quarters that he cannot offer us
+beds, and sends an orderly who procures us a lodging, meanwhile giving
+us coffee. Attended by two soldiers, carrying our baggage, we retrace
+our steps to the centre of the town, and take possession of very sorry
+apartments, the best portion of a gaunt filthy house. We are installed
+by the mistress, a shrewish person, who, making pretensions to
+gentility, receives her guests under protest that she does not keep a
+hotel, but is willing to accommodate strangers,—a phrase repeated a
+hundred times while we were under her roof, and emphatically when
+presenting a rather unconscionable bill on our departure. And this was
+the only refuge in a city of from six to eight thousand inhabitants,
+many of them boasting nobility, the capital of a province, the seat of a
+governor and a bishop, and head-quarters of a military district. I may
+be pardoned for being circumstantial in details giving an idea of what
+travelling in Sardinia is. Things are much the same throughout the
+island. The tourist who sets foot on it must be steeled against
+brigands, vermin, _intempérie_, and indifferent fare. “_Per aspera
+tendens_” would be his suitable motto. He must be prepared to rough it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXVIII.
+
+  _Tempio.—The Town and Environs.—The Limbara
+    Mountains.—Vineyards.—The Governor or Intendente of the
+    Province.—Deadly Feuds.—Sarde Girls at the Fountains.—Hunting
+    in Sardinia.—Singular Conference with the Tempiese
+    Hunters.—Society at the Casino.—Description of a Boar Hunt._
+
+
+Unpropitious as first appearances were, we found no want of real
+hospitality and kindness among the Tempiese, and I have seldom spent a
+few days more pleasantly in a provincial town. Daylight, indeed, failed
+to improve the internal aspect of the place, but rather disclosed the
+filth of the narrow streets, without entirely dissipating the gloom shed
+upon them from the dusky granite of which the buildings are constructed,
+and the heavy wooden balconies protruding over the thoroughfares. The
+houses have, however, a substantial air, some of them are stuccoed, and
+Tempio can even boast its palaces of an ancient nobility, with coats of
+arms sculptured in white marble over the entrances. It possesses not
+less than thirteen churches, of which the collegiate and cathedral
+church of St. Peter is the only one worth notice,—a large and lofty
+building of a mixture of styles, with some tawdry ornaments, but a
+handsome high altar and well carved oak stalls in the choir. The
+foundation consists of a dean and twelve canons, with eighteen other
+inferior clergy. Since 1839 it has ranked as a cathedral, Tempio having
+been erected into a see united with those of Cività and Ampurias, and
+the bishop residing here six months of the year. There is a massive old
+nunnery, now, I believe, suppressed, in the centre of the place, and
+outside the town a reformatory for the confinement of criminals
+sentenced to secondary punishment, a large building with a handsome
+elevation.
+
+A finer position for a large city, of greater importance than Tempio,
+can scarcely be imagined. Placed on a gentle swell of the wide
+undulating plain already mentioned—the Gemini plain,—a plateau of nearly
+2000 feet above the level of the sea, it stands midway between two grand
+mountain ranges, the Limbara stretching the bold outlines of its massive
+forms in a course south of the town, its summit rising to 4396 feet;
+and, to the north-east, a chain not quite so elevated, but of an equally
+wild and irregular formation, and presenting to the eye, when viewed
+from Tempio, even a more rugged and serrated ridge. The defiles of this
+chain we passed in approaching Tempio; those of the Limbara were to be
+penetrated in our progress southward.
+
+Its high situation and exposure render Tempio healthy, and it is even
+said to be cold in winter, of which we found no symptoms in the month of
+November, when Limbara is supposed to assume its diadem of snow,
+retaining it till April.
+
+    [Illustration: THE LIMBARA, FROM TEMPIO.]
+
+I hardly recollect anything finer of its kind than the panoramic view of
+the country between Tempio and the mountains on either side, as seen
+from its terraces. It combined great breadth, striking contrasts, and a
+most harmonious blending of colour. For a wide circuit round the town,
+gardens, orchards, vineyards, and a variety of small inclosures,
+occupying the slopes and hollows of the undulating surface, and well
+massed, give an idea of fertility one should not expect at this
+elevation. Here and there, a single round-topped pine, or a group of
+such pines, crowns a knoll, and breaks the flowing outlines. The open
+pastoral country beyond is linked to this cultivated zone by detached
+masses of copse and woods of cork and ilex, extending to the base of the
+mountains.
+
+The Tempiese are a hardy and industrious people, exhibiting their spirit
+of activity in the careful cultivation about the town and the
+occupations of vast numbers of the population as shepherds,
+_cavallanti_, or _viandanti_. The dull town also shows some signs of
+life by a considerable trade in the country produce of cheese, fruits,
+hams, bacon, &c. They manufacture here the best guns in Sardinia, and
+know how to use them; being capital sportsmen, _cacciatori_, as well as
+formidable enemies in the vindictive feuds for which they have been
+celebrated, and not yet entirely extinct. A short time ago, two factions
+fought in the streets, and, though the bloody strife was quelled, they
+are said still to eye each other askance. Returning one night from the
+Casino, in company of the Commandant, he stopped on the piazza in front
+of the cathedral and related to us the circumstances of an assassination
+perpetrated a short time before on the very steps of the church.
+
+The office of viceroy of Sardinia having been abolished, each of the
+eleven provinces into which the island is divided, the principal being
+Cagliari, Oristano, Sassari, and Tempio including the whole of Gallura,
+is administered by an _Intendente_, who communicates directly with the
+Ministers at Turin. The military districts correspond with the civil
+divisions of the island. We found two companies of the line, and a squad
+of _carabinieri_, mounted gendarmes, stationed at Tempio. Sardinia
+returns twenty-four members to the national parliament at Turin. The
+ecclesiastical jurisdiction is administered by three archbishops,
+filling the sees of Cagliari, Sassari, and Oristano, and eight bishops,
+seated in the other principal cities.
+
+High official appointments at Tempio are not very enviable posts;
+governors and commandants not being exempt from the summary vengeance,
+for real or supposed wrongs, at which the Sardes are so apt. The
+Commandant told us that his immediate predecessor had received one of
+the death-warnings which precede the fatal stroke: I believe he was soon
+afterwards removed. For himself, his successor said, he took no
+precautions, did his duty, and braved the consequences. A few years
+before, the Governor, having compromised himself by acts of injustice,
+was assassinated, after receiving one of these “death-warnings” peculiar
+to Sardinia. “During the night he heard a pane of glass crack, and on
+examining it in the morning he found the fatal bullet on the floor. The
+custom of the country is that, whenever the _vendetta alla morte_,
+revenge even to death, is to be carried out, the party avenging himself
+shall give his adversary timely notice by throwing a bullet into his
+window, in order that he may either make immediate compensation for the
+injury or prepare himself for death. The Governor for some time used
+every caution as to when and where he went, but at length disregarded
+the warning, imagining he was safe. The assassin, however, had watched
+him with an eagle's eye, and he fell in a moment he least expected.
+Report further says,” observes Mr. Tyndale, in whose words we relate the
+occurrence, “that he is not the only Governor of Gallura to whom this
+summary mode of obtaining justice, or inflicting vengeance, has been
+intimated.”
+
+The present Intendente of Tempio, the Marchese Clavarino, though he only
+entered on his office in the month of April before our visit, had
+already done much by his firm and enlightened administration to restore
+order and confidence. He had been able to collect the arrears of taxes,
+and, by impartial justice between all factions, had removed every
+pretence for a resort to deeds of violence for the redress of injuries.
+
+“The Governor's palace, establishment, and retinue,” observes Mr.
+Tyndale, “consist of three rooms on a second story, a female servant,
+and a sentry at the door.” Things were little changed in 1853, but, in
+the absence of all state, we were impressed on our first visit of
+ceremony that the government of a turbulent province could not have been
+intrusted to better hands. In the antechamber we found a priest waiting,
+as it struck me from his deportment, to prefer his suit with “bated
+breath,” and the feeling that the wings of the priesthood are now
+clipped in the Sardinian states. The Marquis conversed with frankness on
+his own position and the state of the island. He had been in London at
+the time of the “Great Exhibition,” and his views of the English
+alliance, and of politics generally, were just such as might be expected
+from an enlightened Sardinian. A worthy coadjutor to such statesmen as
+D'Azeglio and Cavour, I would venture to predict that the Intendente of
+Tempio will ere long be called to fill a higher post.
+
+Our rambles in the environs of Tempio were very pleasant. It was the
+season of the vintage, late here; and great numbers of the people were
+busily employed in the vineyards and the “lodges”[47] attached to them.
+Observing smoke issuing from most of these, we learned, in answer to our
+inquiries, that a portion of boiled lees is added in the manufacture of
+wine, to insure its keeping, the grapes not sufficiently ripening in
+consequence of the coldness of the climate. We found no such fault with
+those we tasted. A very considerable extent of surface is planted with
+vines, divided, however, into small vineyards. At the entrance of each
+stands an arched gateway, generally a solid structure of granite, with
+more or less architectural pretensions, and a date and initials carved
+in stone, commemorative, no doubt, of the planting of so cherished a
+family inheritance. One of these is represented in the foreground of the
+accompanying plate.
+
+There are several fountains in the neighbourhood of Tempio, the waters
+of which are deliciously cool and pure. One of them, on the road beyond
+the Commandant's house, gushes out of the rock, under shade of some fine
+Babylonian willows. Sheltered by these in the heat of noon, and in still
+greater numbers at eventide, one saw the damsels of Tempio resort with
+their pitchers, as in ancient times Abraham's steward, in his journey to
+Mesopotamia, stood at the well of Nahor, when the daughters of the men
+of the city came out with their pitchers[48]; as Saul, passing through
+Mount Ephraim and ascending the hill of Zuph, met the maidens going out
+to draw water[49]; or as the spies of Ulysses fell in with the daughter
+of Antiphates at the well of Artacia.[50] Sardinia abounds with such
+mementos of primitive times.
+
+The Tempiese women have the singular habit of raising the hinder part of
+the upper petticoat, the _suncurinu_, when they go abroad, and bringing
+it over the head and shoulders, so as to form a sort of hood. So far
+from this fashion giving them, as might be supposed, a _dowdy_
+appearance, it is not inelegant when the garment is gracefully arranged.
+It has generally broad stripes, and is often of silk or a fine material.
+The under-petticoat, of cloth, is either of a bright colour, or dark
+with a bright-coloured border. Both of them are worn very full. The
+jacket is of scarlet, blue, or green velvet, fitting very tightly to tho
+figure, the edges having a border of a different colour, and sometimes
+brocaded. The simple head-dress consists of a gaily-coloured kerchief
+wound round the head, and tied in knots before and behind.
+
+We expected to get some shooting in the woods at the foot of the
+Limbara, as they abound with wild hogs, _cingale_, and deer, _capreoli_,
+a sort of roebuck. Our letters of introduction to some gentlemen of
+Tempio failed of assisting us. They were from home, probably engaged in
+the vintage. But the Sardes of all ranks are determined sportsmen,
+_cacciatori_, and we did not despair, though hunting excursions in the
+island require, as we shall find, a certain organisation. In our dilemma
+we made the acquaintance—of all people in the world—of a little barber,
+who appeared deeply versed in the politics of the place, and undertook
+to arrange the desired _chasse_ with the Tempiese hunters. We were to
+meet him the same evening, at a low _caffè_, where he was to introduce
+us to the leaders of the band. A singular conference it was, that
+meeting of ourselves, men of the north, with the wild _chasseurs_ of the
+Gallura, between whom there was nothing in common but enthusiastic love
+of the field and the mountain.
+
+The low vault of the _Caffè de la Costituzione_ was lighted by a single
+lamp, by whose glimmerings we dimly discerned, amidst wreaths of
+tobacco-smoke, the grim features of the men with whom we had to do. They
+were honest enough, no doubt, according to Sarde notions of honour, and
+received us with great cordiality; but the consultation between
+themselves was carried on in a patois quite unintelligible, except that
+we gathered that there were some difficulties in the way.
+
+_La caccia di cingale_, a boar-hunt in Sardinia, requires a number of
+hunters, besides those who beat the woods to rouse the game; and,
+whether there were any feuds to be stifled, any jealousies to be
+allayed, which, with armed men in that state of society, might endanger
+the peace, the difficulties appeared serious. Whatever they were, our
+_Barbière di Seviglia_, who, to use a familiar phrase, seemed up to
+everything, and conducted the treaty on our part, did not think proper
+to disclose them. One thing, however, we soon learned, that the services
+of these men were not to be hired; their ruling passion for the chase
+and the national principle of hospitality were incentives enough to the
+proposed expedition. We were also informed that there were other parties
+to be consulted, and the meeting was adjourned to the following day.
+
+Very different was the scene at the Casino to which we were introduced
+by the Commandant shortly after our consultation with the hunters. At
+the Casino there is a _réunion_ of the best society in Tempio every
+evening. We found good rooms, well lighted, with coffee and refreshments
+nicely served. There were newspapers, and a small collection of
+books,—the standard works of Italian writers, with some French. The
+society was unexpectedly good for such a place as Tempio, consisting,
+besides the officers of the garrison, of many of the resident nobles and
+gentry. We spent some pleasant hours there, finding among the members
+well-informed and intelligent persons. Politics were freely discussed,
+liberal opinions prevailing even to the degree of such ultra-liberalism
+as might have better suited the class of persons we met at the _Caffè de
+la Costituzione_, if politics are discussed there also. No doubt they
+are, the Tempiese, like the rest of the islanders, being a shrewd race,
+devotedly patriotic, and jealous of their independence.
+
+We could not, as already hinted, reckon Madame Rosalie's _ménage_ among
+the pleasant things that reconciled us to a longer stay than we intended
+in the rude capital of Gallura; but, at least, she supplied us in her
+own person with a fund of amusement. My companion, who had the happy
+gift for a traveller of being almost omnivorous, used to laugh heartily
+at my vain attempts to extract something edible from the meagre _carte_
+offered by Madame. Her replies parrying my demands, and uttered with
+amazing volubility, in shrill tones and a patois almost unintelligible,
+invariably ended to this effect:—“Signore, my house is not a locanda,
+though I have opened my doors to accommodate you.” It was a species of
+hospitality that cost us dear. Madame's airs of gentility, though very
+amusing, were of course treated with due respect. But what gave zest to
+my friend's mirth, and, with the hopeless prospect of dinner, produced
+in me a slight irritation, sometimes, perhaps, ill concealed, was Madame
+Rosalie's evolutions on these occasions. I fancy, now, that I see her
+slight figure skipping into the room, dancing a jig round the table,
+never at rest, screeching all the while at the highest pitch of her
+voice, with every limb in motion, as if she had St. Vitus's dance, or,
+as they say, went on wires. I can only compare the play of her limbs to
+that of one of those children's puppets of which all the limbs—head,
+legs, and arms—are set in motion by pulling a string.
+
+Nothing detained us at Tempio but the proposed boar-hunt. We attended a
+second meeting of the principal hunters, committing ourselves
+unreservedly to their disposal, and, after some further consultation,
+among themselves, our little barber had the glory of bringing the
+negotiations to a successful issue. All the difficulties, whatever they
+were, had been removed, and it was settled that the affair should come
+off on the morrow.
+
+Accordingly, at an early hour, there was an unusual stir in the dull
+streets of Tempio, snapping of guns, trampling of horses, and barking of
+dogs. On our joining the party at the rendezvous in front of the
+_caffè_, we found some twenty horsemen, carrying guns,—rough and ready
+fellows, looking as if a dash into the forest, whether against hogs or
+gendarmes, would equally suit them. We were followed by a rabble on
+foot, attended by dogs of a variety of species, some of them strong and
+fierce. After winding through the narrow lanes among the vineyards, our
+cavalcade was joined by one of the gentlemen on whom we had called with
+a letter of introduction, and his son, who mixed freely with our rank
+and file. There is a happy fellowship in field sports which, to a great
+degree, levels for the time distinctions of rank; and this we found
+particularly in Sardinia, where all classes are so devoted to these
+sports, and they are of a character requiring extended and rather
+promiscuous operations.
+
+Our irregular cavalry shaped their march in broken order towards a spur
+of the mountains, covered with dense thickets, at the foot of the Punta
+Balestiere, the highest point of the Limbara. After clearing the
+inclosures our track led us over the wide undulating plain already
+described, interspersed with scattered thickets, but with few signs of
+cultivation. On approaching the mountains there were indications giving
+promise of sport in patches of soil grubbed up by the wild hogs in
+search for the root of the Asphodel, which they greedily devour. This
+handsome plant springs from a bunch of long fibrous bulbs, something
+like the Dahlia, throwing up straight stems two or three feet high, with
+numerous angular filiformed leaves and yellow flowers.[51] It grows
+freely on all the wastes throughout the island. The root contains so
+large a portion of saccharine matter, and is so plentiful, that while we
+were in Sardinia a Frenchman was forming a company for distilling
+alcohol from it on an extensive scale. A distillery was to be
+established at Sassari, with moveable stills throughout the island,
+wherever the bulbs could be most easily procured. The projector gave us
+a sample-bottle of the alcohol, a strong and purely tasteless spirit. I
+heard afterwards that the speculation did not succeed. There is fine
+feeding for the wild hogs, in season, on the acorns of the vast cork and
+other oak woods in the interior of the island, where we afterwards
+hunted them. They commit great ravages in the cultivated grounds. One
+was shot in the vineyards skirting the town during our stay at Tempio.
+
+Approaching the mountains we threw off our attendants on foot, with
+their mongrel pack, whose business it was to scale the wooded ridge from
+behind, and beat the thickets for the game. The rest of our party soon
+afterwards struck up a valley parallel with the ridge, and facing the
+mountain side, which rose above it a vast amphitheatre of hanging woods,
+shelving and precipitous cliffs, rocks and pinnacles,—so glorious a
+spectacle that it riveted my attention, and almost drew it off from the
+work before us. But now our leaders proceeded to “tell off” the party,
+stationing them singly at distances of about seventy or eighty paces
+along the bottom of the valley, within gunshot of the verge of the wood,
+which sloped to it. In this open order the line extended more than half
+a mile. The horses were tethered in the rear.
+
+It was my lot to be posted near the extreme right on a detached rock,
+slightly elevated, so as to command the ground. I could just distinguish
+my neighbours on either hand, “low down in the broom,” the valley being
+rather thickly covered with brakes of underwood. The instructions for my
+noviciate in boar-hunting were,—not to quit my post, and to maintain
+strict silence; injunctions not likely to be disregarded, as a breach of
+the former might have exposed me to be winged, in mistake for a pig
+among the rustling bushes, considering that there were dead shots on
+either flank, with two or three balls in their barrels. As to the other
+word of order, silence, the injunction was needless, for the ear of my
+nearest neighbour could only have been reached by shouts which might
+scare the game, and prevent their breaking cover, and that I was not
+quite novice enough to risk.
+
+So I sat down on the rock, with my gun across my knees, watching the
+play of light and shade on the mountain sides as the clouds flitted
+round them. But this did not last long, for the line of _vedettes_ could
+have been scarcely formed when the shouts of the party who had now
+gained the heights, and were beating the woods in face of our position,
+summoned the hunters in the valley beneath to be on the alert. The
+interval of suspense and silence being now broken, the scene became very
+exciting. The dogs in the wood gave tongue, and the short and snapping
+bark was shortly followed by a full burst, which told that the game was
+on foot. Then, no doubt, every gun was at full cock, every eye intently
+watching the avenues in the thickets through which boar or deer, driven
+from the woods, might cross the valley. The shouts and cries sounded
+nearer and nearer, till at length a shot from the extreme left announced
+that some game had been marked as it broke cover. A dropping fire now
+extended at intervals along the line, as cingale or capreole burst from
+the thickets. Several fell to the guns of the party, some escaped;
+others, wounded, were pursued by the dogs to the rear of the position,
+with a rush of some of the hunters on their trail.
+
+The thickets having been completely swept, the line was now broken, and
+the party remounting their horses bore their trophies to a woody glen,
+where we dined, the spot chosen being the grassy bank of a little
+rivulet. Arms were piled; some gathered wood and lighted fires, others
+fetched water from the brook, and the more handy opened the baskets of
+provisions we had brought from Tempio and spread them on the grass. A
+wild boar was cut open, and, in Homeric style, the choicest portions of
+the intestines were torn out, and, broiled on wooden skewers, offered to
+the hunting-knives of the guests. The wine cup went round, and the
+hunters' feast was seasoned with rude merriment.
+
+“When they had eaten and drank enough,”[52] the party mounted their
+horses and returned to Tempio, carrying the game across their
+saddle-bows. The cavalcade was as joyous as the feast. Jumping from
+their horses when they got among the vineyards, some dashed over the
+fences and brought away large bunches of grapes. And so we entered the
+city in triumph. In the course of the evening the skin of the finest
+wild boar was sent to our quarters as a trophy of our share in the work
+of the day, with a joint of the meat. Madame Rosalie's _cuisine_ failed
+to do it justice; but, when well cooked, wild boar is excellent eating.
+This mode of hunting, generally practised by the Sardes, resembles the
+_battue_ of wolves and leopards at which I have assisted in South
+Africa, where the Boers, assembling in numbers, make an onslaught on the
+ravagers of their flocks; having the dens and thickets driven, and
+stationing themselves on the outskirts with their long roers to shoot
+down the vermin as they issue forth. Such meetings are jovial, and the
+sport is exciting, but not to be compared, I think, to deer-stalking or
+fox-hunting, to say nothing of a foray against lions and tigers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXIX.
+
+  _Leave Tempio.—Sunrise.—Light Wreaths of Mist across the
+    Valley.—A Pass of the Limbara.—View from the Summit.—Dense
+    Vapour over the Plain beneath.—The Lowlands unhealthy.—The
+    deadly Intempérie.—It recently carried off an English
+    Traveller.—Descend a romantic Glen to the Level of the
+    Campidano.—Its peculiar Character.—Gallop over it.—Reach
+    Ozieri._
+
+
+I have reason to believe from information received during a recent visit
+to Sardinia that the insecurity which, to some extent, prevailed when we
+were in the island in 1853, had considerably lessened. But while at
+Tempio in that year we learnt by an official communication from Cagliari
+that some of the central mountain districts, through which we proposed
+to pass on a shooting excursion, were in a disturbed state and must be
+approached with caution. In consequence, the _Lascia portare arma_
+forwarded to us was accompanied by an open order from the Colonel
+commanding the royal Caribineers, addressed to all the stations, for our
+being furnished with an escort. So, also, on our visit of leave to the
+Intendente of Tempio he pressed us to allow him to send us forward under
+escort, though I did not learn that there had been any recent outrages
+in his own province. On our declining the offer, as at variance with our
+habits and feelings, the Intendente said, “I assure you that, here, the
+lowest government employé will not travel without an escort;”—and he
+again urged our accepting it, adding, “the Marchese d'Azeglio having put
+you under my especial protection, I am responsible for your safety, and
+wish to use every precaution, lest anything unpleasant should occur.” On
+our again respectfully declining the offer, the kind Intendente said,
+with a shrug, “Well, gentlemen, I have done my duty, and I hope that
+when you get to Turin you will so represent it.”
+
+Such precautions exhibit a singular state of society in the midst of
+European civilisation; I apprehend, however, that the Piedmontese
+officials, and the continentals in general, paint the Sardes in darker
+colours than they merit; and there is little good blood between them.
+
+Having no such prejudices, and entertaining no apprehensions, we
+started, as usual, having a honest viandante, with his saddle and
+pack-horses, for our only escort. The sun was just rising over the
+serrated ridge of the eastern mountains, when, emerging from the fetid
+shade of the narrow streets of Tempio, we came suddenly into his blessed
+light. The mountain sides still formed an indistinct mass of the richest
+purple hue, while, over the whole plain beneath, light mists rolled in
+fantastic waves, floating like a mysterious gauze-like veil, shreds of
+which touched by the sun's rays became brilliantly coloured, and others
+drifting through the scattered woods had the appearance of being combed
+out into long and fine-spun threads like the spiders'-webs which, gemmed
+with dew-drops, hung from spray to spray. It was a magnificent view, of
+great breadth, like one of Martin's mysterious pictures, and seen under
+the most splendid effects; but so transitory that after we crossed the
+first ridge all was changed. Meanwhile denser, but still light, wreaths
+close at hand mingled with the mists, as the blue smoke curled up from
+the vineyard sheds where the industrious Tempiese had already commenced
+their labours. The temperature was delicious, and rain had fallen in the
+night cooling the air and refreshing vegetation. Pleasanter than ever
+was our early ride through the pretty winding lanes dividing the
+vineyards and gardens skirting the town, and again, as we descended
+through deep banks among scattered woodlands to the open plains
+extending to the foot of the Limbara Mountains.
+
+A long but easy ascent led to the top of the pass, the ridge we mounted
+being thickly clothed with evergreen shrubbery, the arbutus
+predominating, profusely decked with fruit and flower. The summit of the
+pass opened to us a double view in strong contrast. Looking back, we
+once more saw through a gap the mountains of Corsica, in faint outlines,
+eighty miles distant, with a glimpse of a blue stripe of water, the
+Straits of Bonifacio. Turning southward, we stood at the summit of a
+long winding glen richly wooded with ilex and cork trees, and far away
+beneath there lay before us a broad plain partially covered with a sea
+of vapour, not like the gay wreaths of mist that lightly floated over
+the elevated plateau surrounding Tempio, but so still, so condensed, so
+white, as to have been easily mistaken for a frozen lake powdered with
+snow, and its hills for islands rising out of the water.[53]
+
+But such an image is unsuited to the climate of Sardinia at any season.
+Smiling as the landscape now appeared, its most striking feature was
+associated with the idea of death.
+
+That dense creamy vapour, formed by the pestiferous exhalations of the
+lowlands, is the death shroud of the plain outstretched beneath it.
+
+    [Illustration: DESCENT TO THE CAMPIDANO.]
+
+During the heats of summer, nay, sometimes from April till the latter
+end of November, the ravages of the deadly _intempérie_ extend
+throughout the island to such a degree that in Captain Smyth's list of
+nearly 350 towns and villages included in his “Statistical Table of
+Sardinia,” full a third are noted as insalubrious. The disorder has the
+same character as malaria, but is far more virulent. Captain Smyth thus
+describes the symptoms: “The patient is first attacked by a headache and
+painful tension of the epigastric region, with alternate sensations of
+heat and chilliness; a fever ensues, the exacerbations of which are
+extremely severe, and are followed by a mournful debility, more or less
+injurious even to those accustomed to it, but usually fatal to
+strangers.” We have conversed with natives and residents who have
+recovered from repeated attacks of _intempérie_; foreigners suffer most.
+“Instances have been related to me,” observes Captain Smyth, “of
+strangers landing for a few hours only from Italian coasters, who were
+almost immediately carried off by its virulence; indeed, the very
+breathing of the air by a foreigner at night, or in the cool of the
+evening, is considered as certain death in some parts.”[54]
+
+Not twelve months before our visit, an English officer was suddenly
+struck down and carried off while on a similar excursion in this part of
+the island. Sir Harry Darrell was one of the last men I should have
+thought liable to so fatal an attack. A few years ago, when returning
+from Caffreland just before the breaking out of the last war, I met him
+on the march to the frontier. I had off-saddled at noon, and while my
+horses were grazing, knee-haltered, on a slip of grass by the side of a
+running stream, was lying under the shade of a wild olive-tree, when the
+head-quarters' division of the —— Dragoon Guards passed along the road.
+Sir Harry and some other officers rode down into the meadow, and we
+talked of the state of Caffreland and of the principal chiefs, most of
+whom I had recently seen. I heard afterwards that he had got out
+fox-hounds and hunted the country about Fort Beaufort. He was a keen
+sportsman and clever artist. Some of his sketches in South Africa were
+published by Ackerman. His remains lie at Cagliari, where he was
+conveyed when struck by the _intempérie_, dying a few days after. A
+friend of mine, who was there at the time, informs me that Sir Harry's
+constitution had become debilitated, and he had rendered himself liable
+to the attack by exposure and over-fatigue. I mention the circumstance
+as a warning, but do not think there is much risk, with proper
+precautions, for men in good health, through most parts of the island,
+after the November rains have precipitated the miasma and purified the
+air. We ourselves slept in most pestiferous places, where the ravages of
+the disease were marked in the sallow countenances of the inhabitants,
+without experiencing the least inconvenience.
+
+We rested at the summit of the pass commanding the distant view of the
+Campidano, which led to these remarks on the insalubrity of the country
+and the scourge of the _intempérie_. They are not, however, confined to
+the plains, but of course are more prevalent where marshes, stagnant
+waters, and rank vegetation engender vapours rising in the summer.
+Leaving my companion to finish the sketch copied in a former page, I
+slowly trotted on with the _viandante_, and, the descent becoming
+rapid, proceeded leisurely down the wooded glen, a depth of shade in
+which the heat, as well as the picturesque character of the scenery,
+tempted to linger. Old cork and ilex trees, with their rugged bark and
+grey foliage, throwing out rectangular arms of stiff and fantastic
+growth, wild vines hanging from the branches in festoons of brilliant
+hues, other trees with tawny orange leaves,—I believe a species of
+ash,—some of a rich claret, and the never-failing arbutus, here quite a
+tree, with its orange and crimson berries, all these massed together
+formed admirable contrasts in shape and colour. And then there was the
+gentle brook, never roaring or boisterous, but purling among rocks
+dividing it into still pools, with giant ferns hanging over the stream
+and bunches of hassock-grass luxuriating in the alluvial soil of its
+little deltas, and, where the forest receded, a graceful growth of
+shrubbery feathering the winding banks.
+
+Some of the cork-trees were fine specimens, of great age. Several I
+measured in a rough way by embracing their trunks with extended arms.
+This, repeated four or five times, gave a circumference of twenty or
+twenty-five feet. The bark was ten inches thick. While so employed I was
+startled by a wild boar rushing by me into the thickets. The cork wood
+gradually thinned into scattered clumps on the slopes of the hills, and
+the winding valley, five or six miles long, was abruptly terminated by a
+bold mamelon, or green mound, covered with dwarf heath or turf; so shorn
+and smooth it appeared, probably from being pastured, in immediate
+contrast with the shaggy sides of the mountain glen. The horsetrack,
+avoiding this obstacle, led up the eastern acclivity of the glen, and
+the summit commanded the Campidano, now clear of fog, spread out before
+us, far as the eye could reach, in a broad level, broken only by some
+singular flat-topped hills in the foreground.
+
+Striking and novel as this landscape appeared at the first glance, I
+confess that, at the moment, my attention was most directed backward on
+the track I had just followed. It was now some hours since I parted from
+my fellow-traveller. I had often listened for his horse's steps in the
+deep glen, where there was no seeing many hundred yards backwards or
+forwards; and though the present elevation commanded some points in the
+track, he did not appear. I was getting fidgetty, and the guide's
+replies to my inquiries did not tend to reassure me, for there are
+“_malviventi_” as well as “_fuorusciti_” in the wilds—a well known
+distinction—when, just as we were on the point of returning back, after
+half an hour's additional suspense, I got a glimpse of my friend
+trotting out of the woods close under the point of view. He, too, had
+lingered in the romantic glen after finishing his sketch.
+
+We had now cleared the defiles of the Limbara, and, descending to the
+level of the plains, made up for lost time by galloping _ventre à terre_
+over the boundless waste. Here were no shady nooks, no forest masses, no
+fantastic growths, no grey crags, no bright-flowered thickets, so
+grouped as one might never see again, and tempting to linger. All the
+features were now on a broad scale; they were caught at a glance, and
+the few which broke the monotony of the scene were repeated again and
+again. But they were not without interest. The rivulet had expanded into
+a wide stream, making long bends through the deep loam of the grassy
+meads, and looking so cool and refreshing, that, but for the pebbly
+shoals in its bed, it was difficult to conceive the midsummer heats
+rendering these verdant plains desolate and pestilential.
+
+Along the banks of the river, and far away in every direction, were
+scattered herds of cattle, guarded by armed shepherds, wild bearded
+fellows in goatskin mantles and leather doublets, mostly on horseback.
+We meet such figures on the grassy track, looking fiercely as we sweep
+along; we see them at a distance on the edge of some of the gentle
+slopes in which the plain is rolled, when only the profile of the horse,
+the stalwart rider and his long gun, comes out clear against the sky.
+There is more life on the Campidano than in the mountains. Not that it
+is inhabited; there is scarcely a house on this whole plain, fifty or
+sixty miles in circumference. Not that there is much cultivation; here
+and there, at rare intervals, we see patches of a livelier green than
+the surrounding expanse of grass, and the young wheat just springing up,
+the strong blade and rich loamy furrow, remind us that Sardinia was
+reckoned in former times a granary of Rome. We see also the grey mounds
+of the Nuraghe scattered over the plain, some mouldering down to its
+level, a few still rearing their truncated cones, like solitary
+watch-towers, for which they have been mistaken. They, too, remind us of
+times long past, of a primitive age. But they are to be found in all
+parts of the island, and we shall fall in with them again, more at
+leisure to examine their structure and hazard a conjecture as to their
+origin. Now we gallop on over the level plain. The sward on the beaten
+track is close and elastic, and our cavallante's spirited barbs, spared
+in the glen during the noontide heat, spring as if they had never been
+broken to the _portante_ pace. The morning fog and the cadaverous
+features of the shepherds have warned us that the teeming Campidano is
+no place to linger in after nightfall. Their homes are in the villages
+scattered round the edge of the great plain; not much elevated, as the
+_paese_ in Corsica, but standing on gentle acclivities. We marked them
+at a distance. Already we have passed Sassu on our right and Oschiri on
+our left; they are poor places. Codriaghe and Codrongianus and Florinas
+stand at the extremity of the plain towards Sassari, and we shall see
+them on our road thither, if we ever get there. Ardara, once the capital
+of the province of Logudoro, founded as early as 1060, and having many
+historic traditions, crowns, with its massive towers rising above the
+ruined walls, a hillock on the plain right before us. It boasts also a
+fine church, enriched with curious objects of art; but the town has
+dwindled to a collection of hovels with a small population, few of whom,
+we are told, survive their fiftieth year, so destructive is the
+_intempérie_. We turn away: Ozieri stands invitingly on rather a bold
+eminence at the head of a gorge where the plain narrows towards the
+hills. The rays of the setting sun are full upon its houses and
+churches. It is a place of some importance, and lies in our proposed
+line through byroads to the forest districts of the interior. If our
+pace holds on we may reach it by an hour after sunset. Perhaps we shall
+find good cheer, the best preservative, I should imagine, against the
+miasma that produces _intempérie_.
+
+    [Illustration: THE PLAIN OF OZIERI.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXX.
+
+  _Effects of vast Levels as compared with Mountain
+    Scenery.—Sketches of Sardinian Geology.—The primitive Chains
+    and other Formations.—Traces of extensive Volcanic action.—The
+    “Campidani,” or Plains.—Mineral Products._
+
+
+Vast open plains, such as that described in the preceding chapter, form
+a singular feature in the physical aspect of the island of Sardinia.
+There are few travellers, I think, of much experience who, in traversing
+such tracts of country, have not been struck at one time by the
+desolation of their depths of solitude, or been pleased, at another, by
+the glimpses of nomade life, their occasional accompaniments; and who
+would not be willing to admit that, in their general impressions on the
+imagination, they sometimes rival even mountain scenery. For if grandeur
+be one main ingredient in the sublime, when an object such as a
+seemingly boundless level, or rolling plain, the extent of which the eye
+is unable to scan, lies before you, when, after long marches, it still
+appears interminable, the mind is perhaps more impressed with the idea
+of magnitude than by large masses, however enormous, with defined
+outlines presented to the view. In the former instance, the imagination
+is called into play and fills out the picture on a scale corresponding
+with the actual features, as far as they are subject to observation;
+but the imagination proverbially adopts an extravagant measure.
+
+One of my friend's sketches of Campidano scenery, introduced here,
+cleverly represents the effects produced by great distances on one of
+these rolling plains.
+
+    [Illustration: THE CAMPIDANO.]
+
+Perhaps the idea of illimitable extent is better conveyed by the
+lithographic sketch, No. 8, in which the level, not being interrupted by
+the intersection of a mountain ridge, as in the former, vanishes in
+distance. But the termination of the plain in the woodcut is only
+apparent as, winding round the base of the mountains, the level is still
+continued though lost to sight. It is not however intended to intimate
+that these Sardinian plains can at all vie with the great continental
+levels in various quarters of the globe, the immensity of which occurred
+to my mind, and some of them to my recollection, when remarking on the
+impressions such scenes produce on the traveller's sensations. The most
+extensive of the Sardinian Campidani is only fifty miles in length, and
+they are all of far less breadth. Their effect is therefore only
+comparative, but being proportioned to the scale of other surrounding
+objects, to the area of the insular surface, and the limited height and
+extent of the mountain ranges, they produce a proportionate effect; but
+that, as it has been already remarked, is sufficiently striking.
+
+Some brief details of these interesting features in Sardinian
+scenery—the larger of which are termed _Campidani_, and the secondary
+_Campi_—will be fitly combined with a general sketch of the geological
+formations of the island; as we are now approaching the same standing
+point, the central districts, from which we took occasion to review the
+orology of Corsica. It was then remarked that the mountain systems of
+the two islands are of similar character and were formerly united; of
+which there is evidence in the rocky islets scattered from one coast to
+the other, across the Straits of Bonifacio.[55] Sardinia, however,
+though apparently a continuation of Corsica, is essentially different in
+its physical aspect; the elevations being less, the plains more
+extensive and fertile, its mineralogical riches far more varied, and
+volcanic action on a large scale being traced throughout the island,
+while few vestiges of it are discovered in Corsica.
+
+While these sheets have been passing through the press, General Alberto
+de la Marmora has published two volumes in continuation of his “_Voyages
+en Sardaigne_,” devoted exclusively, with an accompanying Atlas, to the
+geology of the island; a work of the greatest scientific value, from the
+high character of the author, and the time he has zealously spent in his
+researches, but too elaborate for any attempt to reduce its details
+within the compass or the scope of these pages. Our brief sketch must be
+confined to a few general remarks derived from La Marmora's former
+volumes, and Captain Smyth's very accurate account of Sardinia;
+availing ourselves also of Mr. Warre Tyndale's digest of these accounts,
+and giving some results of our own limited observation.
+
+The principal chain of primitive mountains trends from north to south,
+extending through the districts of Gallura, Barbagia, Ogliastra, and
+Budui, along the whole eastern coast of the island. This range consists
+of granite, with ramifications of schist, and large masses of quartz,
+mica, and felspar. It is intersected by transverse ranges, and by plains
+and valleys partly formed by volcanic agency; indeed, the connection
+between the Gallura group and that of Barbagia is entirely cut off by
+the great plain of Ozieri.
+
+The most northerly of the series is the Limbara group. Its highest peak,
+according to La Marmora 4287 feet, is an entire mass of granite. The
+Genargentu in the Barbagia range, of the same formation, the highest and
+most central mountain in Sardinia, has two culminating points of the
+respective heights of 6230 and 6118 feet. They are covered with snow
+from September till May, and the inhabitants of Aritzu, who make it an
+object of traffic, are, I believe, able to continue the supply
+throughout the year.[56] The Monte Oliena in the central group near
+Nuoro, 4390 feet high, is calcareous, as are two others, between 2000
+and 3000 feet high, in the same chain. It terminates with the Sette
+Fratelli, prolonged to Cape Carbonaro, the eastern point of the gulf of
+Cagliari, the highest point of the group, which is entirely granite,
+being 3142 feet.
+
+We find a detached formation called the Nurra mountains, composed of
+granite, schist, and primitive limestone, filling the isthmus of the
+Cape at the north-west extremity of the island, and extending to the
+little isle of Asinara. The mountains of Sulcis, at the extreme
+south-west, and terminating in the Capes Teulada and Spartivento, are
+similarly composed; their highest peaks, the Monte Linas and Severa,
+being from 3000 to 4000 feet high.
+
+But the most striking geological feature in Sardinia consists in the
+great extent of the volcanic formations. These, as well as the slighter
+traces of such action in Corsica, are doubtless connected with the
+subterranean and submarine fires of which the coasts and islands of the
+central Mediterranean basin afford so many evidences in active and
+extinct volcanoes (some of them in activity in the times of Homer,
+Pindar, and Thucydides), and ranging in a circle from the Roman
+territory to that of Naples, to the Lipari islands, Sicily, and those
+forming the subject of our present inquiry. Sardinia has been widely
+ravaged by internal fires, but at too remote an era to admit of our
+conjecturing the period. The volcanic action can be traced from Castel
+Sardo, where it has formed precipices on the northern coast, to the
+vicinity of Monastir, a distance southward of more than 100 miles; its
+central focus appearing to have been about half-way between Ales, Milis,
+and St. Lussurgiu, where, as Captain Smyth remarks, “the phlægrean
+evidences are particularly abundant.” The action was principally
+confined to the western side of the island, though, south of Genargentu,
+the volcanic formations approach the primitive chain, and the rounded
+hills we remarked in the present rambles, after crossing the Limbara, as
+far east as Oschiri on the Campo d'Ozieri, are, I doubt not, craters of
+extinct volcanoes. The flat-topped hill, or truncated cone, figured in
+the lithograph drawing, No. 8, represents one of them, and, scattered as
+these verdant cones are over the long sweeps of the Campidani, they
+formed additional features in the interest with which, as I have already
+said, we regarded those immense tracts.
+
+From the supposed centre of volcanic action just suggested, it may be
+traced northward through the districts of Macomer, Bonorva, Giavesu,
+Keremule, with the hillock on which Ardara stands, and Codrongianus, to
+its termination in the cliffs of Lungo Sardo. But its most salient
+feature is the detached group of mountains on the western coast between
+Macomer and Orestano, which are entirely volcanic. This group has the
+name of “Monte del Marghine,” in the small map prefixed to Captain
+Smyth's survey, but I do not find that or any other distinct name
+attached to it in La Marmora's large “Carta dell'Isola.” The village
+of St. Lussurgiu is literally built in a crater connected with this
+group, as is also that of Cuglieri. The highest point, Monte Articu, the
+summit of Monte Ferro, entirely volcanic, rises 3442 feet above the
+Mediterranean, and the Trebia Lada, 2723 feet high, is one of the three
+basaltic feet forming the _Trebina_, or Tripod, on the summit of Monte
+Arcuentu, a mountain between Orestano and Ales formed of horizontal
+layers of basalt. Further south at Nurri, closely approaching the
+primitive chain, are two hills, called “pizzè-ogheddu,” and “pizzè ogu
+mannu,” or peaks of the little and great eye, which were certainly
+ignivomous mouths, and the peasants believe that they still have a
+subterraneous communication. A volcanic stream has run from them over a
+calcareous tract, forming an elevated plain nearly 1600 feet above the
+level of the sea, called, “_Sa giara e Serri_.” It overlooks Gergei, and
+is covered with oaks and cork trees, while the northern side of its
+declivity affords rich pasture. North-west from this place is the
+“_Giara di Gestori_,” of similar formation, proceeding from a crater at
+Ales, but strewed with numerous square masses of stone—principally
+fragments of obsidian, and trachytic and cellular lava—so as to resemble
+a city in ruins. At Monastir there is a distinct double crater, now well
+wooded; and a bridge constructed of fine red trap, with the bold outline
+of the neighbourhood, render the entrance to the village by the Strada
+Reale singularly picturesque. The volcanic current, flowing westward
+from Monastir by Siliqua and Massargiu, again approached the coast
+towards the southern extremity of Sardinia, extending across the deep
+gulf of Palmas to the islands of S. Pietro and S. Antonio, which are
+entirely composed of trachytic rocks. Their bold escarpments arrested
+our attention on approaching the coast, near Cape Teulada, in one of our
+excursions to Sardinia.
+
+Plains of lava, called “_giare_” by the natives, are often found
+reposing on the large tracts of recent formation, such as those of
+Sardara, Ploaghe, and other places; and considerable extents of trap and
+pitchstone are frequently met with on limestone strata, while others,
+tending fast to decomposition, are incorporated with an earth formed of
+comminuted lava. Vestiges of craters, though generally ill defined,
+still exist in the vicinity of Osilo, Florinas, Keremule, St. Lussurgiu,
+Monastir, &c. Some of these are considered, from their less broken and
+conical shape, and from the surrounding country consisting of fine red
+ashes, slaggy lava, scoria, obsidian, and indurated pozzolana, with
+hills of porphyritic trap,—all lying over tertiary rock,—to have been of
+a much more recent formation than the others, which in form present a
+lengthened straggling appearance, and in composition resemble those of
+Auvergne.
+
+The tertiary formation lies on the west side of the principal granitic
+chain, and, besides forming the Campidano and the bases on which the
+volcanic substances rest, constitutes the hills of Cagliari, Sassari,
+and Sorso. The tertiary limestone seldom ranges more than 1313 feet
+above the level of the sea, though at Isili and some other places it is
+1542 feet high. La Marmora considers it analogous to the upper tertiary
+formations found in the south of France, central and southern Italy,
+Sicily, Malta, the Balearic Islands, and Africa. The plains generally
+consist of a deep alluvial silt, interspersed with shingly patches,
+containing boulder stones. Such is the valley of the Liscia, occupying
+nearly the whole surface from sea to sea towards the northern extremity
+of the island. This, it may be recollected, we crossed north of the
+Limbara. Then succeeds the series of _Campi_ or _Campidani_, properly so
+called. We have already spoken of the vast plain of Ozieri, terminating
+in the south-west with its minor branches, the Campi di Mela, St.
+Lazarus, and Giavesu, to which it spreads transversely from the Gulf of
+Terranova, on the eastern coast. The bottom of this gulf forms one of
+the finest harbours in the island, with some trade, but the town of that
+name is a wretched place, remarkable for its insalubrity and the
+truculent character of the inhabitants.
+
+On the western side of the island are the small _Campi_ of Anglona,
+lying round Castel Sardo, and another plain highly cultivated between
+Sassari and Porto Torres. The largest of these plains on the eastern
+side of the island is that of Orosei, washed by several rivers having
+their sources in the neighbouring primitive chain of mountains. Westward
+of this chain we have the great central plain, which, first surrounding
+the Gulf of Oristano, extends in an unbroken line, for upwards of fifty
+miles, to the Gulf of Cagliari. This is generally spoken of as “_the
+Campidano_,” without further specification, though its parts are
+distinguished by local names, such as—di Uras, di Gavino, &c.
+
+The mineral riches of Sardinia were well known to the ancients, and vast
+excavations, with the remains of a number of foundries, afford ample
+testimony of the extent of their operations. Tradition asserts that gold
+was formerly extracted; and there is no doubt that silver was found in
+considerable quantities, as it is even now procured in assaying the
+lead. Copper is found near Cape Teulada, and at other places, and in one
+of the mines beautiful specimens of malachite occur. Iron is very
+plentifully distributed, but is found principally at the Monte Santo of
+Cape Teulada, and at Monte Ferru. The richest mine is in the Ogliastra,
+where the _intempérie_, however, is so malignant as to preclude the
+formation of an establishment. Lead is the most abundant of Sardinian
+ores, and its mines are profusely scattered throughout the islands.
+
+Anthracite has been found, but only that of the Nurra district is fit
+for working; and the coal, though met with in various places in the
+secondary formations, and especially in the lower parts of the beds of
+magnesian limestone, is neither sufficient in quantity nor good enough
+in quality to be generally used. The granites of the Gallura, as we have
+already mentioned, were known to the ancients, and highly appreciated in
+Italy for their beauty and colours. Among the other mineral products may
+also be mentioned the porphyries of the Limbara, the basalt of Nurri,
+Gestori, and Serri, the alabaster of Sarcidanu, and the marbles of the
+Goceano and Monte Raso. Jasper abounds in the trachyte and dolomite, and
+large blocks, of beautiful variety, are found in some districts. Among
+the chalcedonies are the sardonyx, agates, and cornelian. The districts
+from whence the ancients obtained the sardonyx, once held in high
+repute, are not known, but the vicinity of Bosa abounds in chalcedenous
+formations. A fine quality of quartz amethyst has been obtained, and
+also hydrophane, known for its peculiar property of becoming transparent
+when immersed in water. Good turquoises and garnets are also found, but
+not frequently. Though there have been so many volcanoes, and selenite,
+gypsum, lime, and aluminous schist frequently occur, neither sulphur nor
+rock salt have been discovered, and but very little alum. Mineral
+springs are numerous, but not much frequented.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXI.
+
+  _Ozieri.—A Refugee Colonel turned Cook and Traiteur.—Traces of
+    Phenician Superstitions in Sarde Usages.—The Rites of
+    Adonis.—Passing through the Fire to Moloch._
+
+
+We entered Ozieri by a new carriage-road in the course of construction
+to connect it with the great Strada Reale between Sassari and Cagliari;
+such an undertaking being a novelty in Sardinia, and, of itself,
+indicating that Ozieri is an improving place. It is the chief town of a
+province, and contains a population of 8000, having the character of
+being, and who were to all appearance, thriving, industrious, and
+orderly. The streets are airy and clean, the principal thoroughfare
+being watered by a stream issuing from a handsome fountain. There are
+many good houses, and, including the cathedral, a large heavy building,
+nine churches in the city, with three massive convents. That of the
+Capucins, from its cypress-planted terrace, commands a fine view of the
+Campidano, as does the church of N.S. di Montserrato on the summit of a
+neighbouring hill.
+
+The piazza, a large area in the centre of the town, was thronged with
+people, lounging and enjoying the evening air, when we rode into it, not
+having the slightest idea where we were to dismount. In this dilemma,
+observing among the crowd, through which we slowly moved, a serjeant of
+the Bersaglieri, distinguished by the neat uniform of his rifle corps,
+with the drooping plume of cock's feathers in his cap, we addressed
+ourselves to him, having among our letters one to the Commandant of the
+garrison, which he undertook to deliver. Meanwhile, he turned our
+horses' heads to a house in the piazza, kept by an Italian, with the
+accommodations of which we found reason to be well satisfied.
+
+Mr. Tyndale describes the osteria at Ozieri as execrable, while, on the
+other hand, Captain Smyth speaks favourably of the locanda at Tempio. At
+the period of our visit the circumstances were just the reverse. The
+“_Café et Restaurant de Rome_” proved more than its titles implied.
+Fully maintaining the latter of these, it supplied us also with two good
+apartments. Mine was festooned with bunches of grapes hung from the
+ceiling, and heaps of apples and pears were stored on shelves—so there
+was no lack of fruit; while, much to our surprise, several excellent
+_plats_ were served for supper, the master of the house uniting the
+offices of _chef de cuisine_ and _garçon_. On our praising his
+dishes,—“Ah,” said he, rather theatrically, “_Je n'ai pas toujours
+rempli un tel métier!_”—“How so?”—“Sirs, I am a Roman exile; I have
+fought for liberty; I was a Colonel in the service of the republic,—and
+now I make dishes in Sardinia! But a good time is coming; before long, I
+shall be recalled, and then”—there would be an end of popes and
+cardinals, &c. He told us that many of Mazzini's partisans had taken
+refuge in Sardinia. We afterwards met with another of them under similar
+circumstances. Unwilling to wound the feelings of a Colonel who, like
+the Theban general, was also our Amphitryon, we did not inquire under
+what circumstances our host had acquired the arts which he practised so
+well; suspecting, however, that our Colonel's earliest experience was in
+handling _batteries de cuisine_. In his double capacity, he might have
+more than rivalled in the Crimea even our “General Soyer.” To recommend
+some liqueurs of his own composition, which certainly were excellent, he
+told us that Sir Harry Darrell, who was here the preceding winter, just
+before he was seized with the _intempérie_, prized them so much that he
+carried off great part of his stock.
+
+In the course of the evening we had a visit from the Commandant. Among
+other civilities, he made the agreeable proposal that we should join a
+party formed by the Conte di T—— to hunt in the mountains south of
+Ozieri, following the sport for several days. This scheme suited us
+exactly, as it would lead us into the forest district of Barbagia, which
+it was our design to visit. Such is the warmth of the climate, that
+though it was now the middle of November, after the Commandant took his
+leave we sat to a late hour in our shirt-sleeves, with the casements
+wide open on the now solitary piazza, while I wrote and my companion was
+drawing. So employed, a strain of distant music stole on the ear in the
+stillness of the night, one of those plaintive melodies common among the
+Sardes, a sort of recitative by a tenor voice, with others joining in a
+chorus.
+
+Among the many usages derived by the Sardes from their Phenician
+ancestors, one of a singular character is still practised by the Oziese,
+of which Father Bresciani gives the following account:—“Towards the end
+of March, or the beginning of April, it is the custom for young men and
+women to agree together to fill the relation of godfathers and
+godmothers of St. John, _compare e comare_—such is the phrase—for the
+ensuing year. At the end of May, the proposed _comare_, having procured
+a segment of the bark of a cork tree, fashions it in the shape of a
+vase, and fills it with rich light mould in which are planted some
+grains of barley or wheat. The vase being placed in the sunshine, well
+watered and carefully tended, the seed soon germinates, blades spring
+up, and, making a rapid growth, in the course of twenty-one days,—that
+is, before the eve of St. John,—the vase is filled by a spreading and
+vigorous plant of young corn. It then receives the name of _Hermes_, or,
+more commonly, of _Su Nennere_, from a Sarde word, which possibly has
+the same signification as the Phenician name of garden; similar vases
+being called, in ancient times, ‘the gardens of Adonis.’”
+
+On the eve of St. John, the cereal vase, ornamented with ribbons, is
+exposed on a balcony, decorated with garlands and flags. Formerly, also,
+a little image in female attire, or phallic emblems moulded in clay,
+such as were exhibited in the feasts of Hermes, were placed among the
+blades of corn; but these representations have been so severely
+denounced by the Church, that they are fallen into disuse. The young men
+flock in crowds to witness the spectacle and attend the maidens who come
+out to grace the feast. A great fire is lit on the _piazza_, round which
+they leap and gambol, the couple who have agreed to be St. John's
+_compare_ completing the ceremony in this manner:—the man is placed on
+one side of the fire, the woman on the other, each holding opposite ends
+of a stick extended over the burning embers, which they pass rapidly
+backwards and forward. This is repeated three times, so that the hand of
+each party passes thrice through the flames. The union being thus
+sealed, the _comparatico_, or spiritual alliance, is considered
+perfect.[57] After that, the music strikes up, and the festival is
+concluded by dances, prolonged to a late hour of the night.
+
+In some places the couple go in procession, attended by a gay company of
+youths and damsels, all in holiday dresses, to some country church.
+Arrived there, they dash the vase of Hermes against the door, so that it
+falls in pieces. The company then seat themselves in a circle on the
+grass, and feast on eggs fried with herbs, while gay tunes are played on
+the _lionedda_.[58] A cup of wine is passed round from one to another,
+and each, laying his hand on his neighbour, repeats, with a certain
+modulation of voice, supported by the music of the pipes, “_Compare e
+comare di San Giovanni!_”. The toast is repeated, in a joyous chorus,
+for some time, till, at length, the company rise, still singing, and,
+forming a circle, dance merrily for many hours.
+
+Father Bresciani, La Marmora, and other writers, justly consider the
+_Nennere_ as one of the many relics of the Phenician colonisation of
+Sardinia. Every one knows that the Sun and Moon, under various names,
+such as Isis and Osiris, Adonis and Astarte, were the principal objects
+of worship in the East from the earliest times; the sun being considered
+as the vivifying power of universal nature, the moon, represented as a
+female, deriving her light from the sun, as the passive principle of
+production. The abstruse doctrines on the origin of things, thus
+shadowed out by the ancient seers, generated the grossest ideas,
+expressed in the phallic emblems, the lewdness and obscenities mixed up
+in the popular worship of the deified principles of all existence. Of
+the prevalence in Sardinia of the Egypto-Phenician mythology, in times
+the most remote, no one who has examined the large collection of relics
+in the Royal Museum at Cagliari, or who consults the plates attached to
+La Marmora's work, can entertain any doubt. But it is surprising to
+find, among the usages of the Sardes at the present day, a very exact
+representation of the rites of a primitive religion, introduced into the
+island nearly thirty-five centuries ago, though it now partakes rather
+of the character of a popular festival than of a religious ceremony.
+
+The Phenicians worshipped the sun under the name of Adonis, while the
+moon, Astarte, the Astaroth of the Bible, and the Venus-Ouranie of the
+Greeks, was their goddess of heaven. The story of Adonis is well
+known:—how, being slain by a wild boar in the Libanus, his mistress
+sought him in vain, with loud lamentations, throughout the earth, and
+following him to the infernal regions, prevailed on Proserpine by her
+tears and prayers to allow him to spend one half the year on earth, to
+which he returned in youth perpetually renewed. Thus was shadowed out
+the annual course of the sun in the zodiac, and especially his return to
+ascendancy at the summer solstice, a season devoted to joy and
+festivity. In after times, this period corresponding with the feast of
+St. John the Baptist (24th June), that festival was celebrated in many
+parts of Christendom with bonfires and merriment,—usages adopted from
+pagan traditions. The practices of the _Nennere_, in the neighbourhood
+of Ozieri and other parts of Sardinia, still more distinctly coincide
+with the rites which accompanied the ancient festival.
+
+It was the custom of the Phenician women, towards the end of May, to
+place before the shrine, or in the portico of the temples, of Adonis,
+certain vessels, in which were sown grains of barley or wheat. These
+vessels were made of wicker-work or pieces of bark, and sometimes
+wrought of plaster. The seeds, sown in rich earth, soon sprung up, and
+formed plants of luxuriant growth. These verdant vases were then called
+by the Phenicians “the Gardens of Adonis.” The ceremonies of the summer
+solstice commenced over night with lamentations by the women, expressive
+of grief for the loss of Adonis. But on the morrow, “when the sun came
+out of his chamber like a giant refreshed,” all was changed to joy; the
+garden vases were crowned with wreaths of purple and various-coloured
+ribbons, and the resurrection of the boy-god was celebrated by dancing,
+feasting, and revelry. The priestesses of Adonis led the way in a
+mysterious procession, bearing the vases, with other symbols already
+alluded to, and on re-entering the temples, dancing and singing, they
+cast the vases and scattered their verdure at the feet of the god. All
+the women then danced in a circle round the altar, and the day and night
+were spent in pious orgies, feasting, and revelry. It is needless to
+point out the close identity of the Oziese _Nennere_ with these
+Phenician rites.
+
+The worship of Adonis, under the name of Tammuz[59], with all its
+seductive abominations, was one of the Canaanitish idolatries into which
+the Israelites were prone to fall. Father Bresciani considers these
+rites to be emphatically referred to in the indignant apostrophe of
+Isaiah:—_How is the faithful city become an harlot!... ye shall be
+confounded with idols to which ye have sacrificed, and be ashamed of the
+gardens which ye have chosen._[60] And again, in the prophet's terrible
+denunciation:—_Behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his
+chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke
+with flames of fire ... and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They
+that sanctified themselves and esteemed themselves clean in the garden
+of the portico[61] shall be consumed together, saith the Lord._
+
+Whether the learned Jesuit's interpretation of these passages be well
+founded or not, we may add another from the prophet Ezekiel, not
+referred to by him, but of the application of which to some of these
+rites there can be no doubt. In one of those lofty visions, vividly
+portraying the iniquities of Israel, her idolatries and wicked
+abominations, the prophet's attention is directed to the intolerable
+scandal that, even _at the gate of the Lord's house, behold there sat
+women weeping for Tammuz_.[62]
+
+            “Thammuz came next behind,
+    Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
+    The Syrian damsels to lament his fate,
+    In amorous ditties, all a summer day,
+    While smooth Adonis, from his native rock
+    Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
+    Of Thammuz, yearly wounded: the love tale
+    Infected Zion's daughters with like heat;
+    Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
+    Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led,
+    His eye surveyed the dark idolatries
+    Of alienated Judah.”—_Par. Lost_, i. 447.
+
+One of the remarkable incidents in the Sarde _Nennere_, just described,
+consists in the consecration of the spiritual relation between the
+_compare_ and _comare_, by their thrice crossing hands over the fire in
+the ceremonies of St. John's day. A still more extraordinary vestige of
+the idolatrous rite of “passing through the fire,” is said to be still
+subsisting among the customs of the people of Logudoro, in the
+neighbourhood of Ozieri, and in other parts of Sardinia.
+
+Of the worship of Moloch—_par excellence_ the Syrian and Phenician god
+of fire—by the ancient Sardes, there is undoubted proof. We find among
+the prodigious quantity of such relics, collected from all parts of the
+island, in the Royal Museum at Cagliari, a _statuette_ of this idol,
+supposed to have been a household god. Its features are appalling: great
+goggle eyes leer fiercely from their hollow sockets; the broad nostrils
+seem ready to sniff the fumes of the horrid sacrifice; a wide gaping
+mouth grins with rabid fury at the supposed victim; dark plumes spring
+from the forehead, like horns, and expanded wings from each shoulder and
+knee. The image brandishes a sword with the left hand, holding in the
+right a small grate, formed of metal bars. It would appear that, this
+being heated, the wretched victim was placed on it, and then, scorched
+so that the fumes of the disgusting incense savoured in the nostrils of
+the rabid idol, it fell upon a brazier of burning coals beneath, where
+it was consumed. There is another idol in this collection with the same
+truculent cast of features, but horned, and clasping a bunch of snakes
+in the right hand, a trident in the left, with serpents twined round its
+legs. This image has a large orifice in the belly, and flames are
+issuing between the ribs, so that it would appear that when the brazen
+image of the idol was thoroughly heated, the unhappy children intended
+for sacrifice were thrust into the mouth in the navel, and there
+grilled,—savoury morsels, on which the idol seems, from his features,
+rabidly gloating, while the priests, we are told, endeavoured to drown
+the cries of the sufferers by shouts and the noise of drums and timbrels
+—
+
+    ” ... horrid king, besmeared with blood
+    Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears;
+    Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
+    Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd through fire
+    To his grim idol.”—_Par. Lost_, i. 392.
+
+This cruel child-sacrifice was probably the giving of his seed to
+Moloch[63], fwhich any Israelite, or stranger that sojourned in Israel,
+guilty of the crime was, according to the Mosaic law, to be stoned to
+death. We are informed in the Sacred Records, that no such denunciations
+of the idolatries of the surrounding nations, no revelations of the
+attributes, or teachings of the pure worship of Jehovah, restrained the
+Israelites from the practice of the foul and cruel rites of their
+heathen neighbours; and we find, in the latter days of the Jewish
+commonwealth, the prophet Jeremiah predicting[64] the desolation of the
+people for this sin among others, that they had estranged themselves
+from the worship of Jehovah, and burned incense to strange gods, and
+filled the holy place with the blood of innocents, and burned their sons
+and their daughters with fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal.[65]
+
+There appear to have been two modes in which the ancient idolaters
+devoted their children to Moloch. In one they were sacrificed and
+consumed in the manner already described, a burnt-offering to the cruel
+idol for the expiation of the sins of their parents or their people. In
+the other, they were only made _to pass through the fire_, in honour of
+the deity, and as a sort of initiation into his mysteries, and
+consecration to his service. Thus Ahaz, King of Judah, is said to have
+“made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of
+the heathen.”[66] And it is reckoned in the catalogue of the sins of
+Judah, which drew on them the vengeance of God, that they “built the
+high places of Baal, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass
+through the fire unto Moloch.”[67]
+
+In the case of infants, it is supposed that this initiation, this
+“baptism by fire,” was performed either by placing them on a sort of
+grate suspended by chains from the vault of the temple, and passed
+rapidly over the sacred fire, or by the priests taking the infants in
+their arms, and swaying them to and fro over or across the fire,
+chanting meanwhile certain prayers or incantations. With respect to
+children of older growth, they were made to leap naked through the fire
+before the idol, so that their whole bodies might be touched by the
+sacred flames, and purified, as it were, by contact with the divinity.
+
+The Sardes, we are informed by Father Bresciani[68] still preserve a
+custom representing this initiation by fire, but, as in other Phenician
+rites and practices, without the slightest idea of their profane origin.
+In the first days of spring, from one end of the island to the other,
+the villagers assemble, and light great fires in the _piazze_ and at the
+cross-roads. The flames beginning to ascend, the children leap through
+them at a bound, so rapidly and with such dexterity, that when the
+flames are highest it is seldom that their clothes or a hair of their
+head are singed. They continue this practice till the fuel is reduced to
+embers, the musicians meanwhile playing on the _lionedda_ tunes adapted
+to a Phyrric dance. This, says the learned Father, is a representation
+of the initiation through fire into the mysteries of Moloch; and,
+singular as its preservation may appear through the vast lapse of time
+since such rites were practised, we see no reason to doubt his
+relation, exactly as he treats on this subject after repeated visits to
+the island, even if the account were not confirmed by other writers, as
+we find it is. Bresciani's recent work is almost entirely devoted, as we
+have already observed, to the task of tracing numerous customs still
+existing among the Sardes to their eastern origin. We may find future
+opportunities of noticing some in which the coincidence is most
+striking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXII.
+
+  _Expedition to the Mountains.—Environs of Ozieri.—First View of
+    the Peaks of Genargentu.—Forests.—Value of the Oak Timber.—Cork
+    Trees; their Produce, and Statistics of the Trade.—Hunting the
+    Wild Boar, &c.—The Hunters' Feast.—A Bivouac in the
+    Woods.—Notices of the Province of Barbagia.—Independence of the
+    Mountaineers._
+
+
+The hunting excursion in the mountains south of Ozieri was in the order
+of the day, the expedition being on a much larger scale than that
+arranged by our honest Tempiese friends at the _Caffè de la
+Costituzione_. We were to camp out; and the party consisted of upwards
+of thirty horsemen, well mounted and armed, with the Conte di T—— and
+some other Oziese gentlemen for leaders. We had also a large pack of
+dogs, some of them fine animals, almost equal to bloodhounds.
+
+Our route from the town led us over a succession of scraggy hills, with
+cultivation in the bottoms, and some straggling vineyards, not very
+flourishing. The walnut trees in the glens, and small inclosures mixed
+with copse wood, reminded us more of English or Welsh scenery than
+anything we had before seen in either of the Mediterranean islands.
+After passing a village standing on high ground, there was a long
+ascent, and in about an hour and a half from our leaving Ozieri, on
+gaining the summit of a ridge of hills outlying from the Goceano range,
+we opened on a magnificent view of the great central chain of mountains,
+stretching away to the south-east in giant limbs and folds, with
+Genargentu and other summits shrouded in a grey silvery haze. A broad
+valley was spread out beneath our point of view, and the mountain range
+immediately opposite, the lower regions of which, as far as the eye
+could command the view, right and left, were clothed with dense forests,
+straggling down in broken masses and detached clumps to the edge of the
+intervening valley.
+
+Into the depths of these forests we were to penetrate in pursuit of our
+game, and finer covers to be stocked with _cingale_ and _capriole_, or
+bolder scenery for the theatre of our sylvan sport, can scarcely be
+imagined. It was spirit-stirring when, full in view of these grand
+natural features, our numerous cavalcade wound down the hill in
+scattered groups to the plain beneath, among pollard cork trees, just
+now shedding their acorns. There was deep ploughing in the rich vale
+watered by the upper streams of the Tirso, which winds through the
+valley at the foot of the Goceano range. After crossing the holms, we
+were on slopes of greensward, lightly feathered with the red fern, and
+dotted with trees, like a park.
+
+And now we touched the verge of the forest, rough with brakes of giant
+heaths, such underwood alternating with grassy glades wherever the woods
+opened. This part of the forest consists of an unbroken mass of
+primitive cork trees of great size. The rugged bark, the
+strangely-angular growth of the limbs, hung with grey lichens in
+fantastic combs, and the thick olive-green foliage almost excluding the
+light of heaven, with the roar of the wind through the trees,—for it
+was a dull, cold day, the coldest we spent in Sardinia,—with all this, a
+Scandinavian forest could not be more dreary and savage. After tracking
+the gloomy depths of shade for a considerable distance, it was an
+agreeable change to quit the forest and warm our blood by cantering up a
+slope of scrub. Then, after crossing a grassy hollow, we came among
+scattered woods of the most magnificent oaks, both evergreen and
+deciduous, I ever saw. Some of the trees were of enormous size, and if
+the quality of the timber be equal to the scantling, Sardinia would
+supply materials of great value for naval purposes.
+
+The forests of the Barbagia, into which we now penetrated, like those of
+the Gallura, are principally virgin forests; the want of roads, of
+navigable rivers, and even of flottage, presenting formidable obstacles
+to the conveyance of the timber to the seaboard for exportation, though
+the first is not insurmountable. The forests of the Marghine and Goceano
+ranges round Macomer, having the little port of Boso on the western
+coast for an outlet, are felled to some extent. The contracts are mostly
+in the hands of foreigners, who obtain them on such low terms that their
+profits are enormous. Mr. Tyndale gives the details of a contract
+obtained by a Frenchman for 18,000 oak trees, at fifteen _lire nove_,
+12_s._ each, the trees being said to realise from 200 to 300 francs
+(8_l._ to 12_l._) each at Toulon or Marseilles. In England, we pay from
+1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._ 3_d._ per cubic foot for very indifferent American
+oak, and from 1_s._ 9_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ for Baltic oak, perhaps
+superior to the Sardinian.
+
+In the course of the Corsican notices in this volume, it was mentioned
+that after my return to England, I had some communications with a
+government department respecting the pine forests of Corsica.[69] On my
+taking occasion also to represent the great abundance of oak timber of
+large dimensions standing in Sardinia, I learnt that a valuable report
+on the subject had been made to the Admiralty by Mr. Craig, Her
+Majesty's excellent Consul-General in the island. It did not, however,
+appear that any steps had been taken in consequence.
+
+Great damage is done to the forests by the herdsmen and shepherds, who
+are permitted, under certain restrictions, to burn down portions of
+underwood, such as the lentiscus, daphne, and cistus, to allow the
+pasturage to grow for their flocks. But though this is not legal before
+the eighth of September, when the intense heat of the summer has passed
+away, and the periodical autumnal rains are necessary for the young
+herbage, the law is broken, and not only accidental but wilful
+conflagrations have been the destruction of numerous forests. What with
+this waste, the injury done to the growing timber by the contractors,
+and the indolence of the natives, the noble forests of Sardinia are of
+little account. Even the government, it is said, purchase most of the
+oak used in the dockyards of Genoa at the French ports before mentioned.
+
+Similar observations apply to cork, though capable of easier transport,
+and said to be as fine as any in the world. The Sardinian forests would
+supply large quantities; but it enters little into the exports of the
+island. We saw a great many trees stripped by the peasants for domestic
+uses, naked and miserable skeletons; with them it is indiscriminate
+slaughter, doing irreparable injury to the trees. There now lie before
+me the specimens I collected of the successive layers of the bark. The
+spongy external cuticle, swelling into excrescences, is only used for
+floats of the fishermen's nets in the island. Beneath lies a coating of
+more compact, but cellular, tissue, of a beautiful rich colour—a sort of
+red umber. This layer, called _la camicia_ (the shift), covers the good
+or “female” bark, with which every one is acquainted in the shape of
+corks.
+
+The bark will bear cutting every ten years, commencing when the trees
+are about that age; but it should not be cut till the inner bark is an
+inch or an inch and a quarter thick. I consider that the bark of old
+trees is less valuable. Some of those we saw in the forests of the
+Gallura and Barbagia must have been the growth of many centuries. It is
+calculated that each tree, on an average, produces upwards of 30 lbs. of
+bark at a cutting; there are about 220 lbs. in a quintal, worth, at
+Marseilles, 20 francs; and a quintal of cork makes from 4500 to 5000
+bottle-corks.
+
+The woods are generally leased at an annual rent, proportioned to the
+number of trees; but this rent, with the cost of stripping the bark, and
+even the transport to the coast, form but small items in the lessee's
+account of profit and loss. The heaviest charges are the export duty
+from Sardinia, the freight, and the import duties in France, to which
+country, I understand, the greatest part of the cork cut in the island
+is shipped. The French customs' duty is 2frs. 20 cents. the quintal.
+England imports no cork in its rough state from the island of Sardinia;
+but probably a considerable part of the manufactured corks we import
+from France (upwards of 226,000 lbs. in 1855[70]) grew in Sardinian
+forests. Our principal imports of unmanufactured cork bark are from
+Portugal, the quantity in the year just mentioned being 3300 tons and
+upwards. From Spain we only received 300 tons, and about 100 from
+Tuscany and other parts; the official value being from 32_l._ to 35_l._
+per ton. It appears extraordinary that we should draw so considerable a
+portion of our supplies of this valuable commodity from France in a
+manufactured state, and subject to a heavy customs' duty and other
+double charges, when the raw material might be imported direct from
+Sardinia, subject only to an export duty of 1fr. 20 cents. per quintal.
+This arises, I imagine, from the trade being left by the apathy of the
+islanders mostly in the hands of French houses, who take leases of the
+forests and conduct the whole operations.
+
+These details, though they smack of woodcraft, have led us away from our
+sylvan sports. We had reached the point where the dogs were thrown into
+the covers with a party detached to drive the woods. Having given a
+description in a former chapter of the _caccia clamorosa_, as wild boar
+hunting is well termed by the Sardes, repetition would be wearisome. It
+was conducted precisely as on the former occasion, except that the
+proceedings were on a more extended scale, and led us far among wilder
+and more varied scenery. As before, the stations of the hunters were
+assigned at about seventy or eighty paces apart, with the horses
+tethered in the rear. The line of shooters was first formed among the
+heather on the easy slope of a glen, lightly sprinkled with wood. The
+exhilarating sounds of the men and dogs breaking the silence of the
+woods as they drove the game before them, the minutes of eager
+expectation, the sharp look-out, the ringing shots, may now be easily
+imagined.
+
+My fellow-traveller was fortunate enough to knock over the first wild
+boar that ran the gauntlet of the _cordon_, when the Count's gun had
+missed fire from the cap having become damp. Our next position was in an
+open piece of forest, where luck planted me in a notched cork tree,
+standing on a wooded knoll, at which several avenues met, so that I had
+not only a good chance of a shot, but the command of the _champ de
+bataille_ on all sides. Wild boars were plentiful, roebucks not so,
+hares innumerable in some of our _battues_. I confess, however, that the
+incident in the day's sport in which I felt most interest was when a
+wild boar, slightly wounded, rushed by one of my posts, pursued by some
+of the dogs. Throwing myself on my spirited barb, I led the chase,
+followed by my neighbours, right and left, and was lucky enough to be in
+at the death, after a sharp run. Under such circumstances the wild boar,
+standing at bay with his formidable tusks, becomes dangerous to the
+dogs, if not to the hunters. Then the sharp steel is wanting. Oh, for a
+boar spear! instead of having to despatch the rabid animal by a shot.
+
+Having had a long morning's ride, our first day's _battue_ was closed
+early. The party defiled in loose order among the trees in the open
+forest, cantered over springy turf, and brushed through patches of fern
+to a sheltered dell in which we were to bivouac, and where the sumpter
+horses had already halted. Then followed such a rude feast as in all my
+rambles I had never before chanced to witness. Imagine the grassy margin
+of a rivulet, surrounded by thick bushes, which spread in brakes
+throughout the glen under scattered oaks, intermingled with crags and
+detached masses of rock, covered with white lichens. On the grass are
+piles of flat bread, which served for plates, loads of sausages, hams,
+cheeses, bundles of radishes, and heaps of apples, pears, grapes, and
+chestnuts, strewed about in the happiest confusion, with no lack of
+flasks and runlets of various sorts of wines. Our contribution to the
+pic-nic, a basket of signor Juliani's best cold dishes and larded fowls,
+seemed perfectly insignificant. Add to all this, the game we had
+bagged,—wild boar and roebuck, to say nothing of hares,—and the general
+stock might seem inexhaustible, if one glance at the crowd of hungry
+hunters did not banish the thought.
+
+Eager for the attack, they were busily employed in preparations for it.
+Horses were unsaddled and tethered among the bushes, guns piled or
+rested against the boughs, wood collected, fires lighted, and
+dagger-knives whetted, ready to rip open and quarter the game. The
+leaders only stood apart, under a spreading tree. They had a grave duty
+to perform in apportioning the spoils among those who had been
+successful in the day's sport. This was done with great exactness and
+the perfect equality existing among all ranks on these occasions. It was
+Robin Hood and his merry men all through; or might have been taken for
+an episode of Sarde banditti life, except that, our party being all
+honest fellows, there was no plunder to divide. By the laws of the chase
+in Sardinia, the hunter to whose gun an animal falls is entitled
+exclusively to some distinct portion, varying with the species of the
+game,—sometimes to the skin, sometimes to the choicest parts of the
+_roba interiora_, the intestines; the rest falls into the common stock.
+The award being made, such choice morsels, with rashers of hog and
+venison steaks, were grilled over the embers on skewers of sweet wood,
+and handed round, filled each pause in the attack on the cold
+provisions, portions being detached by the formidable _couteaux de
+chasse_ with which every man was armed; nor did English steel fail of
+doing its duty.
+
+Though the party distributed themselves indiscriminately on the grass,
+they naturally fell into familiar messes, perfect harmony and good
+fellowship prevailing. But at times there was great confusion. Now, the
+horses, kicking and fighting, got free from their tethers, and there was
+a rush of the hunters to restore order; while the ravenous hounds, not
+content with the bones and fragments thrown to them, were making
+perpetual inroads on the circle of guests, and snatching at the morsels
+they were appropriating to themselves. The feast was drawing to a close,
+when Count T—— proposed the health of the foreigners associated in their
+sports, and the toast, with the reply, which, if not eloquent, was short
+and feeling,—“_Agli nobili cacciatori della Sardegna, e di noi
+forestieri li sozii amicissimi, benevolentissimi_,” &c., &c., &c., drew
+forth _ev-vivas_ which made the old woods ring to the echo. And now all
+started on their legs, and there was a rush to the guns as if scouts had
+suddenly announced that the woods were filled with enemies. As an hour
+or two of daylight still remained, a _bersaglio_, or match of shooting
+at a mark, had been arranged during the feast.
+
+The _bersaglio_ is a favourite amusement of the Sardes, forming part of
+most of their festivities; and constant practice on these occasions, and
+in the field, makes them expert shots. Our party now addressed
+themselves to this exercise of skill with passionate eagerness. Some ran
+to fix a small card against the bole of a tree, eighty or a hundred
+yards distant, the rest gathered round the point of sight, loading their
+guns or applying caps, all talking rapidly, in sharp tones, as if they
+were quarrelling. They formed picturesque groups, in all attitudes—those
+mountain rangers, with their semi-Moorish costume, embroidered pouches,
+and bright ornamented arms, their dark-olive complexions and bushy hair,
+in strong contrast with their visitors from the north, in gray plaid and
+brown felt, unmistakable in their physiognomy, though almost as hairy
+and sunburnt as the children of the soil. The match was well contested,
+the card being often hit; which, as the Sarde guns are not rifled, may
+be considered good shooting, at the distance stated. The firing was
+continued till it was almost dark with eager zest, but much
+irregularity, and almost as great an expenditure of animal spirits in
+vociferation, as of powder and bullets.
+
+An hour after sunset, when night came on, fresh wood was heaped on the
+smouldering fires, and after sitting round them, smoking and chatting,
+the party gradually broke up, some stretching themselves near the
+embers, and the rest seeking some shelter for the night, about which a
+Sarde mountaineer is not fastidious, any bush or hollow in a rock
+serving his purpose. For ourselves, after exchanging the “_felice
+notte_” with the Count and his friends, we lingered over a scene so
+singular in civilised Europe, though with such I had been familiar in
+other hemispheres. The smouldering fires cast fitful gleams on piled
+arms and the hardy men sleeping around in their sheepskins or shaggy
+cloaks; the deep silence of the woods was only broken by a neighing
+horse or the bay of a hound, and presently the stars shone out from the
+vault of heaven with a lustre unknown in northern climes. We, too, lay
+down ensconced in a brake, the younger traveller disdaining any other
+wrapping than his plaid, and the elder luxuriously enveloped in a couple
+of blankets which formed part of his equipments, having his saddle for a
+pillow. With sound sleep, the rivulet for our ablutions, and a hot cup
+of coffee, bread, cheese, and fruit for the _collazione_,—what more
+could be wanting?
+
+In this expedition one day was like another, except in the ever-varying
+scenery, interesting enough to the traveller, but wearisome in
+description. Suffice it to say, that on the third morning, the
+provisions being exhausted, and no fresh supplies to be had in that wild
+country, our leaders decided on returning to Ozieri. It then became a
+question with us whether we should return with them, or pursue tho
+mountain tracks to Nuoro, whence it was only two days' journey to the
+foot of Monte Genargentu, on the higher regions of which it had been our
+intention to hunt the _moufflon_, proceeding then, along byroads,
+through a chain of mountain villages to Cagliari. Nuoro, a poor place,
+though dignified with the title of “_città_,” and a large ecclesiastical
+establishment, stands high on a great table-land in the heart of the
+central chain, answering, in many respects, to the Corte of the sister
+island. This ancient capital of Barbagia is still the chief place of a
+province containing a population of 54,000 souls, very much scattered
+through an extensive and mountainous district, but containing many large
+villages, such as Fonni, Tonara, and Aritzu already mentioned.
+
+The mountaineers of Barbagia have been distinguished from the earliest
+times for their indomitable courage and spirit of independence. Some of
+the best ancient writers relate that Iolaus, son of Iphicles, king of
+Thessaly, and nephew of Hercules, settled Greek colonies in this part
+of the island. The expedition, in which he was joined by the Thespiadæ,
+was undertaken in obedience to the oracle of Delphi; and it declared
+that, on their establishing themselves in Sardinia, they would never be
+conquered. Iolaus is said to have been buried in this district, after
+founding many cities; and, the Greek colonists intermingling with the
+native Sardes, their descendants, deriving their name of Iolaese or
+Iliese from their founder, became the most powerful race in the
+island,—just as the Roumains of Wallachia, boasting their descent from
+Trajan's Dacian colonists, long proved their right to the proud
+patronymic.
+
+The Iolaese offered a determined resistance to the Carthaginian
+invaders, and, on the decline of their power in Sardinia, maintained,
+during a long series of years, an unequal contest with the Roman
+legions; for, though often worsted in pitched battles, they found a safe
+and impregnable retreat in their mountain fastnesses. The triumphs of
+the Romans figure in history; but the traditions of the Sardes do
+justice to the heroic and patriarchal chiefs who fought in defence of
+their country. In after times, the Barbaricini (the Barbari of the
+Romans, whence Barbagia) exhibited their hereditary warlike spirit in
+resisting the invasions of the Moors; and, when Sardinia passed to the
+crown of Arragon, they refused to acknowledge Alfonso's rights and
+authority, resisting all claims of homage, tribute, or service. A sullen
+submission of three centuries to their Spanish sovereigns had not
+effaced their spirit of independence, and the Barbaricini were in arms
+against an unjust tax, and, moving their wives, children, and valuables
+to the mountains, kept the Spaniards entirely at bay, when, in 1719,
+Sardinia was ceded to the house of Savoy. The demand being prudently
+withdrawn, they returned to their villages, and their allegiance to the
+present dynasty has not been broken by any open revolt. But the
+indomitable spirit of their race has still been exhibited in sullen or
+violent resistance to the Piedmontese authorities. Driven by the corrupt
+administration of the laws to take a wild and summary justice, every
+man's hand has been against his neighbours' and the government
+officials. Mr. Tyndale states “that upwards of 100 (or one in every 279)
+annually fall victims to _vendetta_, in contest with their enemies, or
+with the authorities. Those openly known to live in the mountains as
+_fuorusciti_, of some kind, are more than 300; and to them may be added
+another 300 unknown to the Government, so that, on an average, there is
+nearly one in every 46 an outcast from society, a fugitive from his
+hearth.” I was happy to learn, on a second visit to the island of
+Sardinia, in 1857, that the numbers of these unhappy men were
+decreasing, outrages had diminished, and the system of _vendetta_ was
+gradually dying out. This, it was stated, principally resulted from the
+Barbaricini beginning to feel that the government is able and willing to
+afford them the redress of their private wrongs, and the personal
+protection which, as individuals or banded together, they have so long
+asserted by the red hand in defiance of the authorities.
+
+Thus the independence predicted by the oracle of Delphi to the race of
+Iolaus, preserved for untold centuries and through all political
+changes, has been maintained to the last by their direct descendants,
+the _fuorusciti_ of Barbagia. They were in arms as late as our travels
+in 1853, and we were officially warned against venturing into the
+mountains without due precautions. It was not, however, this state of
+affairs which interfered with the prosecution of our journey, as we did
+not doubt being able to establish, as foreigners, amicable relations
+with their chiefs. Such a state of society could not be without
+interest, the scenery is represented as most romantic, the shooting
+excellent; but our time was limited, and, reserving the expedition to
+Barbagia for a future opportunity, we reluctantly retraced our steps to
+Ozieri, in company with our friendly hunters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXIII.
+
+  _Leave Ozieri.—The New Road and Travelling in the Campagna.—Monte
+    Santo.—Scenes at the Halfway House.—Volcanic Hills.—Sassari;
+    its History.—Liberal opinions of the Sassarese.—Constitutional
+    Government.—Reforms wanted in Sardinia.—Means for its
+    Improvement._
+
+Ozieri standing on the verge of the great Sardinian plains, we dismissed
+our _cavallante_, and changed our mode of travelling. A primitive
+_diligence_ plies occasionally between Ozieri and Sassari, by the new
+road just constructed to join the Strada Reale between Cagliari and
+Porto Torres. Missing the opportunity during our hunting excursion, we
+hired a _voiture_ for the day's journey. It was comparatively a smart
+affair, a light _calèche_ with bright yellow pannels, and drawn by a
+pair of quick-stepping horses; so that we travelled in much comfort.
+Carriages are seldom found in the island except on this great road, and
+in a few of the principal towns; the mode of travelling in the interior,
+for persons of all ranks and both sexes, being either on horseback or on
+oxen.[71]
+
+We rattled out of Ozieri with a flourish of the driver's horn, more
+intent on which than on the management of his spirited horses he nearly
+brought us to grief. After some narrow escapes of being capsized over
+the heaps of stones scattered along the new road, now in the course of
+construction, we came to a dead lock in an excavation; and one of the
+horses, though mettlesome enough, hung in the collar, refusing to draw.
+It was said to be an Irish horse, but how or when it got to Sardinia was
+as much a myth as the immigration of some of the various races by which
+the island is said to have been peopled in ancient times. However, Miss
+Edgeworth's Irish postilion and “Knockecroghery,” could scarcely have
+afforded us more amusement than our Sarde driver and his horse, whose
+good qualities he ludicrously vaunted, alternately cursing and
+glorifying, thumping and coaxing, the vicious beast, while we heaved at
+the wheels. Our united efforts at length succeeded in extricating the
+vehicle from the sandy hollow; and after jolting for awhile over the
+new-formed road, the material having become solid and compact, we rolled
+at our ease across the plain. I remarked, that though the road was well
+levelled and macadamised, scarcely a man was to be seen employed in the
+present operations. Boys were breaking the metal, and girls carrying it
+in baskets on their heads.
+
+The plains being undulating, extensive views are commanded by the
+eminences far away over the Campidano, backed by the Limbara mountains
+on the north-west. We passed the village of Nores, pleasantly situated
+on a hill at the verge of the Ozieri plain, across which Monte Santo,
+appearing from this point a long ridge, rose in full view to our left,
+2000 feet high. The junction with the Strada Reale from Cagliari to
+Sassari was reached soon afterwards. About noon, we halted while the
+horses baited at a roadside _locanda_, the half-way house to Sassari,
+standing at the foot of Monte Santo, here reduced to the shape of a
+round-topped mountain. Lesser hills fell away to the great plain, the
+slopes and flats being sprinkled with large flocks of sheep. On a
+hillock two or three miles distant, were the ruins of a Nuraghe,
+mellowed to a rich orange tint.
+
+It was a pleasant spot, and at the present moment full of life, numbers
+of Sardes of all classes having, like ourselves, halted there for rest.
+Two _voitures_ were drawn up by the roadside, as well as several light
+carts, with high wheels and tilts made of rushes or cloth, conveying
+goods to and fro between Cagliari and Sassari. Women in yellow
+petticoats and red mantles, with bright kerchiefs round their heads, and
+men in their white shirt sleeves open to the elbow, and Moorish cotton
+trowsers, contrasting with their dark jackets, caps, and gaiters, were
+bustling about, fetching water and fodder for the horses. Others were
+sitting and eating under the shade of a group of weeping willows,
+overshadowing a bason of pure water, fed by a streamlet trickling down
+from the neighbouring hills. Intermingled with these were Sarde
+cavaliers, in a more brilliant costume; and a priest, carrying a huge
+crimson umbrella, came forth from the _locanda_, and with his
+attendants, mounting their horses, proceeded on their journey at a pace
+suited to the priest's gravity, and the requirements of his gorgeous
+canopy.
+
+Presently a horn sounded, and a coach came thundering down the hill,—the
+diligence on its daily service between the two capitals. The vehicle was
+double-bodied, well horsed, and, altogether, a superior turn-out. We
+took the opportunity of its pulling up for a moment to bespeak beds at
+Sassari. After amusing ourselves with a scene of life on the road not
+often witnessed in Sardinia,—having already lunched in our _voiture_ on
+a basket of grapes, with bread, and a bottle of the excellent white wine
+of Oristano,—we sauntered up the course of the rivulet to its source, at
+the foot of a rock among the woods. There we drank of the clear
+fountain, and washed; bees humming among the flowers, as in the height
+of the summer, and the gabble from the roadside below, coming up mixed
+with the cries of the carrier's fierce dogs. The spot commanded charming
+views of Monte Santo and the far-stretching _campagna_ beneath.
+
+Pursuing our route, the country assumed a peculiar aspect from the
+number of the flat-topped hills, swelling in green slopes out of the
+plains which spread before us in long sweeps. These vividly green
+hillocks are probably the craters of long extinct volcanoes, as we were
+now in the line, and near the centre, of that wide igneous action
+mentioned in a former chapter. There were signs of more extensive
+cultivation than we had hitherto observed, and the evident fertility of
+the soil left no doubt on the mind of its powers of production under a
+better system. Large flocks of sheep were feeding in every direction;
+this being the season for their being driven from the mountains for
+pasture and shelter in the teeming plains. Sardinia remains still in
+that pastoral state, which, however picturesque to the eyes of the
+traveller, as well as suited to the indolent habits of the Sarde
+peasant, must yield to agricultural progress, or, at least, be reduced
+within due bounds, before the soil of the island can be made the source
+of that wealth which, with proper cultivation, large portions of it are
+naturally fitted to yield. Sardinia will continue to be poor and
+uncivilised while vast tracts of country are open to almost promiscuous
+and lawless commonage, and while the occupation of the shepherd, with
+all its hardships, is esteemed preferable and more honourable than that
+of the tiller of the soil.
+
+After this, we got among hills bounding the plain in the neighbourhood
+of Florinas and Campo di Mela. The country became rugged, and, after
+crossing a river, over a still perfect Roman bridge, of several arches,
+with massive substructions of large square stones, which we alighted to
+examine, there commenced a steep ascent, winding among woods. We walked
+up it by moonlight, our driver's bugle echoing that of a _diligence_
+which preceded us at some distance in mounting the pass. Sassari was
+entered by an arched and embattled gateway in the square-towered wall
+surrounding the place; and, passing through the best quarter of the
+town, the dark mass of the citadel contrasting well with the white
+_façades_ and lofty colonnades of the neighbouring houses, we were set
+down at the Albergo di Progresso, opposite the great convent of St.
+Pietro, one of the richest of the many religious houses of which Sassari
+once boasted. The accommodations at the hotel were the best we enjoyed
+in the island.
+
+Sassari, the second city of Sardinia, containing a population of some
+30,000 souls, has always been a jealous rival of Cagliari, the
+metropolis, boasting an independent history of its own, of which it has
+just pretensions to be proud. It was an insignificant village till the
+inhabitants of Porto-Torres,—the ancient _Turris Libysonis_, founded on
+the neighbouring coast by the Greeks, and colonised by the Romans,—were
+driven by the incursions of the Saracen corsairs, and, finally, by the
+ruin of their town by the Genoese, in 1166, to seek a refuge further
+inland. They established themselves at Sassari, where the long street,
+still called Turritana, was named from the new settlers. In 1441, the
+archiepiscopal see and chapter of St. Gavino, near Porto-Torres, were
+translated to Sassari by Pope Eugenius IV., and thenceforward it
+rivalled the metropolis in opulence and power. When, in the thirteenth
+century, the Genoese occupied the northern division of the island,
+Sassari became a republic, entering into an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, with that of Genoa. The articles of the treaty are a curious
+amalgamation of independence assumed by the one, and of interference and
+jurisdiction claimed by the other. The general effect was, that the
+Sassarese accepted annually from the Genoese a Podesta, who swore
+fidelity to their constitution; and the Sassarese assert that while
+their city was under the protection of Genoa, they only styled that
+haughty republic in their statutes and diplomas, “_Mater et Magistra,
+sed non Domina:_” “_non Signora, ma Amica._”
+
+Mutual quarrels induced a rupture of the alliance in 1306, and on the
+Arragonese kings advancing pretensions to the sovereignty of the island,
+the Sassarese made a voluntary transfer of their allegiance to Diego II.
+of Arragon, who, in return, guaranteed their rights and privileges; and
+Sassari continued to be governed as a republic long after the Spanish
+conquest in 1325. The city, however, suffered severely during the
+protracted contests between the Genoese, Pisans, and the Giudici of
+Arborea, for the expulsion of the Spaniards; sustaining no less than ten
+sieges, courageously defended, in the short interval between 1332 and
+1409. It continued to be the victim of contending parties till 1420,
+when for the last time, and after a struggle of nearly a hundred years,
+it fell into the hands of Alfonso V., who conferred on it the title of
+“Città Reale.” In the middle of the fifteenth century it flourished both
+commercially and politically, enjoying privileges beyond any other town
+in the island. From this power and prosperity arose its rivalry with
+Cagliari; and the jealousies and dissensions in matters of government,
+religion, and education, surviving the transference of the sovereignly
+to the House of Savoy, have descended from generation to generation.
+
+This feeling prevails to the present day, partly owing, perhaps, to the
+circumstance of society in Sassari being less under the influence of
+Piedmontese and Continental opinions than in the capital, Cagliari,—and
+partly to the Sassarese population being mostly of Genoese extraction.
+The descendants of these settlers having almost all the trade, commerce,
+and employment in their hands, form a very important and influential
+middle class. I found at Sassari opinions more distinctly pronounced on
+the abuses of the government, and the necessity of reforms in the
+various branches of the administration, than I have reason to believe
+they are in the more courtly circles of Cagliari. Some numbers of a
+work, in course of publication, were put into my hands during our stay
+at Sassari, in which these topics were discussed in a sensible, bold,
+but temperate style.[72] Though written by a foreigner, a Venetian
+refugee, I have no doubt, from the manner in which it was spoken of by
+well-informed persons, and from its having reached a second edition,
+that it may be accepted as representing the opinions of a large class of
+the Sassarese, and I imagine of Sardes in general.
+
+Much interest attaches to the working of the constitutional system in
+the Sardinian dominions, not only politically, but in its effects on the
+social and economical condition of the country. Hitherto the island of
+Sardinia has been treated by the cabinet of Turin much as it was long
+the misfortune of the English government to deal with Ireland; regarding
+the native race as a conquered, but turbulent, impracticable and
+semi-barbarous people; the consequences of such misrule being poverty,
+disaffection and bloodshed. But I trust we see the dawn of brighter
+days, when this fine island, partaking of the benefits following in the
+train of constitutional government,—its wrongs redressed, its great
+natural resources developed, and the natural genius and many virtues of
+its inhabitants being cultivated and having free scope,—will be no
+insignificant jewel in the crown which assumed its regal title from this
+insular possession.
+
+With our own happy country in the van of political, social, and material
+progress, there are three secondary European states, which, in our own
+memory, have raised the banner of freedom, and are consistently marching
+under it with firm, vigorous, and well-poised steps. It need hardly be
+explained that we speak of Norway, Belgium, and Sardinia.[73] Occupying,
+geographically and politically, important positions ranging, at wide
+intervals, from the far north to the extreme south of Europe, these
+small, flourishing, and well-ordered states, offer a spectacle as full
+of hope and encouragement to all lovers of constitutional liberty, as it
+must necessarily be offensive to the despotic governments of the great
+continental monarchies, on whose thresholds the altars of freedom, newly
+lighted, have burnt with so steady and pure a flame. They may serve as
+beacon-lights to European populations gasping for that political
+regeneration, the hour of which will assuredly come, and may not be far
+distant.
+
+Of the state and prospects of the kingdom of Norway,[74] we have treated
+in another work. The democratic element is so predominant in its
+constitutional code, that the only fear was lest it should clash with
+the executive functions of even a limited monarchy. But, hitherto, the
+natural good sense, patriotism, and loyalty of the Norwegian people,
+though represented in a Storthing of peasant farmers,—and we may add,
+the moderation displayed by the Bernadotte dynasty,—have so obviated the
+difficulties of a hastily formed, and somewhat crude, code of
+fundamental laws, that it has been harmoniously worked to the great
+benefit of the nation. In Belgium, notwithstanding religious
+antagonisms, which have also perplexed the young councils of Sardinia,
+the constitutional system has been so consolidated, under the rule of a
+sagacious prince, that it may be hoped its permanence is secured. We
+need not speak of the rising fortunes of the Sardinian States, the only
+hope of fair Italy. The eyes of Europe are upon them; they are closely
+watched by friends and foes. Our business at present is, not with the
+political, but with the social and material, condition of the insular
+kingdom which forms a valuable portion of those singularly aggregated
+dominions. In a work devoted to a survey of the island, even a passing
+traveller may be pardoned for pausing in his narrative while he collects
+some cursory notices of its present condition under these aspects, and
+its requirements for improvement.
+
+All enlightened Sardes with whom we conversed unite with Signor Sala,
+who has devoted several sections of his work to the subject, in
+representing the corruption and other abuses pervading the
+administration of justice in Sardinia, as lying at the root of its
+greatest social evil. It is the ready excuse for rude justice, for
+private revenge, for the assertion of the rights of persons or of things
+by the strong hand, that the laws are inoperative, or iniquitously
+administered. There is too much reason to believe that this has been the
+normal state of Sardinia under all its rulers for ages past. And when at
+the same time we find the natural instincts of the people to be
+turbulent and lawless, and prone to theft and robbery, and consider the
+facilities afforded by a wild, mountainous, and densely wooded country,
+for the commission of crimes of violence, the scenes of bloodshed and
+rapine by which it has been desolated, are not to be wondered at. In the
+absence of a vigorous justice, and a sufficient military or police force
+for the protection of property, a voluntary association sprung up,
+consisting of armed men, under the name of Barancelli, who, for a sort
+of black mail paid by the peasants, undertook to recover their stolen
+cattle, or indemnify them for the loss. They fell, however, into
+disrepute, and I believe have been disbanded. Banditism has been finally
+and effectually extinguished in Corsica, as related in a former part of
+this work, by a total disarmament of the population, without respect of
+persons, or of the purposes for which fire-arms may be properly
+required. So stern a measure is neither suited to the genius of the
+Sardes or their rulers. With a numerous resident gentry, who, with their
+retainers, and the great mass of the population, are passionately fond
+of the chase, and with wastes so stocked with destructive wild animals,
+the total prohibition of fire-arms must be both unpopular and impolitic.
+The law, however, requires that no one shall carry them without a
+license. But it is not, or cannot be, enforced, for we saw them in every
+one's hands.
+
+It gave me great pleasure to learn, as it has been already stated, on a
+recent visit to Sardinia, that the administration of the law was become
+more pure, the police improved, outrages were less frequent, and
+confident hopes entertained that banditism, now confined to a small
+number of outlaws, would gradually die out. There is no doubt it will do
+so when the laws are respected as in other parts of the Sardinian
+dominions.
+
+In regard to the judges and other civil functionaries, we found
+everywhere the deepest antipathy towards the Piedmontese. Sardinia for
+the Sardes, was like the cry we often hear from our own sister island.
+Sala treats the subject with his usual temper and good sense. He admits
+the advantages of an administration conducted by natives possessing a
+knowledge of the country, conversant with its language and customs, and
+of a temper more conciliatory than foreigners invested with authority
+are likely to exhibit. He also admits that there is extreme mediocrity,
+and even ignorance, in the lower class of functionaries who arrive in
+the island with appointments obtained in Turin or Genoa. Sala relates a
+ludicrous story of one of these officials, who chanced to be his
+companion in the steam-boat from Genoa to Cagliari, being recommended to
+the Intendant-General as the chief of a department under him. When
+half-way across, the candidate for office had yet to learn whither they
+were bent,—“_Si fece interrogarci per dove possimo diretti_.”
+Afterwards, says Sala, when chatting in Cagliari, he reproached the
+Sardes with ignorance and indolence because, though their land was
+surrounded by the sea, they did not know how to supply themselves with a
+river,—“_Non sapevano formarsi un fiume_;” adding, with great
+self-complacency,—“_Li civilizzeremo, li civilizzeremo!_”
+
+Such impertinences are calculated to irritate the native Sardes against
+the continental officials; and they are generally detested. Our author,
+however, candidly allows that intrigue prevails so universally in the
+island, and the influences of relationship and connexions are so great,
+as to raise suspicions of the purity and fairness of native
+functionaries, especially of those who have been brought up under the
+old system,—a school of corruption. Signor Sala therefore suggests, that
+while appointments, both on the continent and the island, should be
+equally open to competent candidates, without respect of birth, great
+advantages would be obtained by this interchange. The Sardes being
+habituated by residence for a while, and the transaction of business, on
+Terra Firma; and thus withdrawn from unfavourable influences, would be
+prepared to fill honourably offices at home. This seems a wise and
+obvious mode of abating a grievance of which the Sardes not unjustly
+complain.
+
+Having mentioned before the gigantic evil of the vast extent of
+commonage claimed and exercised throughout the island, destructive of
+the rights of property and quite incompatible with agricultural
+progress, I have only to add that measures are contemplated for
+facilitating and protecting inclosures where lawfully made; but so as
+not to injure the great interest of the proprietors of flocks and herds,
+the staple production of the island. In this view it is proposed to
+place the great domains of the communes under better management.
+
+Among various other reforms and beneficial projects to which the
+attention of a more enlightened government must be directed, in order to
+raise Sardinia to the rank she is entitled to hold by the extent of her
+resources, and the intelligence of great numbers of her inhabitants, we
+can only enumerate, without observation, the educational system
+generally, including a reform of the Universities of Cagliari and
+Sassari,—sanitary measures tending, at least, to alleviate the
+insalubrity which is the scourge of the island,—improved police
+arrangements throughout the interior,—an increased supply of the
+circulating medium, the deficiency of which is represented as extreme
+and injurious to trade, and “Agrarian Banks;”—an entire new system of
+communal roads, connected with the great national highways, which roads,
+it is said, would double the value of property wherever they passed,—the
+protection and careful administration of the forests,—measures for
+developing the great mineral wealth of the island,—and the encouragement
+of the coral fisheries.
+
+Nor have we exhausted the list; but enough has been shown to satisfy the
+reader who accepts the statements we have laid before him, from our own
+observation and from the best information of the capabilities of
+Sardinia and its present condition,—how much is required to place her
+on a footing with other European states, and with what hope of eventual
+success. A vast field is, indeed, open for cultivation by an enlightened
+and patriotic administration. Great difficulties will have to be
+encountered, arising mainly from the indolence, the supineness, the
+prejudices, the ignorance, and the poverty of the Sarde population. The
+progress must be gradual, but noble will be the reward earned by that
+exercise of vigour, discretion, and perseverance, by which the obstacles
+to improvement may be overcome.
+
+There is one highly gifted man, who has long filled a distinguished
+place in the service of his sovereign and the eyes of the world, in
+whose hands the task of regenerating Sardinia, herculean as it may
+appear, would be not only a labour of love, but facile comparatively
+with any others on which it may devolve. I speak of General the Count
+Alberto di Marmora, known to all Europe by his Topographical Survey, and
+his able work, the _Voyage en Sardaigne_, of which two additional
+volumes have been recently published. But, perhaps, his devotion to the
+best interests of the Sarde people, his labours in that cause, and the
+esteem and affection with which he is universally regarded in the island
+are less understood. Enjoying also the confidence of the king and his
+ministers, General La Marmora is eminently fitted to carry out the
+beneficial designs which he has long conceived and furthered; but his
+advanced age precludes the hope of his seeing them accomplished. May his
+mantle fall on no unworthy successor!
+
+One subject of special interest in connection with Sardinian progress
+has been reserved for a more particular notice than we have been able to
+afford most others, both on account of its importance, and its having
+much engaged the attention of the master-mind most conversant with the
+situation of affairs. At the outset of our rambles in Sardinia, it was
+observed that the Sardes are averse to maritime occupations; the Iliese
+of La Madelena, who are so employed to some extent, being a distinct
+race. Sardinia has no mercantile marine. Signor Sala states that there
+are only four or five vessels belonging to natives, and, of these, two
+are the property of the same rich owner. Considering the advantages of
+her position, and the products the island is capable of supplying for an
+active commerce, he considers the want of a mercantile marine one of
+Sardinia's greatest misfortunes, and treats with much good sense of the
+means calculated to promote its establishment.[75]
+
+General La Marmora drew attention to the subject in a pamphlet published
+at Cagliari in 1850, under the title of _Questioni marittimi spettanti
+all'isola di Sardegna_; and resumed the subject in 1856, in another
+work, which he was so obliging as to give me, when at Cagliari, in 1857.
+It originated in the expected completion of the line of Electric
+Telegraph between Algeria, Sardinia, Corsica, and the continent of
+Europe; its connexion with which, and its bearings on commerce, I may
+have to refer to on a future occasion. The General comments on the
+extraordinary fact, that, in an island 800 miles in circumference, there
+only exist four sea-ports, properly so called. These are Cagliari, on
+the south coast, Terranova, on the east, Porto-Torres, on the north, and
+Alghero on the west. All the other villages and towns on the coast stand
+more or less distantly from it, and cannot be called maritime. He
+considers this depopulation of the coast as the deplorable consequence
+of the devastations of the Saracen corsairs, and the continual piracy
+which was carried on to a late period, and only ceased on the conquest
+of Algeria by the French.
+
+It would be foreign to our province to detail the projects which General
+La Marmora suggests, or advocates, for giving expansion to the commerce
+of Sardinia,—such as the establishment of light-houses on Cape
+Spartivento, and other points; improvements in the harbour of Cagliari,
+and a better supply of the place with water. He considers the now almost
+deserted town and port of Terranova, at the head of the fine gulf _Degli
+Aranci_, on the north-eastern coast, to be a point of great importance
+from its position in face of the Italian ports, and as the proper
+station for the postal steamboats communicating between Genoa and the
+island of Sardinia. In reference to this, he mentions that the project
+of a law for encouraging colonisation in the island, was presented by
+the Minister to the Chamber of Deputies in February, 1856; the proposal
+being to grant 60,000 hectares of the national domains to a company
+formed for establishing agrarian colonies. The cabinet of Turin, then,
+are alive to one of the great wants of Sardinia,—an increased and
+industrious agricultural population. But General La Marmora desires that
+a part of the colonists should be maritime, drawn from La Madalena,
+Genoa, and other ports, and settled at the proposed new harbour of
+Terranova.
+
+By these and other aids, the General is sanguine that Sardinia will, ere
+long, take the place naturally belonging to it among maritime countries,
+and he repeats as a motto to his recent pamphlet, a sentence from the
+first edition of his _Voyage en Sardaigne_, published in 1826, to which,
+he remarks, recent events have almost given the character of a
+prediction in the course of speedy accomplishment:—_Qui sait si un jour,
+par suite des progrès que fait depuis quelque temps l'Egypte moderne, le
+commerce des Indes Orientales ne prendra pas la route de la Mer-Rouge et
+de Suez? La Sardaigne, alors, ne pourrait-elle pas devenir la plus belle
+et la plus commode échelle de la Méditerranée?_
+
+The cabinet of Turin and the national legislature must be well disposed
+to foster the commerce and agriculture, the natural resources, and
+social interests of the Sardes. Should the Ministers be negligent or
+ill-advised, the representatives of the people, or, in the last resort,
+the Sarde constituencies, have their constitutional remedy. British
+institutions are said to be models imitated in the young commonwealth.
+They present similar features; and let it be recollected what influence
+either the Irish or the Scotch members, acting in concert in our House
+of Commons, can bring to bear on any question affecting the interests of
+their respective countries. The Sardes return twenty-four deputies to
+the popular chamber, and if they be good men and true, inaccessible to
+intrigue, and find in their patriotism a bond of union, their united
+votes cannot be disregarded by any Minister.
+
+How different is the case of Corsica, the sister island! In reviewing
+her industrial position we quoted rather largely from a _Procès-Verbal_
+of the deliberations of the Council-General, also an elective body,
+which canvasses, but not regulates, the internal administration of the
+island. It arrives at certain conclusions, but without any power to give
+them effect. “Le Conseil-Général émet le vœu,” “appelle l'attention,”
+are the phrases wherewith, with bated breath, the representatives of the
+people convey their resolutions to the foot of the throne. The courtly
+Prefect communicates them to the Minister of the Interior, and he, the
+organ of the Imperial will, rejects, confirms, or modifies the “vœu.”
+The Sarde representatives meet the Ministers face to face in the
+Parliament at Turin, demand, discuss, explain, remonstrate, carry their
+point, or are content to yield to a majority of the Chamber. With a free
+press, the public learns all; public opinion ratifies or condemns the
+vote. It will prevail in the end. Herein lies the difference between a
+despotic and a popular government. A bright day dawned on the future
+destinies of Sardinia, when it exchanged the one for the other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXIV.
+
+  _Alghero—Notice of.—The Cathedral of
+    Sassari.—University.—Museum.—A Student's private
+    Cabinet.—Excursion to a Nuraghe—Description of.—Remarks on the
+    Origin and Design of these Structures._
+
+Sassari is about equidistant from Alghero and Porto-Torres. Of these two
+ports Alghero is far the best, but all the commerce of Sassari passes
+through Porto-Torres, by the Strada Reale. The ancient rivalry between
+the two cities engendered a hatred which continues to the present day,
+insomuch that the Sassarese have resisted all efforts to make a good
+road from Alghero, to enable it to become their port of trade. These
+feuds arose in the age when Alghero was the chief seat of the Arragonese
+power in the island, enjoyed great exclusive privileges, and was peopled
+by Catalonian settlers. It is still Spanish in the character of the
+inhabitants, their customs, and buildings. Surrounded by a fertile and
+well-cultivated country, abounding in orange and olive groves,
+vineyards, and fields of corn and flax, Alghero is a city of some seven
+thousand inhabitants, many of them in affluent circumstances. It is a
+fortified place, with a richly ornamented cathedral, and thirteen other
+churches.
+
+Sassari also boasts a spacious cathedral, with a very elaborate façade,
+a work of the 17th century. It contains also twenty churches, including
+those that are conventual. If the religious state of the community were
+to be estimated by the number of those devoted to the service of the
+church, the Sassarese ought to be models of piety; for Mr. Tyndale
+calculates the number of priests and monks in 1840 as giving a total of
+769 clerical persons, about one for every thirty-two individuals of the
+community. Their numbers have been diminished by the suppression of some
+of the convents, but, even at the time of our visit, his remark, that
+one cannot walk fifty yards in the street without meeting an
+ecclesiastic, was confirmed by our own observation.
+
+The object which the Sassarese are most proud to exhibit to strangers,
+is the fountain of Rosello, outside the north-east or Macella gate. At
+the angles are large figures of the four seasons, at the feet of which
+the stream issues forth, as well as from eight lions' mouths in the
+sides of the building. The whole is of white marble, and though open to
+criticism as an architectural design, the utility of a fountain, which
+has twelve mouths constantly pouring forth pure water, in such a
+climate, cannot be overrated.
+
+The University of Sassari, founded by Philip IV. in 1634, is established
+in the spacious college formerly belonging to the Jesuits. It numbers
+about 200 students. The library contains a scanty collection of books,
+mostly ecclesiastical works. The museum exhibits some few articles of
+interest, relics of the Phœnician colonisation and Roman occupation of
+the island, mixed up in the greatest confusion, as in a broker's shop,
+with meagre specimens of mineralogy and conchology; and cannot for a
+moment be compared with the museum of Cagliari, rich in valuable remains
+of antiquity, and admirably arranged. It will be noticed in its proper
+place.
+
+We were much more interested in being allowed to examine a small private
+collection belonging to a young Sassarese, whose acquaintance it was our
+good fortune to make, and of whose talents, intelligence, and courtesy I
+retain a most pleasing impression. The pursuits of the young men of the
+higher classes in Sassari, are described as entirely frivolous, and the
+bent of the bourgeoisie as eminently sordid. It was, therefore, with an
+agreeable surprise, that we found ourselves in a studio embellished with
+the portraits of such characters as Dante, Ariosto, and Sir Isaac
+Newton; and where mathematical instruments, scattered about, and a
+cabinet containing some of the best French, English, German, and Italian
+authors, gave a pleasing idea of the tastes of the owner. With imperfect
+aid he had made himself sufficiently proficient in foreign languages to
+be able to read them; and it appeared that his severer studies were
+relieved by accomplishments displaying considerable talent, such as
+painting, and taking impressions from the antique in electrotype. He was
+good enough to offer me some of his casts, with a few coins from his
+museum of antiquities; two engravings from which, illustrating the Punic
+and Saracenic periods of the history of Sardinia, will appear in future
+pages, together with one copied from a unique coin of the Roman age,
+preserved in the Royal Museum at Cagliari.
+
+One seldom finds such talents and accomplishments accompanied by the
+modesty with which our young student spoke of his pursuits. Nor was he a
+mere recluse, though his health appeared feeble; for he entered with
+zest into conversation on the various topics of European interest
+suggested by a visit from foreigners, while he did not hesitate to
+expose, with patriotic zeal, the follies and abuses which opposed the
+march of civilisation in his native country. Such characters are rare.
+We had unexpectedly stumbled on a delicate flower, nurtured on an
+ungrateful soil, and destined to shed its sweetness in an atmosphere
+where, I fear, it is little appreciated. I may be excused, then, for
+devoting a page to the adventure, and allowed to inscribe on that page,
+a name of which I have so agreeable a recollection—that of Carlo Rugiu.
+
+Our new friend was kind enough to be our conductor in a walk to a
+Nuraghe, standing about three miles from Sassari, and in good
+preservation. We had already seen many of these very ancient structures
+scattered over all parts of the country; more or less ruinous, they are
+said to number 3000 at the present day, and many others have been
+destroyed.
+
+    [Illustration: EXTERIOR OF A NURAGHE.]
+
+Whether seen on the plains or on the mountains, the Nuraghe are
+generally built on the summits of hillocks, or on artificial mounds,
+commanding the country. Some are partially inclosed at a slight distance
+by a low wall of similar construction with the building. Their external
+appearance is that of a truncated cone from thirty to sixty feet in
+height, and from 100 to 300 in circumference at the base. The walls are
+composed of rough masses of the stones peculiar to the locality, each
+from two to six cubic feet, built in regular horizontal layers, in
+somewhat of the Cyclopean style, and gradually diminishing in size to
+the summit. Most commonly they betray no marks of the chisel, but in
+many instances the stones appear to have been rudely worked by the
+hammer, though not exactly squared.
+
+The interior is almost invariably divided into two domed chambers, one
+above the other; the lowest averaging from fifteen to twenty feet in
+diameter, and from twenty to twenty-five feet in height. Access to the
+upper chamber is gained by a spiral ramp, or rude steps, between the
+internal and external walls. These are continued to the summit of the
+tower, which is generally supposed to have formed a platform; but
+scarcely any of the Nuraghe now present a perfect apex. On the ground
+floor, there are generally from two to four cells worked in the solid
+masonry of the base of the cone.
+
+Independently of the interest attached to the object of our search, the
+fertile plains surrounding Sassari formed a sufficient attraction for a
+long walk. Plantations of olives, of vines, oranges, and other
+fruit-trees, succeeded each other in rich profusion; the olive trees
+being especially productive, and the oil, exported from Sassari in large
+quantities, being of the first quality. The environs, far and wide, are
+laid out in these plantations, and in gardens highly cultivated,
+interspersed with villas and pleasure-grounds. Tobacco is largely
+cultivated, and the vegetables are excellent. A cauliflower served up at
+dinner was of enormous size, nor can I forget the baskets of delicious
+figs which, at this late period of the year, were brought by the
+market-women to the door of our hotel.
+
+The Nuraghe to which our steps were directed proved to be a very
+picturesque object, rising out of a thicket of shrubs, with tufts
+growing in the crevices of the tower, which on one side was dilapidated.
+The other, composed of huge boulders, laid horizontally with much
+precision, considering the rude materials, still preserved its conical
+form, rising to the height of twenty or twenty-five feet. The entrance
+was so low that we were obliged to stoop almost to our knees in passing
+through it. A lintel, consisting of a single stone, some two tons'
+weight, was supported by the protruding jambs. No light being admitted
+to the chamber, but by a low passage through the double walls, it was
+gloomy enough.
+
+    [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO A NURAGHE.]
+
+    [Illustration: INTERIOR OF A NURAGHE.]
+
+In this instance, the interior formed a single dome or cone about
+twenty-five feet high, well-proportioned, and diminishing till a single
+massive stone formed the apex. The chamber was fifteen feet in diameter,
+and had four recesses or cells worked in the solid masonry, about five
+feet high, three deep, and nearly the same in breadth.
+
+The small platform on the summit of the cone, to which we ascended by
+the ramp in the interior of the wall and some rugged steps, commanded a
+rich view of the plain of Sassari, appearing from the top one dense
+thicket of olive and fruit trees spreading for miles round the city. Out
+of these groves rise the towers and domes of Sassari, the enceinte of
+its grey battlemented walls, and the lofty masses of its white houses.
+The view over the plain to the west is bounded by the Mediterranean,
+intersected by the bold outlines of the island of Asmara. After feasting
+our eyes on perhaps the most charming _tableau_ the island affords,
+decked with nature's choicest gifts, and exhibiting an industry unusual
+among the modern Sardes, we sat down at the foot of the hillock, while
+my friend was completing his sketches of the Nuraghe, and our thoughts
+were naturally drawn to these relics of a primitive age. “What was their
+origin—their history—what were the purposes for which they were
+designed?”
+
+It needed only that we should lift our eyes to the rude but shapely cone
+before us,—massive in its materials and fabric, and yet constructed with
+some degree of mechanical skill,—to come to the conclusion that the
+Nuraghe are works of a very early period, just when rude labour had
+begun to be directed by some rules of geometrical art. But, in examining
+the details, we find little or nothing to assist us in forming any clear
+idea of the period at which they were erected, or the purpose for which
+they were designed. There are not the slightest vestiges of ornament,
+any rude sculpture, any inscriptions. Of an antiquity probably anterior
+to all written records, history not only throws no certain light on
+their origin, but, till modern times, was silent as to their existence.
+Successive races, and powers, and dynasties have flourished in the
+island, and passed away, scarcely any of them without leaving some
+relics, some medals of history, some impress on the manners and
+character of the people still to be traced. The mouldering cones which
+arrest the traveller's attention, scattered, as we have observed, in
+great numbers throughout the island, enduring in their simple and
+massive structure, have thrown their shade over Phœnicians and Greeks,
+Romans and Carthaginians, Saracens, Pisans, Genoese, and Spaniards, and
+still survive the wreck of time and so many other early buildings,—the
+remains of a people of whose existence they are the only record, and,
+except monoliths, the oldest of, at least, European monuments.
+
+In the absence of any positive evidence regarding the origin and design
+of the Sardinian Nuraghe[76], there has been abundance of conjecture and
+speculation on the subject. On the present occasion, I had the advantage
+of discussing it with our intelligent Sassarese student, I have also
+heard the remarks of one of the most distinguished Sarde antiquarians,
+and having since consulted the works of La Marmora and other writers,
+whose extensive researches and personal investigations entitle their
+opinions to much respect, I shall endeavour to lay the result,
+unsatisfactory as it proves, before the reader, in the shortest compass
+to which so wide an inquiry can be reduced.
+
+The world has been searched for styles of building corresponding with
+that of the Sarde Nuraghe; without success. Neither in Etruscan,
+Pelasgic, or any other European architecture are any such models to be
+found, nor do Indian, Assyrian, or Egyptian remains exhibit any identity
+with them. They have been supposed, among other theories, to have some
+affinity with the Round Towers of Ireland; but after a careful
+examination of some of those almost equally mysterious structures, and
+considerable research among the authorities for their antiquity and
+uses, I have failed to discover anything in common between them and the
+Nuraghe. If my memory be correct, Mr. Petrie, the highest authority on
+the subject of the Round Towers, though he had not seen the Nuraghe,
+incidentally expresses the same opinion. The only existing buildings
+exhibiting a cognate character with those of Sardinia, are certain
+conical towers found in the Balearic islands, which were also colonised
+by the Phœnicians. They are called _talayots_, a diminutive, it is said,
+of _atalaya_, meaning the “Giants' Burrow;” and if the plate annexed to
+Father Bresciani's work be a correct representation, they would appear
+to be identical with the Nuraghe in the exterior, except that the ramp
+leading to the summit is worked in the outward face of the wall. We
+find, also, from La Marmora's description of the _talayots_ examined by
+him, that the character of the cells is different, the style of masonry
+more cyclopean, and that many of them are surrounded with circles of
+stones and supposed altars, scarcely ever met with in Sardinia. The
+resemblance, however, is striking, as connected with the facts of the
+contiguity of Minorca, and the colonisation of both the islands by the
+Phœnicians.
+
+Opinions as to the purposes for which the Nuraghe were erected are as
+various as those regarding their origin. From their great number,
+scattered over the country, they are supposed by some to have been the
+habitations of the most ancient shepherds; and the words of Micah—“the
+tower of the flocks,”[77] and other similar passages, are referred to as
+supporting this view. But it is hardly necessary to point out that the
+inconveniences of the structure, from its low entrance and dark
+interior, to say nothing of the waste of labour in heaping up such vast
+structures for shepherds' huts, will not admit of the idea being
+entertained. With somewhat more reason, but still with little
+probability, they have been represented as watch-towers, strongholds,
+and places of refuge; a theory to which their position, their numbers,
+and their structure are all opposed. Another hypothesis treats the
+Nuraghe as monuments commemorating heroes or great national events,
+whether in peace or war; forgetting, as Father Bresciani suggests, the
+centuries that must have elapsed while the mountains, and hills, and
+plains of Sardinia were being successively crowned with monuments of
+this description.
+
+Discarding such conjectural theories, the best-informed travellers and
+writers are agreed in considering the Nuraghe as being designed either
+for religious edifices or tombs for the dead. La Marmora confesses his
+inability to pronounce decidedly between the two opinions, but inclines
+to the opinion that they may have been intended for both purposes.
+Father Bresciani, the latest writer on Sardinian antiquities, after a
+personal examination of the Nuraghe and much general research, though he
+does not venture a decided opinion, is disposed to agree with La
+Marmora. In confirmation of the idea that the most ancient monuments
+were at once tombs and altars, he quotes a Spanish writer[78] on the
+antiquities of Mexico, referring also to Lord Kingsborough's splendid
+work. So general an assumption is hardly warranted either by historical
+testimony or existing relics of antiquity. If such were the primitive
+custom, it did not prevail among the Greeks and Romans, and it is in the
+rites and practices of the Christian Church that we find its revival.
+
+However this may be, the theory not only of the twofold design or use of
+the Nuraghe, but of either of them, is confessedly quite conjectural: it
+rests upon a narrow basis of facts. Though a great number of the Nuraghe
+have been carefully ransacked, in very few instances only have human
+bones been discovered, but neither urns, arms, nor ornaments usually
+inhumed with the dead; nor are many of them so constructed as to permit
+the supposition that they were designed for sepulchral purposes.
+Occasionally, also, some of the miniature idols, such as are preserved
+in the museum at Cagliari, have been found buried in Nuraghe, or their
+precincts. But this is not general; and there are neither altars nor any
+other indications in the structure of the buildings to indicate their
+appropriation to religious uses, except their pyramidal or conical form,
+which they share in common with most buildings of the earliest age. So
+far as these were designed for idolatrous uses—as many of them doubtless
+were—the argument from analogy may apply to the Nuraghe, but it can be
+carried no further.
+
+Whatever were the purposes of the Nuraghe, almost all writers on
+Sardinia consider these ancient structures of Eastern origin. Father
+Bresciani attributes them to Canaanitish or Phœnician colonies, which
+migrated to the west in early times; and he takes great pains, but, I
+consider, without much success, to establish their identity, or, at
+least, their analogy, with the religious or sepulchral erections,—the
+altars, and “high places,” and tombs,—of which notices are found in the
+Old Testament. No doubt exists that extensive migrations, favoured by
+the enterprise of the earliest maritime people of whom we have any
+record, took place, perhaps both before and after the age of Moses, from
+the shores of Syria to the islands and shores of the West of Europe.
+There is reason to think that the island of Sardinia, if not the first
+seat, was, from its peculiar situation, the very centre, of a
+colonisation, embracing in its ramifications the coasts of Africa and
+Spain, with Malta, Sicily, and the Balearic islands. It appears singular
+that Corsica, the sister island to Sardinia, should not have shared in
+this movement of settlers from the East; perhaps from its lying out of
+the direct current, while, in its onward course, the wave flowing
+through the Straits of Hercules bore forward on the ocean the “merchants
+of many isles,” for commerce if not for settlement, as far as the
+Cassiterides, our own Scilly Isles.
+
+Though there is little historical evidence of the Phœnician colonisation
+of Sardinia, and even that of the early Greek settlements in the island
+is obscure and conflicting, we have abundant traces of the former, more
+imperishable than written records, still lingering in the manners and
+customs of the modern Sardes, and in the great number of those
+extraordinary antiquities known as the Sarde idols. The greater part of
+these, as Mr. Tyndale undertakes to show, were symbols of Canaanitish
+worship, the miniature representations of the gods adored by the Syrian
+nations, especially of Moloch, Baal, Astarte or Astaroth, Adonis or
+Tammuz, the very objects of that idolatry so frequently and emphatically
+denounced in the Old Testament, to which we have already referred. Mr.
+Tyndale, however, justly observes, that “so distinct and peculiar is the
+character of these relics, that their counterparts are no more to be met
+with out of Sardinia than the Nuraghe themselves.” From this
+circumstance, in conjunction with the fact of the images being often
+found in and near those buildings, he infers that they may have been,
+directly or indirectly, connected with each other, in either a
+religious, sepulchral, or united character.
+
+The inquiry would be incomplete unless it were extended to other Sarde
+remains, of equal or greater antiquity, for the purpose of discovering
+whether they have any affinity with, or can throw any light on, the
+mysterious origin of the Nuraghe. We propose devoting another chapter to
+this investigation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXV.
+
+  _Sardinian Monoliths.—The Sepolture, or “Tombs of the
+    Giants.”—Traditions regarding Giant Races.—The Anakim, &c., of
+    Canaan.—Their supposed Migration to Sardinia.—Remarks on
+    Aboriginal Races.—Antiquity of the Nuraghe and Sepolture.—Their
+    Founders unknown._
+
+
+We can hardly be mistaken in supposing that, among the relics of
+antiquity still existing in Sardinia, the monoliths, of somewhat similar
+character with the Celtic remains at Carnac, Avebury, and Stonehenge,
+and common also in other countries, belong to the earliest age. These
+Sarde monoliths are found in several parts of the island, being, as the
+name expresses, single stones, or obelisks, set upright in the ground.
+In Sardinia they are called _Pietra-_ or _Perda-fitta_, and
+_Perda-Lunga_. We generally find them rounded by the hammer, but
+irregularly, in a conical form tapering to the top, but with a gradual
+swell in the middle; and their height varies from six to eighteen feet.
+They differ from the Celtic monuments, in being generally thus worked
+and shaped; in not being often congregated on one spot beyond three in
+number—a _Perda-Lunga_ with two lesser stones; and in there not being
+any appearance of their ever having had, like the Trilithons of
+Stonehenge, any impost horizontal stone.
+
+Father Bresciani finds the prototype of all these rude pillars
+scattered throughout the world, in the Beth-El of Jacob and other
+Bethylia, sepulchral or commemorative, mentioned in the Hebrew
+Scriptures. By Mr. Tyndale, the Sarde _Perda-Lunga_ is considered a
+relic of the religion common to all the idolatrous Syro-Arabian nations,
+which, deifying the powers and laws of nature, considers the male sex to
+be the type of its active, generative, and destructive powers, while
+that passive power of nature, whose function is to conceive and bring
+forth, is embodied under the female form. And this worship, he
+conceives, was introduced into Sardinia, with the symbols just
+described, by the Phœnician or Canaanitish immigrants.
+
+    [Illustration: SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES.]
+
+The _Sepolture de is Gigantes_, the tombs of the giants, as they are
+called, form another class of Sarde antiquities of the earliest age. The
+structures to which the popular traditions ascribe this name, may be
+described as a series of large stones placed together without any
+cement, inclosing a foss or hollow from fifteen to thirty-six feet long,
+from three to six wide, and the same in depth, with immense flat stones
+resting on them as a covering. Though the latter are not always found,
+it is evident, by a comparison with the more perfect Sepolture, that
+they have once existed, and have been destroyed or removed.[79]
+
+The foss runs invariably from north-west to south-east; and at the
+latter point there is a large upright headstone, averaging from ten to
+fifteen feet high, varying in its form, from the square, elliptical, and
+conical, to that of three-fourths of an egg; and having in many
+instances an aperture about eighteen inches square at its base.
+
+    [Illustration: SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES.]
+
+On each side of this stele, or headstone, commences a series of separate
+stones, irregular in size and shape, but forming an arc, the chord of
+which varies from twenty to twenty-six feet; so that the whole figure
+somewhat resembles the bow and shank of a spur.
+
+“The shape of the foss and headstone,” observes Mr. Tyndale, “of these
+remains, fairly admits of the probability that they were graves, as some
+of the earliest forms of sepulchres on record are the upright stones
+with superincumbent slabs, such as the Druidical cistvaens and some
+tombs in Greece. Still, like the ‘Sarde Idols’ and the Nuraghe, the
+_Sepolture_ are peculiar to the island, being entirely different in
+point of size and character from any other sepulchral remains. Judging
+from the many remains of those partially destroyed, their numbers must
+have been considerable. The Sardes believe them to be veritable tombs of
+giants; and that there may be legends of their existence in the island
+is undeniable, as a similar belief is found in almost all countries.”
+Mr. Tyndale, in speaking of the supposed connexion between the _Nuraghe_
+and the _Sepolture_, observes that, “if a Canaanitish race migrated
+here, nothing is more probable than that the tradition and worship of
+the giants would be also imported; and that it is even possible that
+some of the actual gigantic races of the Rephaim, Anakim, and others
+mentioned in Scripture, might have actually arrived in Sardinia.” Father
+Bresciani goes further: he fixes the era of this migration, points out
+the event which caused it[80], and traces its route by the Isthmus of
+Suez, through Egypt, and along the coast of Africa, which they are also
+said to have colonised; and whence he considers they could easily
+navigate to Sardinia and other islands in that part of the
+Mediterranean.
+
+This immigration, however, of the Canaanitish giants rests upon very
+slender evidence; and it may be questioned whether the oldest Sardinian
+monuments do not belong to an age far anterior to that of any Phœnician
+or Canaanitish colonisation of the island whatever. That such there was,
+undoubted proofs have already been gathered; but the statuettes of
+Phœnician idols, forming part of those proofs, with the arts and skill
+required for the maritime enterprise it required, betray the
+civilisation of a period more advanced than that to which we should be
+disposed to attribute such rude structures as the Nuraghe and the
+Sepolture. In this uncertainty, it may be worth an inquiry, whether
+these ancient monuments did not exist before the colonists landed on the
+shores of Sardinia,—in short, whether they were not the works of an
+aboriginal race. The question is raised by M. Tyndale: “We may reduce
+the inquiry,” he says, “to the simple question, Were the Nuraghe built
+by the autochthones of the island, of whom we have no knowledge, or by
+the earliest colonists, of whom we have but little information?” On the
+former alternative the author is silent; nor is the question even raised
+by any other writer on Sardinian antiquities within our knowledge.
+
+Yet surely, independently of its bearing on the origin of the Nuraghe
+and the early population of Sardinia, the subject of indigenous races is
+interesting in a general point of view. And it is worthy of notice, that
+the accounts handed down to us of the earliest colonists of the ancient
+world, speak of an aboriginal population existing in the countries to
+which they migrated, just as the European adventurers and
+circumnavigators of the last three centuries found indigenous races on
+the continents and islands they discovered, except on some few islands
+of the Pacific Ocean, recently emerged from the state of coral reefs.
+The parallel may be carried further. The ancient, as well as the modern,
+colonists carried the arts of a superior civilisation in their train;
+but the indigenous races of the New World were destined to gradual decay
+and extinction, leaving some ancient monuments as the records of their
+existence, just as the primitive children of the soil in the West of
+Europe, whose relics we endeavour to decipher, disappeared and were
+lost; so uniform is the order of events in the designs of Providence.
+
+Poetical legends, generally founded on, and blended with, traditionary
+facts, help us to form some idea of the character and habits of the
+aboriginal races; but history, and even tradition, seldom carry us
+further back in the review of past ages than the arrival of colonists,
+generally of Eastern origin, to form settlements on the shores and the
+islands washed by the Mediterranean. Did they find these shores and
+islands uninhabited? To say nothing of countries more remote and less
+accessible, many considerations would induce us to imagine that these
+fair regions were not all deserts; that, even at this early period, they
+were already peopled.
+
+In Sardinia, where, as already observed, the manners, the superstitions,
+and the traditions of the earliest ages, are more faithfully preserved
+than in any other European country, we find, among the most ancient
+existing structures, some which, to this day, are pointed out by the
+natives as “the Tombs of the Giants.” And who were the “giants,” of whom
+we read much, both in sacred and profane history? The very term is
+significant. It is formed from two Greek words—γῆ and γένω, and
+signifies earth-born, sons of the earth.[81] The word αὐτόχθνονες
+(autochthones) has a cognate meaning; Liddell and Scott render it, “of
+the land itself; Latin, _terrigenæ, aborigines, indigenæ_, of the
+original race, _not settlers_.” The mythical account of the origin of
+the “giants” concurs with this etymology. It paints them as the sons of
+Cœlus and Terra—Heaven and Earth. In the poetry of Hesiod, they spring
+from the earth imbued with the blood of the gods. Traces and traditions
+of this aboriginal race are found in all parts of the world, and in
+sacred as well as profane history. We are told that there were giants in
+the days before the flood[82]; and Josephus considers them the offspring
+of the union, mysteriously described by the sacred writer, of “the sons
+of God with the daughters of men;” for, as might be supposed, there were
+females also of the race of the earth-born. So the poets sang. Such was
+Cybele, daughter of Heaven and Earth, pictured as crowned with a diadem
+of towers, as the patroness of builders. We read of the giants, in the
+Old Testament, under the names of Rephaim, Emim, Zamzummim, and Anakim.
+In the time of Abraham, these tribes dwelt in the country beyond Jordan,
+in about Astaroth-Karnaim[83], and it is now the received opinion of
+biblical archæologists, that they were the most ancient, or aboriginal,
+inhabitants of Palestine; prior to the Canaanites, by whom they were
+gradually dispossessed of the region west of the Jordan, and driven
+beyond that river. Some of the race, however, remained in Palestine
+Proper so late as the invasion of the land by the Hebrews, and are
+repeatedly mentioned as “the sons of Anak,” and “the remnant of the
+Rephaim;”[84] and a few families existed as late as the time of
+David.[85]
+
+In the most ancient legends we find the giant race located in all parts
+of the then known world. In Thessaly, under the name of Titans, poetic
+fiction records their deeds of prowess in piling mountain on mountain,
+and hurling immense rocks in their battles with the gods. Writers of
+credit have transmitted to us accounts of the discovery of their remains
+on the coast of Africa, from Bona to Tangier, in Sicily, and in Crete.
+The earliest navigators who touched on the shores and islands of the
+Mediterranean, brought back romantic tales, receiving their colouring
+from the terrors of the narrators, of the barbarity and the stature of
+the races they found on those then inhospitable shores. They were
+robbers, and even cannibals; enemies of the gods and men. Such tales are
+not without their parallels in the annals of modern maritime discovery.
+
+Before the fall of Troy, Sicily was peopled by a giant or aboriginal
+people, called Cyclopes; that insular race being said to be descended
+from Neptune and Amphitrite, just as the giant Antæus, the founder of
+Tangier on the African coast, was called the son of Neptune and Terra.
+If we take Polyphemus, the chief of a tribe of the Cyclops, for a type
+of this cognate race, what do we find in his story, divested of the
+fiction with which it was clothed by tradition, transmuted into the
+poetry of the Odyssey and the Æneid? The Grecian and Trojan heroes,
+successively land on the eastern coast of Sicily, near the base of Mount
+Ætna, whose throes and thunders lend horror to the scene. There dwelt
+this Cyclop chief, in a cavern of the rocks. The race were Troglodytes,
+as were the aboriginal Sardes, Baleares, Maltese, Libyans, &c. In
+Sardinia, their caverns are still to be seen in an island of the
+territory of Sulcis. Caves were probably the first habitations of
+primitive man, before emerging from a condition hardly superior to that
+of the savage beasts, his competitors for such rude shelter.
+Irrespective of climate, in these we find his home, whether among the
+Celts of the frozen regions of the North, or the Arabs of the stony
+wastes bordering on the Erythrean Sea, in the Libyan deserts, or in the
+sandstone rocks of Southern Africa. There one still sees the pygmy
+Bushmen, perhaps the last existing Troglodyte race, the very reverse of
+the Cyclops in stature, but, like them, their hand against every man's,
+unchanged by ages in the midst of African tribes of considerable
+civilisation, neither sowing nor pasturing, but living on roots,
+berries, and grubs, like other aboriginal races, which sprang into
+existence with the forests through which they roam, and the various
+brutes which shared with them the possession of the soil:
+
+    “Cum prorepserunt primis animalia terris,
+    Mutum et turpe pecus.” HOR. _Sat._ i. 3.
+
+But the traditions of Polypheme and his Cyclops represent them as
+advanced beyond this first rude stage of society, though they still
+adhered to their ancestral caves. They were robbers, no doubt; at least,
+they plundered and made captive unfortunate mariners thrown on their
+shores. Perhaps they feasted on their captives, as American Indians and
+South-Sea islanders are reported to have done. This may be doubted; but
+at least the cannibal feasts of the Sicilian aborigines were but _bonnes
+bouches_ occasionally thrown in their way. They had better means of
+subsistence. Polypheme was a shepherd, and so were all his clan. Picture
+him, as described by Virgil[86], descending from the mountains,
+probably at eventide, leaning on his staff, with his shepherd's pipe
+hanging on his bosom, surrounded by his flocks, and leading them to the
+shelter of some cavern on the shore; and we have a pleasant scene of
+pastoral life. Such were all his tribe, a pretty numerous one,
+comprising one hundred males, with their families, each having a flock
+as large as their chiefs. They led a nomad life, “_errantes_” between
+the mountain pastures and the plains on the coast[87].
+
+Now, if we may be allowed to separate these facts, which seem genuine,
+from the fictions with which they are blended, we find the aborigines of
+Sicily, though barbarous, in a somewhat advanced stage of social life
+beyond that when we are told they roamed in the woods and fed on acorns.
+Such we may justly presume, divested of poetical fiction, was the
+condition of the aborigines of the neighbouring island of Sardinia, the
+largest in the Mediterranean except Sicily, when the first foreign
+colonists landed on its coast. And such, after the lapse of more than
+thirty centuries, are the Sarde shepherds of the present day, generally
+lawless, sometimes robbers, making the caves of the rocks their shelter,
+and their flocks and herds providing them with food and clothing.
+Tenacious, above all other European races, of the traditions and customs
+of their forefathers, when they point to structures of the highest
+antiquity scattered on their native soil, and call them “_Sepolture de
+is Gigantes_”—as we now have some idea what these giants were,—may we
+not find reason to accept their tradition, and consider these monuments
+as the tombs of the chiefs and first founders of their aboriginal race.
+
+Still, it may be objected that the ancient legends relating to giants
+are too fabulous to admit of any sound theories being built on them; and
+some have even gone so far as to reject all the received accounts of
+families or tribes of men of gigantic stature, as worthy only of the
+belief of credulous ages. It may indeed be difficult to imagine whole
+districts and countries peopled with gigantic races so formidable that
+we can hardly conceive any other people subsisting in contact with them.
+But that individuals, and even families, of extraordinary stature and
+strength existed in the earliest ages cannot be denied, except by those
+who regard the narrative of Scripture as equally fabulous with the
+fictions of the poets; although the statements are literal and exact,
+occur in a variety of incidental notices, and are confirmed by
+discoveries related by authors of good repute.[88]
+
+A solution of the difficulty may, perhaps, be found in the
+consideration, that, as even now we find families and races exceeding in
+stature and strength the average of mankind, there is still more reason
+to believe in the existence of such phenomena in the youth of the
+generations of man, when a simple mode of life, abundance of nutritious
+food, and a salubrious atmosphere, gave to all organic beings huge and
+sinewy forms. Such might be the special privilege of the Rephaim, and
+other tribes of which we read. But while the rank and file, as we may
+call them, of the nation, though tall and robust, might not much exceed
+the average height of the human species, the chiefs and heroes who took
+their posts in the van of battle may have attained the extraordinary
+dimensions recorded of them; and, their numbers being magnified by
+terror and tradition, the attributes of the class were extended to the
+whole tribe. Thus the poets gave the name of Cyclops to all the
+aboriginal inhabitants of Sicily, though the Cyclops, properly so
+called, are represented by them as a single family, sons, as before
+mentioned, of Neptune and Amphitrite.
+
+That the _Sepolture de is Gigantes_ may be considered the tombs of the
+chiefs or heroes of the aboriginal inhabitants of Sardinia seems to be
+generally allowed; and the opinion receives some confirmation from a
+passage in Aristotle's “Physics,” where, treating of the immutability of
+time, notwithstanding our perception or unconsciousness of what occurs,
+he incidentally illustrates his argument by the expression:—“So with
+those who are fabulously said to sleep with the heroes in Sardinia, when
+they shall rise up.”[89]
+
+The best authorities being thus led to the conclusion that the Sarde
+aborigines were a giant race, the question remains whether the Nuraghe
+had the same origin as the Sepolture; and, passing by some trivial
+objections to this hypothesis, we are disposed to adopt Mr. Tyndale's
+conclusion, that—“the coincidence of two such peculiar monuments in the
+same island, their non-existence elsewhere, and their being both
+indicative of some abstract principle of grandeur and power, practically
+carried out in their construction, are strong reasons for the
+presumption that they may have had some mutual reference to each
+other,—as burying places, temples, and altars, and consequently were
+works of the same times and the same people.”
+
+Perhaps it may be objected, with some show of reason, that a people so
+rude and so primitive as the aborigines, could not have possessed the
+skill required for the construction of such buildings as the Nuraghe; so
+that they must be assigned to a later age. But we are informed in
+Genesis that, among some families of mankind, not only useful, but
+ornamental, arts were taught before Noah's flood![90] and, without
+instituting an inquiry how soon the inventive and mechanical faculties
+of mankind were more or less developed in various countries, we may
+venture to assume that, before the historical period, before navigation
+had conveyed the higher arts of civilisation to distant shores, the
+aboriginal races, generally, were not incapable of erecting the massive
+structures attributed to them by universal tradition, and which, defying
+the ravages of time, still remain the sole monuments of lost races, on
+which the puzzled antiquary can hope to decipher the records of their
+existence and condition.
+
+To rear the lofty perpendicular monolith, to set up the tall stele as
+the headstone of a grave, to lift and poise the ponderous rocking-stone,
+to raise and fix the massive impost of the trilithon, or the slab
+covering a sepoltura, a cromlech, or a cistvaen; (for the remark applies
+to Celtic as well as Mediterranean antiquities), to heap up, not Pelion
+on Ossa, but untold loads of earth and stone to form the conical tumulus
+over the chambers of the dead, to build “Cyclopean” walls, and
+construct the cone of rude but solid masonry, with its cavernous
+recesses,—all these are the works we should just expect from races of
+mankind when emerging from primitive barbarism, in the youth of the
+species, and possessed of enormous strength of limb.[91] Those who
+reared these works are supposed to have been in possession of some
+knowledge of the pulley, the lever, and the incline; but, after all,
+giant strength must have been the main fulcrum for such operations. Had
+there been ornament, sculpture, or inscriptions on these primeval
+monuments, our thoughts might have been carried forward to a later age,
+when colonisation from the East brought in its train the arts which
+there first undoubtedly flourished.
+
+That the Sardinian antiquities of the earliest age are unique, that this
+is the case in other parts of the world, every primitive people having,
+with certain resemblances, a peculiar style in its ancient monuments,
+that none such as these are found in the countries from whence the first
+colonists migrated, nor are described in their records, are facts
+strengthening the argument for their being of indigenous origin. That
+the forms of these structures scattered over the world are generally
+pyramidal, often rounded, and sometimes spiral, tells nothing to the
+contrary. The cone, as Father Bresciani observes, was more graceful to
+the eye, more easy of construction, more durable, and, perhaps,
+connected with some mysterious ideas of Eternity, or the circling course
+of the heavenly bodies. Such was the form of the first great building on
+record, the Tower of Babel, as we have it represented; the type in many
+respects of the Sarde Nuraghe. Nor is it an unreasonable conjecture that
+the alien people, mysteriously alluded to in Genesis, as mixing with the
+children of God, having seduced the most froward of the chosen race,
+were the instigators and planners of the profane enterprise. “Go to ——,”
+said a man to his neighbour, as the marginal translation renders the
+passage,—“let us make bricks, let us build a tower whose top may reach
+to heaven.”[92]
+
+“There were giants in those days,”—men not only of gigantic forms, but
+imbued with grand ideas. The structures included among the number of
+their monuments are, as just observed, “indicative of some abstract
+principle of grandeur and power, practically carried out in their
+construction.” In the strength of their might, the Titanic race bade
+defiance to the deities of Olympus, with whom they are poetically
+represented as combating; but that does not preclude our supposing that,
+in common with all the generations of man, however barbarous, the giant
+races had their religious instincts, their altars, their rites.
+Reverence, also, for the memories of their departed heroes, of their
+progenitors, was a common feeling, most powerful in the earliest times.
+In these two principles we trace the ideas to which the mysterious
+monuments of the ancient Sardes owe their origin, and thence we arrive
+at a reasonable conclusion respecting their object and uses.
+
+Researches the most extended and the most profound, have failed to
+penetrate the obscurity in which the mists of ages have enveloped the
+origin of the primeval monuments of all nations, and of the people who
+founded them. Something may have been contributed towards the solution
+of the difficulties surrounding the subject, if we have been able to
+connect existing monuments with a rude race of extraordinary strength,
+the supposed giant-builders of those ancient structures. Such buildings
+we discover in various parts of the world, varying in their details, but
+similar as respects their simple but massive and durable forms. Gigantic
+stature and strength of limb we consider to have been the essential
+requisites, in the infancy of art, for transporting and raising the
+ponderous materials; and these properties were characteristics of the
+races of which, and of their Herculean labours, we find everywhere
+corresponding traditions.
+
+In the absence of a satisfactory reply to the inquiry, whence, when, or
+how the giant race reached Sardinia, we are willing to accept the
+alternative, as regards the founders of the Nuraghe and its other
+ancient monuments, that these structures were the work of the
+autocthonoi, the aboriginal inhabitants. But we embrace the theory in a
+different sense from that in which it is proposed; suggesting that the
+so-called giants themselves may have been the autocthonoi, and not
+immigrants; and the remark is generally applicable. The etymology of the
+words used by the Greeks and Romans, to designate the aboriginal races,
+supports the conjecture of their identity; for, as already shown[93],
+the term “giant” (γίγας) is not descriptive of extraordinary strength,
+but, equally with the phrases _autocthonoi_, _terrigenæ_, and
+_aborigines_, signifies “the earth-born,” the natives of the soil.
+
+Further than this we cannot here pursue the inquiry. In a work of this
+description, it would be idle to speculate on the means by which
+aboriginal races, as well as a peculiar fauna and flora, were planted in
+distant lands, whether islands or remote continents, on which they have
+been found established by colonists and navigators, from the earliest to
+the latest times. Ethnologists have laboured to solve the difficulties
+surrounding the subject; with what success, those who have studied their
+works must decide for themselves.
+
+The Sardinian Nuraghe are probably among the oldest structures in the
+world, and may therefore be reasonably considered the works of an
+aboriginal race; but their origin, and that of the founders, are equally
+involved in impenetrable mystery. Their rude, but massive and shapely,
+cones have survived the ruin of the sumptuous edifices of Babylon and
+Nineveh, of Ecbatana and Susa, of Tyre and the Egyptian Thebes. Like the
+pyramids of Egypt, they have witnessed, from their hoary tops, the
+current of untold centuries rolling onwards, wave after wave, in its
+turbid course. They have marked the rise and the fall of empires, the
+vicissitudes of fortune, the illusory hopes, the vain fears, and the
+insatiable desires of successive generations of men, whose brief span of
+existence has been that of a moment compared with the centuries that
+have looked down from their summits. But unlike the Pyramids, whose
+mysteries are partially unveiled, they give no note by which their age
+or their history may be discovered. Mute on their solitary mounds, they
+give no answer to the inquiries of the traveller or the learned, when
+questioned,—what people of Herculean strength and undaunted will reared
+their massive walls, wrought the dark cells under the cover of their
+domes, and raised the ponderous slab which crowns the cone? No image of
+man, no form of beast, neither symbol nor inscription, are sculptured or
+graven on the solid blocks, within or without, to tell their tale. Well,
+then, may the thoughtful traveller, contemplating with silent wonder
+these mysterious cones, soliloquise in some such sort as this:—“Surely
+these structures must have been raised before men had learned the arts
+of writing and engraving, for how many thousands of the Nuraghe were
+built, in successive periods, without their founders having acquired the
+faculty of inscribing on them the name of a god or a hero, for a
+memorial to future generations.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXVI.
+
+  _Oristano.—Orange-groves of Milis.—Cagliari.—Description of.—The
+    Cathedral and Churches.—Religious Laxity.—Ecclesiastical
+    Statistics.—Vegetable and Fruit Market.—Royal
+    Museum.—Antiquities.—Coins found in Sardinia.—Phœnician
+    Remains.—The Sarde Idols._
+
+
+The high road between Sassari and Cagliari, called the _Strada Reale_,
+runs through the great level of the Campidano for a distance of 140
+miles, and as there is a daily communication between the two cities by
+the well-appointed _diligences_ already mentioned, the journey, unlike
+others in Sardinia, is performed with comfort and rapidity. But,
+whatever he may gain by the exchange, the traveller will hardly bid
+adieu to the mountains and forest-paths of the Gallura and Barbagia
+without regret.
+
+About half way, stands Oristano, an old city, of some 6000 inhabitants,
+with some of the Spanish character of Alghero. Though fallen from its
+former importance, the place is still wealthy, and, in some degree,
+commercial. It is, however, deserted in the summer and autumn, when the
+atmosphere becomes so pestilential from the inhalations of the
+neighbouring stagna and lagunes as to justify the proverb:—
+
+    A Oristano che ghe vù,
+    In Oristano ghe resta!
+
+The most striking object in the place is the belfry of the cathedral, a
+detached octangular tower, roofed with a pear-shaped dome, of coloured
+tiles, and commanding from the summit a fine view of the plains from the
+sea to the distant mountains. The orange groves of Milis, a village
+lying a little out of the high road to Oristano, are worth a visit. The
+trees are considered the finest in Europe. I have never seen orange
+trees that will bear comparison with them in any part of the world,
+except on some of the Dutch farms in the Cape colony, where they are
+still more magnificent; vying in size with the European oaks, planted,
+probably at the same time, by the German settlers from the Black Forest,
+the disbanded soldiers of the States of Holland, to whom many of the
+African Boers owe their origin. Such orange groves, when loaded with
+blossoms and fruit, glowing in the shade of their dense masses of glossy
+deep-green foliage, are perhaps the most charming of vegetable
+productions. No idea of their richness and beauty can be formed from the
+dwarf, round-topped trees, one sees in most orange districts. Here, as
+in South Africa, they owe their luxuriance to abundant irrigation. Some
+of the trees at Milis are from thirty-five to forty feet high, and there
+are said to be 300,000 of them of full growth. The annual produce is
+estimated at from fifty to sixty millions of fruit, and, being in great
+repute for their quality, they are conveyed to Sassari and Cagliari, and
+all parts of the island, the price varying from 1-1/2_d._ to 4-3/4_d._
+per dozen, according to circumstances.
+
+Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, a city containing upwards of 35,000
+inhabitants, is seen to most advantage when approached from the sea, the
+campagna in the vicinity being neither fertile nor picturesque. Standing
+at the head of a noble bay or gulf, twenty-four miles in depth and
+twelve across, with good anchorage everywhere, its advantageous position
+pointed out Cagliari as a seat of commerce from the earliest times. The
+Phœnicians, the Greeks, and Carthaginians were attracted by the fine
+harbour, and the inducements offered by the neighbouring heights for the
+construction of a fortified town. The Romans made it the chief seat of
+their rule in the island. The port, called the Darsena, is capable of
+containing more than all the shipping at present frequenting it, with
+such a depth of water that, while I was at Cagliari, one of the largest
+steamships in the royal Sardinian navy lay alongside the quay.
+
+In the view from the gulf, the eye first rests on the upper town,
+surrounded with walls and towers, and crowning the summit of a hill
+upwards of 400 feet above the level of the sea. At the base of the
+heights lie the suburbs of the Marina, Stampace, and Villanova, the
+former occupying the space between the Castello, or Casteddu, as the
+whole circuit of the fortified town is called, and the port; and, with
+the two other suburbs, on the east and west of the Marina, forming one
+long continuous line of irregular buildings. In our _tableau_, the
+Casteddu towers proudly over the lower town, which has grown up beneath
+it since the Middle Ages. It still retains its original importance,
+containing all the principal public buildings, and being the residence
+of the government officials, and, in short, the aristocratic quarter.
+The best houses in the Marina are occupied by the foreign consuls and
+persons engaged in commerce, so that there is a marked distinction
+between the upper and lower parts of the city.
+
+Besides a strong citadel, there are, in the circuit of the
+fortifications three massive towers, called the Elephant, the Lion, and
+the Eagle, built by the Pisans; and the Castello is entered by four
+arched and embattled gateways. One of these was in the act of being
+demolished during my recent visit to Cagliari, in order to afford freer
+communication between the upper town and the Marina. Its removal seemed
+emblematic of an improving state of society, tending to level the
+barriers of caste, and engage the rising generation of the privileged
+orders in pursuits calculated as much for their own benefit as the
+development of the resources with which Sardinia abounds.
+
+Easy access to the Casteddu is gained by a circuitous avenue cut on the
+sloping side of the hill and under the escarped heights. Being planted
+with trees, it forms a pleasant walk, commanding extensive views of the
+Campidano, the distant mountains, and the Gulf of Cagliari. The direct
+ascent from the Marina is steep and toilsome, it being gained by a
+series of narrow avenues and flights of steps, landing in streets
+running parallel with that side of the Castello. These also are narrow
+as well as lofty, like those of most fortified places in the south of
+Europe. Here we find the best shops; and the thoroughfares have a busy
+appearance, except in the heat of the day, when most of the inhabitants
+indulge in the _siesta_.
+
+The cathedral, standing in the heart of the Castello, was built by the
+Pisans with part of the remains of a basilica founded by Constantine. It
+is on a grand scale, having three naves, and a presbytery ascended by
+several ranges of steps. The church is embellished with fine marbles,
+and the ornaments being rich, with some good pictures and grand
+monuments, the effect, on the whole, is striking. A crypt hewn out of
+the solid rock, under the presbytery, is regarded with great reverence
+by the Sardes, as containing the supposed remains of two hundred martyrs
+removed there from the church of St. Saturninus, in 1617.
+
+Among the fifty-two churches in the Castello and the suburbs, I will
+only mention that of St. Augustine, attached to which is the oratory
+built by himself during a short visit to the island. A story is told of
+one of the beams for the roof proving too short; upon which the saint,
+quoting to the workmen the text declaring that to those who have faith
+all things are possible, ordered them to pull at one end while he took
+the other, when, scarcely touching it, the beam stretched to the
+required length. St. Augustine's remains were transported here in 505,
+from Hippo-Regius, where he died, by the Catholic bishops exiled from
+Africa by Thrasamond, king of the Vandals.[94] The Chronicles inform us
+that these bishops, two hundred and twenty in number, were sustained by
+the benevolence of Pope Symmachus, a native of Sardinia, who sent them
+every year money and clothes. St. Augustine's relics remained at
+Cagliari till 722, when Luitprand, king of the Lombards, in consequence
+of the danger to which they were constantly exposed by the invasions of
+the Saracens, obtained them from the Cagliarese, and carrying them to
+Pavia deposited them in the duomo of that city, where they rested, till
+in 1842, these were restored to Hippo by the French.[95]
+
+The church of the Jesuits, at Cagliari, is described as distinguished
+among the others for the sumptuousness of its style, and its decorations
+of coloured marbles and columns. It was closed, with the adjoining
+college, at the time of my visit. The Jesuits formerly possessed large
+estates, and had colleges in several of the principal towns of the
+island. The whole were suppressed long ago; but in 1823, the late king,
+Carlo Felice, partially restored and re-endowed the order, some of the
+monks being re-established in the college of Cagliari. Of late years,
+there seems to have been a considerable reaction in the temper of the
+Sardes as regards religion, at least, in the towns. No people were more
+bigoted, more priest-ridden, more credulous of the absurdest
+superstitions. But in a conversation I recently had on the subject with
+a very intelligent and well-informed friend in the island, he assured me
+that the utmost laxity now prevails in the religious sentiments of the
+people. They have lost all respect for the clergy, calling them
+_bottégaie_, shopkeepers, as mindful only of the gains of their trade;
+and the churches _bottége_, shops. There is no vitality in the religion
+of the people, the services are a mere mummery, and the system is held
+together principally by the attractions of the popular _festas_, such as
+those described in a former chapter as scenes of bacchanalian revelry
+tricked out in the paraphernalia of religion. As for the Jesuits, the
+most obnoxious of the ecclesiastics, my friend stated, that the populace
+of Cagliari “burnt them out,” intending, I apprehend, to convey that
+they were violently expelled.
+
+In earlier visits to the Continent, and reflecting on the subject at
+home, the question had often occurred whether, with advancing
+intelligence, and growing aspirations for civil and religious liberty,
+the people of Catholic countries might not be drawn, in the course of
+events, to a movement similar to that of our own Reformation of the
+Church in the 16th century; the ruling powers, as then, taking the
+lead, and emancipating their States from the papal yoke. Thus, while
+abuses and gross doctrinal errors were reformed, the exterior frame of
+the establishment, its hierarchy, ceremonial, privileges and property
+would remain intact; the whole system being so arranged as to be brought
+into harmony with the action of government, and to meet the demands of
+an enlightened age. Why should there not be more reformed national and
+independent churches?
+
+In this view, when conversing with foreigners of intelligence, I have
+often pointed out the distinction between the Anglican Church and the
+“Evangelical” and other Protestant communities abroad. Such a reform
+would seem to be well suited to answer the wants of the kingdom of
+Sardinia in the present state of her relations with the Court of Rome.
+It would consolidate the fabric of the constitutional government; and we
+may conceive that the cabinet of Turin, and perhaps the king, are
+enlightened enough to be sensible of its advantages.
+
+But it may well be doubted whether the masses of the population, in
+either that or any other Catholic country, are ripe for such a
+revolution. In this age of reason, the dogmas which formed the war-cries
+of Luther and Calvin have lost their influence on the minds of men, and,
+except in some sections of the various religious communities, a general
+apathy on doctrinal subjects has succeeded the excitement with which the
+Reformation was ushered in. The tendency of the present age is in the
+direction of more sweeping reforms, and when the time comes, as no
+thoughtful man can doubt it will with growing intelligence, for the
+people of Europe to cast off the shackles of superstition and bigotry,
+it may be feared that things of more serious account than ecclesiastical
+systems and institutions may be swept away by the overwhelming tide so
+long pent up.
+
+Meanwhile, there appears little probability of any great change. The
+territorial distinctions between Catholic and Protestant States remain
+much the same as when they were shaped out in the time of the
+Reformation, and the wars succeeding it. Each party holds its own; and
+there is little probability of a national secession from the Church of
+Rome, even in the Sardinian dominions, where many circumstances concur
+to point out its expediency, and even its possibility. Among others, it
+will not be forgotten, that the standard of Protestantism was raised in
+the valleys of Savoy, ages before it floated triumphantly in the north
+of Europe.
+
+In 1841 there were 91 monasteries in Sardinia, containing 1093 regular
+monks, besides lay brothers, &c., and 16 convents with 260 nuns; the
+whole number of persons attached to these institutions being calculated
+at 8000. There are about the same number of secular clergy, including
+the bishops, dignitaries, and cathedral chapters, with the parochial
+clergy, the island being divided into 393 parishes. The population of
+Sardinia, by the last returns I was able to procure[96], was 541,907 in
+1850; so that one-ninth were ecclesiastics of one description or
+another. It should be stated, however, that most, if not all, the
+monasteries and convents have been lately suppressed, and the religious
+pensioned off, so that the system is dying out.
+
+The revenues of the bishops' sees, and the cathedral and parochial
+clergy, were calculated in 1841 at about 66,000_l._, arising from church
+lands, besides the tithes, estimated at 1,500,000 lire nove, or
+60,000_l._, supposed to be a low estimate, the tithes being worth one
+million of lire more. These revenues are exclusive of voluntary
+contributions, alms, offerings, and collections. The church lands
+contributed upwards of 3000_l._ annually as state subsidies, for the
+national debt, the maintaining roads and bridges, and the conveyance of
+the post. Mr. Tyndale estimates “the revenue of the see of Cagliari at
+from 60,000 to 80,000 scudi,—from 11,520_l._ to 15,360_l._ per annum;
+while that of the priests is about 1000 scudi, or 192_l._” This gives
+some idea of the incomes of the Sardinian clergy. I imagine that the
+government has not interfered with any part of the ecclesiastical
+revenues, except those attached to the monasteries.
+
+The fruit and vegetable markets of large foreign towns must always be
+attractive to a traveller, especially in the South and East, where the
+fruit, in great varieties, is so abundant, and he meets with vegetables
+unknown in the gardens and cookery of his own country. Not only so, but
+the dresses, and even the gestures and manners, of the country people,
+to say nothing of the dealings of the buyers, form a never-failing
+source of interest and amusement; while an additional zest is lent in a
+warm climate, by the freshness of the early hour at which the visit must
+be paid to be really enjoyed. The market at Cagliari is held in the
+suburb of Stampace, and approached by one of those avenues shaded with
+exotic trees, which make such agreeable promenades in the neighbourhood
+of the city. The principal supply comes from Pula, Arabus, and other
+villages at considerable distances from Cagliari; the soil in the
+vicinity being too arid to be productive. The supply appeared abundant,
+and of excellent quality. Among the fruits,—it was in the early part of
+September,—I noted grapes, figs, pears, oranges, lemons, citrons,
+peaches, melons, and prickly pears. Among the vegetables, the heaps of
+tomatas, chilis, and other condiments were surprising, and there were
+gigantic “_torzi_,” a kind of turnip-cabbage, and other varieties, whose
+names have escaped my memory.
+
+My visit to the Royal Museum was also paid at an early hour, through the
+kindness of Signor Cara, the Curator, who was so obliging as to show me
+also his cabinet of antiques at his private residence,—rich in cameos,
+intaglios, and scarabei of rare beauty. The Royal Museum occupies a
+suite of small apartments in the University. The collection owes great
+part of its objects of interest, and their good order and arrangement,
+to the indefatigable zeal and disinterested devotion of Signor Cara,
+whose appointments, and the allowance for purchasing objects, are not
+unworthy of a liberal government.
+
+The collection of Roman antiquities occupying the entrance-wall is very
+meagre, considering the many stations established in the island during
+the republic and empire. Besides two colossal consular statues, having
+an air of dignity, and with the toga well chiselled, there was little to
+observe but some Roman milestones, sarcophagi, and fragments of various
+kinds.
+
+    [Illustration: SARDO-ROMAN COIN.]
+
+The coins of the Roman period are numerous, but most of them of little
+value. One here figured is, however, unique; being, I imagine, the only
+coin known to have been struck in the island. Atius Balbus, whose name
+and bust appear on the face[97], was grandfather of the Emperor
+Augustus, and prefect of Sardinia about sixty years before Christ. The
+reverse represents a head wearing a singular cap, crowned by an ostrich
+plume; with a sceptre, and the words “Sardus Pater,” who is supposed to
+be the founder of Nora, the first town built in Sardinia, and of Libyan
+and Phœnician origin.[98]
+
+    [Illustration: CARTHAGINIAN COIN.]
+
+The cabinet also contains about 100 coins of the Carthaginian period.
+Many such are found in the island, but, as may be supposed, not in
+numbers equal to those which attest the long duration of the Roman
+power. While Captain Smyth was engaged in his survey of the coast, a
+farmer in the island of St. Pietro, successively a Greek, Carthaginian,
+and Roman station, passed his ploughshare over an amphora of
+Carthaginian brass coins, of which Captain Smyth purchased about 250.
+“They were,” he states, “with two exceptions, of the usual type:
+obverse, the head of Ceres; and reverse, a horse or palm-tree, or both.”
+Some presented to me by Carlo Rugiu, one of which is here figured, have
+a horse's head on one face, and the palm-tree with fruit, probably
+dates, on the other.
+
+There are specimens in the British Museum, but not so good as those
+given me by Signor Rugiu. The coins in the possession of Captain Smyth
+appear to have represented the horse in full detail, as he mentions the
+peculiarity of their having a Punic character between the horse's legs,
+differing in every one. It need hardly be observed how appropriate, on
+an African coin, were such devices as the date-palm of the desert, and
+the horse, emblematic of its fiery cavalry.
+
+    [Illustration: SARACEN COIN.]
+
+Some Saracenic coins are also found in the island, with Arabic
+characters both on the obverse and reverse. The one here represented was
+also given me by Carlo Rugiu, with some Roman coins, both silver and
+brass. We do not find that the Saracens ever effected any permanent
+settlement in Sardinia; which accounts for the comparatively small
+number of these coins discovered. The Saracen pirates who infested the
+coast from the time that St. Augustine's relics were rescued, in 722, to
+so late a period as 1815, were more likely to pillage the money of the
+inhabitants than to leave any of their own behind them.[99]
+
+The Terracotta collection in the Royal Museum exhibits about one
+thousand specimens of vases, &c. of Sardo-Phœnician, Carthaginian,
+Egyptian, and Roman fabric, similar to those preserved in the British
+Museum. In the natural-history department, the ornithological class is
+most complete, containing upwards of a thousand specimens of native and
+foreign birds, collected and prepared by Signor Cara, who has paid much
+attention to this branch of the science. Among the native objects of
+interest was the flamingo, frequenting, with other aquatic birds, in
+vast flocks, the lagunes in the neighbourhood of Cagliari, whither they
+resort during the autumn and winter, from the coast of Africa. The
+largest of these lakes, called the Scaffa, is six or seven miles long by
+three or four broad. Vast quantities of salt are procured from the
+salterns in the same neighbourhood and other parts of Sardinia, and it
+forms an important article of export, and of revenue. In conchology and
+mineralogy, the cabinet is rich both in foreign and native specimens;
+the minerals having been in great part collected by La Marmora, and
+arranged by him in 1835.
+
+The Phœnician remains are, in some respects, the most interesting part
+of the collection. Among them we find a block of sandstone, with a
+Phœnician inscription, discovered in 1774 at Pula, the ancient Nora, now
+a pleasant village embowered in orange groves and orchards, and crowned
+with palms, on the coast of the Gulf, about sixteen miles from Cagliari.
+Nora, it may be remembered, is stated by Greek writers to have been the
+first town founded by colonists in the island of Sardinia; and though
+the inscription on the stone has not been satisfactorily deciphered, it
+seems to be agreed that it records the arrival of “Sardus,” called
+“Pater,” at “Nora,” from “Tarshish,” in Libya.
+
+But the Sarde idols, already mentioned, form the unique feature in this
+collection. La Marmora enumerates 180 of these bronzes, the greater part
+of which are preserved in the museum at Cagliari, consisting principally
+of small images, varying from four to seventeen inches high, of
+irregular and often grotesque forms, and betraying a rude state of
+art.[100] They are considered miniatures of the large and original idols
+adored by the Canaanites and Syro-Phœnicians; and from their diminutive
+size may have been household gods. Mr. Tyndale conjectures that the
+“Teraphim” of Scripture were of the same class. There appears, however,
+no doubt that these bronzes, as well as the objects in Terracotta
+already mentioned, are of native manufacture. Thus, while the images
+appear to be the symbols of a religion peculiar to the inhabitants of
+Sardinia at a very early period, they bear a certain affinity to similar
+objects of worship in other countries, especially in Syria and Egypt; so
+that in Signor Cara's nomenclature these remains are denominated
+Sardo-Phœnician and Sardo-Egyptian. It is remarkable, however, that no
+corresponding relics have been found in those countries.
+
+There is a small collection of Sardinian antiquities in the British
+Museum, recently supplied by Signor Cara; but it does not contain, as
+might have been wished, any specimens of these singular images. They are
+accurately figured and described by La Marmora, and Mr. Tyndale has
+fully investigated their history and relations in his very valuable
+work. It would be out of place further to pursue the subject here,
+especially as we have already devoted a chapter to traces among the
+Sardes of the rites of Moloch and Adonis, in which two of these images
+are described. The subject is interesting both as connected with the
+Phœnician migrations, and as bringing to light symbols of that
+Canaanitish idolatry so frequently and emphatically denounced in the
+Sacred Writings.
+
+Returning to modern times, I do not find that I have anything of
+importance to add to my notices of the present state of Cagliari, except
+the introduction of the Electric Telegraph connecting it with the
+continents of Europe and Africa. Prom its having been the medium of
+communication between England and India during the recent crisis,
+Cagliari has acquired a notoriety to which it had previously few
+pretensions. Some account of the establishment of this Telegraph will be
+given in our concluding chapters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXVII.
+
+  _Porto-Torres.—Another Italian Refugee.—Embark for Genoa.—West
+    Coast of Corsica.—Turin.—The Sardinian Electric Telegraph.—The
+    Wires laid to Cagliari._
+
+
+The preceding notices of Cagliari were gathered during a visit to
+Sardinia in the autumn of 1867; the “Rambles” in this island, detailed
+in preceding chapters, having been rather abruptly terminated, under
+circumstances already adverted to, without our being able to reach the
+capital. On that occasion we embarked for the continent at Porto-Torres,
+the origin and decay of which place is before incidentally mentioned.
+The neighbourhood abounds in remains of Roman antiquities; and at a
+short distance is the cathedral of St. Gavino, one of the oldest
+structures in Sardinia, having been founded in the eleventh century. The
+roof is covered with lead, and supported by antique columns dug up in
+the adjacent ruins. There also were found two marble sarcophagi,
+preserved in the church, on which figures of Apollo surrounded by the
+Muses are represented in high relief.
+
+Having to embark at an early hour, we were obliged to pass a night at
+Porto-Torres, notwithstanding its notoriety for a most pestiferous
+atmosphere, occasioned, as usual, by the exhalations from the marshy
+lowlands adjoining the coast. The impression was confirmed by the
+miserable aspect of the place, one long wide vacant street, in which, as
+we drove down it, the effects of the intemperie were stamped on the
+sickly faces of the few stragglers we met. We found, however, a roomy
+and decent hotel, and, after rambling about the neighbourhood, sat down
+to our usual evening tasks of writing and drawing. We were in light
+costume, and had thrown open the casements, for though the apartment was
+both lofty and spacious, the air felt insufferably close and stifling.
+Shortly afterwards, on the waiter coming in to lay the supper table, he
+stood aghast at our exposure to the night air, and precipitately dosed
+the casements, exclaiming, “Signore, it would have been death for you to
+have slept here in August or September; and, even now, the risk you are
+running is not slight.”
+
+This man was another of the Italian refugees, a Lombard; but of a very
+superior cast of character and intelligence to our _maître de cuisine_
+at Sassari. These qualities first opened out on his begging permission
+to examine my friend's drawings and some ancient coins which lay on the
+table; on both which he made remarks, showing that he was a person of
+education and taste. He had been an _avocat_ at Milan, and, compromised
+by the insurrection, “You see,” said he, “what I have been driven to,”
+throwing a napkin, over his shoulder with somewhat of a theatrical air.
+“But a good time is coming; meanwhile, not having much to do here, I
+employ my time as well as I can. You shall see my little library;”—and
+he brought in some volumes, mostly classical, the Odyssey, Euripides,
+Sophocles, Æschylus, and Cornelius Nepos. After awhile he pulled out of
+his bosom, with some mystery, for he was still professedly a catholic, a
+small copy of Diodati's Italian version of the New Testament. “This,” he
+said, with emphasis, “is my greatest consolation; I retire into the
+fields, and there I read it.” It was impossible not to commiserate the
+fate of Ignazio Mugio, the Lombard refugee. A very different character
+was old Pietro, the steam-boat agent. Groping our way with some
+difficulty up a gloomy staircase, in the dusk of the evening, we found
+him, spectacles on nose, poring over a gazette by a feeble oil lamp. The
+old man was so eager for news that it was difficult to fix him to the
+object of our inquiries; and then he expatiated on the attractions of
+the neighbourhood, and the “chasse magnifique de grèves,” as he called
+thrush-shooting, in the country round, if we came to Porto-Torres in the
+month of December. We laughed at the idea of such sport; but I think it
+is said that the thrushes, fattening on the olive berries, are very
+delicious.
+
+A considerable commerce, considerable for a Sardinian port, gives some
+life to this desolate place; facilitated by Porto-Torres being the
+northern terminus of the great national road running through Sassari,
+only nine miles distant. The principal exports are oil and wine. The
+little haven is defended by a strong tower, erected in 1549. We found
+moored in the port several Greek brigs, polaccas, and feluccas, with
+their long yards and pointed lateen sails; and the fine steam-boat
+which was to carry us to Genoa.
+
+    [Illustration: PORTO-TORRES.]
+
+The mountainous and nearly desert island of Asinara forms a fine object
+in running out of the gulf to which it gives its name, forming the
+north-western point; and the high lands of Corsica soon came once more
+in view. Our course lay along its western coast, the weather being
+favourable; but with a foul wind it is considered unsafe, and vessels
+run through the Straits of Bonifacio and coast the eastern side of the
+island. In the afternoon we were off the entrance of the Gulf of
+Ajaccio, and gazed from seaward on the Isles Sanguinaires, with the
+tower of the lighthouse, behind which the sun set on the pleasant
+evening when we took our view from the Chapel of the Greeks. Now,
+towards sunset, we were rapidly gliding along the shore of Isola Rossa,
+and the slanting rays glowing directly on the porphyritic cliffs gave a
+rich but mellow intensity to the ruddy hue whence they derive their
+name. Some of the boats stop at the town, a new erection by Pascal
+Paoli, and the seat of an increasing trade. Leaving it behind, we ran
+along the coast of Corsica with a fair wind, exultingly bounding
+homewards as, the breeze freshening, our boat sprung from wave to wave,
+dashing the spray from her bows. Farewell to Corsica! Her grey peaks and
+shaggy hill-sides are fast fading from our sight, in the growing
+obscurity. We pass Calvi, famous in Mediæval and Nelsonian annals, San
+Fiorenzo, on which we had looked down in our rambles on the
+chestnut-clad ridges of the Nebbio; and the mountain masses of the
+Capo-Corso, now loom like dark clouds on the eastern horizon. All beyond
+is a blank. Again we cross the Tuscan Sea in the depth of the night. We
+are on deck when rosy morning opens to our view the glories of the Bay
+of Genoa. At six we are moored in the harbour, and have to wait for the
+visit of the officer of health. At last we land, breakfast, and take the
+rail to Turin.
+
+At Turin we passed some hours very pleasantly at the British Minister's.
+We are indebted to Sir James Hudson for facilitating our excursion in
+Sardinia with more than official zeal and interest in its success. He
+knows the island well, having braved the inconveniences of rough
+travelling in its wildest districts. At his hotel we chanced to meet Mr.
+I. W. Brett, the promoter of a line of electric telegraph intended to
+connect the islands of Corsica and Sardinia with the European and
+African continents. A company had been formed to carry out this project,
+consisting principally of Italian shareholders, part of whose outlay was
+to be recouped, on the completion of the undertaking, by the Governments
+interested in its success—the French in regard to Corsica and Algeria,
+and the Piedmontese as far as concerns Sardinia.
+
+Starting from a point in the Gulf of Spezzia, the wires were to be
+carried by a submarine cable to the northern extremity of Capo-Corso;
+where landing they would be conveyed, through the island, partly by
+submarine channels, with a branch to Ajaccio, to its southern point near
+Bonifacio. Thence, submerged in a cable crossing the Straits, they would
+again touch the land at Capo Falcone, mentioned in these rambles as the
+nearest point in Sardinia; the distance being only about ten nautical
+miles. The wires were then to be conducted on posts, through the island
+of Sardinia, in a line, varying but slightly from our route, by Tempio
+and Sassari to Cagliari. From Cape Spartivento, or some point on the
+southern shore of Sardinia, a submarine cable was to be laid, the most
+arduous part of the whole undertaking, to the African coast; landing
+somewhere near Bona, a town on the western frontier of the French
+possessions in Algeria.
+
+Up to the point of the landing in Sardinia all was evidently plain
+sailing; but when we met Mr. Brett at Turin, on our return from
+Sardinia, in November, 1853, he was under some anxiety about the land
+line through the island; the mountainous character of the northern
+province of Gallura presenting obstacles to the operation of carrying
+the wires through it, and the lawless character of the inhabitants
+threatening their safety. On both these points we were able to reassure
+him; we had seen and heard enough of the brave mountaineers to feel
+convinced that there was no cause for apprehension of outrages connected
+with the undertaking. And my fellow-traveller, who belonged to the
+scientific branch of the army, had not passed through the country
+without making such observations as enabled him to satisfy Mr. Brett's
+inquiries respecting the line to be selected and its natural facilities.
+
+In the end, the wires were successfully stretched throughout the island
+from Capo Falcone to Cagliari, after surmounting, however, serious
+obstacles, though not of the sort previously apprehended. For the
+success of this operation the company are greatly indebted to the
+exertions of Mr. William S. Craig, H.B.M.'s Consul-General in Sardinia.
+Having neither any personal interest in the concern, nor official
+connection with a Company entirely foreign in its object and supporters,
+he devoted his time gratuitously to the furtherance of this branch of
+its operations, actuated only by a desire to promote an important public
+undertaking. The whole practical management of the work (I do not speak
+of engineering, little of which could be required) devolved on Mr.
+Craig; and with much self-sacrifice, he threw into it all that zeal and
+intelligence which, with universal goodwill, have acquired for him the
+high estimation in which he is generally held.
+
+I have before had occasion to mention the respect entertained for him by
+the mountaineers of Gallura, resulting from a former connection
+beneficial to parts of that district; and I feel convinced that his name
+and sanction better obviated any prejudices, and offered a broader
+shield for the protection of the wires from injury, than all the power
+of the Piedmontese officials, backed by squadrons of carabineers, could
+have done. Not only so, but Mr. Craig had less difficulty in making
+arrangements with the proprietors of the lands in the northern province
+than in the more civilised districts of the south, where, in some
+instances, the privileges required were reluctantly conceded as a mark
+of personal respect.
+
+It was on descending to the plains that the worst difficulties were
+encountered. Mr. Warre Tyndale states that during the construction of
+the great central road from Cagliari to Porto-Torres, which it took
+seven years to complete, more than half the engineers employed in the
+work died of the intemperie, or were obliged to retire from the effects
+of that fatal malady. This scourge swept off with no less virulence the
+workmen employed on the line of telegraph, and as the season advanced,
+cartloads after cartloads were carried to the hospitals, so that the
+works were stopped. Mr. Craig had to provide for all emergencies, the
+whole expenditure was managed by him, and this calamity added to his
+cares and responsibilities. But he persevered, and brought the
+operations to a successful end. Such valuable services merited a more
+liberal treatment than they received at the hands of those who
+gratuitously secured them. A body of English directors and shareholders
+would not have failed to mark their sense of the obligation conferred by
+some honorary acknowledgment. I have not heard of any such act of
+generosity on the part of the Sardo-French Company. It was a foreigner
+who remarked to me the _petitesses_ which pervaded the dealings of his
+countrymen. I imagine that the phrase would be found particularly
+applicable to the dealings of this company, if all its history were
+known.
+
+But we are anticipating occurrences. On our return from Sardinia, the
+operations of the Sardo-French Telegraph Company connected with the
+island were yet in embryo. The travellers who discussed the
+probabilities of success at Turin little thought that one of them would
+two years afterwards, towards the close of the Crimean war, be the Chief
+of the Staff employed in the organisation and superintendence of the
+military telegraph service in the East, having to inspect the laying
+down many hundred miles of submarine cable and wires in the Black Sea;
+or that it would be the fortune of the other to witness the final
+accomplishment of the long-delayed and frustrated hopes of the
+Sardo-French Company, by being present at the laying down of the
+submarine Mediterranean cable between Cagliari and Bona on the coast of
+Algeria. But so it turned out; and the completion of this undertaking
+being an event in Sardinian history, considered by no less an authority
+than General Della Marmora to have an important bearing on the
+commercial prospects of the island,—and the operation of successfully
+submerging telegraph cables in very deep water, in oceans or seas, being
+both new and possessing considerable interest,—a short account by an
+eyewitness of the occurrences attending the laying down the African
+cable may prove both amusing and instructive. It will form an
+appropriate episode to the Sardinian Rambles, and in that view an
+additional chapter will be devoted to it.
+
+For the rest, it only remains briefly to close the “Rambles” of 1853.
+Our visit at Turin reopened Sardinian interests; but after that, the
+best thing to be done was to hasten homewards before the inclemency of
+the season should retard our progress. Still, the snow fell heavily as
+we walked over the summit of the pass of the Mont-Cenis, preceding the
+diligence in which we had travelled all night. The railway had not then
+been extended from Turin to Suza on one side of the Alps, nor, on the
+other, beyond Châlons sur Saône, between Lyons and Paris; so that,
+travelling by diligence, we were three nights and two days on the road
+to Paris. Both the French and Italian lines of railway have been much
+advanced since the period of our journey. To complete the line, it
+remains only that the gigantic undertaking of tunnelling the chain of
+the Alps be successfully executed. Allowing ourselves the refreshment of
+spending a day in Paris, we reached London in the evening of the 17th of
+November.
+
+
+
+
+CHAP. XXXVIII.
+
+  _Sardinian Electric Telegraph.—The Land Line completed.—Failures
+    in Attempts to lay a Submarine Cable to Algeria.—The Work
+    resumed.—A Trip to Bona on the African Coast.—The Cable
+    laid.—Cagliari an Important Telegraph Station.—Its
+    Commerce.—The return Voyage.—CONCLUSION._
+
+
+After completing the land line of telegraph, as already mentioned, the
+Sardinian Company[101] failed in three attempts at laying a submarine
+cable to connect the wires from Cagliari with the coast of Algeria. We
+will not here enter into an inquiry as to the causes of these disasters,
+instructive as it might be if we had space, and this were a fitting
+opportunity. Suffice it to say that the first experiment failed soon
+after leaving Cape Spartivento; on the second, the line was laid for
+about two-thirds of the course, but with such a profuse expenditure of
+the submarine cable that it was run out, and the enterprise abruptly
+terminated. A third attempt to renew the operation proved equally
+unsuccessful.
+
+The project received a severe check from these repeated failures. The
+company had established their line, by sea and land, as far as Cagliari.
+So far, well: the communications of the respective Governments with
+their islands of Corsica and Sardinia were complete. Incidentally, also,
+England derived some advantage from the stations at Cagliari during the
+most anxious period of the crisis in Indian affairs. It was one step in
+advance towards telegraphic communications with India, though a short
+one. But the main object of the French Government in promoting the
+enterprise was to link its connection with Algeria by the electric
+wires; and till that was accomplished, the Company had no claim to be
+reimbursed for that portion of their expenditure guaranteed in the event
+of success.
+
+One may imagine the dismay of the shareholders, mostly Italians, in this
+state of affairs. Their capital must have been greatly, if not
+altogether, exhausted by the expenditure on previous works and the
+abortive attempts at laying the African cable. It was now only, in all
+probability, that they became seriously alive to the difficulties of the
+undertaking, and the immense risks that must be incurred in laying
+submarine cables in great depths of water. For it was now known that the
+depth of the Mediterranean in many parts crossed by the track of
+submarine cables, is no less than that through which the Transatlantic
+cable has to be laid.
+
+The prosecution of the scheme was suspended; but meanwhile time was
+running on, and the period fixed for completing the line had nearly
+expired. In this event, the government guarantee being forfeited, the
+concern would become a ruinous affair, as the telegraph traffic of two
+small islands could not be remunerative for the capital expended in
+connecting them with the continent. A short extension of the term for
+completing the undertaking had been obtained; but that was nearly run
+out before matters were put in a better train.
+
+In this emergency, Mr. Brett, the _gérant_ of the foreign company, who
+had contracted for and personally superintended the previous attempts to
+lay the African cable, entered into negotiations for its being
+undertaken by Messrs. Newall and Co. They had an established reputation,
+not only as having long been manufacturers of submarine electric cables,
+the quality of which had been tested by continuous service, but as
+having, under contracts with the English Government, laid down between
+five and six hundred miles of cable in the Black Sea during the Crimean
+war, without a single mishap. They were, therefore, not mere theorists;
+having acquired by long experience a practical knowledge of submarine
+telegraphy which had not fallen to the lot of any others who had turned
+their attention to that branch of the science.
+
+The overtures made on the part of the Sardo-French Company having been
+favourably received in the course, I believe, of the summer of 1857,
+Messrs. Newall and Co., nothing daunted by the previous failures, though
+doubtless fully aware of the difficulties they had to encounter, agreed
+to lay the African cable for a given sum, taking all risks on
+themselves. When it is understood that, about the same time, they also
+contracted with the “Mediterranean Extension Company,” on like terms as
+to responsibility, to lay down submarine cables between Cagliari and
+Malta, and from Malta to Corfu, extending over 795 nautical miles, and
+making, with the African cable, a total of 920 miles, some idea may be
+formed of the magnitude of the operations undertaken by a single firm.
+The mileage is more than one third of the distance embraced in the
+scheme of the great Transatlantic Company; and, as we find that the
+Mediterranean has its deep hollows as well as the Atlantic, the
+difficulties were proportionate.
+
+Having entered into these engagements, Messrs. Newall and Co., after
+completing their contract for one half, 1250 miles, of the Transatlantic
+cable, lost no time in proceeding with the manufacture of the
+Mediterranean cables at their works in Birkenhead. Towards the end of
+August, the African cable, with some portion of the Malta cable, was
+shipped in the Mersey aboard their steamship Elba, the vessel before
+employed in laying down the cable between Varna and Constantinople. It
+should be mentioned that the African cable contained four wires, so that
+it was more ponderous and less flexible than the Atlantic cable, which
+has only one.
+
+About this time, the writer happened to hear what was going on. Being
+then engaged in preparing these Sardinian “Rambles” for the press, he
+was desirous to make another trip to the island before their
+publication; and, besides the connection of the Cagliari line of
+telegraphs with the objects of his work, other circumstances had made
+him generally interested in the subject of submarine telegraphy. He
+therefore requested Mr. R.S. Newall's permission for his joining the
+expedition, which was kindly granted.
+
+With this preliminary statement, we proceed at once to the scene of
+action. At the last moment it had been decided, for reasons with which I
+am unacquainted, but, I believe, on the suggestion of the foreign
+Governments interested in the project, to start from the African coast,
+instead of from Cagliari; Cape de Garde, a few miles eastward of Bona, a
+town on the Tunisian frontier of the French possessions in Algeria,
+being selected as the point at or near which the submarine cable was to
+be submerged. The Elba, with the cable on board, anchored off Bona on
+Saturday, the 5th of September. Three war-steamships, appointed by the
+foreign Governments to attend and assist in the operations, had arrived
+some days before, and lay at anchor in the haven of Cazerain. The little
+squadron consisted of the Brandon, a large frigate under the French
+flag, with the Monzambano and the Ichnusa, both belonging to the royal
+Sardinian navy; and on board were the Commissioners appointed by the
+respective Governments to watch the operations.
+
+It blew hard after the Elba's arrival, and the ships being detained in
+harbour, waiting for a favourable wind, opportunities offered of landing
+at Bona, and making some excursions into the surrounding country. The
+old Arab town rises from the sea in the form of an amphitheatre, and you
+see its high embattled walls running up the hill-side and embracing in
+its enceinte the citadel, or Casbah, crowning the heights; the whole
+backed by the towering summits and shaggy slopes of the chain of Mount
+Edough. Within is a labyrinth of narrow streets; that leading direct
+from the port crossing a steep ridge to the Place d'Armes, a square with
+a fountain in the centre, overhung with palms and other exotics, and
+where French architecture is singularly mixed with the Moorish style. On
+one side stands a mosque, with its tall minaret; on the other, range
+cafés and restaurants, and magazins de mode, with their lofty fronts,
+arcades, and balconies. We linger for a moment on the spectacle offered
+by the various populations which crowd the square from morn to eve, and
+most after nightfall; a motley crowd of Arabs, Moors, Zouaves,
+Chasseurs, Jews, and Maltese. In the picturesque contrast of costume it
+presents, the gayest French uniforms possess no attractions compared
+with the white and flowing bournous, with even the sheepskin mantle of
+the poor Arab of the desert, the bright braided caftan of the Moor, the
+turban, and the fez. But the limits assigned to this work being already
+exceeded, I may not allow myself to dwell on the numberless objects
+which attract the attention of a curious traveller, in scenes where the
+modes and forms of Oriental life are singularly blended with those that
+bear the freshest European stamp.
+
+Nor is this the place for more than noting an excursion to the
+picturesque ruins of Hippona, the old Roman city, the Hippo-Regius,
+where the great St. Augustine laboured in the African episcopate, and
+ended his days during the sufferings of Genseric's siege. They stand on
+a hillock facing the sea, now covered with thickets of wild olive trees
+and fragments of the buildings. What a plain is that you see from the
+summit, stretching away in all directions, a vast expanse of grassy
+meadows on the banks of the river Seybouse; parched indeed now by the
+torrid heat of an African summer, but of rich verdure after the rains!
+What prodigious ricks of hay we observe at the French cavalry barracks,
+as we ride along! What growth of vegetables in the irrigated gardens of
+the industrious, but turbulent, Maltese! Surely, but for the French
+inaptitude to colonisation, this part of Algeria, at least, might be
+turned to good account.
+
+Changing the scene for a moment from the sultry plains, we may just note
+another excursion, which led to the summit of the pass crossing the
+chain of Mount Edough. At the top we look westward over a sea of
+mountains, towards and beyond Constantine, the strongholds of the
+indomitable Kabyles. Turning homewards, we slowly descend the winding
+road, among slopes covered with a coarser _maquis_—still more fitted to
+endure the drought—than the evergreen thickets of Corsica and Sardinia;
+the dwarf palm, _chamærops humilis_, most prevailing. Bona, with its
+walls and terraces and the Casbah and the minarets, rising above a grove
+of orchards and gardens, now makes a pleasing picture. Beyond, in the
+still water of the haven, our little fleet lies at anchor, with the
+French guardship; outside, the blue Mediterranean is now very gently
+rippled by the evening breeze.
+
+We are recalled to the ships, and hasten on board, for the wind having
+changed, with a promise of fair weather, it is decided to commence
+operations. The point selected for landing the shore-end of the cable
+was a sandy cove, a little to the eastward of Cape de Garde, or as it is
+otherwise called Cap Rouge, a literal translation of _Ras-el-Hamrah_,
+the name given it by the natives. There is an easy ascent from the cove
+to Fort Génois, about half a mile distant. The fort, a white square
+building at the edge of the cliffs, said to have been built by the
+Genoese to protect their coral fisheries on this coast, was convenient
+for establishing a temporary telegraph station, wires being run up to it
+from the end of the submarine cable.
+
+It was a lovely morning, the sun bright in a cloudless sky and the blue
+Mediterranean calm as a lake, when the little squadron having got up
+steam, ran along the shore, and successively anchored in the cove. There
+floated, in happy union, the flags of the three allied Powers recently
+engaged in very different operations: and the ships, with their boats
+passing and repassing, formed a lively scene contrasted with that desert
+shore, on the rocks of which a solitary Arab stood watching proceedings
+so strange to him.
+
+The Elba's stern having been brought round to the land, the ship was
+moored within cable's length of the sandy beach; but the operation of
+landing the submarine cable was delayed in consequence of the neglect of
+the Sardinian company's agents, whose duty it was to have the land-line
+of telegraph wires ready to communicate with Port Génois. This occupied
+the whole day, and I took advantage of it, landing in one of the first
+boats, to make a long ramble, visiting, in the course of it, Fort
+Génois, an encampment of Arabs at some distance in the interior, and
+climbing to the lighthouse on Cape de Garde, commanding, as may be
+imagined, magnificent views. It was a toilsome march, over rocks and
+sands, and through prickly thickets, in the full blaze of an African sun
+at noontide; but the excursion was full of interest, and not without its
+trifling adventures.
+
+The shore works were not completed till sunset, when, all the boats
+being recalled to the ships, they got under weigh, the Monzambano towing
+the Elba, with the Ichnusa ahead, and the Brandon on her larboard bow.
+The engineers began paying out the cable at eight o'clock, proceeding at
+first slowly, as the night was dark, and being desirous to try
+cautiously the working of the machinery. As the water deepened, the
+cable ran out fast, and the speed was increased, so that by midnight we
+had run about seventeen miles, with a loss in slack, it was reckoned up
+to that time, of under twenty per cent, of cable, compared with the
+distance run.
+
+Few, I imagine, aboard the Elba got much sleep that night. The very idea
+of sleep was precluded by the incessant roar of the cable, rushing, like
+a mighty cataract, through the iron channels confining its course over
+the deck, while the measured strokes of the steam-engine beat time to
+the roar. Having laid down for two hours, I gave up my cabin to one of
+our numerous guests; for the French and Italian commissioners being now
+on board the Elba, besides Mr. Werner Siemens and his staff of German
+telegraphists, her accommodations were fully tried; and as for
+languages, she was a floating Babel. Coming on deck at twelve o'clock,
+the lighthouse on Cape de Garde was still visible. The attendant ships
+carried bright lanterns at their mastheads, sometimes throwing up signal
+rockets; and so the convoy swept steadily on through the darkness, the
+Elba still following in the wake of the Monzambano. Mr. Newall and Mr.
+C. Liddell, who directed the whole operations, never quitted their post
+at the break. The telegraphists, from their station amidship, tested the
+insulation from time to time, speaking to the station at Port Génois.
+Looking down into the mainhold, which was well lighted up, you saw the
+men cutting the lashings to release the cable, as, gradually unfolding
+its serpentine coils from the cone in the centre, it was dragged rapidly
+upwards by the strain of its vast weight, and rushed through the rings
+to the vessel's stern. There the speed was moderated, before it plunged
+from the taffrail into the depths beneath, by the slow revolutions of a
+large wheel, round which the cable took several turns.
+
+As day broke and the sun rose magnificently over the Mediterranean,
+Galita Island came in sight, distant from thirty to forty miles to the
+eastward; the high lands of Africa being still visible. With the sea
+perfectly calm, all augured well for the success of the enterprise,
+except that serious apprehensions were entertained lest the cable,
+paying out so fast in the great depth of water we were now
+crossing,—1500 fathoms,—might not hold out to reach the land. Thus we
+ran on all the morning, the vessel's speed being increased to between
+five and six knots per hour, and the strain on the cable to five tons
+per mile; the depth ranging from 1500 to 1700 fathoms.
+
+Towards the afternoon the land of Sardinia was in sight between fifty
+and sixty miles ahead, our course being steered towards Cape Teulada,
+the extreme southern point of the island. By sunset we had reached
+within twelve miles of the shore, and angles having been carefully taken
+to fix our exact position, we anchored in eighty fathoms water. Soon
+afterwards the attendant ships closed in, and anchored near us for the
+night. The little squadron, well lighted, formed a cheerful group, the
+sea was smooth as a mill-pond, and the mountains of Sardinia, after
+reflecting the last rays of the setting sun, loomed heavily in the
+growing twilight. All hands on board the Elba were glad of rest after
+thirty-six hours of incessant toil.
+
+In the morning, as we had run out the whole of our cable proper, a piece
+of the Malta cable was spliced on, with some smaller coils also on
+board. Meanwhile, the Ichnusa had gone ahead at daybreak to take
+soundings, and when all was ready we began paying out the cable, being
+then, as already stated, about twelve miles from the land. All went on
+smoothly, and there was scarcely any loss of cable by slack. The eye
+turned naturally, again and again, from anxiously counting the
+lessening coils in the hold to measure our decreasing distance from the
+shore, as its hold features and indentations became hourly more
+distinct. Cape Teulada stood right ahead, a bold headland, with peaked
+summits 900 feet high. It forms the eastern point of the Gulf of Palmas,
+and has a long face of precipitous cliffs towards the sea. To the west
+of this deep inlet appeared the rocky islands of San Antioco and San
+Pietro, with cliffs of volcanic formation; and the Toro rock stood out a
+bold insulated object, 500 or 600 feet high, marking the entrance of the
+Gulf of Palmas, a spacious bay offering excellent anchorage.
+
+We had run ten miles towards a beach under the cliffs, a little to the
+eastward of Cape Teulada, when the small cable, now in course of being
+paid out, suddenly parted. The mishap occurred about a mile and a half
+from the shore, in forty fathoms water, with a sandy bottom. It was
+provoking enough to have our expectations baulked, when holding on for
+another half hour we should have succeeded in bringing the cable to
+land; but, for our comfort, the main difficulties of the enterprise were
+overcome. The African cable had been securely laid in the greatest
+depths of the Mediterranean, and the shore-end of the line could be
+easily recovered in the shallow water. The only question was, whether it
+should be immediately effected; but for this the weather had become very
+unfavourable. The wind had been blowing strong from the south-east all
+the morning; and a gust of it caught the Elba's stern, and canted it
+suddenly round, when the small cable snapped like a packthread. Rather a
+heavy sea was now running, and, on the whole, it was thought advisable
+to defer the concluding operations until an entirely new end to the
+cable could be procured from England.
+
+For this purpose, and at the same time to bring out the Malta cable, the
+Elba was despatched homeward a few hours after the accident happened.
+Fresh angles having been carefully secured, nothing remained but to take
+leave of our friends before the squadron parted,—the Brandon for the
+Levant, and the Sardinian frigates for ports in the island. While all
+belonging to the Elba considered that the submersion of a cable between
+Algeria and the coast of Sardinia was virtually a _fait accompli_, it
+was almost painful to witness the dismay of the Italians, at the mishap
+which had occurred to cloud their anticipations. It was evident that
+they entirely distrusted all assurances of the contractors' ability to
+recover the end of the cable, and perfect the line. Their fears were
+groundless; within a few weeks the new coil was brought from England,
+and the end of the submerged cable having been grappled at the first
+haul, the work was completed without any difficulty. Messrs. Newall and
+Liddell immediately proceeded to lay down the Cagliari and Malta, and
+the Malta and Corfu cable, 375 and 420 miles respectively; both which
+they effected with entire success in the months of November and December
+following, with a very small average waste of cable over the distance,
+and in depths equally great with those in which the African line was
+laid.
+
+My own object now being to reach Cagliari, the commander of the
+Monzambano was kind enough to give me a passage in his fine frigate. I
+got on board just as the officers and their guests were sitting down to
+dinner under an awning on the deck. Among them was the old General Della
+Marmora, whose love of science and devotion to the interests of
+Sardinia had induced him, though suffering from bad health, to make the
+voyage for the purpose of witnessing the important experiment. I found
+that he did not share in the apprehensions of the Italian shareholders
+on board as to the loss of the cable. The General had long cherished the
+idea that the ports of Sardinia, and especially Cagliari, are destined
+to partake largely of the commercial advantages resulting from a variety
+of recent events. In a little work, already referred to, which he was
+kind enough to give me[102], he points out the fine position of
+Cagliari, its spacious gulf, with good anchorage, open to the south, and
+in the highway of all ships navigating the Mediterranean between the
+Straits of Gibraltar, the Levant, and the Black Sea. A glance at the
+map, he truly observes, will show no other port, either on the coast of
+northern Africa, in Sicily, or the south of Italy, which can be its
+rival. Malta alone competes with it both in position and as a harbour;
+but he justly asks,—“Can a barren rock like Malta be compared, in a
+commercial point of view, with an island of such extent, and possessing
+so many natural resources, as Sardinia?”
+
+The General also points out the advantages offered by the electric
+telegraph station at Cagliari to masters of ships bound to the
+Mediterranean, the Levant, and the Black Sea, from the ports of Northern
+Europe, or, _vice versâ_, to those coming from the eastward, to induce
+them to touch at Cagliari. After, perhaps, long and wearisome voyages,
+they will find, he observes, in their very track, in the heart of the
+Mediterranean, the means of correspondence, in a few hours, with their
+families and their owners, receiving news and instructions from home.
+These facilities he considers of inestimable value; and it strikes us
+that the area included in the General's observations will be much
+extended when the electric wires are carried across the Atlantic, and
+that American ships are more likely to avail themselves of the
+advantages offered than those of any other nation.
+
+Without sharing the sanguine anticipations of the excellent General La
+Marmora as to the speedy regeneration of Sardinia, and the development
+of her natural resources, undoubtedly great as they are, the remark may
+be allowed, that it would be a singular and happy event if this island,
+which appears to have been one of the first, if not the first, station
+of the earliest maritime people, in their advance towards Western
+Europe, should, now that the tide of civilisation, so long flowing from
+the East, has evidently taken a reflex course, become again that centre
+of commercial intercourse for which its geographical position so well
+fits it.
+
+Towards evening, the Monzambano was running along the iron-bound coast
+terminating with Cape Spartivento, the western headland of the Gulf of
+Cagliari. I know not whether it was from the position of the ruins, or
+the hazy state of the atmosphere, night coming on, that I failed to make
+out some Cyclopean vestiges mentioned by Captain Smyth—Mr. Tyndale says
+they are a large Nuraghe—as standing on one of the most remarkable
+summits, at an elevation of upwards of 1000 feet, and called by the
+peasants, “The Giants' Tower.” “This structure,” observes Captain Smyth,
+“situated amongst bare cliffs, wild ravines, and desolate grounds,
+appeared a ruin of art amidst a ruin of nature, and imparted to the
+scene inexpressible grandeur.” During our passage we had a stormy sky
+and a strong head-wind, the sun setting gorgeously among masses of
+purple and orange clouds. There was nothing to relieve the barren aspect
+of this desert coast but the grey watch-towers from point to point,
+similar to those we saw on the coasts of Corsica; and, having paced for
+an hour the frigate's long flush deck, I was glad to turn-in early, and
+enjoy the comforts of a state cabin after the fatigues and watches of
+the two preceding days and nights.
+
+The contrary wind retarded our progress, and it was not till after
+daylight that, approaching the harbour of Cagliari, I enjoyed the fine
+view, described in a former chapter, of the city, stretching a long line
+of suburbs at the base of the heights crowned by the Casteddu, with its
+towers and domes. The frigate entering the port was moored alongside the
+government wharf; from which may be inferred the depth of water, and the
+class of vessels the port is capable of receiving. It now contained only
+about twenty ships, one only of which, a brig, was under the English
+flag. The rest were of small burthen, and mostly Genoese and French.
+General La Marmora states, in the Memoir before quoted, that “since the
+crosses of Savoy and of Genoa have been united in the same flag,” the
+Genoese have turned much attention to the trade of Sardinia; and that a
+company was forming for the improvement of the port of Cagliari, in
+order to draw to it some part of the corn trade of the Black Sea. Thus
+the ancient granary of Rome might become the emporium of the trade in
+corn for Italy and Southern France, and even for Africa; the General
+observing, with what reason there may be some doubt, that, while only
+two voyages can be made between the ports of those countries and the
+Black Sea, three, or even four such, could be accomplished from
+Cagliari.
+
+It is to be regretted that I did not obtain the latest statistics of the
+commerce of Sardinia, and the port of Cagliari in particular, from our
+very intelligent Consul, Mr. Craig; recollecting only his having
+mentioned that coal is the principal import from England;—France and
+Genoa, I conclude, supplying manufactured articles and colonial produce.
+Salt, he said, was the chief export, great part of it being shipped to
+Newfoundland and Labrador.
+
+I cannot mention Mr. Craig, for the last time in these pages, without an
+acknowledgment of the many kind offices for which I am indebted to him
+during the present and preceding visits to Sardinia, nor can I easily
+forget the pleasure enjoyed in his amiable family circle. Hours so spent
+in a foreign country have a double charm; for in such agreeable society
+the traveller breathes the atmosphere, and is restored to the habits, of
+his cherished home. I have no reason to think that Mr. Craig's long and
+valuable services are not duly appreciated by his Government; but it
+might be wished that, in any re-arrangement of the consular service,
+they be taken into consideration. It is a sort of honourable exile for a
+man to spend sixteen years of his life on a foreign service, with a
+family growing up, who enjoy very rare opportunities of conversing with
+any of their own countrymen, and still less of their countrywomen, in
+their mother tongue. I take some liberty in venturing to offer these
+wholly unauthorized remarks on a subject of some delicacy; and only wish
+I could flatter myself they have any chance of reaching influential
+quarters, and not being forgotten. Mr. Craig's position, respected and
+esteemed as he long has been, is eligible in many respects; but it might
+perhaps be improved.
+
+At the Consul-General's I again met some of the officers of the Ichnusa,
+to whom, as well as to Boyl commanding the Monzambano, I wish to offer
+my acknowledgments for many civilities. Lieutenant Baudini, of the
+Ichnusa and other Sardinian officers who understand English, may chance
+to peruse this page, and will interpret my sentiments to their brother
+officers. Commandant Boyl was kind enough to give me a passage to Genoa,
+being under orders for that port. We had a pleasant run, the style of
+living on board the Monzambano being excellent, the society agreeable,
+and enjoying magnificent weather. I have before observed that the
+officers of the Sardinian navy are intelligent and gentlemanly, and
+appear to be well up to their profession. The crews are smart, and every
+thing aboard the ship was in the highest order and conducted with
+perfect discipline.
+
+Steaming close in-shore along the eastern coast of Sardinia, remarkable
+principally for its bold and sterile character, there was a striking
+contrast in the appearance of the same coast of Corsica, which came in
+sight after crossing the mouth of the Straits of Bonifacio. This was
+comparatively verdant, not only as regards the fertile plains of the
+_littorale_, described in an early chapter, but, even where the mountain
+ranges approached the Mediterranean south of these extensive plains, the
+sterile aspect of their towering summits and precipitous cliffs was
+often relieved by immense forests encircling their bases, while every
+hillside and slope to the valleys appeared densely clothed with the
+evergreen _macchia_, for which Corsica is so remarkable.
+
+Part of this coast was already well known to the homeward bound
+traveller: again he caught sight of the bold outlines of Elba and Monte
+Cristo, rising out of the Tuscan sea; again, as on the first evening of
+these rambles, the white terraces of Bastia reflected the rays of the
+setting sun. Soon afterwards the mountain ranges of Capo-Corso were
+veiled in darkness, and, as we ran along the shore nothing was visible
+but the twinkling lights of the fishermen's huts in the little
+_marinas_, to bring to mind those features which had so fascinated us on
+our first approach to the island.
+
+Again, farewell to Corsica! Farewell to the twin islands which, like
+emeralds set in an enamelled vase, deck the centre of the great
+Mediterranean bason, embraced by the coasts of Italy, France, and
+Spain,—radiant points midway to Africa, in the great highway to the
+East, and partaking the varied character of all these climes. It had
+been my fortune not only to ramble through these islands from north to
+south, but, in different voyages, to sail round the entire coasts of
+both, except some part of the west of Sardinia. I can only wish that
+these pages more adequately represented the impressions made under the
+opportunities thus enjoyed.
+
+It was again my fortune to approach the lovely bay of Genoa with the
+earliest morning light; and, taking leave of my good friends on board
+the Monzambano, I landed before breakfast. To vary the route homeward,
+instead of crossing the Mont-Cenis, as had been done in frost and snow
+at a late season of the year in the former tour, I enjoyed the enviable
+contrast of journeying along the _Riviera di Ponente_ from Genoa to
+Nice,—that exquisite strip of country between the Apennines and the
+Mediterranean, studded with orchards, orange groves, vineyards, and
+gardens; with towns, towers, churches, and convents, nestled in the
+groves, washed by the sea, or perched high on rocky pinnacles; and all
+this encircling the lovely Bay of Genoa, the road being carried _en
+corniche_ along its winding shores and round its jutting points. Of this
+exquisite scenery no description of mine could convey any adequate idea
+to those who have not seen it, and those who have will need little
+memento to bring its varied features to their recollection.
+
+Farewell, a long farewell to, perhaps, the loveliest strip of country in
+the bright South! The Neapolitan proverb may be applied with equal
+justice to the Ligurian, as to the fair Campanian, coast,—_vedere e pói
+morire_,—a fitting motto wherewith to conclude the tale of an old man's
+wanderings.
+
+Pursuing the journey from Nice to Marseilles, in heat and in dust, the
+express train, by Lyons and Paris, conveyed the Rambler to Calais in
+about thirty hours, and six more landed him in London.
+
+
+                               THE END
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                    PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
+                          NEW-STREET SQUARE.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Dei Costumi dell'Isola di Sardegna, comparate cogli antichissimi
+Popoli Orientali, par Antonio Bresciani. D.C.D.G. Napoli, 1850._
+
+[2] Πολλῶν δ' ἀνθροπῶν ἲδεν ἂσεα—καὶ νὰον ἐγνῶ. Od. i. 3.
+
+[3] _Lamartine_. See THE ISLAND EMPIRE, dedicated to Lord Holland.
+Bosworth, 1855.
+
+[4] In the same way, Ordericus Vitalis represents William the Conqueror
+to have said in his last moments, when reviewing his life, that he
+fought against Harold (meaning what English historians call the Battle
+of Hastings—a name never given to that battle by the Normans) _in
+Epitumo_ (query _Epithymo?_), a word only found in the work of
+Ordericus; referring, probably, as his editor remarks, “to the
+odoriferous plants found on heaths.”—_Forester's Ordericus Vitalis_,
+Bohn's Edition, vol. ii. p. 412.
+
+[5] _Benson's Corsica_, p. 81.
+
+[6] The following biographical sketch is compiled from the works of
+Boswell and Benson, and the compendious _Histoire de la Corse_, by M.
+Camille Friess.
+
+[7] This appears from the Report of a Committee on the Public Safety
+made to the Council General of the Department of Corsica in 1851. It
+says: “La société et l'innocence doivent trouver dans la loi une égale
+protection; mais l'avantage ne doit pas rester au crime.
+
+“Les acquittements multipliés, et souvent scandaleux, n'ont que trop
+démontré que notre législation actuelle renferme trop de chances pour
+l'impunité, et ne présente pas toutes les garanties que la société est
+en droit de reclamer pour la répression des crimes.
+
+“Elle a pensé qu'en ce qui touche les proportions de la majorité,
+_l'institution du jury devrait être modifiée_.”
+
+The proposition was rejected, on the principle which operated when the
+difficulty of obtaining convictions in Ireland raised a similar
+question; namely, that such an exceptional measure was inexpedient.
+
+“En ce qui touche l'organisation du jury, le Conseil a pensé que cette
+proposition ne pouvait être faite que dans un intérêt général pour la
+France, et qu'en lui donnant un caractère spécial pour la Corse, elle
+resemblerait trop à une mesure d'exception que le Conseil repousse.”
+
+[8] “With all the outrages,” continues Mr. Benson, “of which Galluchio
+and his followers are guilty, he is by no means void of moral feeling,
+and is quite a polished character when he enters private society, as I
+learnt from a French gentleman who had met him at breakfast at the house
+of a mutual acquaintance. My friend, when he found himself in such
+company, naturally betrayed a little alarm, but Galluchio reassured him,
+saying, ‘You and yours have nothing to fear at my hands.’
+
+“I am really afraid to extract from my notes many of the wild adventures
+of this Corsican Rob Roy. Not long since, a shepherd, personating him,
+violated a female peasant. The chieftain soon obtained information of
+the gross outrage that had been committed on his character; and finding
+the shepherd, took him before the mayor of Bagniola, and this at a time
+when Galluchio had six sentences of death hanging over him. At the
+chieftain's instigation, the shepherd was compelled to espouse the poor
+girl. Galluchio, after the marriage had been solemnised, said to the
+shepherd, ‘Remember that you make a good husband. I shall keep a
+watchful eye over your conduct; and should I hear that your wife
+receives any maltreatment from you, yourself and your family shall pay
+with their lives for your misconduct.’ The man little attended to
+Galluchio's warning. The chieftain adhered to his threat, and the
+shepherd, with his father and several other members of the same family,
+fell victims.”—_Benson's Sketches in Corsica_, pp. 23-25.
+
+[9] _Corsica, by F. Gregorovius._ Chap. x. p. 149. of the translation
+published by Longman & Co.
+
+[10] _Novelle Storiche Corse, di F.O. Renucci._ Bastia, 1838.
+
+[11] _Novella VIII. L'Amore e la Religion._ Renucci, p. 43.
+
+[12] Marmocchi. _Géographie Politique de l'Ile de Corse_, p. 117.
+
+[13] In this sanguinary battle, fought in 1768, the Corsicans, under
+Pasquale and Clemente Paoli, Murati, and their other chiefs, thrice
+repulsed the French army of 15,000 men under Chauvelin, and forced them
+to retreat in disorder to Bastia. The garrison of Borgo, a force of 700
+men, laid down their arms, and surrendered to the Corsicans.
+
+[14] _Géographie Physique_, p. 57.
+
+[15] _Norway in 1848-1849_, pp. 188, 189. (8vo. Ed., Longman & Co.)
+Professor Forbes arrives at nearly the same result from the observations
+of Von Buch and others. _Norway and its Glaciers_, pp. 207, &c.
+
+[16] Professor Forbes (_Travels in the Alps_) states the average height
+of the snow-line at 8500 feet.
+
+[17] See an Essay by Professor Forbes on Isothermal Lines and
+Climatology, in _Johnstone's Physical Atlas_, p. 17.
+
+[18] “Un Arrêt du Conseil du 22 Juin, 1771, avait défendu de planter des
+châtaigniers dans aucun terrain de l'île susceptible d'être ensemencé de
+blés ou autres grains, ou d'être converti en prairies naturelles ou
+artificielles, ou plantés de vignes, d'oliviers, ou de mûriers. Deux ans
+après cet arrêt fut revoqué par un autre, où l'on reconnaissait que les
+châtaigniers étaient pour les habitants de certains cantons un moyen
+d'existence nécessaire dans les temps de disette, et dans tous les temps
+un objet de commerce avantageux. Ce dernier arrêt fut rendu sur le
+rapport du célèbre économiste Turgot.”—_Robiquet_, quoted by
+_Marmocchi_, p. 225.
+
+[19] _Clarke and McArthur's Life of Nelson_, vol. i. pp. 156, &c.
+
+[20] Benson's _Sketches of Corsica_, p. 97.
+
+[21] Lyell's _Elements_, vol. ii. c. xxxi.
+
+[22] _Recherches sur les Ossements fossiles_, t. iv. p. 198.
+
+[23] Vol. ii. c. xxxi.
+
+[24] Chap. XIII.
+
+[25] See Chap. XI.
+
+[26] The article of the Constitutional Act, vesting the sovereignty of
+Corsica in the king of Great Britain, runs as follows:—
+
+“Il Monarca, e Rè della Corsica, è sua Maestà Giorgio III., Rè della
+Gran-Bretagna, e li de lui Successori, secondo l'ordine della
+successione al trono della Gran-Bretagna.”
+
+The oath sworn by the king on accepting the crown and constitution of
+Corsica was to the following effect:—
+
+“Io sotto scritto Cavaliere Baronetto, &c., &c., Plenipotenziario di S.
+Maestà Britannica, essendo specialmente autorizzato a quest'effetto,
+accetto in nome di sua Maestà GIORGIO III., RÈ DELLA GRAN-BRETAGNA, la
+corona e la sovranità della Corsica secondo la Costituzione, &c., questo
+giorno dicianove Giugno (1704). E giuro in nome di SUA MAESTÀ di
+mantenere la libertà del popolo Corso, secondo la Costituzione e la
+Legge.
+
+                                        “(Sottoscritto) ELLIOT.”
+
+The oath of the president and deputies:—
+
+“Io giuro per me, ed in nome del popolo Corso che rappresento, di
+riconoscere per mio Sovrano e Rè sua Maestà GIORGIO III., RÈ DELLA
+GRAN-BRETAGNA, di prestargli fede ed omaggio, secondo la Costituzione,”
+&c.
+
+    Compared with the original,
+
+        PASQUALE DI PAOLI, _Presidente_.
+        CARLO ANDREA POZZO-DI-BORGO,} _Segretarj._
+        GIO. ANDREA MUSELLI,        }
+
+The oath of allegiance was to be taken by all Corsicans in their
+respective communities.—_Benson's Sketches in Corsica_, pp. 193-195.
+
+[27] See before, p. 159.
+
+[28] _Hist. Plant._ lib. 1, cap. 8.
+
+[29] See _Norway in 1848—1849_, 8vo., Longman & Co., pp. 36, 37.
+
+[30] Lambert's _Genus Pinus_, vol. i. p. 18.
+
+[31] Walpole's _Turkey_, p. 236.
+
+[32] Lambert's _Genus Pinus_, vol. ii. p. 28.
+
+[33] “FORÊT D'ASCO EN CORSE.
+
+“La Forêt d'Asco est située dans l'arrondissement de Corte. Elle est
+traversée par une rivière au moyen de laquelle on pourrait l'exploiter
+avec de grands avantages. Cette forêt, une des plus considérables,
+considérée comme forêt particulière, pourrait fournir deux cents
+cinquante mille mètres cubes de bois. Elle renferme des arbres de toute
+dimension. Il y en est qu'on pouvait faire servir pour la marine comme
+matière de bâtiments. Par sa nature grasse ou résineuse, le bois est
+employé avec succès pour les chemins de fer, et présente tous les
+conditions de solidité et de durée. La plus grande partie de la forêt
+renferme les Pins Larix; il y a aussi une grande quantité de Pins
+Maritimes. La dimension des arbres maritimes est de 12 à 20 mètres de
+hauteur; et celle des Pins Larix de 16 à 40 mètres de hauteur, sur une
+circonférence moyenne de trois mètres.”
+
+At the suggestion of one of our foreign ministers, who drew the
+attention of Government to the possibility of obtaining supplies of
+timber for naval purposes from the forests of Corsica in private hands,
+the author, on his return to England, had some communications with
+official persons respecting the forests of Signor F——; but the matter
+dropped. Should it be thought a subject worth inquiry, with a view to
+commercial enterprise, the author will be happy to put any person
+applying to him, through his Publishers, in the way of procuring further
+information.
+
+[34] There was no appeal to any personal attachment of the Corsicans to
+the Bonaparte family, as sprung from among themselves, or to their
+gratitude for benefits conferred on them, in the address with which, in
+1851, the _Préfet_ urged the Council-General to take part in the general
+movement in France for the abrogation of the article in the Constitution
+which precluded the advance of Louis Napoleon to supreme power.
+“_Marchons_,” he said, “_avec la grande majorité de la France vers ce
+grand jour qui doit rendre le calme aux esprits, la confiance aux
+intérêts, et la liberté d'action à l'autorité!_”
+
+The resolution, passed by a large majority after a warm debate, was thus
+prefaced:—“_Considérant qu'il importe de donner à la France des
+institutions que ses besoins reclament, et que ses intérêts moraux et
+matêriels exigent: Considérant que le commerce et l'industrie, ces
+sources indispensables de l'existence de toute société ne se relèveront
+de leur affaissement, et ne reprenderont un nouvel essor, qu'autant que
+la constitution leur promettra un avenir plus assuré: Considérant, en
+outre, que la souveraineté nationale trouve dans l'article 45 de la
+Constitution un obstacle légal à la libre manifestation de sa volonté et
+de sa reconnaissance envers le Président actuel de la Republique, qui a
+rendu l'ordre et la sécurité au pays par la sagesse et la fermeté de son
+gouvernement: renouvelle, à la majorité de quarante-deux voix contre
+quatre, le vœu que la Constitution de 1848 soit revisée, et l'article 45
+abrogée._”
+
+[35] This family is one of the most ancient in Corsica. Count Pozzo di
+Borgo, the celebrated diplomatist, was born at Alata, a village near
+Ajaccio. He commenced his public career under the administration of
+Pascal Paoli, signed the Anglo-Corsican Constitutional Act as Secretary
+of State (see before, p. 173.), and was afterwards President of the
+Corsican Parliament. His subsequent career is matter of history.
+
+[36] I find the name spelt indiscriminately Bonaparte and Buonaparte.
+Napoleon, when young, wrote it both ways. It is spelt Bonaparte in the
+entry of his baptism in the Register of Ajaccio, which was solemnised
+(by-the-bye) two years after his birth, the dates being 15 Aug. 1709; 21
+July, 1771. His father signed the entry as “Carlo Buonaparte.”
+
+[37] _An Account of Corsica and Journal of a Tour_, by James Boswell, p.
+297.
+
+[38] Boswell figured in this costume at the Jubilee Shakespeare Festival
+held at Stratford-on-Avon under Garrick's auspices.
+
+[39] _An Account of Corsica and Journal of a Tour_, by James Boswell, p.
+302.
+
+[40] See before, p. 15. and 46.
+
+[41] Ridiculously trifling as the origin of this bloody quarrel may
+appear, the story is very probably founded on fact. Renucci relates
+another scarcely less absurd. Feuds, similar to those mentioned in the
+play, had long existed between the Vinconti and Grimaldi families,
+inhabitants of the village of Monte d'Olmo, in the _pieve_ of Ampugnano.
+Like good Catholics, however, they met sometimes at mass. The church was
+sacred and neutral ground; there, at least, the _trêve de Dieu_ might be
+supposed to be in force. Thither, on some solemn feast, the villagers,
+indiscriminately, bent their steps. Some had already entered the church,
+and were engaged in their devotions, many loitered about the door, and
+the _piazza_ was crowded. Talking about one thing and another, the
+conversation naturally turned to the ceremonies of the day, and a
+dispute arose whether the officiating clergy ought to wear the black
+hoods of the Confraternity in the processions which formed part of the
+service.
+
+Orso Paolo, one of the Vincenti family, gave it as his opinion that they
+should wear their surplices, alleging that to be the ancient and fitting
+custom.
+
+“No!” cried Ruggero Grimaldi, “they ought to wear the black hoods;”
+giving reasons equally authoritative for his view of the question.
+
+The strife waxed warm. The villagers took one side or the other;
+“hoods,” and “surplices,” became the party cries. From words they came
+to blows, and Orso Paolo, the only man of the Vincenti family present,
+being sore pressed in the struggle, rashly drew out a pistol, and
+mortally wounded Ruggero Grimaldi's eldest son.
+
+So the story begins, and as it is one of the few in Renucci's
+“_Novelle_” that are worth translating, we will give the sequel.
+
+The rage and fury of Grimaldi and his party were now worked up to the
+highest pitch. The mass was interrupted, the church deserted, and the
+whole village a scene of uproar. Orso Paolo fled as soon as he had fired
+the fatal shot, pursued by his enemies, who overtook and surrounded him.
+His fate had been sealed on the spot, but that, quick as lightning, he
+burst through the throng and darted into a house of which the door stood
+open. It was the house of Grimaldi, his deadly foe, but there was no
+other chance of escaping instant death. To close and bar the door, and
+stand on his defence, was the work of a moment. Corsican houses are
+strongholds; Orso Paolo was in possession of the enemy's fortress. He
+threatens death to the first assailant, and the boldest recoil. What was
+to be done? It was proposed to set fire to the house, but Ruggero's
+youngest son, a child of seven or eight years old, had been left asleep
+in the house when the family went to church. He would perish in the
+flames. At that thought Grimaldi became irresolute. Just at this moment
+the eldest son is brought from the church, bleeding to death from his
+mortal wound, amidst lamentations and women's shrieks. At that spectacle
+Ruggero can no longer contain himself. Frantic with grief, he runs to
+set fire to his own house. The voice of nature pleading for his
+remaining child is stifled by passion and resentment. The tears and
+expostulations of the wretched mother are of no avail; they have no
+influence over the mind of the infuriated father.
+
+“What are you doing, cruel Ruggero?” she cried, in the midst of sobs and
+groans; “Is it for you to fill up our cup of misery? Will you destroy
+the dearest and sweetest of our hopes? One son is gasping his last
+breath before our eyes, the other, still in infancy, will perish from
+the transports of your rage. Who, then, will be the support of our
+miserable old age? Who will defend us from the insults of the powerful?”
+
+“So that Orso Paolo perish, let the world be at an end!” exclaimed
+Ruggero. Such is the terrible force of the passions in the human breast.
+
+Ruggero's house is burning, the fire crackles, the flames burst forth,
+the sparkles fill the air. Vincenti, involved in smoke and flame, rushes
+from place to place, seeking a retreat to prolong his life for a few
+moments. All at once he is startled by the wailing cries of a child. He
+directs his steps towards it, and discovers, with amazement, the son of
+his cruel enemy. Struck with indignation at the father's barbarity, he
+suddenly raises his hand to take vengeance on the child of his
+relentless adversary. The boy utters a plaintive cry, and stretches its
+little hands towards him, trembling and frightened.
+
+“Take courage, my boy, take courage!” said Vincenti, snatching him to
+his bosom; “you see a man who is not deaf to the voice of pity. If
+Heaven will not protect your innocency, at least you shall die in the
+arms of a second father.”
+
+Meanwhile, the fire spreads through every part of the building; nothing
+can resist the fury of the devouring flames. Fanned by the wind, they
+surge in waves, ever greedy of new food. The roof quivers, the floors
+crack, the whole falls with a terrible crash. What chance was there for
+Vincenti's escape with life? He had abandoned all hopes.
+
+Ruggero, satiated with vengeance, retires to the house of a relation, to
+which his wounded son had been removed. The spectacle of his sufferings,
+his imminent danger, and the sobs and lamentations of his inconsolable
+wife, awaken in his soul the affections of a father. A faint ray of
+reason penetrates his mind, and he perceives all the horrors of his
+proceeding. Trouble, remorse, repentance, succeed; his heart is wrung
+with anguish, and he attempts his own life. Friends interfere to
+restrain him.
+
+At the news of the atrocity committed by the Grimaldi, in firing the
+house and leaving their enemy to perish in the ruins, the kinsmen of
+Orso Paolo assemble and rush to Monte d'Olmo, threatening vengeance on
+the perpetrators. The Grimaldi rally round Ruggero to shield him from
+his exasperated enemies. Just then, shouts are raised in the piazza,
+mingled with the name of Vincenti, and at intervals with gentler sounds
+which speak to the heart of the wife of Ruggero.
+
+She flies to the window, and exclaiming, “Oh heaven! Orso Paolo! My son!
+My son! My son!” falls speechless and fainting on the floor. The
+spectacle which produced this vivid emotion was that of the noble
+Vincenti, who, scorched, and covered with ashes, and pressing the child
+firmly to his breast, was hastening on amid the acclamations and
+_evvivas_ of the populace. He had taken refuge under an arch of the
+staircase, clasping the child firmly in his arms.
+
+Ruggero's wife, recovering from her swoon, runs and throws herself into
+the arms of Vincenti, calling him the preserver and father of her
+beloved son. Ruggero, full of admiration and gratitude, salutes
+Vincenti, with a modest humility, invoking his pardon, and begging his
+friendship. Vincenti embraces him, pardons him, and swears eternal
+friendship for him. The wounded youth unexpectedly recovers, the two
+factions become friends, and the generous Vincenti, loaded with praises
+and benedictions, had the happiness to extinguish an inveterate feud
+between the two families, and thus restore peace to the community of
+Castel d'Acqua.
+
+[42] _Clarke and McArthur's Life of Nelson_, vol. ii. p. 336.
+
+[43] The “Ichneusa,” so called from the ancient name of the island. On a
+subsequent visit to Sardinia I had the pleasure of making an agreeable
+acquaintance with the officers of the “Ichneusa,” the ship being one of
+a little squadron then employed in the service of assisting in the
+laying down the submarine telegraph cable between Cape Teulada and the
+coast of Algeria, of which I hope to be able to give some account in the
+sequel. The engineer of the “Ichneusa” was an Englishman, who was often
+ashore at our hotel while his ship lay in the harbour of La Madelena; an
+intelligent man, as I have always found the many of his class employed
+in the royal steam navy of the Sardinian government. I cannot believe
+that the engineers of the steam-ship “Cagliari” had any complicity with
+the Genoese conspirators. They worked the ship, no doubt, in compliance
+with orders enforced by the Italian desperadoes in possession of her
+with stilettoes at their throats; and it is to be regretted that
+peremptory measures were not taken by our Government for their release.
+We can only conclude that the unfortunate engineers were sacrificed to
+political expediency.
+
+[44] _Sketch of the Present State of the Island of Sardinia_, pp.
+187-191 (1827). It is but fair to remark, that Captain (now Admiral)
+Smyth does not describe any excesses in the festivities he witnessed. We
+have reason, however, to believe that they have sadly deteriorated, as
+well as the religious instincts of the Sardes, in the thirty years since
+they came under Captain Smyth's observation.
+
+[45] The “barancelli” will be noticed hereafter.
+
+[46] Mr. Warre Tyndale's _Island of Sardinia_, vol. i. p. 313, &c.
+
+[47] Cf. Isaiah, i. 8.: “A lodge in a vineyard, and a cottage in a
+garden of cucumbers.”
+
+[48] Gen. xxiv. 11, 15.
+
+[49] I Sam. ix. 11.
+
+[50] Odyss. lib. x.
+
+[51] Asphodels were planted by the ancients near burying-places, in
+order to supply the manes of the dead with nourishment.
+
+    “By those happy souls that dwell
+    In yellow meads of Asphodel.”—_Pope._
+
+The plant _lilio asphodelus_ belongs to the liliaceous tribe. It
+flourishes also in Italy, Sicily, Crete, and Africa, some varieties
+bearing white flowers.
+
+[52] αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ πόσιος καὶ ἐδητύος, &c. HOMER, _passim_.
+
+[53] See the sketch in the next page.
+
+[54] “That certain local causes have through all ages tainted the
+atmosphere of Sardinia, may be gathered from the remarks and sarcasms of
+a host of early authors. Martial, in mentioning the hour of death,
+celebrates salubrious Tibur at the expense of this pestilent isle:
+
+    ‘Nullo fata loco possis excludere: cum mors
+    Venerit, in medio Tibure Sardinia est.’
+
+“Cicero, who hated Tigellius, the flattering musical buffoon so well
+described by Horace, thus lashes his country in a letter to Fabius
+Gallus: ‘Id ego in lucris pono non ferre hominem pestilentiorem putriâ
+suâ.’ Again, writing to his brother: ‘Remember,’ says he, ‘though in
+perfect health, you are in Sardinia.’ And Pausanias, Cornelius Nepos,
+Strabo, Tacitus, Silius Italicus, and Claudian, severally bear testimony
+to the current opinion. In later times the terse Dante sings:
+
+    ‘Qual dolor fora, se degli spedali
+      Di Valdichiana tra 'l luglio e 'l settembre
+    E di maremma, e di Sardinia i mali
+      Fossero in una fossa tutte insembre,’” &c.
+
+                                      _Smyth's Sardinia_, p. 81.
+
+[55] See before, pp. 150, 260.
+
+[56] The trade in snow is farmed by the Aritzese, it being, like that in
+salt and tobacco, a royal monopoly, leased for terms of years at a
+considerable rent. Upwards of 9000 cantars (about 375 tons) are brought
+down every year from the mountains of Fundada Cungiata and Genargentu,
+and carried on horseback to all parts of the island. The labour,
+fatigue, and difficulty attending the conveyance of the snow from those
+great altitudes are severe; as in the paths where there is no footing
+for a horse, the men are obliged to carry the burden on their shoulders;
+and the quantity they can bear is a matter of boast and rivalry among
+them.
+
+It has been observed in a former chapter that none of the Sardinian
+mountains rise to what would be the level of perpetual frost. The snow
+trade must therefore be supplied from deep hollows in the mountains,
+serving as natural ice-houses, in which it is lodged during the summer.
+
+We have an account of a forest in Scotland held of the Crown by the
+tenure of the delivery of a snow-ball on any day of the year on which it
+may be demanded; and it is said that there is no danger of forfeiture
+for default of the quit-rent, the chasms of Benewish holding snow, in
+the form of a glacier, throughout the year.—_Pennant's Tour in
+Scotland_, i. 185.
+
+[57] “There is among the Sardes a degree of adopted relationship called
+‘compare’ (_comparatico_), a stronger engagement than is known under the
+common acceptation of the term in other countries.”—_Smyth's Sardinia_,
+p. 193.
+
+[58] “The lionedda is a rustic musical instrument formed of reeds,
+similar to the Tyrrhenian and Lydian pipes we find depicted on the
+ancient Etruscan vases. It consists of three or four reeds of
+proportionate lengths to create two octaves, a _terce_ and a _quint_,
+with a small mouthpiece at the end of each. Like a Roman tibicen, the
+performer takes them into his mouth, and inflates the whole at once with
+such an acquired skill that most of them can keep on for a couple of
+hours without a moment's intermission, appearing to breathe and play
+simultaneously. He, however, who can sound five reeds is esteemed the
+Coryphæus.”—_Ib._ p. 192.
+
+[59] Ezekiel, viii. 14.
+
+[60] Isaiah, i. 29.
+
+[61] Isaiah, lxvi. 15-17. _Mundos se putabant in hortis post
+januam._—Vulgate.
+
+[62] Ezekiel, viii. 14.
+
+[63] Leviticus, xx. 2.
+
+[64] Jeremiah, xix. 4, 5.
+
+[65] “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils, and shed
+innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom
+they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.”—_Psalm_ cvi. 26, 27.
+
+“Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body
+for the sin of my soul?”—_Micah_, vi. 7.
+
+[66] 2 Kings, xvi. 3.
+
+[67] Jeremiah, xxxii. 35.
+
+[68] Vol. ii. p. 264.
+
+[69] See before, p. 191.—The pine does not flourish in Sardinia. Deal
+planks for house-building are imported from Corsica.
+
+[70] _Annual Statement of Trade and Navigation presented to Parliament_.
+
+[71] The vehicular statistics of Sardinia, ten years before, as summed
+up by Mr. Warre Tyndale, show three vehicles for hire at Porto Torres,
+seven at Sassari, four at Macomer, and about twenty at Cagliari. These
+and about ten private carriages made the total in this island:
+sufficient, he adds, for the unlocomotive propensities of the
+inhabitants and their almost roadless country. Things were not much
+improved at the period of our visit.
+
+[72] _Memorie Politico-Economiche intorno alla Sardegna nel 1852, di
+Vincenzo Sala, da Venezia. Seconda Edizione, riveduta dall'Autore._
+
+[73] We do not include, in the enumeration of free states, the Swiss
+confederacy, nor flourishing Holland. Both date their liberties to much
+earlier times.
+
+[74] _Norway in 1848 and 1849._ Longman and Co.
+
+[75] La sua positura nel Mediterraneo la rende intermediara fra l'Africa
+e l'Europa; fra il porto di Marsiglia da una parte, quelli di Genova e
+Livorno dall'altra, e per conseguenza potrebbe proccaciarsi un conspicuo
+reddito dal cabottagio. Se si considera che la francia scarreggia di
+marina mercantile, relativemente alla sua potenza ed a suoi besogni, non
+sembrerà per certo un sogno l'asserire che la Sardegna si troverebbe a
+miglior portata di concorrere a soddisfare le sue bisogne di transporte,
+principalmente per le coste d'Africa, dove la colonia francese va
+prendendo sempre maggiore sviluppo, e prenunzia un avvenire fecondo. Si
+la città di Cagliari e le altre terre littorale possedessero una marina
+mercantile, quante fonti di richezza non troverebbe la Sardegna lungo le
+coste d'Italia, di Francia, di Spagna e d'Africa! Non si credono queste
+visioni o travidementi d'immaginazione; che anzi non temiamo d'affirmare
+ch'essa potrebbe divenire, un giorno, _la piccola Inghilterra del
+Mediterraneo.—Memorie Politico-Economiche_, p. 134.
+
+[76] A passage in Aristotle's work “De Mirabilibus,” (chap. 104.) has
+been supposed to refer to the Nuraghe. The words are these:—“It is said
+that in the island of Sardinia are edifices of the ancients, erected
+after the Greek manner, and many other beautiful buildings and _tholi_
+(domes or cupolas) finished in excellent proportions.” Again, Diodorus
+Siculus informs us (l. iv. c. 29, 30) that “after Iolaus had settled his
+colony in Sardinia, he sent for Dædalus out of Sicily and employed him
+in building many and great works which remain to this day.” And in
+another place (l. v. c. 51) he reckons among these works “temples of the
+gods,” of which, he repeats, “the remains exist even in these times.”
+These passages, however, afford but slight grounds for considering that
+the Nuraghe were built by the Greeks, or even were temples of the gods.
+The term Θολούς, used by Aristotle, may indeed describe a round building
+roofed with a dome, but the Nuraghe cannot be considered as
+corresponding to the Grecian idea of buildings that are
+“beautiful”—“finished in excellent proportions”—or fitting temples for
+the gods. Pausanias denies that Dædalus was sent for out of Sicily by
+Iolaus, and makes it an anachronism. See _Tyndale's Sardinia_, vol. i.
+p. 116.
+
+[77] Micah, iv. 8; and see 2 Kings, x. 12, xvii. 9, xviii. 8; and 2
+Chron. xxvi. 10, &c.
+
+[78] “_Apenas se diferenciaba el_ ARA de la TUMBA.
+
+“_La graderia_ (del monumento sepolcrale) _se hallaba practicada en el
+costade occidental per donde se subia para_ ORAR, _o para_
+SACRIFICAR.”—Dupaix, vol. v. p. 243. 261.
+
+[79] We borrow this description from Mr. Tyndale's work, as well as the
+illustrations, not finding a sketch of a Sepoltura in our own portfolio.
+
+[80] The learned Jesuit disconnects this migration from the expulsion of
+the Canaanitish tribes by the Israelites under Joshua, considering it to
+have occurred from one to two centuries before, when the giant tribes
+east of Jordan were subdued by the Moabites and Amorites, who succeeded
+to their possessions. Moses relates that “the Emims dwelt therein [that
+is, in Moab,] in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the
+Anakims; which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the
+Moabites call them Emims.” Of Ammon, Moses says:—“That also was
+accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the
+Ammonites call them Zamzummims; a people great, and many, and tall, as
+the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded
+them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day.”—_Deut._ ii. 10, 11,
+20, 21.
+
+[81]
+
+    Οὓς καλέουσι Γίγαντας ἐπώνυμον ἐν μακάροισι
+    Οὕνεκα γῆς ἐγενόντο καὶ αἵματος οὐρανίοιο      ORPHEUS.
+
+[82] Gen. vi. 1-4.
+
+[83] These giant tribes were defeated by Chedorlaomer and the kings
+allied with him, in the same expedition in which the kings of Sodom and
+Gomorrah were put to the sword, and Lot, who dwelt in Sodom, was carried
+off, but afterwards rescued by Abraham. Numbers, xiv. 5. &c.
+
+[84] Numb. xiii. 33.; Deut. iii. 11., ix. 2.; Josh. xv. 14.
+
+[85] 1 Sam. xvii. 4; 2 Sam. xxi. 16-22.
+
+[86]
+
+    .  .  .  .  . “Summo cum monte videmus
+    Ipsum, inter pecudes vastâ se mole moventem,
+    _Pastorem_ Polyphemum, et littora nota petentem.
+
+         .     .     .     .     .     .
+
+    Trunca manum pinus regit, et vestigia firmat.
+    Lanigeræ comitantur oves;  .  .  .  .
+    .  .  .  . de collo fistula pendet.” _Æn._ iii. 653, &c.
+
+[87] Polypheme's clan are thus described;—
+
+    “Nam, qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro
+    Lanigeras claudit pecudes, atque ubera pressat,
+    Centum alii curva hæc habitant ad littora vulgo
+    Infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant.” _Æn._ iii. 641.
+
+[88] Father Bresciani has collected all the authorities for the
+existence of giant races, with great diligence, in the course of his
+remarks on the Sarde Sepolture. Vol. i. p. 89, &c.
+
+[89] De Physicis, iv. 3.
+
+[90] Gen. iv. 21, 22.
+
+[91] A general idea seems to have prevailed in early times of the
+prodigious muscular strength possessed by the men of an age still
+earlier. Thus Turnus, the warlike chief of the Rutuli, is represented in
+the Æneid as lifting and hurling at the Trojan an immense boundary stone
+which would defy the united efforts of _twelve such men as the earth
+produced in those days_ to lift on their shoulders.
+
+    “Saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod forte jacebat,
+    Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.
+    Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,
+    Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus.” _Æn._ xii. 897.
+
+[92] Gen. xi. 4.
+
+[93] See before, p. 394.
+
+[94] _Ordericus Vitalis_, vol. i. p. 113. (Bohn's Antiq. Library.)
+
+[95] Ib. vol. i. pp. 130, 338; ii. 149.
+
+[96] _Circonscrizione amministrativa delle provincie di Terra Ferma e
+della Sardegna_.—Torino, Stamperia Reale, 1850.
+
+[97] Atia, the daughter of M. Atius Balbus, by Julia, sister of Julius
+Cæsar, was the mother of Octavius Augustus.—_Suetonius._
+
+[98] Cohen, in his _Déscription des Médailles Consulaires_ recently
+published (Paris, 1857), notices a bronze medal of the same type, of
+which he says:—“Cette médaille était frappée par les habitans de la
+Sardaigne, sous le règne d'Auguste, et pour gagner ses bonnes grâces ils
+y placèrent le portrait de son aïeul en même tems que celui du fondateur
+de leur patrie.” The cabinet of the British Museum contains a specimen
+of this bronze medal, “de fabrique très-barbare,” to use Cohen's
+description. He does not appear to be aware of the existence of the
+silver coin, which is of a far better style.
+
+[99] Captain Smyth states that in 1798 upwards of 2000 Moors suddenly
+disembarked on the beach of Malfatano from six Tunisian vessels; when
+the town was surrounded and taken. Brutality and pillage in all their
+hideous forms visited every house; and 850 men, women, and children were
+driven into slavery. The unhappy captives remained at Tunis; and, from
+the embarrassments of the Sardinian Government, were not ransomed until
+the year 1805. In 1815 the Tunisians, recollecting the rich booty they
+had before obtained, reappeared off the port, but finding the garrison
+well prepared to give them a warm reception, they sheered off.—_Sketch
+of Sardinia_, p. 300.
+
+[100] Among the other emblems of divinity we find the heads of dogs,
+cats, apes, and birds, and also rude figures of the boats of Isis,
+establishing a connection between the Egyptian and Phœnician
+mythologies. Some exhibit astronomical and astrological symbols. Other
+images appear to be carrying cakes, a part of the offering made to
+Astarte, to which Jeremiah alludes:—“The women knead their dough, to
+make cakes to the queen of heaven.”—Chap. vii. 18.
+
+[101] The concern is incorporated under the name of “The Mediterranean
+Telegraph Company,” but the terms “Sardinian” or “Sardo-French” Company
+are adopted, as more distinctly indicating the nature of its origin and
+designs.
+
+[102] _L'Istmo di Suez, e la Stazione Telegrafico-Electrica di Cagliari;
+Ragiamento del T. G. Alberto Della Marmora. Torino, 1856._
+
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and
+Sardinia, by Thomas Forester
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia
+       with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition.
+
+Author: Thomas Forester
+
+Release Date: April 6, 2009 [EBook #28510]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carlo Traverso, Barbara Magni and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://dp.rastko.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Biblioth�que nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2 class="btitle">RAMBLES</h2>
+
+<h2 class="btitle">IN</h2>
+
+<h2 class="btitle">CORSICA AND SARDINIA.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><small>WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</small></h2>
+
+<p class="center"><small>I.</small></p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">RAMBLES IN NORWAY, 1848-1849; including Remarks on its Political,
+Military, Ecclesiastical, and Social Organization. With a Map,
+Wood Engravings, and Lithographic Illustrations. 1 vol. 8vo.
+Longman and Co., 1860.<br />
+*<span style="vertical-align: sub">*</span>* A few copies only of this Edition are on hand.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>II.</small></p>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><span class="smcap">The Same</span>, in 1 vol. post 8vo. without the Illustrations.
+(<i>Traveller's Library</i>.) Longman and Co., 1855.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>III.</small></p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">EVERARD TUNSTALL: A South-African Tale. Bentley, 1851.<br />
+*<span style="vertical-align: sub">*</span>* A New Edition is in preparation.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>IV.</small></p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">THE DANUBE AND THE BLACK SEA. A Memoir on their Junction by a
+Railway and Port; with Remarks on the Navigation of the Danube,
+the Danubian Provinces, the Corn Trade, the Antient and Present
+Commerce of the Euxine; and Notices of History, Antiquities,
+&amp;c. With a Map and Sketch of the Town and Harbour of
+Kustendjie. 1 vol. 8vo. E. Stanford, 6 Charing Cross, 1857.</p>
+
+<hr style="visibility: hidden" />
+
+<p class="center"><small>LONDON:<br />
+PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.<br />
+NEW-STREET SQUARE.</small></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a>
+<img src="images/004.jpg" width="700" height="427" alt="Ajaccio" title="Ajaccio" />
+</div>
+
+
+<h1>RAMBLES</h1>
+
+<h3>IN THE ISLANDS OF</h3>
+
+<h1><big>CORSICA AND SARDINIA.</big></h1>
+
+<p class="title"><small>WITH</small></p>
+
+<h3>NOTICES OF THEIR HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES, AND PRESENT CONDITION.</h3>
+
+<h2 class="author">BY THOMAS FORESTER</h2>
+<p class="center"><small>AUTHOR OF &ldquo;NORWAY IN 1818-1819,&rdquo; ETC.</small></p>
+
+<p class="title"><big>LONDON</big></p>
+
+<p class="center">LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS.<br />
+1858</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2>
+
+
+<p>Nearly a century ago, James Boswell made an expedition
+to Corsica, and was entertained with distinction
+by Pascal Paoli. Next to conducting
+Samuel Johnson to the Hebrides, the exploit of penetrating
+to what was then considered a sort of <i>Ultima
+Thule</i> in southern Europe, was the greatest event in
+the famous biographer's life; and, next to his devotion
+to the English sage, was the homage he paid to
+the Corsican chief.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after his return from this expedition, in 1767,
+Boswell printed his Journal, with a valuable account
+of the island; but from that time to the present, no
+Englishman has written on Corsica except Mr. Robert
+Benson, who published some short &ldquo;Sketches&rdquo; of its
+history, scenery, and people in 1825. During the war
+of the revolution, Nelson's squadron hung like a
+thunder-cloud round the coast, and for some time an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>
+expeditionary force of British troops held possession
+of the island. Our George the Third accepted the
+Corsican crown, but his reign was as ephemeral as
+that of King Theodore, the aspiring adventurer, who
+ended his days in the Fleet Prison.</p>
+
+<p>These occurrences, with any knowledge of the
+country and people arising out of them, have passed
+from the memory of the present generation; and it
+may be affirmed, without exaggeration, that when the
+tour forming the subject of the present work was
+projected and carried out, Corsica was less known
+in England than New Zealand. The general impression
+concerning it was tolerably correct. Imagination
+painted it as a wild and romantic country,&mdash;romantic
+in its scenery and the character of its
+inhabitants; a very region of romance and sentiment;
+a fine field for the novelist and the dramatist; and
+to that class of writers it was abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Corsica had yet to be faithfully pictured to the
+just apprehension of the discerning inquirer.
+Naturally therefore the author, whose narratives of
+his wanderings in more than one quarter of the globe
+had been favourably received, was not indisposed to
+commit to the press the result of his observations
+during his Corsican rambles. Just then, translations
+of an account of a Tour in the island by a German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span>
+traveller, appeared in England, and being written in
+an attractive style, the work commanded considerable
+attention. It seemed to fill the gap in English literature
+on the subject of Corsica; and though the
+writer of these pages felt that M. Gregorovius'
+pictures of Corsican life were too highly coloured,
+he was inclined to leave the field in the hands which
+had cultivated it with talent and success. Eventually,
+however, being led to think that Corsica was still
+open to survey from an English point of view, and
+that it possessed sufficient legitimate attractions to
+sustain the interest of such a work as he had designed,
+the author was induced to undertake it.</p>
+
+<p>If the field of literature connected with Corsica was
+found barren when examined in prospect of this expedition,
+that of Sardinia presented an <i>embarras de
+richesses</i>. The works of La Marmora, Captain, now
+Admiral, Smyth, and Mr. Warre Tyndale, had seemingly
+exhausted the subject, with a success the mere
+Rambler can make no pretensions to rival; but the
+former being a foreign work, and the two latter out of
+print, neither of them is easily accessible. They
+have been sometimes used, in the following pages, to
+throw light on subjects which came under the author's
+own observation. He has also consulted a valuable
+work, recently published at Naples, by F. Antonio<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>
+Bresciani, of the Society of Jesus<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>, on the manners
+and habits of the Sardes compared with those of the
+oldest Oriental nations. The comparisons are chiefly
+gathered from scenes and usages depicted in the narratives
+of Homer and the Bible, still singularly reflected
+in the habits and traditions of the primitive
+and insular people of Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these are noticed in the present volume,
+and the author intended to draw more largely on the
+rich stores accumulated by the researches of the
+learned Jesuit; but time and space failed. Like
+truant boys, the Ramblers had loitered on their early
+path, idly amusing themselves with very trifles, or
+stopping to gather the wild flowers that fell in their
+way, till the harvest-field was reached too late to be
+carefully gleaned. For a work, however, of this description,
+attention enough has perhaps been paid to
+the subject of Sarde antiquities; it being intended to
+be amusing as well as instructive, to convey information
+on the character of the people on whom it treats,
+as well as on their institutions and monuments.</p>
+
+<p>If, in conclusion, it be mentioned that the delay
+in bringing out the volume, long since announced,
+has been caused by ill health and other painful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span>
+circumstances, the Author is only anxious that it
+should not be misinterpreted, as attaching to the
+work an importance to which it does not pretend.
+But there is the less reason for regretting this delay,
+as it has afforded him another opportunity of visiting
+Sardinia, as well as of witnessing the operation of
+laying down the submarine electric telegraph cable
+between Cagliari and the African coast; an event in
+Sardinian history, some notice of which, with the
+accompanying trip to Algeria, may form a not uninteresting
+episode to the Rambles in that island.</p>
+
+<p class="date">May, 1858.<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="visibility: hidden;" />
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+<tr>
+<td class="center" colspan="2"><span class="bigger">CONTENTS.</span></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Inducements to the Expedition.&mdash;Early impressions concerning
+Corsica.&mdash;Plan of the Tour.&mdash;Routes to Marseilles.&mdash;Meeting
+there</td><td class="num">Page&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. II.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Marseilles.&mdash;Cafe de l'Orient.&mdash;Cannebi&egrave;re and Port.&mdash;Sail to the
+    Islands in the Gulf.&mdash;The Ch&acirc;teau-d'If and Count de
+    Monte-Cristo.&mdash;A sudden Squall</td><td class="num"> <a href="#CHAP_II">8</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. III.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Embark for Corsica.&mdash;Coast of France and Italy.&mdash;Toulon.&mdash;Hy&egrave;res
+    Islands, Frejus, &amp;c.&mdash;A stormy Night.&mdash;Crossing the Tuscan Sea</td>
+<td class="num"> <a href="#CHAP_III">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. IV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Coast of Capo Corso.&mdash;Peculiarity of Scenery.&mdash;Verdure, and
+    Mountain Villages.&mdash;Il Torre di Seneca.&mdash;Land at Bastia</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_IV">28</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. V.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Bastia.&mdash;Territorial Divisions.&mdash;Plan of the Rambles.&mdash;Hiring
+    Mules.&mdash;The Start</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_V">38</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. VI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Leave Bastia.&mdash;The Road.&mdash;View of Elba, Pianosa, and
+    Monte-Cristo.&mdash;The Littorale.&mdash;An Adventure.&mdash;The Stagna di
+    Biguglia</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_VI">44</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. VII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Evergreen Thickets.&mdash;Their remarkable Character.&mdash;A fortunate
+    Rencontre.&mdash;Moonlight in the Mountains.&mdash;Cross a high
+    Col.&mdash;Corsican Shepherds.&mdash;The Vendetta.&mdash;Village Quarters</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_VII">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. VIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">The Littorale.&mdash;Corsican Agriculture.&mdash;Greek and Roman
+    Colonies.&mdash;Sketch of Medi&aelig;val and Modern History.&mdash;Memoirs of
+    King Theodore de Neuhoff</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_VIII">65</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. IX.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Environs of Olmeta.&mdash;Bandit-Life and the Vendetta.&mdash;Its
+    Atrocities.&mdash;The Population disarmed.&mdash;The Bandits exterminated</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_IX">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. X.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">The Basin of Oletta.&mdash;The Olive.&mdash;Corsican Tales.&mdash;The Heroine of
+    Oletta.&mdash;Zones of Climate and Vegetation</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_X">90</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Pisan Church at Murato.&mdash;Chestnut Woods.&mdash;Gulf of San
+    Fiorenzo.&mdash;Nelson's Exploit there.&mdash;He conducts the Siege of
+    Bastia.&mdash;Ilex Woods.&mdash;Mountain Pastures.&mdash;The Corsican Shepherd</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XI">102</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Chain of the Serra di Tenda.&mdash;A Night at Bigorno.&mdash;A hospitable
+    Priest.&mdash;Descent to the Golo</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XII">117</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Ponte Nuovo.&mdash;The Battle-field.&mdash;Antoine's Story</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XIII">129</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XIV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Filial Duty, Love, and Revenge: a Corsican Tale</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XIV">134</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Morosaglia, Seat of the Paolis.&mdash;Higher Valley of the
+    Golo.&mdash;Orography of Corsica.&mdash;Its Geology</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XV">145</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XVI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Approach to Corte.&mdash;Our &ldquo;Man of the Woods.&rdquo;&mdash;Casa Paoli.&mdash;The
+    Gaffori.&mdash;Citadel.&mdash;An Evening Stroll</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XVI">156</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XVII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Pascal Paoli more honoured than Napoleon Buonaparte.&mdash;His
+    Memoirs.&mdash;George III. King of Corsica.&mdash;Remarks on the
+    Union.&mdash;Paoli's Death and Tomb</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XVII">164</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XVIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Excursion to a Forest.&mdash;Borders of the
+    Niolo.&mdash;Adventures.&mdash;Corsican Pines.&mdash;The Pinus Maritima and
+    Pinus Lariccio.&mdash;Government Forests</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XVIII">179</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XIX.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">The Forest of Asco.&mdash;Corsican Beasts of Chase.&mdash;The
+    Moufflon.&mdash;Increase of Wild Animals.&mdash;The last of the Banditti</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XIX">191</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XX.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Leave Corte for Ajaccio.&mdash;A Legend of Venaco.&mdash;Arrival at
+    Vivario</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XX">200</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Leave Vivario.&mdash;Forest of Vizzavona.&mdash;A roadside
+    Adventure.&mdash;Bocagnono.&mdash;Arrive late at Ajaccio</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXI">205</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Ajaccio.&mdash;Coll&egrave;ge-Fesch.&mdash;Reminiscences of the Buonaparte
+    Family.&mdash;Excursion in the Gulf.&mdash;Chapel of the Greeks.&mdash;Evening
+    Scenes.&mdash;Council-General of the Department.&mdash;Statistics.&mdash;State
+    of Agriculture in Corsica.&mdash;Her Prospects</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXII">213</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Leave Ajaccio.&mdash;Neighbourhood of Olmeto.&mdash;Sollacar&oacute;.&mdash;James
+    Boswell's Residence there.&mdash;Scene in the &ldquo;Corsican Brothers&rdquo;
+    laid there.&mdash;Quarrel of the Vincenti and Grimaldi.&mdash;Road to
+    Sartene.&mdash;Corsican Marbles.&mdash;Arrive at Bonifacio</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXIII">227</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXIV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Bonifacio.&mdash;Foundation and History.&mdash;Besieged by Alfonso of
+    Arragon.&mdash;By Dragut and the Turks.&mdash;Singularity of the
+    Place.&mdash;Its Medieval Aspect.&mdash;The
+    Post-office.&mdash;Passports.&mdash;Detention.&mdash;Marine Grottoes.&mdash;Ruined
+    Convent of St. Julian</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXIV">242</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Island of Sardinia</span>.&mdash;Cross the Straits of Bonifacio.&mdash;The
+    Town and Harbour of La Madelena.&mdash;Agincourt Sound, the Station
+    of the British Fleet in 1803.&mdash;Anecdotes of Nelson.&mdash;Napoleon
+    Bonaparte repulsed at La Madelena</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXV">258</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXVI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Ferried over to the Main Island.&mdash;Start for the Mountain Passes
+    of the Gallura.&mdash;Sarde Horses and Cavallante.&mdash;Valley of the
+    Liscia.&mdash;Pass some Holy Places on the Hills.&mdash;Festivals held
+    there.&mdash;Usages of the Sardes indicating their Eastern Origin</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXVI">272</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXVII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">The Valley narrows.&mdash;Romantic Glen.&mdash;Al fresco Meal.&mdash;Forest of
+    Cork Trees.&mdash;Salvator Rosa Scenery.&mdash;Haunts of Outlaws.&mdash;Their
+    Atrocities.&mdash;Anecdotes of them in a better Spirit.&mdash;The Defile
+    in the Mountains.&mdash;Elevated Plateau.&mdash;A Night March.&mdash;Arrival
+    at Tempio, the Capital of Gallura.&mdash;Our Reception</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXVII">280</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXVIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Tempio.&mdash;The Town and Environs.&mdash;The Limbara
+    Mountains.&mdash;Vineyards.&mdash;The Governor or Intendente of the
+    Province.&mdash;Deadly Feuds.&mdash;Sarde Girls at the
+    Fountains.&mdash;Hunting in Sardinia.&mdash;Singular Conference with the
+    Tempiese Hunters.&mdash;Society at the Casino.&mdash;Description of a
+    Boar Hunt</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXVIII">295</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXIX.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Leave Tempio.&mdash;Sunrise.&mdash;Light Wreaths of Mist across the
+    Valley.&mdash;A Pass of the Limbara.&mdash;View from the Summit.&mdash;Dense
+    Vapour over the Plain beneath.&mdash;The Lowlands unhealthy.&mdash;The
+    deadly Intemp&eacute;rie.&mdash;It recently carried off an English
+    Traveller.&mdash;Descend a romantic Glen to the Level of the
+    Campidano.&mdash;Its peculiar Character.&mdash;Gallop over it.&mdash;Reach
+    Ozieri</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXIX">310</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXX.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Effects of vast Levels as compared with Mountain
+    Scenery.&mdash;Sketches of Sardinian Geology.&mdash;The primitive Chains
+    and other Formations.&mdash;Traces of extensive Volcanic
+    action.&mdash;The &ldquo;Campidani,&rdquo; or Plains.&mdash;Mineral Products</td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXX">320</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Ozieri.&mdash;A Refugee Colonel turned Cook and Traiteur.&mdash;Traces of
+    Phenician Superstitions in Sarde Usages.&mdash;The Rites of
+    Adonis.&mdash;Passing through the Fire to Moloch</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXI">331</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Expedition to the Mountains.&mdash;Environs of Ozieri.&mdash;First View of
+    the Peaks of Genargentu.&mdash;Forests.&mdash;Value of the Oak
+    Timber.&mdash;Cork Trees; their Produce, and Statistics of the
+    Trade.&mdash;Hunting the Wild Boar, &amp;c.&mdash;The Hunters' Feast.&mdash;A
+    Bivouac in the Woods.&mdash;Notices of the Province of
+    Barbagia.&mdash;Independence of the Mountaineers</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXII">344</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Leave Ozieri.&mdash;The New Road, and Travelling in the
+    Campagna.&mdash;Monte Santo.&mdash;Scenes at the Halfway House.&mdash;Volcanic
+    Hills.&mdash;Sassari; its History.&mdash;Liberal Opinions of the
+    Sassarese.&mdash;Constitutional Government.&mdash;Reforms wanted in
+    Sardinia.&mdash;Means for its Improvement</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXIII">358</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXIV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Alghero&mdash;Notice of.&mdash;The Cathedral of
+    Sassari.&mdash;University.&mdash;Museum.&mdash;A Student's private
+    Cabinet.&mdash;Excursion to a Nuraghe.&mdash;Description of.&mdash;Remarks on
+    the Origin and Design of these Structures</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXIV">376</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXV.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Sardinian Monoliths.&mdash;The Sepolture, or &ldquo;Tombs of the
+    Giants.&rdquo;&mdash;Traditions regarding Giant Races.&mdash;The Anakim, &amp;c.,
+    of Canaan.&mdash;Their supposed Migration to Sardinia.&mdash;Remarks on
+    Aboriginal Races.&mdash;Antiquity of the Nuraghe and
+    Sepolture.&mdash;Their Founders unknown</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXV">389</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXVI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Oristano.&mdash;Orange-groves of Milis.&mdash;Cagliari.&mdash;Description
+    of.&mdash;The Cathedral and Churches.&mdash;Religious
+    Laxity.&mdash;Ecclesiastical Statistics.&mdash;Vegetable and Fruit
+    Market.&mdash;Royal Museum.&mdash;Antiquities.&mdash;Coins found in
+    Sardinia.&mdash;Phenician Remains.&mdash;The Sarde Idols</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXVI">407</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXVII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Porto-Torres.&mdash;Another Italian Refugee.&mdash;Embark for Genoa.&mdash;West
+    Coast of Corsica.&mdash;Turin.&mdash;The Sardinian Electric
+    Telegraph.&mdash;The Wires laid to Cagliari</td><td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXVII">422</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center">CHAP. XXXVIII.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Sardinian Electric Telegraph.&mdash;The Land Line completed.&mdash;Failures
+    in Attempts to lay a Submarine Cable to Algeria.&mdash;The Work
+    resumed.&mdash;A Trip to Bona on the African Coast.&mdash;The Cable
+    laid.&mdash;Importance of Cagliari as a Telegraph Station.&mdash;Its
+    Commerce.&mdash;The return Voyage.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></td>
+<td class="num"><a href="#CHAP_XXXVIII">432</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<table summary="illustrations">
+<tr>
+<td class="center" colspan="2"><span class="bigger">INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS.</span></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center" colspan="2"><big>LITHOGRAPHS.</big></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">AJACCIO</td><td class="num"><i><a href="#frontispiece">frontispiece</a></i></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">MAP OF CORSICA AND SARDINIA</td><td class="num"><i>facing p.</i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">ERSA, CAPO CORSO</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_32">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CORTE</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">VIVARIO</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_204">205</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">BONIFACIO</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">VALLEY OF THE LISCIA, SARDINIA</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_274">275</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">THE LIMBARA, FROM TEMPIO</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">THE PLAN OF OZIERI</td><td class="num">&ldquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#Page_319">318</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center" colspan="2"><big>WOOD ENGRAVINGS.</big></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center" colspan="2">CORSICA.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">MARSEILLES, FROM THE RAILWAY</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">ISLETS OFF MARSEILLES</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CH&Acirc;TEAU-D'IF</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">MARSEILLES, FROM THE CH&Acirc;TEAU-D'IF</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">FRENCH COAST, OFF CIOTAT</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">OFF TOULON</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">IL TORRE DI SENECA</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">MEETING OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN NEAR BASTIA</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">OLMETA</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO, THROUGH A GORGE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">BETWEEN OLMETA AND BIGORNO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">PONTE MURATO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CAPO CORSO, FROM CHESTNUT WOODS</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">NEAR BIGORNO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CITADEL OF CORTE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">PINUS MARITIMA</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">PINUS LARICCIO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CONE OF THE PINUS LARICCIO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">BARK OF THE PINUS LARICCIO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">BOCAGNONO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">HARBOUR OF AJACCIO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">BONIFACIO, ON THE SEA-SIDE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">OUTLINE OF SARDINIA, FROM BONIFACIO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_254">253</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CAVES UNDER BONIFACIO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">BONIFACIO, FROM THE CONVENT IN THE VALLEY</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center" colspan="2">SARDINIA.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">LOOKING BACK ON CORSICA</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">A SALVATOR ROSA SCENE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">DESCENT TO THE CAMPIDANO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">THE CAMPIDANO</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">EXTERIOR OF A NURAGHE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">ENTRANCE TO A NURAGHE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">INTERIOR OF A NURAGHE</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_390">390</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">THE SAME</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_391">391</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">SARDO-ROMAN COIN</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_417">417</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">CARTHAGINEAN COIN</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">SARACEN COIN</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">PORTO-TORRES</td><td class="num"><a href="#Page_425">425</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/maplarge.jpg">
+<img src="images/mapsmall.jpg" width="375" height="600" alt="Corsica and Sardinia" title="Corsica and Sardinia" /></a>
+<p class="caption"><a href="images/maplarge.jpg">CORSICA and SARDINIA to accompany Forester's &ldquo;Rambles.&rdquo;</a></p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2 class="btitle">RAMBLES</h2>
+
+<h2 class="btitle"><small>IN</small></h2>
+
+<h2 class="btitle"><big>CORSICA AND SARDINIA.</big></h2>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Inducements to the Expedition.&mdash;Early impressions concerning
+Corsica.&mdash;Plan of the Tour.&mdash;Routes to Marseilles.&mdash;Meeting
+there.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>It would be difficult to say, and it matters little, what
+principally led to the selection of two islands in the Mediterranean,
+not generally supposed to possess any particular
+attractions for the tourist, as the object for an autumn's
+expedition with the companion of former rambles. At any
+rate, we should break fresh ground; and I imagine the
+hope of shooting <i>moufflons</i> was no small inducement to
+my friend, who had succeeded in the wild sport of hunting
+reindeer on the high Fjelds of Norway. If, too, his comrade
+should fail in climbing to the vast solitudes in which the
+bounding <i>moufflon</i> harbours, there were boar hunts in the
+prospect for him; not such courtly pageants as one sees
+in the pictures of Velasquez, but more stirring, and in
+nobler covers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Should these prove to be false hopes, the enthusiastic
+sketcher, and the lover of the grand and beautiful in nature,
+must find ample compensation in the scenery of mountains
+lifting their snowy peaks from bases washed by the sunny
+Mediterranean,&mdash;mountain systems of a character yet unvisited,
+and with which we could at least compare those of
+Norway and Switzerland. This power of comparison is
+what imparts the most lively interest to travelling; and
+thus it becomes, for the time, all-engrossing, the eyes and
+the memory alike employed at every turn on contrasts of
+form, colour, and clothing.</p>
+
+<p>Not less attractive, to any one desirous of extending his
+knowledge of human kind, would be the prospect of studying
+the races inhabiting islands as yet unknown to him.
+The oldest writer of travels, bringing on the stage his
+hero-wanderer along the shores of the Mediterranean,
+gives the finishing touch to his character in two significant
+words, &#957;&#8057;&#959;&#957; &#7952;&#947;&#957;&#8182;.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Not only did he &ldquo;visit the abodes of
+many people,&rdquo; but he &ldquo;studied their &#925;&#959;&#8166;&#962;;&rdquo; all that the
+term involves of its impress on character, habits, and institutions
+was keenly investigated by the accomplished navigator.
+And what studies must be afforded by these singular
+islanders, who, we were informed, in the centre of the
+Mediterranean, at the very threshold of civilisation, combined
+many of the virtues, with more than the ferocity,
+of barbarous tribes!</p>
+
+<p>My own impressions regarding Corsica were early received.
+In my younger days, there was the same sort of
+sympathy with the Corsicans which we now find more
+noisily, and sometimes absurdly, displayed for the Poles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+I had seen Pascal Paoli, and talked with General Dumouriez
+about his first campaign against the Corsican mountaineers,
+of which his recollections were by no means
+agreeable. Pascal Paoli had found an asylum in England,
+where he maintained a dignified seclusion, not always
+imitated by patriot exiles. His memory has almost passed
+away, and it is quite imaginable that some stump orator
+may reckon him among the exiled Poles of former days.
+Pascal Paoli was, however, a truly great man. In my
+boyish enthusiasm&mdash;all &ldquo;Grecians&rdquo; are in the heroics
+about patriots who have fought and struggled for their
+country's liberty&mdash;I compared him with Aristides or
+Themistocles; the Corsicans were heroes; the country
+which rudely nursed those brave mountaineers&mdash;I had
+also a touch of sentiment for the sublime and beautiful in
+nature which a schoolboy does not always get from books,&mdash;such
+a country must be romantic. Should I ever
+ramble among its mountains, forests, and sunny valleys?</p>
+
+<p>At last, long after the chimera, for such it inevitably
+was, of Corsican independence had vanished, my cherished
+hopes have been realised,&mdash;with what success will appear
+in the following pages. I will only say for myself, and I
+believe my fellow-traveller participates the feeling, a more
+delightful tour I never made.</p>
+
+<p>Corsica had an ugly reputation for <i>banditisme</i>, and
+Sardinia for a deadly <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>; but we did not attach
+much importance to such rumours. The enthusiastic
+traveller disregards danger. If told that there is &ldquo;a lion
+in his path,&rdquo; he only goes the more resolutely forward.
+As for the banditti, we would fraternise with them if
+they, best knowing the mountain paths, would track the
+moufflons for us.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The true traveller must &ldquo;become all things to all men,&rdquo;
+if he desires to familiarise himself with the habits and
+characters of other races. Without forgetting that he is
+an Englishman, he will cast off that self-conceit and cold
+exclusiveness which make so many of your countrymen
+ridiculous in the eyes of foreigners, and, adapting himself
+to the situation, become, if needs be, a bandit in Corsica,
+a bonder in Norway, drink sour milk without a wry face
+in a Caffre's kraal, take snuff with his wives&mdash;be any
+thing except a Turk in Turkey; though even there, when
+he comes to talk the language, he will adopt the eastern
+custom of taking his pipe, his coffee, and his repose, not
+chattering, but sententiously uttering his words between
+whiffs of smoke, which, meanwhile, he <i>drinks</i>, as the Turks
+well express it.</p>
+
+<p>We envy not the man, the T. G. (travelling gent.) of
+society, whose principal aim in travelling is to gratify a
+miserable vanity; to be able to boast of crossing or climbing
+such a mountain; to have to say, &ldquo;I have been here,
+I have been there; I have done Bagdad; I have seen the
+Nile,&rdquo; or such and such a place. The true traveller is
+unselfish. Though to him it is food, breath, a renewal of
+life, a fresh existence, to travel,&mdash;half his pleasure is to
+carry home from his wanderings, to an English fireside, a
+tale of other lands. That happy English home is ever
+present to his mind, and, with all his enthusiasm, he meets
+with nothing in his rambles he would exchange for its
+blessings.</p>
+
+<p>Being strongly recommended to defer our visit to Sardinia
+until the latest possible period of the autumn, the
+plan finally laid was to take Corsica in detail from Capo
+Corso to Bonifaccio, and then cross the straits, as best we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+might, there being no regular communication. Having
+landed in Sardinia, we should continue the tour through
+that island as long as circumstances permitted; leaving it
+by one of the Sardinian government's steam-boats which
+ply between the island and Genoa and so take the route
+by Turin, over the Mont-Cenis, to Lyons, Paris, and
+Boulogne.</p>
+
+<p>As these islands lie on the same parallel of longitude
+(11&deg; 50' E. nearly cutting the centre of both), by the route
+thus chalked out, we should make a straight course from
+north to south, with no considerable deviations, the islands
+being, as every one knows, in the form of parallelograms
+of much greater length than breadth.</p>
+
+<p>Marseilles was finally arranged to be our port of embarkation,
+and the postponement of the visit to Sardinia
+till November leaving time on our hands, we had ample
+leisure for the accomplishment of some secondary projects,
+which brought us into training for the <i>grand coup</i>. My
+friend pushed through the more frequented parts of Switzerland
+for Zermatt and the Matterhorn. He was much
+struck by the remarkable contrast of that stupendous obelisk
+of rock, piercing the clouds, with the vast, but still
+sublime, expanse of the high Fjelds of snow we had seen in
+Norway; and the remark applies generally to the grand
+distinctive features of the two countries. Descending the
+valley of Aosta, my friend travelled by Genoa and Nice
+through the Maritime Alps to Marseilles, going on to
+Avignon with some friends he happened to fall in with on
+the way;&mdash;such meetings with those we know, and sometimes
+with those we do not know, being among the pleasures
+of travelling in the more frequented routes. Agreeable
+acquaintances are made or renewed; perhaps a day or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+two is spent in travelling together, with a charm that is
+very delightful; and you part with the hope of meeting
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the author, who had been delving in the
+Norman Chronicles till every castle and abbey through the
+length and depth of the old Duchy were become familiar
+names, feeling a strong desire to revisit scenes thus brought
+fresh to his memory, shouldered his knapsack at Dieppe,
+and spent a most delightful fortnight in rambling through
+that fine province.</p>
+
+<p>Many a pleasant story he could tell of wayside greetings
+and fireside hospitalities among the Norman peasantry.
+The old soldier of the empire stopped his <i>camarade</i>, as
+something in our <i>tenue</i> led him to imagine, asking eager
+questions about the coming war and the united service,
+both which seemed to be popular; while market and fair,
+and the communal school, each in their turn, drew forth
+amusing companions for the road. But these episodes, and
+more serious talk of Norman abbeys buried in the depths
+of forests or girded round by the winding Seine&mdash;rich in
+memories of the past, but ruins all&mdash;and of Norman
+churches and cathedrals, in all their ancient grandeur, or
+well restored, are beside the present purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Hastening southward by <i>diligence</i> and <i>chemin-de-fer</i>,
+the first vineyards appeared between Chartres and Orleans,
+with an effect much inferior, as it seemed, to that produced
+by the orchards of Normandy, loaded as they were with
+ruddy fruit; but this may be the prejudice of a native of
+the West of England. From Lyons, one of the long narrow
+steamboats afforded a most agreeable passage down
+the stream of the rapid Rhone to Avignon. The autumn
+rains, which sometimes caused a weary march through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+the byroads of Normandy, had cooled the air, freshened
+vegetation, and made travelling in the south of France
+pleasant. While journeying on, every hour and every
+league bringing me nearer to the intended meeting, it was
+natural to feel some anxiety lest in such great distances
+to be traversed, with little or no intermediate communication,
+something might go wrong, and our plans, however
+well laid, be delayed or frustrated. The last stage of the
+journey commenced&mdash;should I be first at the rendezvous,
+or was my companion for the future waiting my arrival?</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/007.jpg" width="500" height="263" alt="MARSEILLES FROM THE RAILWAY."
+title="MARSEILLES FROM THE RAILWAY." />
+<p class="caption">MARSEILLES FROM THE RAILWAY.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At last, after spending the warm noon of an unclouded
+day amongst the noble ruins of Arles, the train landed me
+at the station at Marseilles, and my friend was on the
+platform. The pleasure of casual meetings <i>en route</i> has
+been just adverted to. How joyous was that of two travellers,
+wanderers together in times gone by, who now
+met so far from home, after their separate courses, with a
+fresh field opening before them!&mdash;the recognition, doubt
+and uncertainty vanishing, the glorious chat,&mdash;all this the
+warm-hearted reader will easily imagine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_II" id="CHAP_II"></a>CHAP. II.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Marseilles.&mdash;Caf&eacute; de l'Orient.&mdash;Cannebi&egrave;re and Port.&mdash;Sail
+to the Islands in the Gulf.&mdash;The Ch&acirc;teau d'If and Count
+de Monte-Cristo.&mdash;A sudden Squall.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>We met then at Marseilles in the second week of October,
+punctual to the appointed day. Our several lines of route
+had well converged. Want of companionship was the only
+drawback on the pleasure they had afforded; but they
+were only preludes to the joint undertaking on which we
+now entered. Each recounted his past adventures, and
+measures were concerted for the future.</p>
+
+<p>Steamboats leave Marseilles three times every week for
+Corsica;&mdash;I like to be particular, especially when one gets
+beyond Murray's beat. One of these boats calls at Bastia
+on its way to Leghorn; the others make each a voyage
+direct to Calvi, or l'Isle de Rousse, and Ajaccio.</p>
+
+<p>It suited us best to land at Bastia, but we were detained
+three days at Marseilles waiting for the boat. That also
+happened to suit us. We had hitherto travelled in the
+lightest possible marching order, and some heavier baggage,
+containing equipments for our expedition in the
+islands, had not yet turned up. Knapsack tours are not
+the style beyond the Alps. In the south and east, all
+above the lowest grade ride. It is so in Corsica; still
+more in Sardinia,&mdash;where all is eastern. We trudged on
+foot sometimes in Corsica, to get into the country, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+should have been considered mad; but, as Englishmen, we
+were only eccentric. We waited then for our baggage,
+which contained, among other things, English saddles,&mdash;a
+great luxury. My companion thought it a professional
+duty to reconnoitre the fortifications of Toulon. By travelling
+in the night, going and returning, he contrived to
+get a clear day for the purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Marseilles had interest enough to occupy my attention
+during his absence. Being the great <i>entrep&ocirc;t</i> of commerce,
+and centre of communication, in the Mediterranean,
+all the races dwelling on its shores, and many others, are
+represented there.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let us go to the <i>Grand Caf&eacute;</i>,&rdquo;&mdash;I think it is called
+<i>Caf&eacute; de l'Orient</i>&mdash;said my companion, the evening we
+met.</p>
+
+<p>Any one who has merely visited Paris may imagine the
+brilliance of this vast <i>salon</i>, the lights reflected on a
+hundred mirrors. But where else than at Marseilles could
+be found such an assemblage as now crowded it?</p>
+
+<p>See that Turk, with the magnificent beard. What yards
+of snowy gauze-like cambric, with gold-embroidered ends,
+are wound in graceful folds round the fez, contrasting
+with the dark mahogany colour of his sun-burnt brow.
+And what a rich crimson caftan! Perhaps he is from
+Tunis or Barbary. He sits alone, smoking, with eyes
+half-closed, grave and taciturn.</p>
+
+<p>They must be Greeks,&mdash;those two figures in dark-flowing
+robes. They too wear the red fez. Mark the neat moustache,
+the clean chiselled outline of their features, the
+active eye. They are eagerly conversing over that round
+marble table while they sip their coffee. Their talk must
+be of the corn markets. Now is their opportunity, as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+harvest in France has failed. And see that man with the
+olive complexion, keen features, and ringlets of black hair
+and pendent ear-rings under his dark <i>barrette</i>. He may
+be the <i>padr&oacute;ne</i> of some felucca from Leghorn or Naples.
+Beside him is a Spaniard. He, too, seems a seafaring
+man; and no felucca-rigged vessels in the Mediterranean
+are smarter, finer-looking craft than the Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>There are plenty of Arabs, swarthy, high-cheeked-boned,
+keen-eyed fellows, in snowy bournouses, with hair and
+moustache of almost unnatural blackness. French officers
+of every arm in the service are grouped round the tables,
+drinking <i>eau-sucr&eacute;</i> and playing at dominoes or cards, or
+lounge on the sofas reading the gazettes. The <i>gar&ccedil;ons</i>
+in scarlet tunics, relieved by their white turbans and
+cambric trowsers, are hurrying to and fro at the call of
+the motley guests.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Those two gentlemen just entering are Americans, not
+of the Yankee type, with free and easy air, and tall lanky
+forms. I made their acquaintance in the steam-boat down
+the Rhone. They are men of great intelligence, perfect
+<i>savoir-vivre</i>, and calm dignity of manner, patrician citizens
+of a republic. One of them wore his plaid as gracefully as
+a toga. I set him down for a senator from one of the
+Southern states.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have seen no English here,&rdquo; said my companion.
+Next day he met his friend Captain H&mdash;&#8212; returning on
+leave from Malta to England. Marseilles is on the highway
+to all the East, and on the arrival or departure of the
+packets connected with the &ldquo;Overland Route&rdquo; there must
+be a strong muster of our countrymen, and women too.</p>
+
+<p>Turning out of the shady avenue of the Corso on a
+sultry afternoon, I sauntered down the <i>Rue de la Cannebi&egrave;re</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+towards the port. It was the busiest part of the
+day, for there seemed to be no idle time for the <i>siesta</i>
+here. The streets and quays were thronged with people of
+the same varieties of race we had seen in the <i>caf&eacute;</i>; most of
+them, of course, of an inferior class. There can be no
+mistaking that wild-looking creature, bare-legged, and in
+a white bournouse, who is staring with curious eyes at
+the splendid array of jewellery and plate displayed to his
+eager gaze in that shop window. Again he pauses before
+that elegant assortment of silks and shawls. What tales
+of European luxury will the child of the desert carry back
+to the tents of the Bedouins!</p>
+
+<p>I found the port crowded with ships of all nations, the
+quays encumbered with piles of <i>barriques</i> and mountains
+of Egyptian wheat discharged in bulk. What blinding
+dust as they shovel it up! What a suffocating heat!
+What smells in this hollow trough which receives the filth
+of all the town! How curiously names on the sterns of
+vessels, and <i>annonces</i> over the shops of <i>traiteurs</i> and ship-chandlers,
+in very readable Greek, carry the mind back to
+the Phoc&aelig;an founders of this great emporium of commerce!</p>
+
+<p>It was a cooler walk along the <i>Rue de Rome</i>, and by
+the <i>March&eacute;-aux-Capucins</i>, gay with fruits and flowers, to
+the Museum library, in search of books relating to Corsica.
+There was some difficulty in discovering it. Literature
+and science do not appear to be much in vogue in this
+seat of commerce. The Museum was closed, the <i>custode</i>
+absent, but a good-humoured porter allowed me a stranger's
+privilege, and took me into the library; giving me also
+some details of Corsican roads from his personal knowledge.
+The only book I discovered was Vallery's Travels.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+I made a few extracts, and found no reason to desire more.
+Few foreigners write travels in a style suited to the English
+taste. They are at home among cities, and galleries, and
+works of art, but have little real feeling for natural
+objects, and ill disguise it by pompous phrases, glitter,
+and sentiment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let us take a boat and sail over to the islands lying
+off the harbour,&rdquo; said my fellow-traveller one afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;With all my heart.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/012.jpg" width="350" height="241" alt="ISLETS OFF MARSEILLES."
+title="ISLETS OFF MARSEILLES." />
+<p class="caption">ISLETS OFF MARSEILLES.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>These islets,
+most of them
+mere rocks, form
+a sort of sheltered
+strait, or
+roadstead, of
+which the island
+of Rion, with
+Cape Morgion
+on the mainland
+opposite,
+are the extreme
+points. Pom&egrave;gue and Ratoneau are connected by a
+breakwater.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Gar&ccedil;on</i>, put a roast fowl and some <i>p&acirc;t&eacute;s</i>, with a loaf
+of bread and a bottle of Bordeaux, into a <i>corbeille</i> and
+send it down to the port.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We bought some grapes as we went along. There are
+landing-stairs at the upper end of the harbour, where
+pleasure-boats lie. We stepped into one, and were rowed
+down in a narrow channel between four or five tiers of
+ships, loading and unloading at the quays on each side.
+An arm of the Mediterranean, a thousand yards long,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+forms a noble harbour; but, foul, black, and stagnant, how
+different were its waters from the bright sea without!
+After passing the forts defending the narrow entrance, we
+hoisted sail. On the right was the new harbour of <i>La
+Joliette</i>, connected with the old port by a canal. At present
+it did not appear to be much frequented, but, during
+the war in the East, both scarcely sufficed for the vast
+flotilla employed in conveying troops and stores. It must
+be difficult for any one who has not witnessed it to conceive
+the scene Marseilles then presented.</p>
+
+<p>We now discussed the contents of our hamper with
+great <i>go&ucirc;t</i>, the boatman occasionally pulling an oar as the
+wind was scant. But we had sufficiently receded from
+the shore to command a view of the basin in which Marseilles
+stands, and the amphitheatre of hills surrounding
+it, studded with the country-houses of the citizens; small
+cottages, called <i>bastides</i>, thousands of which spot the slopes
+of the hills like white specks.</p>
+
+<p>High upon a rocky summit stands the chapel of <i>Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde</i>,
+held in great reverence, and much
+resorted to, by mariners and fishermen; the walls and
+roof being hung with votive offerings, commemorating
+deliverances from shipwreck and other ills to which
+mariner-flesh is heir.</p>
+
+<p>Seaward lay the islands for which we were bound, but
+without any immediate prospect of reaching them, as the
+wind died away. It was pleasant enough to lie listlessly
+floating on the blue Mediterranean, with such charming
+views of the coast and the islands, and the picturesque
+craft in every direction becalmed like our own skiff: but
+we had another object in our evening's excursion; so, lowering
+the lateen sail, my companion took one of the oars,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+and the boatman, reinforced by a strong and steady stroke,
+pulling with a will, we soon landed at the foot of the
+black and frowning rock, crowned on the summit by the
+square massive donjon of the <i>Ch&acirc;teau d'If</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/014.jpg" width="500" height="367" alt="CH&Acirc;TEAU D'IF." title="CH&Acirc;TEAU D'IF." />
+<p class="caption">CH&Acirc;TEAU D'IF.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The whole circuit of the cliffs, containing an area of,
+perhaps, two acres, is surrounded by fortifications. Climbing
+some rocky steps, we waited in the guardroom till the
+<i>conci&egrave;rge</i> brought the keys of the castle. It was formerly
+used as a state prison; and the vaulted passages, echoing
+to the clang of keys and bolts, and deep and gloomy
+dungeons, from which air and light were almost excluded
+by the thick walls, reminded one of the unhappy wretches,
+victims of despotic or revolutionary tyranny, who had been
+immured there without trial and without hope. The
+island now serves as a dep&ocirc;t for recruits to fill up the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+regiments serving in Algiers; and some of the larger
+apartments of the ch&acirc;teau are used as a caserne.</p>
+
+<p>But the <i>Ch&acirc;teau d'If</i> is probably best known to many
+of my readers as connected with a remarkable incident
+in the adventures of the Count de Monte-Cristo, the
+hero of the celebrated novel of Alexandre Dumas. The
+story is shortly this:</p>
+
+<p>Dant&egrave;s (the count) being thrown into one of the
+dungeons, remains in hopeless captivity for a great number
+of years. In the end, by working his way through the
+massive walls, he establishes a communication with the
+cell of another prisoner, who was in a still more deplorable
+condition. His fellow-prisoner dies, and Dant&egrave;s effects
+his escape by contriving to insert himself in the sack in
+which the corpse of his friend was deposited; having first
+dressed the body in his own clothes, and placed it in his
+bed, to deceive the gaolers. In the dead of the night the
+sack is thrown into the sea from the castle walls, and
+Dant&egrave;s sinks with a thirty-two-pound shot fastened to
+his feet. He cuts the cord with a knife he had secreted,
+and, disengaged from the sack, rises to the surface and
+swims to a neighbouring island.</p>
+
+<p>We were looking over the battlements towards these
+islands. One of them is covered by a vast lazzeretto,&mdash;a
+place, for the time, only a few degrees worse than the
+prison. The isles of Ratoneau and Pom&egrave;gue lay nearest.
+Farther off was L&eacute;maire, to which Dant&egrave;s is described as
+swimming. They are all mere rocky islets washed by the
+sea, the group being very picturesque.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Mon ami</i>,&rdquo; said I, pointing to the isle of L&eacute;maire, &ldquo;do
+you think you could do what the count is represented to
+have done.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What! swim from hence to that island? I would
+try, if I was shut up in this horrid place, and had the
+chance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The distance I reckoned to be about three miles; and as
+my friend has since swum across the Bosphorus, where the
+current is strong, he would probably have found no difficulty
+in that part of the affair.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But how about cutting the cord to get rid of the
+thirty-two-pound shot, and extricating yourself from the
+sack?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>&Ccedil;a d&eacute;pend!</i> All this is not impossible for a strong
+man in good health; for a prisoner, exhausted by fourteen
+years' captivity in a dungeon&mdash;<i>c'est autre chose</i>. Have
+you read the book?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not much of it; I tried, but could not get on. That
+class of works is by no means to my taste.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;French literature of this school is, I admit, bad for the
+weak: it is pastime to the strong, and serves to wile
+away an idle hour. This work exhibits great genius, and
+a powerful imagination.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So, indeed, it seems; but may not the <i>vraisemblable</i>
+be preserved even in works of fiction? Let us have a
+story which, <i>se non &egrave; vero, &egrave; ben trovato</i>. Writers of this
+school, my dear fellow, create, or pander to, a vicious taste.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In a play or novel, I grant you, the plot, characters,
+and incidents, in order to enlist our sympathies, should be
+true to nature and real life. But who looks for this in a
+romance? such works are not read for profit, and the
+boldest nights of fancy, and some extravagance, are fairly
+admissible.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Ah, mon cher</i>, my age is double yours, and that
+makes a great difference in our views on such subjects.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The recruits flocked round us, asking for <i>eau-de-vie</i>.
+Many of them were Italians, deserters from the armies in
+Lombardy, Piedmont, and the Papal states, glad to change
+their service for better pay and treatment under the French
+flag, even on the burning plains of Africa. Perhaps some of
+them were drafted into that &ldquo;foreign legion&rdquo; which rivalled
+the Zouaves in the Crimea,&mdash;<i>&acirc;mes perdus</i>, the most reckless
+before the enemy, the most licentious in the camp.
+These were merry fellows, launching witty shafts against
+Austrians, Pope, and Cardinals,&mdash;<i>maladetti tutti</i>, and
+good-humoured gibes at their comrade, who, standing in
+an embrasure, bent his back with laudable patience to the
+right angle for an easel, while my friend was making
+sketches of the rocky islets and lateen-sail vessels reflected
+on the mirror-like sea, or of the amphitheatre of mountains
+at the foot of which Marseilles stands.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/017.jpg" width="500" height="223" alt="MARSEILLES FROM THE CH&Acirc;TEAU D'IF."
+title="MARSEILLES FROM THE CH&Acirc;TEAU D'IF." />
+<p class="caption">MARSEILLES FROM THE CH&Acirc;TEAU D'IF.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Others, leaning over the battlements, whiled away the
+listless evening hours, watching fishermen drawing the
+seine at the foot of the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>We pulled round to the cove and watched them too; a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+very different set of fellows from the <i>malbigatti</i> stationed
+above. Fine, athletic, muscular men, their heads bare,
+except that a few wore the red cap so common in the
+Mediterranean,&mdash;in woollen shirts, with naked feet planted
+on the slippery rocks, they were hauling up and coiling
+the rope, singing cheerily.</p>
+
+<p>The wind had shifted some points while we were on
+the island, and it now freshened to a stiff breeze,&mdash;one
+of those sudden squalls for which these seas are remarkable.
+The craft, which an hour before lay sleeping on
+the waters, had caught the breeze. A brigantine came
+dashing up the straits under all sail, her topgallants
+still set, though the poles quivered; and smaller craft,
+with their long, pointed sails, like sea-fowl with expanded
+wings, were crossing in all directions on their
+several tacks, making for the harbour or inlets along the
+coast.</p>
+
+<p>The sea was already lashed into foam, and tiny waves
+broke on the rocks. Loud and hoarse rung the fishermen's
+voices as they hauled away to save their nets. It was
+time for us to make for the port. A few strokes shoved
+the boat from under the lee of the island; the oars were
+shipped, and the lateen sail run up by all hands. Hauling
+close to the wind, my friend seized the tiller: it was
+doubtful if we could make the harbour, which the little
+craft, struggling with the breeze, just headed; the towers
+of St. Victor being the point of sight in the increasing
+haze.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Comme les Anglais font des braves marins</i>,&rdquo; said the
+<i>padr&oacute;ne</i>, as he stood by the halyards, looking out ahead,
+after all was made snug.</p>
+
+<p>We were, indeed, in our element. The sudden squall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+had stirred our blood. Many such rough cruises we had
+shared together in old times.</p>
+
+<p>The boat flew through the water, which roared and
+broke over the bows. &ldquo;It will be a short run,&rdquo; said the
+steersman, &ldquo;if the wind holds on.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Port, monsieur, port!</i>&rdquo; cried the <i>padr&oacute;ne</i>, who had
+learnt some English nautical phrases.</p>
+
+<p>But it would not do. Approaching the land, the wind
+veered and headed us.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We must make a short tack to gain the harbour.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Je l'ai pr&eacute;vu</i>,&rdquo; said the <i>padr&oacute;ne</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;About&rdquo; it was. She stayed beautifully, even under
+the single sail, and in a trice was lying well upon the other
+tack, as we stood out to sea. In five minutes we went
+about again, fetching under the stern of a felucca, also
+beating into the port; perhaps from Algiers or the Spanish
+coast. It was now a dead race with the felucca, which
+had forged ahead while we were in stays.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Nous gagnerons, j'en gagerais une bouteille de vin!</i>&rdquo;
+cried the <i>padr&oacute;ne</i>, much excited, for he was proud of his
+boat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Vous l'aurez, toutefois, pour boire &agrave; la sant&eacute; de vos
+camarades Anglais.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Again we flew through the water, making a straight
+course for the harbour. The felucca had much the advantage
+of us in breadth of canvas and her high-peaked sails;
+but being heavily laden, she was deep in the water. As it
+turned out, we did not overhaul her till just before she
+lowered her foresail at the <i>consigne</i> office, to wait for
+her <i>permis d'entrer</i>, when we shot ahead right into
+the port.</p>
+
+<p>We made out the evening at the theatre, well entertained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+by a <i>petite com&eacute;die</i>. &ldquo;One is sure to be amused,&rdquo; said my
+companion; &ldquo;and it is good practice. It helps to get up
+one's French.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Monsieur ne manque que d'&ecirc;tre plus habitu&eacute;</i>,&rdquo; as it is
+politely suggested when one is at a loss for a phrase.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_III" id="CHAP_III"></a>CHAP. III.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Embark for Corsica&mdash;Coast of France and Italy.&mdash;Toulon.&mdash;Hy&egrave;res
+Islands, Frejus, &amp;c.&mdash;A Stormy night.&mdash;Crossing
+the Tuscan Sea</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>Once more we are at the water stairs. A stout boat is
+ready to convey us with our baggage to <i>L'Industrie</i>, one
+of Messrs. Vallery's fine steam-boats, in turn for Bastia.
+Just as we are pushing off, a carriage drives to the quay,
+with a niece of General the Count di Rivarola, formerly in
+the British service. She is returning to Corsica. We do
+the civil, spread plaids, and place her in the stern sheets;
+and she is very agreeable.</p>
+
+<p>It is Sunday morning. The bells of the old church of
+St. Victor are ringing at early mass. The ships in the
+port have hoisted their colours. There is our dear, time-honoured
+jack, &ldquo;the flag that has braved,&rdquo; &amp;c., as we say
+on all occasions; and the stars and stripes, the crescent
+and star, and the towers of Castille; with crosses of all
+shapes and colours, in as great variety as the costumes we
+saw in the <i>caf&eacute;</i>. The tricolor floated on the forts of St.
+Jean and St. Nicholas, as well as on French craft of all
+descriptions.</p>
+
+<p>All was gay, but not more joyous than our own buoyant
+spirits. Time had been spent pleasantly enough at Marseilles,
+but it was a delay; and there is nothing an Englishman
+hates more than delays in travelling. Thwarted in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+his humour, he becomes quite childish, and frets and
+chafes more at having to wait two or three days for a
+steamboat than at any other hindrance I know. Now,
+when <i>L'Industrie</i>, with her ensign at the peak, had, somehow
+or other, with a din of unutterable cries in maritime
+French, been extricated from the dense tiers of vessels
+along the quay, and hauling out of the harbour, we were
+at last fairly on the high road to Corsica, never did the
+sun appear to shine more brightly; the Mediterranean
+looked more blue than any blue one had seen before, there
+was a ripple from the fresh breeze, the waves sparkled, and
+seemed positively to laugh and partake of our joy.</p>
+
+<p>We hardly cared to speculate on our fellow-passengers,
+as one is apt to do when there is nothing else to engross
+the thoughts; and yet there were some among them we
+should wish to sketch. Besides French officers joining
+their regiments in the island, there was one, a Corsican,
+who had served in Algeria, returning home on sick leave.
+It was to be feared that it had come too late, for the poor
+invalid was so feeble, worn, and emaciated that it seemed
+his native country could offer him nothing but a grave.
+There was a Corsican priest on board, a pleasant, well-informed
+man, who met our advances to an acquaintance
+with great readiness, and was delighted with our proposed
+visit to his island. Some Corsican gentlemen, a lady or
+two, and commercial men <i>en route</i> for Leghorn, completed
+the party. We seemed to be the only English. I was
+mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;After all, there is a countryman of ours on board,&rdquo; I
+said, pointing to a pair of broad shoulders, disappearing
+under the companion-hatch. I caught sight of him just
+now; a fine, hale man, rather advanced in years, with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+fair complexion, ruddy, and a profusion of grey hair. He
+wears a suit of drab; very plain, but well turned out.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Unmistakeably English, as you say; it may be pleasant.
+I wonder we did not make him out before among
+these sallow-faced and rather dirty-looking gentry in green
+and sky-blue trousers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We were soon abreast of the group of rocky islets off
+the harbour, passing close under the <i>Ch&acirc;teau d'If</i>. The
+sea was smooth, the sky unclouded, but a gentle breeze
+deliciously tempered the heat, and vessels of every description&mdash;square-rigged
+ships, and coasting feluccas and
+xebecs&mdash;on their different courses, gave life to the scene.
+Thus pleasantly we ran along the French coast, here much
+indented and swelling into rocky hills of considerable
+elevation.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/023.jpg" width="500" height="298" alt="FRENCH COAST OFF CIOTAT."
+title="FRENCH COAST OFF CIOTAT." />
+<p class="caption">FRENCH COAST OFF CIOTAT.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We had an excellent <i>d&eacute;je&ucirc;ner</i>, for which we were quite
+ready, having only taken the usual early cup of coffee.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+The genial influence of this meal had the effect of putting
+us on the best footing with our fellow-voyagers. Pacing
+the deck afterwards with the Corsican priest, we were joined
+by the stout Englishman. Observing our disappointment
+at hearing we should be probably baulked of shooting in
+Corsica, he expressed a hope that we would extend our
+excursion to Tuscany, where, he was good enough to say,
+he would show us sport. He had been settled there many
+years, and was now returning to his family by way of
+Leghorn. Under a somewhat homely exterior, which had
+puzzled us at first as to his position, we found our new
+acquaintance to be a man of refined taste, great simplicity,
+as well as urbanity, of manners, and keenly alive to the
+beautiful in nature and art. Such a specimen of the
+hearty old English gentleman, unchanged&mdash;I was about
+to say uncontaminated&mdash;by long residence abroad, it
+has been rarely my lot to meet with.</p>
+
+<p>On rounding a projecting headland, we peeped into the
+mouth of Toulon harbour, and every eye and glass were
+directed to the heights crowned with forts, and the bold
+mountain masses towering above them.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/024.jpg" width="500" height="265" alt="OFF TOULON." title="OFF TOULON." />
+<p class="caption">OFF TOULON.</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Presently, we were threading the channel between the
+main land and the Hy&egrave;res Islands. They appeared to us
+a paradise of verdure, on which the eye, weary of gazing
+at the bare and furrowed mountain-sides bounding this
+coast, rested with delight. One imagined orange groves
+and myrtle bowers, impervious to the summer's sun and
+sheltered by the lofty ridges from the northern blasts&mdash;all
+this verdure fringing the edge of a bright and tideless sea.
+Elsewhere, except rarely in the hollows, the mountain
+ranges extending along this coast exhibit no signs of vegetation;
+the whole mass appearing, with the sun full on
+them, not only scorched but actually burnt to the colour
+of kiln-dried bricks.</p>
+
+<p>All the afternoon we continued running at the steamer's
+full speed along the shores of France and Italy. Notwithstanding
+their arid and sterile aspect, nothing can be finer
+than the mountain ranges which bound this coast, as every
+one who has crossed them in travelling from Nice well
+knows. Glimpses, too, successively of Frejus, Cannes, and
+Nice, more or less distant, as, crossing the Gulf of Genoa,
+we gradually increased our distance from the shore, together
+with a capital dinner, were pleasant interludes to
+the grand spectacle of Alps piled on Alps in endless
+succession, and glowing a fiery red, which all the waters
+over which we flew&mdash;deep, dark, or azure&mdash;could not
+quench.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening there were evident tokens in the sky,
+on the water, and in the vessel's motion, of a change of
+weather. We were threatened with a stormy night; and
+as we now began to lose the shelter of the land, holding a
+course somewhat to the S.E. in order to round the northern
+point of Corsica, there was no reason to regret that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+passage across the Tuscan sea would be performed while
+we were in our berths.</p>
+
+<p>However, we walked the deck long after the other
+passengers had gone below; enjoying the fresh breeze,
+though it was no soft zephyr wafting sweet odours from
+the Ausonian shore. It is a sublime thing to stand on
+the poop of a good ship when she is surging through the
+waves at ten knots an hour in utter darkness, whether
+impelled by wind or steam; especially when the elements
+are in strife. Nothing can give a higher idea of the
+power of man to control them. With no horizon, not a
+star visible in the vault above, and only the white curl
+on the crest of the boiling waves, glimmering in our
+wake, on&mdash;on, we rush, the ship dipping and rising over
+the long swells, and dashing floods of water and clouds of
+spray from her bows.</p>
+
+<p>But whither are we driving through these dark waters,
+and this impenetrable, and seemingly boundless, gloom?
+The eye rests on the light in the binnacle. We stoop to
+examine the compass; the card marks S.S.E. Imagination
+expands the dark horizon. It is not boundless: the island
+mountain-tops loom in the distance. They beckon us on;
+we realise them now; at dawn the grey peaks of Cape
+Corso will be unveiled; we shall dream of them to-night.</p>
+
+<p>One of the watch struck the hour on the bell. &ldquo;It is
+ten o'clock; let us turn in.&rdquo; There is an inviting glimmer
+through the cabin skylights. We are better off in this
+floating hotel than has often been our lot, baffling with
+storm and tempest, benighted, weary, cold and wet, in
+rough roads, forest or desert waste, with dubious hopes
+of shelter and comfort at the end of our march.</p>
+
+<p>We paused for a moment, leaning over the brass rail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+which protected the quarter deck. Below, on the main
+deck, a number of French soldiers, wrapped in their grey
+coats, were huddled together, cowering under the bulwarks,
+or wherever they could find shelter from the bitter night
+wind.</p>
+
+<p>The cabin lamps shed a cheerful light, reflected by the
+highly-polished furniture and fittings. All the passengers
+were in their berths. We had chosen ours near the door
+for fresher air. My companion climbed to his cot in the
+upper tier, above mine.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you wake first, call me at daylight. We shall be
+off the coast of Corsica. <i>Felicissima notte!</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_IV" id="CHAP_IV"></a>CHAP. IV.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Coast of Capo Corso.&mdash;Peculiarity of Scenery.&mdash;Verdure, and
+Mountain Villages.&mdash;Il Torre di Seneca.&mdash;Land at Bastia</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>The voyage from Marseilles to Bastia is performed, under
+favourable circumstances, in eighteen hours; but we had
+only just made the extreme northern point of Corsica
+when I was hastily roused, at six o'clock, from a blissful
+state of unconsciousness of the gale of wind and rough sea
+which had retarded our progress during the night.</p>
+
+<p>Hurrying on deck, the first objects which met the eye
+were a rocky islet with a lighthouse on a projecting point,
+and then it rested on the glorious mountains of Capo
+Corso, lifting their grey summits to the clouds, and
+stretching away to the southward in endless variety of outline.
+We were abreast of the rocky island of Capraja; on
+the other hand lay Elba, with its mountain peaks; Pianosa
+and Monte-Cristo rose out of the Tuscan sea further on.
+Behind these picturesque islands, the distant range of the
+Apennines hung like a cloud in the horizon. The sun
+rose over them in unclouded glory, no trace being left of
+the night-storm, but a fresh breeze, and the heaving and
+swelling of the deep waters.</p>
+
+<p>Banging along the eastern coast of Capo Corso, at a short
+distance from the shore, with the early light now thrown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+upon it, the natural features of the country&mdash;groups of
+houses, villages, and even single buildings of a marked
+character&mdash;were distinctly visible. We were not long in
+discovering that Corsican scenery is of a peculiar and
+highly interesting character.</p>
+
+<p>The infinite variety existing in all the Creator's works
+is remarkably exhibited in the physical aspect of different
+countries, though the landscape be formed of the same
+materials, whether mountains, forests, wood, water, and
+extended plains, or a composition of all or any of these
+features on a greater or less scale. The change is sometimes
+very abrupt. Thus, the character of Sardinian
+scenery is essentially different from the Corsican, notwithstanding
+the two islands are only separated by a strait
+twenty miles broad. Climate, atmosphere, geological
+formation, and vegetable growth, all contribute to this
+variety. The impress given to the face of nature by the
+hand of man, whether by cultivation, or in the forms,
+and, as we shall presently see, the position, of the various
+buildings which betoken his presence, give, of course, in
+a secondary degree, a difference of character to the
+landscape.</p>
+
+<p>Remarks of this kind occurred in a conversation with
+our stout English friend and my fellow-traveller, while
+they were sketching the coast of Capo Corso from the deck
+of the <i>Industrie</i>. Trite as they may appear, it is surprising
+how little even many persons who have travelled
+are alive to such distinctions. What more natural than
+to say, &ldquo;I have seen Alpine scenery in Switzerland; why
+should I encounter the difficulties of a northern tour to
+witness the same thing on a smaller scale in Norway?
+What can the islands in the Tuscan sea have to offer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+essentially different from Italian scenery with which I am
+already familiar?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Only a practised eye can make the discrimination, and
+it requires some knowledge of physical geography, and the
+vegetable kingdom, to be able to analyse causes producing
+these diversified effects. Every class of rock, every species
+of tree, the various elevations of the surface of the globe,
+and the plants which clothe its different regions, have
+each their own forms and characteristics; and, of course, a
+landscape, being an aggregate of these several parts, ought
+to reflect the varieties of the materials composing it. An
+artist must have carefully studied from nature to have
+acquired a nice perception of these varied effects, and even
+should he be able to grasp the result, he may not succeed
+in transferring it to his sketch. Far less can words convey
+an adequate idea of the varied effects of natural scenery;
+so that one does not wonder when the reader complains of
+the sameness of the representation.</p>
+
+<p>In the present instance, were there pictured to his imagination
+the distant peaks of Elba on the one hand, and
+on the other the long mountain ranges of Capo Corso,
+bathed in purple light, as the sun rose in the eastern horizon,
+the grey cliffs of rocks and promontories bordering the
+coast, contrasted with the verdure of the valleys and lower
+elevations, vineyards and olive grounds on the hill-sides,
+and the landscape dotted with villages, churches, and
+ancient towers, we should doubtless have a very charming
+sketch, but it would not convey a distinct idea of the
+peculiarities of Corsican scenery.</p>
+
+<p>What struck us most, independently of the general
+effect, was the extraordinary verdure and exuberance of
+the vegetation which overspread the surface of the country<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+far up the mountain sides, not only as contrasted with the
+sterile aspect of the coasts of the continent we had just
+left, but as being, in itself, different from anything which
+had before fallen under our observation in other countries,
+whether forest, underwood, or grassy slope. For the moment,
+we were unable to conjecture of what it consisted;
+but we had not long set foot on shore before we were at no
+loss to account for our admiration of this singular feature
+in Corsican, and in this particular, also, of Sardinian
+scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Not to dwell now on the peculiar character of the
+mountain ranges of Corsica, I will only mention one other
+peculiarity in the landscape which strikes the eye throughout
+the island, but is nowhere more remarkable than in
+the views presented as we ranged along the coast of Capo
+Corso. As the former instance belongs to the department
+of physical geography, this comes under the class of effects
+produced by the works of man. The peculiarity consists
+in the villages being all placed at high elevations. They
+are seen perched far up the mountain sides, straggling
+along the scarp of a narrow terrace, or crowded together
+on the platform of some projecting spur; churches, convents,
+towers, and hamlets crowning the peaked summits of
+lower eminences almost equally inaccessible. The only
+extensive plains in the island are so insalubrious as to be
+almost uninhabitable, and this has been their character
+from the time the island was first colonised. For this
+reason, probably, in some measure, but more especially for
+defence, in the hostilities to which the island has been
+exposed from foreign invaders during many ages, as well
+as by internal feuds hardly yet extinct, nearly the whole
+population is collected in the elevated villages or <i>paese</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+forming this singular and picturesque feature in Corsican
+scenery. They are visible from a great distance, and
+sometimes ten or a dozen of them are in sight at one
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Capo Corso is not, as might be supposed, a mere cape or
+headland, but a narrow peninsula, containing a number of
+villages, and washed on both sides by the Tuscan sea; being
+about twenty-five miles long, though only from five to ten
+miles broad. Nearly the whole area is occupied by a continuation
+of the central chain which traverses the island
+from north to south. The average height of the range
+through Capo Corso, where it is called <i>La Serra</i>, does not
+exceed 1500 feet above the level of the sea, but it swells
+into lofty peaks; the highest, <i>Monte Stella</i>, between Brando
+and Nonza, rising 5180 feet above the shore of the Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/032.jpg" width="700" height="470" alt="ERSA, CAPO CORSO."
+title="ERSA, CAPO CORSO." />
+<p class="caption">ERSA, CAPO CORSO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>From the central chain spurs branch off to the sea on
+both coasts, forming narrow valleys at the base and in the
+gorges of the mountains, of which the principal on the
+eastern side are Lota, Cagnano, and Luri; the last-named
+being the most fertile and picturesque, as well as the
+largest of these mountain valleys, though only six miles
+long and three wide. On the western side lie the valleys
+of Olmeta, Olcani, and Ogliastro; Olmeta being the largest.
+The valleys are watered by mountain torrents, often diverted
+to irrigate the lands under tillage, as well as gardens and
+vine and olive plantations. Each <i>paese</i> has its small tract
+of more fertile land, marked by a deeper verdure, where
+the valleys open out and the streams discharge their
+waters into the Mediterranean. At this point, called the
+<i>Marino</i>, there is generally a little port, with a hamlet
+inhabited by a hardy race of sailors engaged in the traffic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+carried on coastwise between the villages of the interior
+and the seaports.</p>
+
+<p>This mountainous district contains a considerable population,
+and the inhabitants are distinguished for their
+industry and economy. They live in much comfort on the
+produce obtained by persevering labour from the small
+portions of cultivated soil. Numerous flocks of sheep are
+herded on the vast wastes overhanging the valleys. The
+olive and vine flourish, and extensive chestnut woods supply
+at some seasons the staple diet of the poorer classes.
+The slopes of the hills about the villages are converted into
+gardens and orchards, in which we find figs, peaches,
+apples, pears,&mdash;with oranges and lemons in the more
+sheltered spots. The wines are in general sound, and we
+found them excellent where special care had been bestowed
+on the manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>The Corsicans are generally indolent, but it is said that
+there are no less than a hundred families in the mountainous
+province of Capo Corso who are considered rich,
+some of them wealthy; and all these owe their improved
+fortunes to the enterprising spirit of some relative who
+left it poor, and after years of toil in Mexico, in Brazil,
+or some other part of South America, returned with his
+savings to his native village.</p>
+
+<p>One valley after another opened as the steamer ran
+down the coast, each with its <i>Marino</i> distinguished by a
+fresher verdure, and its cluster of white houses on the
+beach. The night mists still filled the hollows, and villages
+and hamlets hung like cloud-wreaths on the mountain-sides
+and the summits of the hills; the most inaccessible
+of which were crowned with ruins of castles and
+towers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Tradition asserts that one of these towers was the prison
+of Seneca the Philosopher. <i>Il Torre di Seneca</i>, as it is
+called, stands on an escarped pinnacle of rock, terminating
+one of the loftiest of the detached sugar-loaf hills.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/034.jpg" width="500" height="378" alt="IL TORRE DI SENECA."
+title="IL TORRE DI SENECA." />
+<p class="caption">IL TORRE DI SENECA.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Seneca spent seven years in exile, having been banished
+to Corsica by the emperor Claudius, on suspicion
+of an illicit intercourse with the profligate Julia. The
+islands in the Tuscan sea were the Tasmania of the
+Roman empire, places of transportation for political
+offenders, and those who fell under the imperial frown&mdash;which
+was the same thing. Some smaller islands off
+the Italian coast, Procida, Ischia, &amp;c., served the same
+purpose. <i>Relegatio ad insulam</i> was the legal phrase for
+this punishment. Augustus banished his grandson Agrippa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+to the desolate island of <i>Planosa</i>, the Pianosa mentioned
+just before in connection with Elba. There he was
+strangled by order of Tiberius.</p>
+
+<p>In some of his Epigrams, and the Books <i>de Consolatione</i>,
+composed during his exile, Seneca paints the country and
+the climate in the darkest colours. There is no doubt but
+these islands, though in sight of the coast of Italy, appeared
+to the polished Romans as barbarous and full of
+horrors as our penal settlements at the antipodes were
+considered long after their first occupation; so that the
+picture of Corsica, drawn by Seneca, may have been much
+exaggerated by his distempered and splenetic state of mind.
+The probability is, that he resided during his exile at one
+of the Roman colonies on the eastern coast, Aleria or
+Mariana. What is called the <i>Torre di Seneca</i> is the ruin
+of a stronghold or watch-tower of the middle ages; and it
+is not likely that the spot was occupied by the Romans at
+any period of their dominion in Corsica, their possessions
+consisting only of the two colonies, and some harbours on
+the coast.</p>
+
+<p>But those lonely towers standing close to the shore,
+which we see from time to time as we coast along&mdash;massive,
+round, and grey with lichens as the rocks at their
+base; what do their ruins tell of times past? Were
+they a chain of forts for the defence of the coast against
+Saracen, or other invaders, in the middle ages? They
+appear too small to hold a garrison, and too insulated for
+mutual support. More probably they were watch-towers,
+from which signals were made when the vessels of the
+corsairs hovered on the coast, that the inhabitants might
+betake themselves, with their cattle and goods, to the
+fortified villages and castles on the hills. We are told that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+at the beginning of the eighteenth century, there were
+fifteen of those towers on the north coast of the island,
+and eighty-five in its whole circuit; but many of them
+are now fallen to ruin.</p>
+
+<p>At length, Bastia appeared in sight, rising in an amphitheatre
+to a ridge studded with villas; the houses of the
+old town being crowded about the port. Sweeping round the
+mole, we found ourselves in a diminutive harbour, among
+vessels of small burthen. This basin is surrounded on
+three sides by tall gloomy buildings, of the roughest construction,
+piled up, tier above tier, to a great height. A
+man-of-war's boat shoves off from the shore in good style,
+and lands the Count's niece with due honours. Other
+boats come alongside the steamer, and all is confusion.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Did you see the meeting between the two Corsican
+brothers&mdash;the sallow, fever-worn soldier from Algiers,
+our poor fellow-traveller, and the hearty mountaineer?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No; I was paying my last <i>devoirs</i> to <i>madame</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The contrast between the two was striking. I shall
+never forget the way they were laced in each other's arms,
+and the glance of keen anxiety with which the mountaineer
+looked into his sick brother's face, marking the ravages
+which time and disease had worked on those much-loved
+features.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In the air of his mountain-village that brother, we
+would hope, grew strong again. Perhaps, having rejoined
+his regiment, his bones are left in the Crimea; perhaps, he
+again survives, and breathes once more his native air.
+Who can tell?</p>
+
+<p>Our hale English friend remained on board to pursue
+the voyage to Leghorn. What a din, what frantic gestures,
+what a rush of these irascible Corsicans at our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+baggage! It is borne off to the custom-house, and undergoes
+an examination far from rigorous. We mount several
+flights of steps, leading from one narrow street to another
+in this old quarter of the town, and are led to an hotel,
+which had much the air of a second or third-rate Italian
+<i>locanda</i>&mdash;lofty and spacious apartments, neither clean nor
+well arranged; and the <i>d&eacute;je&ucirc;ner</i> was a sorry affair. <i>N'importe</i>;
+we shall not stay longer in Bastia than is necessary,
+and we may go further and fare worse. Meanwhile, a
+battalion of French infantry were on parade, with the
+band playing in the barrack-yard under our windows. We
+threw them open to enjoy the fresh breeze and sweeten the
+room. They commanded a fine view of the coast we had
+passed, now seen in profile under the effect of a bright
+sunshine, with the waves washing in wreaths of foam on
+every jutting point and rock.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_V" id="CHAP_V"></a>CHAP. V.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Bastia.&mdash;Territorial Divisions.&mdash;Plan of the Rambles.&mdash;Hiring
+Mules.&mdash;The Start.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>I cannot imagine any one's loitering in Bastia longer than
+he can help. Its only attractions are the sea and the mountain
+views from the environs; and those are commanded
+equally well from many points along the coast. What the
+old town is we have already seen&mdash;narrow and crooked
+streets, with gaunt houses piled up about the port; and
+there is the old Genoese fortress frowning over it, and the
+church of St. John, of Pisan architecture, the interior rich
+in marbles and gilding, but the <i>fa&ccedil;ade</i> below notice as a
+work of art. A new quarter has been added to the town,
+higher up, in which there are some handsome houses,
+particularly in the <i>Rue de la Traverse</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In early times a few poor traders from Cardo, a <i>paese</i>
+on the heights, settled at the mouth of a stream which
+formed here a small harbour. It was their <i>Marino</i>, so
+that Cardo may be said to be in some sort the Fiesole of
+Bastia. About the close of the fourteenth century, the
+Genoese built the Donjon, which is still standing, to defend
+the port, then becoming of importance. From this <i>basti&oacute;ne</i>,
+the new town derived its name. It was the capital
+of the island during the Pisan and Genoese occupation,
+and so continued under the French government till 1811,
+when the prefecture and general administration of affairs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+were transferred to Ajaccio, where also the Council-general
+of Corsica, now forming a department of France, holds its
+sessions. Bastia, however, is still the <i>Quartier-g&eacute;n&eacute;ral</i>
+of the military in the island, and the seat of the <i>Cour de
+Cassation</i> and <i>Cour d'Appel</i>, tribunals exercising superior
+jurisdiction over all the other courts. It is also the most
+populous town in Corsica (14,000 souls being the return of
+the last census), and has by far the largest commerce,
+exporting olive-oil and wine, fruits and fish; and importing
+<i>corn</i>, groceries, tobacco, and manufactured articles of all
+kinds.</p>
+
+<p>Bastia was the standing point from which the old division
+of Corsica into the <i>di qu&agrave;</i> and the <i>di l&agrave; dei monti</i>&mdash;the
+country on this side and the country on the other side of
+the mountains&mdash;was made; the line of intersection commencing
+at the point of Gargalo, below Aleria, on the
+eastern coast, and following a range of mountains westward
+to the <i>Marino</i> of Solenzara. The division was by
+no means equal; the country <i>di qu&agrave;</i>, including the present
+arrondissements of Bastia, Corte, and Calve, being
+one-third larger than the <i>di l&agrave;</i>, comprising the arrondissements
+of Ajaccio and Sartene.</p>
+
+<p>Another ancient division of Corsica was into <i>pieves</i>, originally
+ecclesiastical districts,&mdash;and <i>paeses</i>, which, I imagine,
+are equivalent to parishes, including the village and the
+hamlets belonging to them. A detached farm-house, such
+as are scattered everywhere in England, is hardly to be seen
+in Corsica, the inhabitants being gathered in these villages
+and hamlets, invariably built, as already observed, on elevated
+points. By what corruption these were called <i>paeses</i>,
+<i>countries</i>, one does not understand; but it sounds rather
+droll to a stranger, when he is told in Corsica, that he may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+travel many miles, <i>senza ved&egrave;re uno pa&eacute;se</i>, without seeing
+a country.</p>
+
+<p>Bastia must, doubtless, from the circumstances mentioned,
+have good society; but we thought Ajaccio a much
+pleasanter place, and Corte, in its rudeness, has a nobler
+aspect than either, and is associated with glorious recollections.
+We were for escaping the <i>di qu&agrave;</i> of Bastia and the
+<i>littorale</i>, and getting as soon as possible <i>di l&agrave;</i> the mountains,
+not, however, according to the old political division
+of the island, but in the sense of crossing the central chain
+by one of the nearest passes.</p>
+
+<p>The plan we sketched, after consulting our maps, was to
+cross the Serra by a <i>col</i> leading into the valleys in the
+south-west of Capo Corso, and, after rambling through that
+district, to descend into the upper valley of the Golo, and
+pursue it in the direction of Corte, making Ajaccio our
+next point. There are good highroads throughout the
+island, with regular <i>diligences</i> all the way from Bastia to
+Bonifaccio; but to avail ourselves of these, taking up our
+quarters in the towns and making excursions in the neighbourhood,
+was not to our taste. We proposed, therefore,
+to hire mules for the expedition, sending our heavier
+baggage forward to Ajaccio by <i>voiture</i>, and retaining only
+the indispensables for a journey of more than 150 miles, in
+the course of which not a single decent <i>albergo</i> was to be
+met with, except at Corte.</p>
+
+<p>The horses in Corsica are diminutive and of an inferior
+breed, mules being almost exclusively employed for draught
+on the great roads, and as beasts of burthen in the byways
+and mountain tracks. In Sardinia, on the contrary, though
+lying so much further south, the mules disappeared, and
+were replaced by hardy and active horses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We inquired for mules. There are generally to be found
+hanging about foreign hotels people ready to undertake
+anything the traveller may require, little as they may be
+competent to fulfil their engagements. One of this class
+presented himself, his appearance by no means prepossessing;
+but the view he took of our present scheme afforded
+us some amusement.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you well acquainted with the roads in Corsica?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have had the honour to conduct <i>signore forestiere</i>
+throughout the island from Bastia to Bonifaccio.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We shall not travel <i>en voiture</i>. We require mules for
+the baggage and riding. Can you supply them?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>&Ccedil;a serait possible, mais, &agrave; l'improviste, un peu difficile</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is indispensable, as we mean to cross the mountains
+and make a <i>d&eacute;tour, en route</i> to Corte by slow stages, resting
+in the villages.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The man's countenance assumed a rueful expression.
+He had probably been used to make easy work of it from
+town to town, and there was evidently a ludicrous struggle
+between the temptation of a profitable job and his disinclination
+for rugged roads and a spare diet.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are <i>messieurs</i> aware that there are no <i>auberges</i> in the
+villages offering accommodations fit for them?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is very possible; that does not occasion us any
+uneasiness.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Les chemins sont affreux.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>N'importe</i>; we have travelled in worse.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In some places they are dangerous, absolutely precipitous.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We shall walk; <i>en effet</i>, it is possible we may walk
+great part of the journey.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>That our muleteer could not understand at all: &ldquo;<i>la
+fatigue serait p&eacute;nible</i>;&rdquo; and with true Corsican indolence,
+he protested against being included in that part of our
+plan.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Then you can ride.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So far all objections were dismissed. The banditti had
+not been mentioned among the lions in our path, but I
+imagined they were darkly shadowed forth in the guide's
+picture of horrors; so I put the question to him point
+blank.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are the roads safe in these districts? Are there no
+bad people (<i>mauvais gens</i>&mdash;<i>cattive genti</i>) abroad?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>His only reply was a shrug of the shoulders, the foreign
+substitute for a Burleigh shake of the head; leaving us to
+infer that we must not make too sure of coming off with
+a whole skin. Knowing well enough that all apprehensions
+of that kind were imaginary, we had been
+only amusing ourselves with him. If there had been
+any danger, he seemed just the fellow to be in league
+with the brigands.</p>
+
+<p>All topics of intimidation being now exhausted, our
+muleteer, with the best grace he could, professed himself
+ready to comply with our wishes.</p>
+
+<p>The hire demanded for the mules was five francs per
+day each, exclusive of their keep; and their return
+journey was to be paid for at the same rate. The latter
+part of the demand was an imposition, but we had only
+&ldquo;Hobson's choice,&rdquo; and made no difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>When would it be our pleasure to depart? As early in
+the afternoon as possible. &ldquo;It would be late;&rdquo; and a last
+effort was made to induce us to remain at the hotel till the
+next morning, but we were inexorable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Would there be time for us to reach the first village
+on the road before dark?&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;We might.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Then we
+will go. Our baggage will be ready by three o'clock. Be
+punctual.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We disliked the man, and determined to discharge him
+at Corte unless things turned out better than we expected.
+As it happened, we were under his convoy for a much
+shorter space. We found the Sard <i>cavallante</i>, a much
+finer race, trudging on foot through all the roughest part
+of the tracks, and perching themselves at the top of a
+much heavier load of baggage on the pack-horse, when
+they were tired of walking.</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange &ldquo;turn out,&rdquo; that, by unusual exertions,
+appeared at the door within an hour of the time appointed.
+The mules were no bigger than donkeys.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Queste bestie non sono muli; sono dei asini.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was vexatious; but we laughed too much to be seriously
+angry; the muleteer, too, deprecating our wrath by
+assuring us that his mules had first-rate qualities for
+scrambling up and down precipices. So we took it all in
+good part, and, more amused than annoyed, assisted in
+contriving to adjust the girths of the English saddles to
+the poor beasts' wizened sides; and then, declining a
+march through Coventry with such a cavalcade, walked
+forward, leaving the guide to load the baggage and follow
+with the mules.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_VI" id="CHAP_VI"></a>CHAP. VI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Leave Bastia.</i>&mdash;<i>The Road.</i>&mdash;<i>View of Elba, Pianosa, and
+Monte-Cristo.</i>&mdash;<i>The</i> Littorale.&mdash;<i>An Adventure</i>.&mdash;<i>The
+Stagna di Biguglia.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>The Corsicans are apt to say, that the national roads were
+the only benefit Napoleon conferred on his native country.
+Like all his great works of construction, they are worthy
+of his genius. One of these traverses the whole eastern
+coast of the island from Bastia, by Cervione and Porto-Vecchio,
+to Bonifaccio. Another line branches off near
+Vescovato, about ten miles from Bastia, and following the
+valley of the Golo, is carried among the mountains to
+Corte, whence it is continued through a wild and mountainous
+district to Ajaccio. Similar engineering skill is
+displayed in its continuation on the western side of the
+mountains to Sartene, and thence to Bonifaccio, where it
+also terminates.</p>
+
+<p>On clearing Bastia, we found ourselves on this high
+road,&mdash;a magnificent causeway carried nearly in a straight
+line for many miles through the plain extending between
+the sea and the mountains. Orange groves embowering
+sheltered nooks in the environs of the town, and hedges of
+the Indian fig (<i>cactus opuntia</i>), betokened the warmth of this
+southern shore; and, as we advanced, the rank growth of
+vegetation on the flats realised all we had heard of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+teeming richness of the <i>littorale</i>. It was hot walking, and
+the causeway and flats would have been monotonous
+enough but for the glorious views on either hand.</p>
+
+<p>To the left, the Mediterranean was calmly subsiding
+from the effects of the gale, its undulations still sparkling
+in the sunbeams. Far within the horizon was the group
+of islands which lend a charm to all this coast, and are
+associated with great historical names. There rises Elba,
+with the sharp outline of its lofty peaks and dark shores,
+too narrow for the mighty spirit which ere long burst the
+bounds of his Empire Island. Far away in the southern
+hemisphere I had visited that other island, where the
+chains were riveted too firmly for release, except by the
+grave over which I had pondered. Now we stood on the
+soil that gave him birth. Why was not this the &ldquo;Island
+Empire?&rdquo; The Allied Sovereigns were disposed to be
+magnanimous. It was offered to him; why did he refuse
+it? Was it that, with far-sighted policy, he considered
+Corsica too bright a gem in the crown of France for him
+to pluck, without sooner or later giving umbrage to the
+Bourbons? May his refusal be cited as a further proof of
+the little love he bore for the land of his birth? Or was it
+that, when once hurled from the throne of his creation, the
+conqueror of kingdoms could not descend to compare one
+petty island with another? &ldquo;At Elba he found the horizon,
+the sky, the air, the waves of his childhood; and the history
+of his island-state, would be to him a constant lesson of
+the mutability of human things.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>Napoleon emperor in Corsica! On this spot, with Elba
+in view, one dwells for a moment on the idea! Then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+indeed, Corsica's long-cherished dreams of national independence&mdash;it
+was her last chance&mdash;would have been
+strangely realised. But her fate was sealed. She had sunk
+to the rank of an outlying department of France, and so
+remained; with what results we may perhaps discover.</p>
+
+<p>Near Elba, and strongly contrasting with its bold outline,
+lies the little island of <i>Pianosa</i>, the ancient Planosa.
+Its surface is flat, as the name indicates. That island, too,
+has its tale of imperial exile. The young Agrippa, grandson
+of Augustus, and heir-presumptive to an empire wider
+than that of Napoleon's most ambitious dreams, was
+banished to Planosa by his grandfather, at the instance of
+Livia. Augustus is said to have visited him there. It
+was Agrippa's fate to find a grave, as well as a prison, in
+the Mediterranean island; the tyrant Tiberius, with the
+jealousy of an eastern monarch, having caused his rival to
+be strangled on his own accession to the empire.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Napoleon's arrival in Elba he sent some
+troops to take possession of Pianosa; which, ravaged by
+the Genoese in the thirteenth century, had never since
+flourished. The fallen emperor himself could not help
+laughing at this mighty expedition, for which thirty of
+his guards, some Elban militia, and six pieces of artillery
+were detailed; exclaiming, as he gave orders to erect
+batteries and fire upon any enemies who might present
+themselves, &ldquo;Europe will say that I have already made a
+conquest.&rdquo; Napoleon partially restored the fortifications
+of an old castle, which had been bombarded by an English
+squadron, landing the marines, in 1809, during the revolutionary
+war. The island now belongs, with Elba, to the
+Grand-Duke of Tuscany.</p>
+
+<p>Further to the south appears the rocky island of Monte-Cristo.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+This, too, has its tale of exile, insignificant as it
+looks except for its sharply serrated outline, and a worldwide
+fame. The emperor Diocletian banished here St. Mamilian,
+Archbishop of Palermo. A convent was afterwards
+founded on the site of the Saint's rude cell. The monks
+of Monte-Cristo flourished, as they deserved; the worthy
+fathers having founded many hospitals in Tuscany and done
+much good. Saracen corsairs carried off the monks; the convent
+was laid in ruins; and the lone island remained uninhabited
+for a long course of years, except by wild goats.
+It was in this state when Alexandre Dumas made it the
+scene of his hero's successful adventure after his escape
+from the <i>Ch&acirc;teau d'If</i>, and adopted it as the title of his
+popular novel. The island having been recently purchased
+and colonised by Mr. Watson Taylor, he has built a house
+on it for his own residence.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/047.jpg" width="350" height="305" alt="ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO."
+title="ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO." />
+<p class="caption">ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is about nine miles in circumference, and I should
+judge from its appearance
+that the greatest
+part of the surface is
+rocky, though not without
+green hollows, dells,
+and verdant slopes. But
+the olive and the vine
+usually thrive, and are
+largely cultivated, on
+such spots; and if, as I
+should imagine, the natural
+vegetation and the
+climate are similar to those of the other islands in the
+Tuscan sea with which we are acquainted, happy may the
+lord of Monte-Cristo be; for, in the hands of a wealthy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+English gentleman, such a spot may be made an earthly
+paradise.</p>
+
+<p>After about an hour's walk we halted for the muleteer
+to come up. A glorious point of view it was, embracing a
+wide expanse of the bright sea, with the islands which
+had supplied so many striking and pleasant recollections.
+Looking backward, the purple mountains of Capo Corso
+now appeared massed together in endless variety of outline,
+with Bastia at their base, the citadel and white houses
+glowing in the evening sunshine. Turning to the right,
+the eye caught the fine effect of the meeting of the plain
+and mountains&mdash;the interminable level, stretching far away
+till it was lost in distance, and teeming with luxuriant
+vegetation, but
+with only here
+and there a solitary
+clump of
+trees,&mdash;and the
+long mountain-range
+line after
+line rising into
+peaks above
+the gracefully
+rounded hills
+that swelled up from the level of the plain. Woods, orchards,
+vineyards overspread the lower slopes, the hollows
+were buried in thickets of evergreen, and picturesque
+villages and towers appeared, though rarely, on the
+summits of the hills.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/048.jpg" width="350" height="225" alt="MEETING OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN, NEAR BASTIA."
+title="MEETING OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN, NEAR BASTIA." />
+<p class="caption">MEETING OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN, NEAR BASTIA.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Who would not linger at the sight of Furiani, the
+most important of these villages, its ivy-mantled towers
+crumbling to ruins?&mdash;Furiani, where the Corsicans, in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+national assembly, first organised their insurrection against
+the Genoese, and elected the prudent and intrepid Giaffori
+one of their leaders; with cries of &ldquo;<i>Evviva la libert&agrave;!
+evviva il popolo!</i>&rdquo;&mdash;Furiani, where, in almost their last
+struggle, two hundred Corsicans held the fortifications
+long after they were a heap of ruins, and at length cut
+their way by night to the shore.</p>
+
+<p>The muleteer at last made his appearance with his sorry
+cavalcade, and my companion having taken advantage of
+our halt to make the sketch of the &ldquo;Meeting of the mountains
+and plain,&rdquo; which was not quite finished, that we
+might not lose time, as the sun was descending behind the
+mountains, one of the mules was tied to a stake, in order
+that my friend might overtake us, while we made the
+best of our way forward.</p>
+
+<p>I still preferred walking, and pushed on at a pace which
+suited none of my company, human or asinine. We had
+got ahead about a mile, when shouts from behind opened a
+scene perfectly ludicrous. There was the little mule trotting
+up the road at most unusual speed, impelled by my
+friend's shouts and the big stones with which he was
+pelting the miserable beast. He too came up at a long
+trot, rather excited, and calling to the muleteer, &ldquo;Catch
+your mule, Giovanni! I'll have nothing more to do with
+the brute.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it all about?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that my friend, having finished his sketch,
+prepared to mount and push after us. The mule, however,
+had a design diametrically opposed to this. No sooner was
+it loosed from the stake to which it was tied, than the
+poor beast very naturally felt a strong impulse to return
+to its stable at Bastia. Could instinct have forewarned it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+what it would have to encounter before midnight, the
+retrograde impulse would have been still stronger. Every
+one knows how difficult it is to deal with a mule when it
+is in the mood either not to go at all, or to go the wrong
+way. Having driven a team of these animals&mdash;fine Calabrian
+mules they were, equal to the best Spanish&mdash;all the
+way from Naples to Dieppe, I can boast of some experience
+in the mulish temperament.</p>
+
+<p>To make matters worse, the English saddle being all too
+large for its wizened sides, in spite of all our care in
+knotting the girths, it twisted round in the attempt to
+mount, and my very excellent friend&mdash;no disparagement
+to his noble horsemanship, for one has no firm seat even
+when mounted on a vicious pony&mdash;before he could bring the
+saddle to a level and gain his equilibrium, was fairly pitched
+over the side of the road. Mule having now achieved
+that glorious <i>libert&agrave;</i>, the instinctive aspiration of Corsican
+existence, whether man, mule, or moufflon, started forward
+alone, my friend following, I have no doubt, in rather
+a thundering rage.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At every attempt I made to take the mule by the
+head&rdquo;&mdash;such was his account&mdash;&ldquo;he reversed his position,
+and launched his heels at me with a viciousness that
+rendered the enterprise not a little dangerous, for I do not
+know anything so funky as an ass's heels. Had it not
+been for saving the saddle, mule might have taken himself
+off to Bastia, or a worse place, for any trouble I would
+have taken to stop him.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It may be supposed that this story was not told or
+listened to without shouts of laughter, the muleteer being
+the only one of the party who was seriously disconcerted.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Andiamo, Giovanni</i>,&rdquo; said I, cutting short all discussion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+and moved forward. We had lost time, and the
+evening was closing in.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Won't you ride, then?&mdash;try the other mule.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, I thank you; I am not in the least fatigued, and
+have no desire to be pitched into a bush of prickly cactus,
+or rolled down the bank of the causeway.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Let us push on, then; if we are belated, we may have
+worse adventures, this first day of our rambles in Corsica,
+before we get to our night's quarters; and where we are
+to find them, I am sure I have no idea.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We walked on at a smart pace, and gradually drew far
+ahead of Giovanni and his mules. They were not to be
+hurried, and if they had been gifted like Balaam's ass, I
+imagine they would have agreed with Giovanni in wishing
+<i>l'Inglesi all'Inferno</i>. I don't know, speaking from experience,
+which is worst, riding, leading, or driving a malcontent
+mule.</p>
+
+<p>The rays of the setting sun were now faintly gleaming
+on a vast sheet of shallow stagnant water, the <i>Stagna di
+Biguglia</i>, between the road and the sea, from which it is
+only separated by a low strip of alluvial soil. It was a
+solitary, a melancholy scene. A luxuriant growth of reeds
+fringes the margin of the lagoon, and heat and moisture
+combine to throw up a rank vegetation on its marshy
+banks. The peasants fly from its pestiferous exhalations,
+and nothing is heard or seen but the plash of the fish in
+the still waters, the sharp cry of the heron and gull,
+wheeling and hovering till they dart on their prey, and
+some rude fisherman's boat piled with baskets of eels for
+the market at Bastia.</p>
+
+<p>This vast sheet of water was formerly open to the sea,
+forming a noble harbour, in which floated the galleys of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+the powerful republics that in the middle ages disputed
+the empire of the Mediterranean and the possession of its
+islands. On a hill above stood the town of Biguglia, the
+capital of the island under the Pisans and Genoese, till in
+the fourteenth century Henri della Rocca, with the insurgent
+Corsicans, carried it by assault. The Genoese then
+erected the fortress at Bastia, which, with the town growing
+up under its protection, became the chief seat of their
+power in the island, and Biguglia fell to decay.</p>
+
+<p>Mariana, a Roman colony, stood on the coast near the
+lower extremity of this present lagoon; and Aleria, another
+still further south, on the sea-line of the great plain
+extending for forty miles below Bastia. Our proposed
+route led in another direction, and, not to interrupt the
+thread of the narrative, a notice of these colonies is reserved
+for another opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>We had reached the neighbourhood at which, according
+to calculation, we ought to strike off from the high-road
+towards the mountains. Now, if ever, a guide was needed;
+but Giovanni and his mules had fallen far in the rear. A
+by-road turned to the right, apparently in the desired
+direction. At the angle of the roads we took counsel,&mdash;should
+we venture to take the by-path, or wait till Giovanni
+came up?&mdash;which involved a loss of time we could ill
+spare at that period of the day. A mistake might be awkward,
+but we had carefully studied the bearings of the
+country on our maps, and deciding to risk it, struck boldly
+into the lane. For a short distance it led between inclosures,
+but presently opened, and we found ourselves on
+the boundless waste, with only a narrow track for our
+guidance through its mazes. We were in the bush, the
+<i>Macchia</i> as the natives call it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_VII" id="CHAP_VII"></a>CHAP. VII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Evergreen Thickets.&mdash;Their remarkable Character.&mdash;A fortunate
+Rencontre.&mdash;Moonlight in the Mountains.&mdash;Cross
+a high Col.&mdash;Corsican Shepherds.&mdash;The Vendetta.&mdash;Village
+Quarters.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>A slight ascent over a stony bank landed us at once on the
+verge of the thickets. It had been browsed by cattle, and
+scattered myrtle-bushes, of low growth, were the first objects
+that gladdened our eyes. A new botany, a fresh scenery
+was before us. The change from the littoral, with its rank
+vegetation, close atmosphere, and weary length of interminable
+causeway, was so sudden, that it took us by surprise.
+Presently we were winding through a dense thicket
+of arbutus, tree-heaths, alaternus, daphne, lentiscus, blended
+with myrtles, cystus, and other aromatic shrubs, massed
+and mingled in endless variety&mdash;the splendid arbutus,
+with its white bell-shaped flowers and pendulous bunches
+of red and orange berries, most prevailing.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Macchia</i> is, in fact, a natural shrubbery of exquisite
+beauty. We travelled through it, in the two islands, for
+many hundred miles, and I feel confident that, to English
+taste, it forms the unique feature in Corsican and Sardinian
+scenery. This sort of underwood prevails also, I understand,
+in Elba, and, more or less, in the other islands of
+the central Mediterranean basin. We now fully comprehended
+how it was that, when sailing along the coast, our
+attention had been so riveted on the rich verdure clothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+the hills and mountain-sides of Capo Corso, although at
+the time we were unable to satisfy ourselves in what its
+striking peculiarity consisted.</p>
+
+<p>The air is so perfumed by the aromatic plants, that there
+was no exaggeration in Napoleon's language when conversing,
+at St. Helena, of the recollections of his youth,
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>La Corse avait mille charmes; tout y &eacute;tait meilleur
+jusqu'&agrave; l'odeur du sol m&ecirc;me. Elle lui e&ucirc;t suffi pour la
+deviner, les yeux ferm&eacute;s. Il ne l'avait retrouv&eacute;e nulle part.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A trifling occurrence in my own travels gives some faint
+idea of the sentiment which dictated this remark. At St.
+Helena the flora of the North and South singularly meet.
+Patches of gorse (<i>Ulex Europ&aelig;a</i>)&mdash;that idol of Linn&aelig;us
+and ornament of our English and Cambrian wastes&mdash;grow
+freely on the higher grounds, rivalling the purple heath in
+their golden bloom, and shrubs of warmer climates in their
+sweet perfume. Returning to England after lonely wanderings
+in the southern hemisphere, I well remember how the
+sight and the scent of this rude plant, dear in its very
+homeliness, recalled former scenes associated with it. I
+recollect, too, that the mettlesome barb which bounded
+over the downs surrounding Longwood did not partake of
+my sympathy for the golden bough I had plucked. The
+smooth turf and the yellow furze had no charms for the
+exile of St. Helena. Never was the &ldquo;<i>lasciate ogni speranza</i>&rdquo;
+more applicable than to his island-prison, and in
+his melancholy hours his thoughts naturally reverted, with
+a gush of fond tenderness, to the land of his birth, little
+as he had shown partiality for it in his hour of prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>On its picturesque scenes we were now entering, with
+everything to give them the highest zest. The autumn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+rains had refreshed the arid soil, and the aromatic shrubs
+filled the air with their richest perfume. Escaped from
+cities, and from steam-boats, redolent of far other odours,
+and having turned our backs on marsh, and <i>stagna</i>, and
+wearisome causeway, well strung to our work, and gaining
+fresh vigour in the evening breeze, we brushed through
+the waving thickets with little thought of Giovanni and
+his mules, left far behind, and as little concern whither
+our path would lead us. It was a beaten track, and must
+be our guide to some habitation. A few hours ago we set
+foot on shore, and we were already engaged in some sort of
+adventure&mdash;and that, too, in Corsica, which has an ugly
+reputation! &ldquo;<i>N'importe</i>; it is our usual luck; it will
+turn out right.&rdquo; But let us push on, for the sun has long
+set, and the twilight is fading.</p>
+
+<p>Fortune favoured us, for the enterprise on which we had
+stumbled turned out rather a more serious affair than we
+anticipated. It was getting dark, when the footprints of a
+mule on the sandy path attracted our notice, the fresh marks
+pointing in the direction we were taking. Soon we caught
+sight of a small party winding through the tall shrubbery.
+The turning of a zigzag on a slight rocky ascent brought
+the party full in view, and we closed with it. There were
+two girls riding astride on the same mule, with a stout
+peasant trudging behind. It was a pleasant rencontre.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Good evening, friend. How far is it to the next
+village?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Three hours.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What is it called?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Olmeta.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is the road good?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mountainous and very steep.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Allow us to join your party?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;By all means.&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>Allons donc</i>; we shall be late.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And the party moved on. Antoine, our new acquaintance,
+was, like most Corsicans, of the middle size, with a
+frame well knit. He had a pleasant expression of countenance,
+with a frank and independent air, the very reverse
+of our muleteer, Giovanni. We amused ourselves at having
+given him the slip, and continued to question our new
+guide.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Shall we be able to procure beds and something to eat
+at Olmeta?&rdquo;&mdash;the &ldquo;<i>qualche cosa per mangiare</i>&rdquo; being
+always a question of first importance.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Never fear; you will find hospitality?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We had no misgivings of any kind. Under Antoine's
+guidance we could now proceed boldly, quite at ease to
+enjoy all the charms of our wild adventure.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;E pur per selve oscure e calli obliqui,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Insieme van, senza sospetto aversi.&rdquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ariost.</span> Canto I.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Together through dark woods and winding ways<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They walk, nor on their hearts suspicion preys.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In about an hour, the moon, then at her full, rose above
+the hills on our left, shedding a soft and silvery light on
+the mountain-tops; our narrow path through the thickets
+being still buried in gloom. Presently a full tide of
+lustrous radiance was poured on the waving sea of verdure
+and the face of the mountains. We made good speed, for
+the family mule, homeward bound, stepped on briskly
+under its double burden. Sometimes we kept up with the
+party, joining in the talk of the good peasants; at others,
+falling behind to enjoy the stillness of the scene, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+abandon ourselves to the contemplation of its ever-varying
+features. Now we threaded the bank of a mountain torrent
+far beneath in shade, the depth of which the eye was unable
+to penetrate as we plunged downwards through the
+thickets; then, crossing the stream and scrambling up the
+opposite bank, once more emerged from the gloom, and,
+standing for a few instants on the summit we had gained,
+the grey mountain-tops again showed themselves touched
+with the silver light, and the quivering foliage of the
+evergreen shrubs, which covered the undulating expanse
+beneath, twinkled like diamond sprays.</p>
+
+<p>In these alternations of light and shade, and precipitous
+descents which led on to still increasing altitudes, we
+followed our rocky path for about two hours, when
+Antoine halted his party to prepare for surmounting
+the main difficulty of the route, in evident surprise all
+the while at finding two Englishmen engaged in an
+adventure of which he could not comprehend the motive.
+And yet Antoine had seen something of the world beyond
+the narrow bounds of his native island. He had been a
+<i>matelot</i>, he said,&mdash;made a long voyage, and once touched
+at an English port. Antoine seemed to be now leading a
+vagabond life. He was not communicative as to why
+he left his country or why he returned, and was gay
+and melancholy by fits. He did not belong to Olmeta,
+but had friends there, to whom he was conducting the
+girls.</p>
+
+<p>It is not often that the Corsican women ride while the
+men walk, the reverse being generally the case. But
+Antoine was gallant, and, on the whole, a good fellow.
+The girls, we have said, rode astride; but now, in preparation
+for the ascent, one of them slipped off the mule,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+over the crupper, with amusing agility, relieving the poor
+beast of half its burden, and they afterwards rode by turns.</p>
+
+<p>We now began the ascent of the pass, the Col di S.<sup>to</sup>
+Leonardo, leading into the valley of Olmeta. The Col is
+nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and the passage
+proved to be almost as difficult as any I recollect having
+encountered. We had no idea, when we left Bastia, of
+attempting it that evening, and, had we not parted from
+Giovanni, should probably have made for some village near
+the high-road, and lost the splendid effects of moonlight
+on such scenery. The face of the mountain is scaled either
+by rocky steps or by terraces cut in the escarped flanks, with
+quick returns, in the way such elevations are usually surmounted.
+The passing and repassing, as we traversed the
+successive stages, brought out the effects of light and shade
+even better than we had remarked them below. The path,
+too, was extremely picturesque. Masses of grey rock, half
+in shade, jutted out among the shrubbery with which the
+mountain-side was covered; giant heaths, five or six feet
+high, hung feathering, and the arbutus threw its broad
+branches, over our heads.</p>
+
+<p>We had made some progress, and stood, as it were, suspended
+over the valley, when Antoine's quick ear caught
+sounds from below. We halted to take breath and listen.
+Presently, the sounds became more distinct, and we made
+out the tramp of mules coming up the path, but still far
+beneath. It was probably Giovanni with his mules, following
+our steps. Again we stood and listened, looking
+over the precipice at an angle which commanded the
+descent for many hundred feet beneath. The thicket
+shrouding the narrow track was so dense, that nothing
+could be seen, even in that bright moonlight, but its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+glistening slope. The sounds from below rose more dearly.
+Thwack, thwack, fell Giovanni's cudgel on the ribs of his
+unfortunate mules; and we could hear them scrambling, and
+his hoarse voice uttering strange cries, as he urged them on.</p>
+
+<p>We were too much amused at having given him the
+slip to think much of the great tribulation in which he
+was panting and toiling to overtake us. Vain hope!
+&ldquo;He will be in time for supper; let us push on;&rdquo;&mdash;beginning
+to think that the sooner we realised the comforts
+which Antoine had encouraged us to expect, the better.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are we near the top of the pass?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you see that rock with the bush hanging from
+it?&rdquo; pointing to a huge, insulated mass, its sharp outline
+clearly defined against the blue sky; &ldquo;it is a thousand feet
+above the spot on which we stand. The path lies round
+the base of that rock. In an hour we shall reach it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We climbed on, the ascent becoming steeper and steeper
+as we mounted upwards, often casting wistful looks at the
+beacon rock. Just before we gained the summit, smoke
+was seen curling up from the copse at a little distance
+from the path.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Ci sono pastori</i>,&rdquo; cried Antoine.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps they can give us some milk.&rdquo; We had need
+enough of some refreshment, the breakfast at Bastia having
+been our only meal.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Ved&eacute;remmo</i>,&rdquo; said Antoine; and he led the way
+through the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>Some rough dogs leapt out, fiercely barking at the
+approach of strangers. They were called off by the shepherds,
+who, wrapped in their shaggy mantles, the Corsican
+<i>pelone</i>, were sitting and lying round a fire of blazing logs,
+under the shelter of a rock. A mixed flock of sheep and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+goats lay closely packed round the bivouac. Unfortunately
+they had no milk to give us.</p>
+
+<p>The Corsican shepherds are a singular race. We found
+them leading a nomad life in all parts of the island.
+They wander, as the season permits, from the highest
+mountain-ranges to the verge of the cultivated lands
+and vineyards, where the goats do infinite mischief;
+and drive their flocks in the winter to the vast plains
+of the littoral, and the warm and sheltered valleys.
+Home they have none; the side of a rock, a cave, a
+hut of loose stones, lends them temporary shelter. Chestnuts
+are their principal food; and their clothing, sheepskins,
+or the black wool of their flocks spun and woven
+by the women of the valleys into the coarse cloth of
+the <i>pelone</i>. Their greatest luxuries are the immense
+fires, for which the materials are boundless, or to bask
+in the sun, and tell national tales, and sing their simple
+<i>canzone</i>. But though a rude, they are not a bad, race;
+contented, hospitable, tolerably honest, and, as we found,
+often intelligent. We were not fortunate in our first
+introduction to these people. Antoine exchanged a few
+words with them; but they were sullen, and showed no
+signs of surprise or curiosity on the sudden appearance of
+strangers at their fireside. The sample was far from prepossessing.
+One of the men, who seemed to eye us with
+suspicion, had just the physiognomy one should assign to
+a bandit.</p>
+
+<p>It was perhaps this idea which led me to question
+Antoine on a subject we had hitherto avoided.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are there any outlaws harboured in these wild mountains?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not now; they have been hunted out; all that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+changed; but blood has been often spilt in this <i>maquis</i>.
+One terrible <i>vendetta</i> was taken not far from hence; but
+that was many years ago. I will show you the spot.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Antoine strode rapidly onward; and we overtook the
+women, who had rode on. In ten minutes we were
+rounding the mass of rock crowning the pass.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This was the spot,&rdquo; said Antoine, taking a step
+towards me, the rest of the party having passed; and
+he added calmly, but with decision, and a slightly triumphant
+air, &ldquo;I did it myself.&rdquo; (&ldquo;<i>J'ai donn&eacute; le coup
+moi-m&ecirc;me.</i>&rdquo;)</p>
+
+<p>It may be well supposed that I stood aghast. We had
+not then learnt with what little reserve such deeds of blood
+are avowed in Corsica; how thoroughly they are extenuated
+by the popular code of morals or honour. Such
+avowals were afterwards made to us with far less feeling
+than Antoine betrayed; indeed, with the utmost levity.
+&ldquo;<i>Je lui ai donn&eacute; un coup</i>,&rdquo; mentioning the individual and
+giving the details, was the climax of a story of some sudden
+quarrel or long-harboured animosity. It was uttered
+with the <i>sang froid</i> with which an Englishman would
+say, &ldquo;I knocked the fellow down;&rdquo; and it might have
+been our impression that nothing more was meant, but
+for the circumstances related, which left no doubt on the
+subject. When a Corsican says that he has given his
+enemy a <i>coup</i>, the phrase is a decorous ellipse for <i>coup-de-fusil</i>.
+Occasionally, perhaps, it may mean a <i>coup-de-poignard</i>,
+which amounts to much the same thing; but
+since carrying the knife has been rigorously prohibited by
+the French Government, stabbing has not been much in
+vogue in Corsica. Now, it is to be hoped, the murderous
+<i>fusil</i> has equally disappeared.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was no time for asking what led to the quarrel or
+encounter. Antoine coolly turned away, saying, &ldquo;The
+descent is easy; we shall have a good road now down the
+hill to Olmeta;&rdquo; and, most opportunely, the view which
+opened from the summit of the pass was calculated to
+divert my thoughts from what had just occurred.</p>
+
+<p>It has been often remarked, that the Corsican villages
+are most commonly built on high ground. We now
+counted, by their cheerful lights, nine or ten of them
+dotting the hills in all directions; some perched on the
+heights beyond the Bevinco, which wound through the
+valley beneath, the moonlight flashing on patches of the
+stream and faintly revealing a dark chain of mountains
+beyond&mdash;the Serra di Stella, dividing the valley of the
+Bevinco from that of the Golo.</p>
+
+<p>The descent was easy, according to Antoine's augury.
+We tear down the hill, pass the village church at a sharp
+angle, its white <i>fa&ccedil;ade</i> glistening in the moonbeams; and a
+straight avenue, shaded by trees, brings us into a labyrinth
+of narrow lanes, overhung by tall, gaunt houses of the
+roughest fabric and materials. Antoine bids us stop before
+one of these gloomy abodes; an old woman appears at the
+door of the first story with a feeble oil-lamp in her hand.
+The ground-floor of these houses, as usual in the South,
+are all stables or cellars. After a short conference, Antoine
+disappears, and we see him no more that night. We
+mount a flight of steep, unhewn stone steps, at the risk of
+breaking our necks, for there is no rail; the good dame
+welcomes us to all that she has, little though it be, and
+we land in a grim apartment containing the usual raised
+hearth for cooking, with a very limited apparatus of
+utensils&mdash;a few shallow kettles of copper and iron, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+table, some chairs, and a very questionable bed in a
+corner.</p>
+
+<p>There were two other apartments, <i>en suite</i>, the next
+being a <i>salle</i>, with a brick floor like the kitchen, tolerably
+clean. A few Scripture prints on the walls, a large table,
+some rickety chairs, and a settee, convertible, we found,
+into a very satisfactory shakedown, composed the furniture.
+The inner apartment, which contained a really good bed,
+seemed to be the widow's wardrobe and storeroom of
+all her most valuable effects; being crowded with chests,
+and tables covered with all sorts of things, helped out by
+pegs on the walls. These were ornamented with little
+coloured prints of the Virgin, and Saints, and there was a
+crucifix at the bed's head. After showing her apartments,
+the widow placed the lamp on the table in the <i>salle</i>, with
+the usual <i>felice notte</i>, and there was a running fire of
+questions and answers between her and the two hungry
+travellers about the <i>qualche cosa per mangiare</i>. The larder
+was of course empty, and the discussion resolved itself into
+some rashers of bacon, a loaf of very sweet bread, and a
+bottle of the light and excellent wine for which Capo
+Corso is famous, procured from a neighbour.</p>
+
+<p>This was not accomplished without a great deal of bustle
+and screeching, and running to and fro of the widow and
+some female friends, withered old crones, who had come to
+her aid on so unexpected an emergency as our appearance
+on the scene. This continued after supper till the chests
+in the inner apartment had delivered up their stores of
+sheets, coverlets, and towels, all as white as the driven
+snow. How we ate, drank, and lodged during our rambles
+is not the most agreeable of our recollections, and can
+have little interest except as affording glimpses of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+habits of the people. This first essay of Corsican hospitality
+was not amiss.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we had finished our frugal meal, Giovanni made
+his appearance. Wishing to give him his <i>cong&eacute;</i>, we expected
+a sharp altercation; to avoid which, and not forfeit
+our engagement that he should conduct us to Corte, it was
+proposed to him to leave the malcontent mule till his
+return, procuring at Olmeta a more serviceable beast, or
+to proceed with the others only. Giovanni was crestfallen;
+he had had enough of it, and did not bluster, as we expected.
+Though disliking him, we had amused ourselves at his expence,
+and could hardly now refrain from laughing at his
+piteous aspect. Giovanni, however, was quite as ready to
+be quit of us as we were to get rid of him. His reply to
+our proposal about the mule was quite touching:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Je ne veux pas me s&eacute;parer de mon pauvre &acirc;ne!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So the inseparables were dismissed to return to Bastia,
+after an equitable adjustment, and we parted good friends.
+Giovanni was no favourite of ours, but that touch of sentiment
+for his &ldquo;<i>pauvre &acirc;ne</i>&rdquo; was a redeeming trait. As for
+ourselves, we were left without a guide, which did not
+matter, and without the means of carrying forward our
+baggage, which did. This dilemma did not spoil our rest;
+it was such as weary travellers earn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_VIII" id="CHAP_VIII"></a>CHAP. VIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>The</i> Littorale.&mdash;<i>Corsican Agriculture.&mdash;Greek and Roman
+Colonies.&mdash;Sketch of Medi&aelig;val and Modern History.&mdash;Memoirs
+of King Theodore de Neuhoff</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>Let us now return for a short space to the point at
+which we quitted the high-road from Bastia. More attractive
+metal drew us off to the mountain-paths; but the
+<i>Littorale</i> is not without interest, especially as the seat of
+the earliest and most thriving colonies in the island.
+These and its subsequent fortunes claim a passing notice.</p>
+
+<p>It may be recollected that our road lay for some miles
+through the plain between the mountains and the Mediterranean.
+This level is between fifty and sixty miles
+long. Intersected by the rivers flowing from the central
+chain, alluvial marshes are formed at their mouths, and
+there are also, from similar causes, several lagoons on the
+coast, of which the Stagna di Biguglia, near which we
+turned off into the <i>maquis</i>, is the largest. The exhalations
+from these marshes and waters render the climate so
+pestiferous, that the <i>littorale</i> is almost uninhabited. The
+soil is extremely fertile, producing large crops where it is
+cultivated, and affording pasturage to immense herds of
+cattle, sheep, and goats. The country people inhabit
+villages on the neighbouring hills, descending into the
+plains at the seasons when their labour is required for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+tilling and sowing the land, and harvesting the crops; and
+but too frequently carrying back the seeds of wasting or
+fatal diseases.</p>
+
+<p>Even under the double disadvantages of exposure to
+malaria, and the natural indolence of the Corsican peasant,
+this district supplies a very large proportion of the corn
+consumed in the island. So great is this indolence, that
+not more than three-tenths of the surface of Corsica is
+brought under cultivation, although it is calculated that
+double that area is capable of it. I was unable to ascertain
+the number of acres under tillage, planted with vines
+and olive-trees, or otherwise requiring agricultural labour;
+but it might have been supposed that a population of
+230,000 souls would at least have met the demand for
+labour on the portion of the surface thus occupied. So
+far, however, from this being the case, it is a curious fact
+that from 2000 to 3000 labourers come into the island
+every year from Lucca, Modena, and Parma, to engage in
+agricultural employment. They generally arrive about the
+middle of April, and take their departure in November.
+They are an intelligent, laborious, and frugal class; and as
+the savings of each individual are calculated at 100 or 110
+francs, no less a sum than 200,000 francs is thus annually
+carried to the Continent instead of being earned by native
+industry. The climate of Corsica is described by many
+ancient writers as insalubrious; but there does not seem
+to be any foundation for the statement, except as regards
+the <i>littorale</i>, the only part of the island which appears to
+have been colonised in early times, and with which they
+were acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>Who were its primitive inhabitants and first colonists,
+whether Corsus, the supposed leader of a band of immigrants,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+who gave his name to the island, was a son of Hercules
+or a Trojan, are facts lost in the mist of ages, through
+which the origin of few races can be penetrated. An
+inquiry into such traditions would be a waste of time, and
+is foreign to a work of this kind.</p>
+
+<p>There is reason to believe that the light of civilisation
+first beamed on its shores from Sardinia&mdash;an island which
+some brief records, and, still more, its existing monuments,
+lead us to consider as civilised long before the period of
+authentic history.</p>
+
+<p>The island of Sardinia, placed in the great highway from
+the East, was a convenient station for the people who, in
+the first ages, were driven thence by a providential impulse
+towards the shores of the West, and, with the torch of
+civilisation in their hands, passed successively by Asia
+Minor and the islands of Crete, Sicily, and Sardinia to
+Greece, to Italy, and the other countries of the West.</p>
+
+<p>A smaller branch of the torrent of this great and primitive
+emigration poured from the mountain ranges in the
+north of Sardinia, and, crossing the straits, overspread the
+south of Corsica, bearing with it the civilisation of the
+East, of which records are found in the most ancient Corsican
+monuments. Some of these are identical with
+those in Sardinia, which will be mentioned hereafter.
+Such are the Dolmen, called in Corsica <i>Stazzone</i>; and the
+Menhir, to which they give the fanciful name of <i>Stantare</i>.
+When a child at play stands on its head with its heels self-balanced
+in the air, making itself a pyramid instead of
+cutting a pirouette, that is, in the language of mothers
+and nurses, <i>far la Stantare</i>.</p>
+
+<p>However this may be, there are numerous testimonies
+that the island of Corsica was known and visited in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+most remote times by navigators of the several races on
+the shores of the Mediterranean&mdash;Ph&#339;nicians, Pelasgians,
+Tyrrhenians, Ligurians, and Iberians. Herodotus,
+who calls the island Cyrnos, describes an attempt at colonisation
+by Phoc&aelig;ans, driven from Ionia, who founded the
+city of Alalia, afterwards called Aleria, 448 years before
+the Christian era. But the genuine history of Corsica
+commences with the period when the Roman republic, on
+the decay of the Carthaginian power, began to extend its
+conquests in the Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 260 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, Lucius Cornelius Scipio led an
+expedition into the island, which was crowned with
+success. Every traveller who has visited Rome must
+have been interested in one of the few relics of the republican
+era, remarkable for its primitive simplicity&mdash;the
+tomb of the Scipios. It chanced that the writer,
+when there, procured a model of the sarcophagus which
+contained the ashes of this first of a race of heroes, L. C.
+Scipio. The monuments of Rome were not of marble in
+the times of the republic, and this sarcophagus being cut
+out of a block of the volcanic <i>peperino</i>, so common in the
+Campagna, the author had his model made of the same
+material, with the inscription cut in rude characters round
+the margin; that is to say, such part of it as had been
+preserved, so that it is a perfect fac-simile. He reads
+on it&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+HEC CEPIT CORSICA ALERIAQUE URBE.
+</p>
+
+<p>That fragment contains the earliest record of Roman conquest
+in Corsica. But the conquest was incomplete, and
+for upwards of a century the Corsicans maintained an
+unequal struggle against the Roman legions, strong in their
+mountain fastnesses, while the Roman armies appear to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+have seldom advanced beyond the plains. The natives
+held their ground with such obstinacy that, on one occasion,
+after a bloody battle, a consular army, under Caius
+Papirius, was so nearly defeated, when rashly entangled in
+the gorges of the mountains, that the Corsicans obtained
+honourable terms of peace. The Roman historians relate
+that this battle was fought on &ldquo;The Field of Myrtles,&rdquo; a
+name appropriate to a Corsican <i>macchia</i>; and they do not
+otherwise describe the locality.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> It is easy to imagine the
+scenes and the issue of a deadly struggle between the
+mountaineers and the disciplined legions, on ground such
+as that described in the preceding chapter.</p>
+
+<p>In these wars great numbers of the natives were carried
+off as slaves to Rome, and the annual tribute paid on submission
+consisted of wax, which was raised to 200,000 lbs.
+after one defeat.</p>
+
+<p>A two hours' walk over the plains from the point at
+which we quitted the high-road would bring us to the ruins
+of Mariana, a colony founded by Marius on the banks of
+the Golo, and to which he gave his name. Not a vestige
+of Roman architecture can now be found on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>During the civil wars, the rivals, Marius and Sylla, established
+each a colony in Corsica. That of Sylla (Aleria)
+stood forty miles further down the coast, at the mouth of
+the Tavignano, the seat of the ancient Greek colony of
+Alalia. Sylla restored it, sending over some of his veteran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+soldiers, among whom he distributed the conquered lands,
+and it became the capital of the island during the Roman
+period, and so continued during the earlier part of the
+middle ages. Sacked and laid in ruins by the Arabs, some
+iron rings on the Stagna di Diana, the ancient port, large
+blocks of stone on the site of a mole at the mouth of the
+Tavignano, some arches, a few steps of a circus, with coins
+and cameos occasionally turned up, are the sole vestiges of
+the Roman colonisation in Corsica. Their only road led
+from Mariana by Aleria to Pal&aelig;, a station near the modern
+Bonifaccio, from whence there was a <i>trajectus</i> to Portus
+Tibulus (Longo Sardo), in Sardinia; and the road was
+continued through that island to its southern extremity,
+near Cagliari.</p>
+
+<p>In the decline of the Roman power, Corsica shared the
+fate of the other territories in the Mediterranean attached
+to the eastern empire. Seized by the Vandals under Genseric,
+despotically governed by the Byzantine emperors,
+pillaged by Saracen corsairs, protected by Charlemagne,
+and, on the fall of his empire, parcelled out, like the rest
+of Europe, among a host of feudal barons, mostly of
+foreign extraction&mdash;who, from their rock-girt towers, waged
+perpetual hostilities with each other, and tyrannised over
+the enthralled natives&mdash;claimed by the Popes in virtue of
+Pepin's donation, and granted by them to the Pisans,&mdash;after
+a long struggle between the two rival republics contending
+for the supremacy of the Mediterranean, the island at last
+fell under the dominion of the Genoese.</p>
+
+<p>This dominion the republic of Genoa exercised for
+more than four centuries (from the thirteenth to the eighteenth)
+in an almost uninterrupted course of gross misrule.
+Instead of endeavouring to amalgamate the islanders with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+her own citizens, she treated them as a degraded cast,
+worthy only of slavery. A governor, frequently chosen
+by the republic from amongst men of desperate circumstances,
+had the absolute sovereignty of the island: by
+his mere sentence, on secret information, without trial, a
+person might be condemned to death or to the galleys. The
+venality of the Genoese tribunals was so notorious, that the
+murderer felt sure to escape if he could pay the judge for
+his liberation.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Corsicans were not a race which would tamely submit
+to this tyranny, and their annals during this long period
+exhibit a series of bloody struggles against the Genoese
+republic, and devoted efforts to maintain their rights and
+recover their independence. In these contests the <i>signori</i>
+either allied themselves with the Genoese, or took part
+with their countrymen, as their interest inclined; while a
+succession of patriot leaders, such as few countries of
+greater pretensions can boast&mdash;Sambucchio, Sampiero,
+the Gaffori, the Paoli&mdash;all sprung from the ranks of the
+people; the bravest in the field and the wisest in council,
+carried aloft the banner of Corsican <i>libert&agrave;</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The hostilities were not confined to the parties immediately
+interested in the quarrel. Foreign aid was invoked
+on the one side and on the other, and for a long period the
+little island of Corsica became the battle-field of the great
+European powers; Spaniards, Austrians, French, and
+English, at one time or the other, and especially in the
+decay of the Genoese republic, throwing their forces into
+the scale, and occupying portions of the island, but with
+no definitive result, until its final absorption in the dominion
+of its present masters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Little interest would now attach to the details of a
+struggle confined to so insignificant a territory, and having
+so little influence on European politics; and it would be alike
+foreign to the province of a traveller, and wearisome to the
+reader, that the subject should be pursued, except incidentally,
+where events or persons connected with the localities
+he visits call forth some passing remarks. An exception
+may perhaps be allowed in the course of this narrative
+for some account of the English intervention in Corsican
+affairs. It is little known that our George III. was once
+the constitutional king of Corsica. Nelson, too, performed
+there one of his most dashing exploits.</p>
+
+<p>Just now we have been talking of Aleria, a place identified
+with a curious and somewhat romantic episode in
+Corsican history. Corsica cradled and sent forth a soldier
+of fortune, to become in his aspirations, and almost in
+effect, the C&aelig;sar of the western empire. Corsica received
+into her bosom a German adventurer, who, for a brief
+space, played on this narrow stage the part of her crowned
+king. That there is but a short interval between the
+sublime and the ridiculous, was exemplified in the career of
+these upstart monarchs. Both sought an asylum in England.
+The one pined in an island-prison, the other in a
+London gaol.</p>
+
+
+<p class="title">THEODORE DE NEUHOFF, KING OF CORSICA.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the 25th March, 1736, a small merchant-ship, carrying
+the English ensign, anchored off Aleria. There landed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+from it a personage of noble appearance, with a suite of sixteen
+persons, who was received with the deference due to a
+monarch. He superintended the disembarkation of cannon
+and military stores, and gratuitously distributed powder,
+muskets, and other accoutrements, to the Corsicans who
+crowded to the shore.</p>
+
+<p>The imagination exercises a powerful sway over the
+people of the South. The mystery which surrounded this
+personage, his dignified and polished manners, the important
+succour he brought, and even the fantastical and semi-Oriental
+cast of his dress, all contributed to produce a great
+influence on ardent minds naturally inclined to the marvellous.
+This was Theodore de Neuhoff.</p>
+
+<p>Theodore Antoine, Baron de Neuhoff, a native of Westphalia,
+had been in his youth page to the Duchess of
+Orleans, and afterwards served in Spain. Returning to
+France, he attached himself to the speculations of Law,
+and partook the vicissitudes of splendour and misery which
+were the fortunes of his patron. When that bubble burst,
+our adventurer wandered through Europe, seeking his fortune
+with a perseverance, combined with incontestable
+talent, which, sooner or later, must seize some opportunity
+of accomplishing his schemes.</p>
+
+<p>At Genoa he fell in with Giaffori and some other Corsican
+patriots, then exiled; and representing himself to be
+possessed of immense resources, and even to have it in his
+power to secure the support of powerful courts, offered to
+drive the Genoese out of the island, on condition of his
+being recognised as King of Corsica. The patriot chiefs,
+seduced by these magnificent promises, and, perhaps, too
+apt to seek for foreign aid wherever it could be found,
+accepted Theodore's offers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Not to follow him through all the course of his romantic
+adventures, it appears that he found means of credit&mdash;perhaps
+from the Jews, with whom he was already deeply
+involved&mdash;for a considerable sum of ready money, and the
+arms, ammunition, and stores necessary for his expedition.
+Landing in Corsica, in the manner already described, the
+Corsican chiefs, although they had concerted his descent
+on the island, had the address to cherish the popular idea
+that Theodore's arrival was a mark of the interest taken
+by Heaven in the liberty of the Corsicans.</p>
+
+<p>In a popular assembly held at the Convent of Alesani, a
+Constitution was resolved on, by which the kingdom of
+Corsica was settled hereditarily in the family of the Baron
+de Neuhoff; taxation was reserved to the Diet, and it was
+provided that all offices should be filled by natives of the
+island. The baron, having sworn on the Gospels to
+adhere to the Constitution, was crowned with a chaplet of
+laurel and oak in the presence of immense crowds, who
+flocked to the ceremony from all quarters, amid shouts of
+&ldquo;<i>Evviva Teodoro, re di Corsica!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Theodore took possession of the deserted episcopal residence
+at Cervione, where he assumed every mark of royal
+dignity. He had his court, his guards, and his officers of
+state; levied troops, coined money, instituted an order of
+knighthood, and created nobility, among whom such names
+as <i>Marchese</i> Giaffori and <i>Marchese</i> Paoli (Pasquale's father)
+singularly figure. His manifesto, in answer to Genoese
+proclamations denouncing his pretensions and painting
+him as a charlatan, affected as great a sensitiveness of
+insult as could exist in the mind of a Capet. For some
+time all things went well; Theodore became master of
+nearly the whole island except the Genoese fortresses,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+which he blockaded. These were, in fact, the keys of the
+island. But the succours which he had boasted of receiving
+did not arrive, and, after employing various artifices to keep
+alive the expectations of foreign aid and fresh supplies of
+the muniments of war, finding, when he had held the
+reins of power about eight months, that his new subjects
+began to cool in their attachment to his person, and did
+not act with the same ardour as before, he determined to go
+over to the Continent, with the hope of obtaining the means
+of carrying on the war, and thus reinstating himself in
+the confidence of the Corsicans.</p>
+
+<p>Appointing a regency to conduct the affairs of his kingdom
+during his absence, he went to Holland, and, though
+even his royal credit was probably at a discount, after long
+delay, he succeeded in negotiating a considerable loan, at
+what rate of interest or on what security we are not told.
+However, a ship was freighted with cannon and other
+warlike stores, on board of which he returned to Corsica
+two years after he had quitted the island. But it was too
+late; the French were then in possession of the principal
+places, the patriot leaders were negotiating with them, and
+the people had lost all confidence in their mock-king. Theodore
+found, to use a colloquial expression, that &ldquo;the game
+was up,&rdquo; and wisely retracing his steps, found his way
+to England, the last refuge of abdicated monarchs.</p>
+
+<p>Fortune still frowned on him. Pursued by his relentless
+creditors, the ex-king was thrown into the King's Bench
+prison. His distresses attracted the commiseration of
+Horace Walpole, who, as Boswell informs us, &ldquo;wrote a
+paper in the &#8216;World,&#8217; with great elegance and humour,
+soliciting a contribution for the monarch in distress, to be
+paid to Mr. Robert Dodsley, bookseller, as lord high treasurer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+This brought in a very handsome sum, and he was
+allowed to get out of prison.&rdquo; &ldquo;Walpole,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;has
+the original deed by which Theodore made over the kingdom
+of Corsica in security to his creditors.&rdquo; Mr. Benson's
+statement, which is more exact, and agrees with the epitaph,
+is, that the subscription was not sufficient to extricate
+King Theodore from his difficulties, and that he was
+released from gaol as an insolvent debtor. However that
+may be, he died soon afterwards. Former writers have
+stated that he was buried in an obscure corner, among the
+paupers, in the churchyard of St. Anne's, Westminster,
+but they are mistaken. We find a neat mural tablet fixed
+against the exterior wall of the church of St. Anne's,
+Soho, at the west end, on which, surmounted by a coronet,
+is inscribed the following epitaph, written by Horace
+Walpole:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/076.jpg" width="80" height="50" alt="coronet" title="coronet" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">
+&ldquo;Near this place is interred<br />
+THEODORE, KING OF CORSICA,<br />
+Who died in this parish<br />
+Dec. 11, 1756,<br />
+Immediately after leaving<br />
+The King's Bench Prison<br />
+By the benefit of the Act of Insolvency;<br />
+In consequence of which<br />
+He registered his kingdom of Corsica<br />
+For the use of his Creditors.<br /></p>
+
+<table summary="epitaph">
+<tr>
+<td class="poem">The grave, great teacher, to a level brings</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="poem">Heroes and beggars, galley-slaves and Kings:</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="poem">But Theodore this moral learned, ere dead:</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="poem">Fate poured his lesson on his living head,</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="poem">Bestow'd a kingdom, and denied him bread.&rdquo;</td></tr>
+</table>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_IX" id="CHAP_IX"></a>CHAP. IX.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Environs of Olmeta.&mdash;Bandit-Life and the Vendetta&mdash;Its
+Atrocities.&mdash;The Population disarmed.&mdash;The Bandits exterminated</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/077.jpg" width="500" height="312" alt="OLMETA." title="OLMETA." />
+<p class="caption">OLMETA.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Olmeta stands, like most Corsican villages, on the point
+of a hill, forming one side of an oval basin, the slopes of
+which are laid out in terraced gardens and vineyards.
+Here and there, in sheltered nooks, we find plantations of
+orange-trees, now showing green fruit under their glossy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+leaves. Some fine chestnut and walnut trees about the
+place, and the magnificent elms (<i>olme</i>) from which it
+derives its name, soften the aspect of its bleak, exposed
+site, and gaunt houses.</p>
+
+<p>Charming as the natural landscapes are in Corsica, one
+finds most of the villages, however picturesque at a distance,
+on a nearer approach, a conglomeration of tall,
+shapeless houses, black and frowning, with windows
+guarded by rusty iron <i>grilles</i>, and generally unglazed.
+Altogether, they look more like the holds of banditti
+than the abodes of peaceful vinedressers; while the filth of
+the purlieus is unutterable. Throwing open the double
+casements of the widow's sanctum, I may not call it
+boudoir, when I leapt out of bed to enjoy the fresh morning
+air,&mdash;underneath was a noisome dunghill, grim gables
+frowned on either hand, but beyond was the <i>riant</i> landscape
+just described. Here truly God made the country,
+man the town.</p>
+
+<p>While my friend was sketching, I strolled up to the
+pretty church we had seen by moonlight. Close by is a
+large, roomy mansion, which belonged to Marshal Sebastiani.
+He was a native of Olmeta, and, from an obscure
+origin, arriving at high rank as well as great wealth,
+partly, I understood, through a brilliant marriage, bought
+a large property in the neighbourhood, which has been
+recently sold for 150,000 francs to a French <i>Directeur</i>.
+I went over the ch&acirc;teau: to the original mansion the
+marshal had added a handsome <i>salle</i>, and a lofty tower
+commanding varied and extensive views towards Fiorenzo
+and the Mediterranean. My conductor was a gentleman
+of Olmeta, who accidentally meeting me, proffered his
+services, pressing me afterwards to take breakfast with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+him. We had done very well at the widow's long before,
+with delicious bread, eggs, apples, and figs, and coffee in
+the smallest of cups. We brewed our own tea in a bran-new
+coffee-pot, purchased for that purpose at Bastia.
+Butter and milk were wanting, but whipped eggs make a
+very tolerable substitute for the latter.</p>
+
+<p>My new acquaintance informed me that the decree,
+passed the year before for disarming the whole population,
+combined with measures for increasing the force of the
+<i>gendarmerie</i>, and making it highly penal to harbour the
+bandits or afford them any succour, had been actively and
+rigorously carried out, and were completely successful.
+The life of a citizen is as safe in Corsica as in any other
+department of France. &ldquo;You may walk through the
+island,&rdquo; added my informant, &ldquo;with a purse of gold in
+your bosom.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This was true, I imagine, with regard to strangers, in
+the worst of times; their security from molestation being
+nearly allied to the national virtue of hospitality, which is
+not quite extinct. Nor were the Corsican banditti associated,
+like those of Italy, for the mere purpose of plunder,
+though they have heavily taxed the peaceable inhabitants,
+both by drawing from the poor the means for their subsistence
+in the woods and mountains, and by levying,
+under terror, direct contributions in money from the more
+wealthy inhabitants in the towns and villages. These are,
+however, but trifling ingredients in the mass of crime for
+which Corsica has been so painfully distinguished. Would,
+indeed, that robbery and pillage were the sins of the
+darkest dye which have to be laid to the account of the
+Corsican bandit! Most commonly, his hands have been
+stained with innocent blood, shed recklessly, relentlessly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+in private quarrels, often of the most frivolous description,
+and not in open fight, as in the feuds of the middle ages,
+not in the heat of sudden passion, but by cool, premeditated
+murder.</p>
+
+<p>Philippini, the best Corsican historian, who lived in the
+sixteenth century, states that in his time 28,000 Corsicans
+were murdered in the course of thirty years. A later
+Corsican historian calculates that between the years 1683
+and 1715, a period of thirty-two years, 28,715 murders
+were perpetrated in Corsica; and he reckons that an equal
+number were wounded. The average, then, in their days,
+was about 900 souls yearly sent to their account by the
+dagger and the <i>fusil</i> in murderous assaults; besides vast
+multitudes who fell in the wars.</p>
+
+<p>It was still worse in earlier ages; but those of which we
+speak were times of high civilisation, and Corsica lay in
+the centre of it. What do we find in recent times, up to
+the very year before we visited the island?</p>
+
+<p>I have before me the <i>Proc&egrave;s verbal</i> of the deliberations
+of the Council General of the department of Corsica for
+each of the years 1850, '51, and '52. From these I gather
+that 4,300 <i>assassinats</i> had been perpetrated in Corsica since
+1821; and, in the three years before mentioned, the
+&ldquo;<i>Assassinats, ou tentatives d'assassiner</i>,&rdquo; averaged ninety-eight
+annually from the 1st of January to the 1st of August,
+to which day the annual reports are made up; so that,
+reckoning for the remaining five months in the same proportion,
+the list of these heinous crimes is brought up to
+the fearful amount, for these days, of 160 in each year.</p>
+
+<p>Well might M. le Pr&eacute;fet observe, in his address at the
+opening of the session of 1851: &ldquo;<i>La situation du d&eacute;partement
+&agrave; cet &eacute;gard est sans doute profond&eacute;ment triste. Le<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+nombre des crimes n'a pas diminu&eacute; sensiblement</i>.&rdquo; So low,
+however, is the moral sense in Corsica with regard to the
+sanctity of human life, that these atrocities excite no
+horror, and the sympathies of vast numbers of the population
+are with the bandits. They are the heroes of the
+popular tales and <i>canzoni</i>; one hears of them from one
+end of the island to the other, round the watchfires of the
+shepherds on the mountains, in the remote <i>pa&eacute;se</i>, by the
+roadside. They are the tales of the nursery,&mdash;the Corsican
+child learns, with his Ave Maria, that it is rightful
+and glorious to take the life of any one who injures or
+offends him.</p>
+
+<p>To a passionate and imaginative people, these tales of
+daring courage and wild adventure have an inconceivable
+charm; though stained with blood, they are full of poetry
+and romance. Such stories have been eagerly seized upon
+by writers on Corsica,&mdash;they make excellent literary
+capital. Unfortunately, <i>banditisme</i> forms so striking a
+feature in Corsican history, that it must necessarily occupy
+a conspicuous place in a faithful review of the genius and
+manners of the people. There are doubtless traits of a
+heroism worthy a better cause, and sometimes of a
+redeeming humanity, in the lives of the banditti; but one
+regrets to find, though happily not in the works of the
+English travellers who have given accounts of Corsica, a
+tendency to palliate so atrocious a system as blood-revenge.
+<i>Vendetta</i>, the name given it, has a romantic sound; and
+it is treated as a sort of national institution, originating in
+high and laudable feelings, the injured sense of right, and
+the love of family; so that, with the glory shed around it
+by a false heroism, it is almost raised to the rank of a
+virtue.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To take blood for blood, not by the hand of public
+justice, but by the kinsmen of the slain, was, we are
+reminded, a primitive custom, sanctioned by the usages of
+many nations, and even by the laws of Moses. We know,
+however, that among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors the laws
+humanely commuted this right of revenge for fines commensurate
+with the rank of the murdered person. But
+while the Mosaic law forbad the acceptance of any pecuniary
+compensation for the crime of manslaughter, and
+expressly recognised the right of the &ldquo;avenger of blood&rdquo;
+to exact summary vengeance, it provided for even the
+murderer's security until he were brought to a fair trial.
+But Corsica, alas! has had no &ldquo;Cities of Refuge,&rdquo; and
+examples drawn from remote and barbarous times can
+afford no apology for the inveterate cruelties of a people
+enjoying the light of modern civilisation and professing
+the religion of the New Testament.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>vendetta</i> is also represented as a kind of rude justice,
+to which the people were driven in the long ages of
+misrule during which law was in abeyance or corruptly
+administered. There is, no doubt, much truth in this as
+applied to those times; but the prodigious amount of
+human slaughter shown in the statistics just quoted, as
+well as the continuance of this atrocious system to the
+present day, long after the slightest shadow of any pretence
+of legal injustice has vanished, seem to argue that
+the ferocity which has shed such rivers of blood, if not
+instinctive in the national character, at least found a soil
+in which it took deep root.</p>
+
+<p>For more than half a century, there can be no question
+but, under a settled government, strict justice has been
+done by the ordinary proceedings of the courts of law, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+all cases of injury to person or property, submitted to
+them. But the turbulent Corsicans were ever impatient
+of regular government&mdash;one great cause of their ultimate
+degradation, not a little connected also with the growth of
+<i>banditisme</i>; and the failure of justice has not lain with
+the authorities, but with the population which harbours
+and screens the criminals, and with the juries who refuse
+to convict them.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>The only other instance in the present day of crimes
+similar to those which have been the scourge of Corsica,
+is found in the case of unhappy Ireland. There, however,
+the blood-revenge has been mostly confined to cases of
+supposed agrarian grievances, and the number of victims
+sacrificed to it is comparatively limited; more innocent
+blood having been shed in Corsica in a single year, than
+in Ireland during, perhaps, a quarter of a century.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>vendetta</i>, is also palliated as vindicating wrongs for
+which no courts of law, however upright, can afford<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+redress. Among the most polished nations, &ldquo;the point of
+honour&rdquo; has been held to justify an injured man for challenging
+his adversary to mortal combat. But the duel,
+from its first origin among our Scandinavian ancestors,
+savage as they were, and through all its forms, whether
+legalised or treated as felonious, to its last shape in civilised
+society, has nothing practically in common with the
+Corsican <i>vendetta</i>. In the one, the appeal to arms has
+always been tempered by a punctilious chivalry, which
+recoiled from the slightest unfairness in the attendant circumstances;
+in the other, the enemy is, if possible, taken
+unawares, shot down by a cowardly miscreant lurking
+behind a tree or a rock, or suddenly stabbed without an
+opportunity of putting himself on his defence. The practice
+of the <i>vendetta</i> is mere assassination.</p>
+
+<p>Stript of the colouring shed round it by sentiment and
+romance, <i>banditisme</i>, in its latter days at least, has been a
+very common-place affair. Great numbers of the Corsicans,
+too indolent to work, were happy to lead a vagabond
+life, harbouring in the woods and mountains with a gun
+on their shoulders, and as ready to shoot a man as a wild
+beast. &ldquo;<i>C'est qu'en g&eacute;n&eacute;ral</i>,&rdquo; said the Pr&eacute;fet, in the
+address already quoted, &ldquo;<i>ces crimes proviennent moins du
+banditisme que de la d&eacute;plorable habitude de marcher toujours
+arm&eacute;s, par suite de laquelle les moindres rixes d&eacute;g&eacute;n&egrave;rent
+si souvent en attentats contre la vie.</i>&rdquo; One hears
+continually for what trifles assassinations have been perpetrated;
+and a recent traveller informs us that his life
+was threatened for having merely resisted the extortionate
+demand of his guide to the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The hardships to which the bandit is exposed in his wild
+life in the <i>maquis</i> cannot be much greater than those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+the shepherd who, from fear or favour, shares with him
+his chestnuts, his goat's milk, and cheese. The <i>gendarmes</i>,
+indeed, are sometimes on his track, but there is stirring
+adventure in eluding their pursuit, triumph in the ambuscade
+to which they become victims, glory even in death
+heroically met. With all its perils and hardships, such a
+life of lawless independence has its charms; and the bandit
+knows that his memory will be honoured, and his death,
+if possible, revenged. But who laments the unfortunate
+<i>gendarme</i> who falls in these encounters? Who pities the
+widow and orphans of men as bold, resolute, and enterprising
+as those against whom they are matched? In the
+tales of banditti life, the ministers of justice are <i>sbirri</i>,
+conventionally a term of disgrace; all the sympathy is
+with the culprit against whom the <i>gendarmerie</i> peril their
+lives in an arduous service.</p>
+
+<p>The brigands must live by plunder in one shape or
+another. It is not likely that bands of armed men, the
+terror of a whole neighbourhood, would be always content
+with the mere subsistence wrung from the scanty resources
+of the poor shepherds. Not that they robbed on the highways;
+it answered better to levy contributions, under
+pain of death, from such of the defenceless inhabitants as
+were able to pay them. Mr. Benson tells a story of one
+of the most celebrated of the bandit chiefs, who levied
+black mail in the wild districts bordering on the forest of
+Vizzavona.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Leaving Vivario, we heard from the lips of the poor
+<i>cur&eacute;</i>, that Galluchio and his followers were in the <i>maquis</i>
+of a range of mountains to our right. The <i>cur&eacute;</i> was
+busy in his vineyard when we passed, but as soon as he
+recognised our French companion, he left his work for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+few moments to join us. &#8216;Sir,&#8217; said he, addressing himself
+to M. Cottard, &#8216;I feel myself in imminent danger;
+Galluchio and his band are in yonder mountains, and only
+a few evenings ago I received a peremptory message from
+him, requiring 300 francs, and threatening my speedy
+assassination should I delay many days to comply with his
+demand. I have not the money, and I have sent for some
+military to protect me.&#8217;&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>There is reason to believe that these forced contributions
+have not diminished since Mr. Benson's journey. We
+were told of a case in which a wealthy man, having received
+notice to pay 10,000 francs, under penalty of being
+shot, was so terrified, that after shutting himself up in his
+house for a year in constant alarm, his health and spirits
+became so shattered by the state of continual terror and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+watchfulness in which he lived, that he sank under it, and
+was carried out dead. In another case, a young man of
+more resolute character was called upon for 1000 francs,
+and having no ready money, was allowed three months to
+raise it, on giving his bill for security. He armed himself,
+and went to the appointed rendezvous. The brigand was
+waiting for him; he made him lay down his arms, and
+searched him. The young man had filled his pockets with
+chestnuts, and had contrived to secrete a small pistol
+about his person, which escaped discovery. The brigand,
+producing paper and ink, ordered his victim to draw the
+bill. The young man excused himself on the ground that
+he was so frightened, and his hand trembled so that he could
+not write;&mdash;he would sign the bill if the other drew it
+out. The brigand knelt down by the side of a flat stone
+to do so. Meanwhile the young man walked up and
+down eating his chestnuts, and throwing the shells carelessly
+away. Some of them struck the brigand. &ldquo;What
+are you doing?&rdquo; said he, startled. &ldquo;Eating my chestnuts;&rdquo;
+and he took out another handful. Occasionally
+he stopped and looked down on the bandit while engaged
+in writing; still, with apparent <i>sang froid</i>, munching his
+chestnuts. Presently the bill was finished; he pretended
+to look it over, found some error, which he pointed out,
+and while the brigand stooped to correct it, drew his concealed
+pistol and shot him through the head.&mdash;The so-called
+<i>vendetta</i> has shrunk more and more to the level of
+vulgar crime. It is even notorious that bandits have become
+hired assassins, employed by others to take off persons
+against whom they had a grudge,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>mais plus pour
+amiti&eacute; que pour argent</i>,&rdquo; said my informant, giving the
+fact the most favourable turn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It seems surprising that such enormities should have
+been permitted in a European country, at an advanced
+period of the nineteenth century. Could a strong national
+government have been established in Corsica&mdash;which,
+however, seems to have been impracticable with so lawless
+and factious a people&mdash;its first duty would have been, as
+was the case under Pascal Paoli's administration, to give
+security to life, <i>co&ucirc;te que co&ucirc;te</i>. The successive Governments
+of France appear to have been too much occupied
+by their own affairs to pay any regard to the social
+state of their Corsican department, flagrant as was the
+disgrace it reflected on them. Perhaps they were impressed
+with the idea that the passion of revenge, the
+thirst for blood, were so inherent in the native character,
+that law and force were alike powerless, and the <i>vendetta</i>
+could only be extirpated by a moral change more to be
+hoped for than expected. Thus speaks the Pr&eacute;fet, in his
+inaugural address of 1851:&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Ici, messieurs, vous en
+conviendrez, l'administration est sans force. C'est &agrave; la
+religion seule qu'appartient la touchante pr&eacute;rogative de
+pr&ecirc;cher l'oubli des injures:</i>&rdquo; and a traveller who spent
+some time in the island during the year following, gives
+the result of his observations in the following words:&mdash;&ldquo;There
+is probably no other means of certainly putting
+down the blood-revenge, murder, and bandit-life, than
+culture; and culture advances in Corsica but slowly.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>The same author says of the general disarming, proposed
+in 1852: &ldquo;Whether, and how, this will be capable
+of execution, I know not. It will cost mischief enough in
+the execution; for they will not be able to disarm the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+banditti at the same time, and their enemies will then be
+exposed, unarmed, to their bullets.&rdquo; These doubts and
+forebodings are proved to have been imaginary. It might
+have been long, indeed, before preaching and moral culture
+had eradicated evils so deeply rooted in the genius of the
+people. In such an extreme case, the exercise of a despotic
+power was required to put an end to the reign of terror
+and blood which has desolated this fair island for so many
+centuries. One bold stroke has broken the spell; the measures
+adopted for the suppression of <i>banditisme</i> have completely
+succeeded. &ldquo;The prisons are full,&rdquo; said my informant;
+&ldquo;in the last year, 400 of the brigands have been
+sentenced or shot down, and as many more driven out of
+the country: the land is at peace.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The only wonder is that the experiment was not tried
+before.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_X" id="CHAP_X"></a>CHAP. X.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>The Basin of Oletta.&mdash;The Olive.&mdash;Corsican Tales.&mdash;The
+Heroine of Oletta.&mdash;Zones of Climate and Vegetation.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>We found that no mules could be hired at Olmeta, and
+intending to wander for a few days in the neighbouring
+valleys, and on the skirts of the mountainous district of
+Nebbio, though we preferred walking, were at some loss
+how to get forward our baggage. The Bastia muleteer was
+dismissed, and as we were travelling somewhat at our ease,
+the luggage was more than could be conveniently carried.
+In this dilemma, Antoine proffered the services of himself
+and the mule which had done its work so well the evening
+before. His offer was readily accepted, and we had much
+reason to be pleased with the change we had made in our
+conductor. Antoine relieved us from all care as to our
+baggage and entertainment, knew the roads, and where we
+could best put up, had by heart many a story of times past,
+and something to tell of all the places we visited, and,
+having been a rover himself, entered into the spirit of our
+rambles: altogether, as I have observed before, Antoine
+was an excellent specimen of a Capo Corso peasant. To
+be sure, he had killed his man, but that was in a <i>duello</i>,
+according to Corsican ideas; as singular, if one may jest on
+such a subject, as Captain Marryat's famous triangular
+duel.</p>
+
+<p>The valleys of Olmeta, Oletta, and some others, form a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+sort of basin between the mountains bounding the <i>littorale</i>,
+already spoken of, and the Serra di Tenda, a noble range
+in the western line of the principal chain. Broken by
+numberless hills, the whole basin is a scene of fertile
+beauty, similar to the picture drawn of Olmeta&mdash;vineyards,
+olive-grounds and gardens, orange, citron, fig,
+almond, apple, and pear-trees, clustering at every turn
+with groups of magnificent chestnut-trees, and alternating
+with spots devoted to tillage. The country people were
+now sowing wheat or preparing the ground with most
+primitive ploughs, of the Roman fashion, drawn sometimes
+by a single ox or mule. Patches, on which the
+green blade was already springing, showed that it is the
+practice to sow wheat as soon as possible after the autumnal
+rains.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/091.jpg" width="350" height="291" alt="ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO, THROUGH A GORGE."
+title="ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO, THROUGH A GORGE." />
+<p class="caption">ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO, THROUGH A GORGE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Retracing our steps of the preceding night nearly to the
+summit of the pass, under the persuasion that it commanded
+a fine prospect, we turned to the right, and strolled
+along a terrace above the broad valley through which the
+Bevinco flows into
+the Stagno di Biguglia,
+somewhat below
+the point at which
+we left it. Looking
+backward, we had
+a charming peep at
+the Mediterranean
+through a gorge in
+the mountains, with
+the lonely island of
+Monte-Cristo, seen
+from this point of view detached from the rest of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+group of islands to which it belongs. Across the valley
+was a range of mountains, a branch of the central chain
+dividing it from that of the Golo. Mists hung about
+them, pierced by the Cima dei Taffoni, the most elevated
+point of the range, which rose magnificently, being about
+3000 feet high, twenty miles to the south-east. The
+ridge along which we strolled was covered partly by
+patches of the never-failing evergreen shrubbery, rendered
+more beautiful by the quantities of cyclamen, one of the
+prettiest plants we have in our greenhouses at home, now
+in full flower under the shelter of the arbutus and other
+shrubs. Small flocks of sheep, all black, and no larger
+than our Welsh mountain breed, were browsing among the
+barren patches of heath, and sometimes crossed our path,
+with their tinkling bells. There was a slight shower; but
+it soon cleared off, and the sun shone out, and the air and
+surface of the ground, cooled and freshened by the gentle
+rain, were in the best state for the continuation of our
+rambles.</p>
+
+<p>The cultivation, as may be supposed, is indolent and
+imperfect, the surface being merely scratched, and little
+care taken to free it of weeds. We need not, therefore,
+be surprised at finding that the average produce of the
+wheat-crop throughout Corsica is only an increase of nine
+on the seed sown. Of maize, or Indian corn, it is thirty-eight
+or forty.</p>
+
+<p>The canton of Oletta is called by the Corsicans &ldquo;the
+pearl of the Nebbio.&rdquo; It contains two or three hamlets,
+the principal village seeming to hang on the rocky slope
+of a hill, embowered in fruit trees. The olive flourishes
+particularly well here; and Oletta takes its name from its
+olive-trees, as Olmeta does from its elms. Many of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+are of great age and size, and, with their silvery leaves,
+have a soft and pleasing effect, especially when contrasted
+with the richer foliage of the spreading chestnut-trees.
+The olive-yards are neatly dug and kept clear of weeds;
+and we observed that the soil was drawn round the stems
+of the trees, probably in well-manured heaps, such a
+produce as the olive truly requiring to feed on the fat of
+the land. The berries were now full formed, but had not
+begun to fall. I believe they hang till Christmas, when
+they are collected, and carried to the vats. When pressed,
+twenty pounds of olives yield five of pure oil. It is stored
+in large pottery jars, and forms the principal export from
+Corsica; this district, with the Balagna and the neighbourhood
+of Bonifaccio, producing the largest quantity.
+An inferior sort of oil is used in the lamps throughout the
+island; the lamps being of glass, with tall stems containing
+the oil, and crowned by a socket, through which the cotton
+burner is passed, and having nothing of the antique or
+classical about them. The birds scattering the berries in
+all directions, and carrying them to great distances, the
+number of wild olive-trees is immense. An attempt was
+made to count them, by order of the Government, in 1820,
+with a view to foster so valuable a source of national
+wealth by the encouragement of grafting; and it is said
+that as many as twelve millions of wild olive-trees were
+then counted.</p>
+
+<p>There is a story of love and heroism connected with
+Oletta. One hears such tales everywhere in Corsica&mdash;by
+the wayside, at the shepherd's watch-fire, lying in the
+shade, or basking in the sun. Antoine was an excellent
+<i>raconteur</i>; so are all such vagabonds. I possess a collection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+of these tales by Renucci, published at Bastia<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>, and
+proposed to interweave some of them into my narrative.
+They may be worked up, with invention and embellishment,
+into pretty romances; but that is not our business.
+In Renucci, we have stories of <i>Ospitalit&agrave;</i>, <i>Magnanimit&agrave;</i>,
+<i>Fedelt&agrave;</i>, <i>Probit&agrave;</i>, <i>Generosit&agrave;</i>, <i>Incorruttibilit&agrave;</i>, all the virtues
+under the sun with names ending in <i>t&agrave;</i>, and many
+others. One wearies of the eternal laudation lavished on
+these islanders, not only by their own writers, but by all
+travellers, from Boswell downwards.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the heroine of Oletta is told by Renucci<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>,
+and, more simply, by Marmocchi.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> During the occupation
+of Capo Corso by the French, in 1751, some of the villagers
+were sentenced to be broken on the wheel for
+a conspiracy to seize the place, which was garrisoned by
+the French; their bodies were exposed on the scaffold,
+and their friends prohibited, under severe penalties, from
+giving them Christian burial. But a young woman, <i>giovinetta
+scelta e robusta</i>, as she must have been to perform
+the exploit assigned to her in the tale, eluded the sentries,
+and, taking the body of her lover, one of the conspirators
+executed, on her shoulders, carried it off. The general
+in command, struck by her exalted virtue, pardons the
+offence, and she is borne home in triumph amidst the
+shouts of the villagers.</p>
+
+<p>All honour to the French marquis for his gallantry to a
+woman, though his tactics were somewhat savage for the
+reign of Louis XVI.; and all glory to Maria Gentili of
+Oletta, stout of heart and strong of limb, fit to be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+wife and mother of bandits; still better, to have fought at
+Borgo, where Corsican women, in male attire, with sword
+and gun, rushed forward in the ranks of the island militia
+which triumphantly defeated a French army, composed of
+some of the finest troops in Europe.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>But let us proceed with our rambles; and, before we
+change the scene from the region of the vine and the
+orange to that of the chestnut and ilex, a short digression
+on the climatic zones of Corsica may not be out of
+place.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/095.jpg" width="500" height="312" alt="BETWEEN OLMETA AND BIGORNO."
+title="BETWEEN OLMETA AND BIGORNO." />
+<p class="caption">BETWEEN OLMETA AND BIGORNO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The island may be divided, as to climate and vegetation,
+into three zones, corresponding with the degrees of elevation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+of its surface. The <i>first</i>, ranging to about 1,700 feet
+above the level of the Mediterranean, and embracing the
+deeper valleys of the island, as well as the sea-coast, has
+the characteristics conformable to its latitude; that is to
+say, similar to those of the parallel shores of Italy and
+Spain. Properly speaking, there is no winter; they have
+but two seasons, spring and summer. The thermometer
+seldom falls more than a degree or two below the freezing
+point, and then only for a few hours. The nights are,
+however, cold at all seasons.</p>
+
+<p>When we were at Ajaccio, towards the end of October,
+the heat was oppressive; my thermometer at noon stood
+at 80&deg; in the shade, in an airy room closed by Venetian
+blinds. In January, we were told, the sun becomes again
+powerful, and then for eight months succeeds a torrid
+heat. The sky is generally cloudless, the thermometer
+rises from 70 to 80 and even 90 degrees in the shade, and
+scarcely any rain falls after the month of April; nor indeed
+always then, so that there are often long and excessive
+droughts.</p>
+
+<p>The indigenous vegetation is generally of a class suited
+to resist the droughts, having hard, coriaceous leaves.
+Such is the shrubbery described in a former chapter,
+which, exempt from severe frosts on the one hand, and
+thriving in an arid soil and parching heat on the other,
+clothes half the surface of the island with perpetual
+verdure. There have been seasons when even these
+shrubs were so burnt up that the slightest accident might
+have caused a wide-spread conflagration. When we travelled,
+the leaves of the rock-roses, which here grow to
+the height of four or five feet, were hanging on the bushes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+scorched and withered by the summer heat, somewhat
+marring the beauty of the evergreen thickets.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the fruit-trees suited to flourish in such a
+climate have been already noticed in passing. We saw
+also almonds, pomegranates, and standard peaches and
+apricots. To the list of shrubs which most struck us, I
+may also add the brilliant flowering oleander, and the
+tamarisk. Corsica is said to be famous for its orchids,
+verbenas, and cotyledinous and caryophyllaceous plants;
+but I only speak of what I saw, and these were out of
+season.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>second</i> zone ranges from about 2000 feet to between
+5000 and 6000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean,
+the climate corresponding with that of the central
+districts of France. The temperature is, however,
+very variable, and its changes are sudden. Frost and
+snow make their appearance in November, and often last
+for fifteen or twenty days together. It is remarked, that
+frost does not injure the olive-trees up to the level of about
+3800 feet; and snow even renders them more fruitful.</p>
+
+<p>The chestnut appears to be the characteristic feature in
+the vegetation of this zone. Thriving also among hills
+and valleys of a lower elevation, here it spreads into
+extensive woods, till at the height of about 6000 feet it is
+exchanged for the pine, and Marmocchi says<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>, I think incorrectly,
+<i>c&egrave;de la place</i> to the oak and the <i>beech</i>. We certainly
+found the oak, both evergreen (ilex) and deciduous,
+growing very freely and in extensive woods in close contiguity
+with the chestnut at an elevation far below the
+limit of the <i>second</i> zone, as well as mixed with the pine in
+the forest of Vizzavona, also below that limit. But, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+my own observation, I should class the oak of both kinds
+among the trees belonging to the second zone, though the
+chestnut is its most characteristic feature; and should
+much doubt its flourishing at the height of between 6000
+and 7000 feet above the sea-level,&mdash;still more the beech.
+The highest point at which we found the beech was the
+Col di Vizzavona, on the road from Vivario to Bocagnono,
+3435 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and I was
+surprised to see it flourishing there.</p>
+
+<p>While the principal cities and towns in Corsica stand
+within the limits of the first zone, it is in the second that
+by far the greatest part of the population live,&mdash;dispersed,
+as we have often had occasion to remark, in valleys and
+hamlets placed on the summits or ridges of hills. The
+choice of such positions is a necessary condition of health,
+as in this region, no less than in the former, the valleys
+are notorious for the insalubrity of the air.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>third</i> zone, ranging from an elevation of about
+6000 feet to the summits of the highest mountains, is a
+region of storms and tempests during eight months of the
+year; but during the short summer the air is said to be
+generally serene, and the sky unclouded. This elevated
+region has, of course, no settled inhabitants, but during
+the fine season the shepherds occupy cabins on its verge,
+their sheep and goats browsing among the dwarf bushes
+on the mountain sides. The vegetation is scanty. Even
+the pine cannot thrive at such an elevation, and the birch,
+which one generally finds, though dwarf, still higher up
+the mountains, I did not happen to see in Corsica, though
+it is mentioned in <i>Marmocchi's</i> list of indigenous trees.</p>
+
+<p>The summits of the Monte Rotondo and Monte d'Oro
+are capped with snow at all seasons, and beautiful are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+snowy peaks, piercing the blue heavens in the sunny region
+of the Mediterranean, and well does the glistening tiara,
+marking from afar their pre-eminence among the countless
+domes and peaks which cluster round them, or break the
+outline of a long chain, assist the eye in computing their
+relative heights. We had no opportunity of ascertaining
+how low perpetual snow hangs on the sides of the highest
+Corsican mountains. According to M. Arago, Monte Rotondo
+is 2762 <i>m&egrave;tres</i> (about 8976 feet) above the level of
+the sea; and he says that there are seven others exceeding
+2000 <i>m&egrave;tres</i> (about 6500 feet). Among these must be
+included Monte d'Oro, which figures in Marmocchi's list
+at 2653 <i>m&egrave;tres</i>, or about 8622 feet. The season was too
+late for our making an ascent with any prospect of advantage;
+but at that time of the year (the end of October)
+none of the peaks we saw, except the two named, though
+some of them are only from 500 to 800 feet lower than
+Monte d'Oro, had snow upon them.</p>
+
+<p>While rounding the base of Monte d'Oro, we observed
+long streaks on the side of the cone, descending, perhaps,
+1000 feet below the compact mass on the summit; but
+they had the appearance of fresh-fallen snow, and from
+our observing that all the other summits were free from
+snow, I am inclined to assign the height of about 7500
+or 8000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean as the
+line of perpetual snow in Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>In Norway, between 59&deg;-62&deg; N. latitude, we calculated
+it at about 4500 feet on the average, the line varying
+considerably in different seasons. In the summer of 1849
+there was snow on the shores of the Mi&ouml;s-Vand, which are
+under 3000 feet, while the summer before the lakes on
+the table-land of the Hardanger Fjeld, 4000 feet high,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+were free from ice, and throughout the passage of the
+Fjeld the surface covered with snow was less than that
+which was bare. In 1849, crossing the Hardanger from
+Vinje to Odde, the whole of the plateau was a continued
+field of snow.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Taking the entire mountain system of
+central Norway, from the Gousta-Fjeld to Sneeh&aelig;ttan and
+the H&ouml;rungurne, with elevations of from 5000 to near
+8000 feet, the average of the snow-level may be taken, as
+before observed, at about 4500 feet; that of the Corsican
+mountains, with elevations of from 6000 to nearly 9000
+feet, being, as we have seen, from 7000 to 8000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>In Switzerland, where the elevations are so much
+greater, the snow-line varies from 8000 to 8800 feet
+above the level of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> On Mont Blanc it is stated
+to be 8500 feet. The height differs on the northern and
+southern faces of the chain within those portions of the
+Alps that run east and west, but 8500 feet may be taken
+as the average.</p>
+
+<p>We may be surprised to find that congelation rests at
+the same, or nearly the same, level in the Alps of Switzerland,
+and on the Corsican mountains eight degrees further
+south. But difference of latitude is no determinate rule
+for calculating the level to which the line of perpetual
+snow descends. There are other influences to be taken
+into the account, such as the duration and intensity of
+summer heats, the comparative dryness of climate, the
+extent of the snow-clad surface in the system generally,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+and more especially the height and exposure of particular
+mountains.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Thus the snow-line on the southern slope of
+the Alps is in some cases as high as 9500 feet. It may be
+conceived that as the great extent of snow-clad surface on
+the high Fjelds of Norway so much depresses the level of
+the snow-line in that country, so the great superincumbent
+mass resting on the summits of the higher Alps has a
+similar effect, reducing the average snow-line in Switzerland
+to nearly that of the Corsican mountains. The
+wonder is that Monte Rotondo and Monte d'Oro,&mdash;rising
+from a chain surrounded by the Mediterranean, in insulated
+peaks of no very considerable height, without glaciers
+or snowy basins to reduce the temperature,&mdash;should, in a
+climate where the sun's heat is excessive for eight months
+of the year, have snow on their summits in the months
+of July and August. I have observed the <i>Pico di Teyde</i>
+in Teneriffe with no snow upon it in the first days of
+November, though it is 3000 feet higher than Monte
+Rotondo, and only five degrees further south. Mount
+&AElig;tna, also, nearly 11,000 feet high, in about the same
+latitude as the Peak of Teneriffe (37&deg; N.), is free from perpetual
+snow; but that may arise from local causes.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XI" id="CHAP_XI"></a>CHAP. XI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Pisan Church at Murato.&mdash;Chestnut Woods.&mdash;Gulf of San
+Fiorenzo.&mdash;Nelson's Exploit there.&mdash;He conducts the Siege of
+Bastia.&mdash;Ilex Woods.&mdash;Mountain Pastures.&mdash;The Corsican
+Shepherd.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Murato, a large, scattered village, which formerly gave
+its name to a <i>pi&egrave;ve</i>, and is now the <i>chef-lieu</i> of a canton,
+stands on the verge of a woody and mountainous district.
+Just before entering the village, we were struck by the
+superior character of the <i>fa&ccedil;ade</i> of a little solitary church
+by the roadside. We afterwards learnt that it was dedicated
+to St. Michael, and reckoned one of the most
+remarkable churches in the island, having been erected
+by the Pisans, before the Genoese established themselves
+in Corsica. The <i>fa&ccedil;ade</i> is constructed of alternate courses
+of black and white marble, and put me in mind of the
+magnificent cathedrals of Pisa and Sienna, of which it is
+a model in miniature. Indeed, most of the churches in
+Corsica are built on these and similar Italian models,
+though few of them with such chaste simplicity of design
+as this little roadside chapel.</p>
+
+<p>The smiling aspect of the vine-clad hills, umbrageous
+fruit-orchards, and silvery olive-groves of the canton of
+Oletta now changed for a bolder landscape and wilder
+accompaniments. Soon after leaving Murato, the ilex
+began to appear, scattered among rough brakes, and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+sharp descent led down to the Bevinco, here a mountain-torrent,
+hurrying along through deep banks, tufted
+with underwood, the box, which grows largely in Corsica,
+being profusely intermixed. The road&mdash;like all the other
+byroads, merely a horse-track&mdash;crosses the stream by a
+bold arch.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/103.jpg" width="500" height="304" alt="PONTE MURATO." title="PONTE MURATO." />
+<p class="caption">PONTE MURATO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Immediately in front of the bridge stands a pyramidal
+rock, remarkable for all its segments having the same
+character, and for the way in which evergreen shrubs hang
+from the fissures in graceful festoons, contrasting with
+some gigantic gourds, in a small cultivated patch at the
+foot of the rock, and sloping down to the edge of the
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>Higher up we entered the first chestnut wood we had
+yet seen. At the outskirts it had all the character of a
+natural wood; the trees were irregularly massed, and
+many of them of great age and vast dimensions. Further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+on they stood in rows, this tree being extensively planted
+in Corsica for the sake of the fruit. We were just in the
+right season for this important harvest, it being now ripe,
+and the ground under the trees was thickly strewed with
+the brown nuts bursting from their husky shells.</p>
+
+<p>It being about noon, we halted in the shade by the
+side of a little rill, trickling among the trees into the
+river beneath, to rest and lunch. Nothing could be more
+delightful, after a long walk in the sun; for the temperature
+of the valleys is high even at this season. Antoine
+had charge of a basket of grapes, with a loaf of bread
+and a bottle of the excellent Frontigniac of Capo Corso;
+to these were added handfuls of chestnuts, so sweet and
+tender when perfectly fresh; so that, tempering our wine in
+the cool stream, we fared luxuriously.</p>
+
+<p>While we sip our wine and munch our chestnuts, seasoned
+by talk with Antoine, the reader may like to hear
+something of a crop which is of more importance than
+might be supposed in the agricultural statistics of Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>There are several cantons, Murato being one of the
+principal, in which the chestnut woods, either natural or
+planted, are so extensive that the districts have acquired
+the name of <i>Pa&eacute;se di Castagniccia</i>. The Corsican peasant
+seldom sets forth on a journey without providing himself
+with a bag of chestnuts, and with these and a gourd of
+wine or of water slung by his side, he is never at a loss.
+Eaten raw or roasted on the embers, chestnuts form,
+during half the year, the principal diet of the herdsmen
+and shepherds on the hills, and of great numbers of the
+poorer population in the districts where the tree flourishes.
+They are also made into puddings, and served up in various
+other ways. It is said that in the canton of Alesanni, one
+of the Castagniccia districts just referred to, on the occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+of a peasant making a feast at his daughter's marriage,
+no less than twenty-two dishes have been prepared from
+the meal of the chestnut.</p>
+
+<p>I recollect that the innkeeper at Bonifaccio, boasting
+his culinary skill, said that he could dress a potato sixteen
+different ways, and though we earnestly entreated him not
+to give himself the trouble of making experiments not
+suited to our taste, it was with great difficulty, and after
+several failures, we made him comprehend that an Englishman
+preferred but one way&mdash;and that was &ldquo;<i>au
+naturel</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The cultivation of the potato has made considerable
+advance in Corsica, and there are now seventeen or eighteen
+hundred acres annually planted with it. But in many
+parts of the island the chestnut fills the same place which
+the potato once occupied in the dietary of the Irish peasant.
+A political economist would find no difficulty in
+deciding that in both cases the results have been similar,
+and much to be lamented. Indeed, the Corsican fruit is
+still more adapted to cherish habits of indolence than the
+Irish root, as the chestnut does not even require the brief
+exertion, either in cultivation or cookery, which the potato
+does. It drops, I may say, into the Corsican's mouth, and
+living like the</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Prisca gens mortalium.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;the primitive race of mortals,&rdquo; of whom the poet sings,
+who ran about in the woods, eating acorns and drinking
+water, the Corsicans are, for the most part, satisfied with
+their chestnuts literally &ldquo;<i>au naturel</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Most French writers on Corsica declare war against the
+chestnut-trees for the encouragement they afford to a life
+of idleness, and M. de Beaumont does not scruple to assert,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+that a tempest which levelled them all with the ground
+would, in the end, prove a great blessing. There is some
+truth in these opinions, but humanity shudders at the
+misery such a catastrophe&mdash;like the potato blight, which
+truly struck at the root of the evil in Ireland&mdash;would
+entail on tens of thousands of the poor Corsicans, to whom
+the chestnut is the staff of life. In the interests of that
+humanity, as well as from our deep love and veneration
+for these noble woods, we say, God forbid!</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago, an attempt was made to discountenance
+the growth of chestnuts, by prohibiting their plantation
+in soils capable of other kinds of cultivation; but shortly
+afterwards the decree was revoked on the report of no less
+a political economist than the celebrated Turgot.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> <i>Vivent
+donc ces ch&acirc;taigniers magnifiques, quand m&ecirc;me!</i> And may
+the Corsicans learn not to abuse the gifts which Providence
+gratuitously showers from their spreading boughs!</p>
+
+<p>Our <i>al fresco</i> repast on chestnuts and grapes being concluded,
+we left Antoine to load his mule, which had been
+grazing in the cool shade, and following a track through
+the wood, it became so steep that we soon gained a very
+considerable elevation. Of this we were more sensible
+when, turning round, we found that our range of sight
+embraced one of the finest views imaginable. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+distance, the long chain of mountains intersecting Capo
+Corso appeared grouped in one central mass, with their
+rocky summits and varied outlines more or less boldly defined,
+as they receded from the point of view. The western
+coast of the peninsula stretched far away to the northward,
+broken by a succession of mountainous ridges, branching
+out from the central chain, and having their bases washed
+by the Mediterranean, point after point appealing in perspective.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/107.jpg" width="500" height="377" alt="CAPO CORSO FROM THE CHESTNUT WOODS."
+title="CAPO CORSO FROM THE CHESTNUT WOODS." />
+<p class="caption">CAPO CORSO FROM THE CHESTNUT WOODS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Of these indentations in the coast, the nearest, as well as
+the most important, is the Gulf of San Fiorenzo, one of the
+finest harbours in the Mediterranean. The town stands
+on a hill, above the marshy delta of the Aliso, the course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+of which we could trace through the most extended of
+these high valleys. Close beneath our standing point, as
+it appeared, lay the basin of Oletta, with its villages on
+the hill-tops, and its gentle eminences, with slopes and
+hollows richly clothed, now grouped together like the
+mountain ranges above, but in softer forms. This view,
+whether as partially seen in our first position through the
+glades and under the branching canopy of the chestnut
+wood, or shortly afterwards, still better, from a more
+commanding point on the summit of the ridge, had all the
+advantages which the most exquisite colouring, and the
+finest atmospheric effects could lend. Indeed, I felt persuaded,
+that the extraordinary richness of the warm tints
+on some of the mountain sides was not merely an atmospheric
+effect, but aided by the natural colour of the
+formation.</p>
+
+<p>The whole country lying beneath, the ancient province
+of Nebbio, with the Gulf of San Fiorenzo for its outlet,
+guarded by the mountain ridges and embracing the districts
+of Oletta, Murato, and Sorio, is of such importance
+in a strategical view, that the fate of Corsica has often
+been decided by campaigns conducted on this ground; and
+it is said that whatever power obtains possession of it,
+will sooner or later become masters of the whole island.</p>
+
+<p>San Fiorenzo, a fortified place, was bombarded in 1745
+by an English fleet acting in concert with the King of
+Sardinia for the support of the Corsicans against the
+Genoese, and on the surrender of the place it was given up
+to the patriots. Then first the British Government interfered
+in Corsican affairs; but shortly afterwards, when
+some of the patriot leaders sent emissaries to Lord Bristol,
+our ambassador at the court of Turin, offering to put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+themselves under the protection of the English Government,
+the court of St. James's, deterred probably by the
+jealousies then subsisting among the supporters of the
+patriotic cause, civilly declined the offer, and withdrew
+their fleet. Having thus lost by their own misconduct
+the powerful co-operation of England, the Corsicans, left
+to their own resources, after a long and determined struggle,
+at length yielded to a power with which they were unable
+to cope.</p>
+
+<p>San Fiorenzo was again the scene of British intervention,
+when the Corsicans, throwing off in 1793 the yoke of the
+French revolutionary government, applied to Lord Hood,
+the commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, for assistance.
+In consequence, Nelson, then commanding the
+&ldquo;Agamemnon,&rdquo; and cruising off the island with a small
+squadron, to prevent the enemy from throwing in supplies,
+made a sudden descent on San Fiorenzo, where he landed
+with 120 men. Close to the port the French had a storehouse
+of flour adjoining their only mill, Nelson threw
+the flour into the sea, burnt the mill, and re-embarked in
+the face of 1000 men and some gun-boats, which opened
+fire upon him. In the following spring, five English regiments
+were landed in the island under General Dundas,
+and Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Sir John) Moore
+having taken possession of the heights overlooking the
+port of San Fiorenzo, the French found themselves unable
+to hold the place, and sinking one of their frigates, and
+burning another, retreated to Bastia.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson's dashing enterprise was succeeded by another
+of far greater moment, characteristic of the times when
+our old 74's had not been superseded by costly screw
+three-deckers, and our naval commanders, though not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+wanting in discretion, acted on the impulses of their own
+brave hearts, without any very nice calculations of responsibilities
+and possible consequences.</p>
+
+<p>On a <i>reconnaissance</i> made by Nelson on the 19th of
+February, when he drove the French under shelter of their
+works, it appeared that the defences of Bastia were strong.
+Besides the citadel, mounting thirty pieces of cannon and
+eight mortars, with seventy embrasures counted in the
+town-wall near the sea, there were four stone redoubts
+on the heights south of the town, and two or three others
+further in advance; one a new work, with guns mounted <i>en
+barbette</i>. A frigate, &ldquo;La Fl&egrave;che,&rdquo; lay in the harbour, but
+dismasted; her guns were removed to the works. These
+works were held by 1000 regular troops, 1500 national
+guards, and a large body of Corsicans, making a total of
+4000 men under arms.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>To attack this formidable force, manning such defences,
+Nelson could only muster 218 marines, 787 troops of the
+line under orders to serve as such, the admiral insisting
+on having them restored to this service, 66 men of the
+Royal Artillery, and 112 Corsican chasseurs, making a
+total of 1183 troops. To these were added 250 sailors.
+Meanwhile, the English general made a <i>reconnaissance</i> in
+force from San Fiorenzo, and retired without attempting
+to strike a blow, though he had 2000 of the finest troops
+in the world lying idle; declaring that the enterprise was
+so rash that no officer would be justified in undertaking it.
+He even refused to furnish Lord Hood with a single soldier,
+cannon, or store.</p>
+
+<p>The Admiral replied, that he was most willing to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+upon himself the whole responsibility, and Nelson, nothing
+daunted, landed his small force on the 9th of April, three
+miles from the town, and the siege operations commenced.
+Encamping near a high rock, 2500 yards from the citadel,
+and the seamen working hard for several days in throwing
+up works, making roads, and carrying up ammunition, the
+fire was opened on the 12th of the same month. The
+works of the besiegers were mounted with four 13-inch
+and 10-inch mortars, an 18-inch howitzer, five 24-pounder
+guns, and two 18-pounder carronades. I give these details
+in order to show with what small means the daring enterprise
+was accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Hood had sent in a flag of truce, summoning the
+city to surrender; to which M. La Combe St. Michel, the
+Commissioner of the National Convention, replied, &ldquo;that
+he had red-hot shot for our ships and bayonets for our
+troops, and when two-thirds of his men were killed, he
+would trust to the generosity of the English.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The place being now regularly invested, there was heavy
+firing on both sides, &ldquo;the seamen minding shot,&rdquo; as Nelson
+characteristically wrote to his wife, &ldquo;no more than peas.&rdquo;
+The besiegers' works were advanced, first to 1600 yards,
+and afterwards to a ridge 900 yards from the citadel; and
+on the 19th of May, thirty-five days after the fire was
+opened, the enemy offered to capitulate. The same evening,
+while the terms were negotiating, the advanced guard
+of the troops from San Fiorenzo made their appearance
+on the hills above the place, and on the following
+morning the whole army, under the command of General
+D'Aubant, who had succeeded Dundas, arrived just in
+time to take possession of Bastia.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson had anticipated this, for in a letter to his wife,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+written during the siege, he says, &ldquo;My only fear is, that
+the soldiers will advance when Bastia is about to surrender,
+and deprive our handful of brave men of part of their
+glory.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But the work was already done, and Nelson writes after
+the surrender of the place, &ldquo;I am all astonishment when
+I reflect on what we have achieved.&rdquo; A force of 4000 men
+in strong defences had laid down their arms to 1200
+soldiers, marines, and British seamen.</p>
+
+<p>The political results of these operations, which for the
+time numbered the Corsicans among the willing subjects
+of the British crown, will claim a short notice on a fitting
+opportunity. History is not our province, but a traveller
+may be allowed to trace the footsteps of his countrymen
+during their brief occupation of a soil fiercely trodden by
+all the European nations; and, on a standing point between
+Fiorenzo and Bastia, naturally lingers for a moment on a
+feat of arms memorable among our naval exploits in the
+Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving the chestnut woods, the wildness of the
+scene increased at every step. Our track skirted a forest
+of ilex spreading far up the base of the mountains, and
+filling the glens below, round the gorges of which the path
+led. The trees were of all ages, from the young growth,
+with a shapely <i>contour</i> of silvery grey foliage, to the gigantic
+patriarchs of the forest, spreading their huge limbs, hoar
+with lichens, in most fantastic and often angular forms,
+and their boles black and rugged with the growth of centuries.
+Some were rifted by the tempests, and bared their
+scathed and bleached tops to the winds of heaven. Others
+had yielded to the storms or age, and lay prostrate on the
+ground, charred and blackened by the fires which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+shepherds in these wilds leave recklessly burning. The
+destruction thus caused to valuable timber throughout the
+island is enormous. Among the ilex were scattered a few
+deciduous oaks, contrasting well in their autumnal tints
+with their evergreen congeners. We thought the colouring
+was not so rich as that of our English oak woods at this
+season, being of a paler or more tawny hue, resembling
+the maple and sycamore. Precipitous cliffs and insulated
+masses of grey rock broke the outline of the forest, and
+the charming cyclamen still tufted the edge of the path
+with its delicate flowers, nestling among the roots of the
+gigantic oaks; between the tall trunks of which glimpses
+were occasionally caught of the distant mountain peaks.</p>
+
+<p>We had been ascending, generally at a pretty sharp angle,
+from the time we crossed the Bevinco, and had walked
+about three hours, when, emerging from the skirts of the
+ilex forest, we found ourselves on an elevated ridge connected
+with the vast wastes of which the greater part of
+the east and north-east of the province of Nebbio is composed.
+The surface is bare and stony, with a very scanty
+herbage among aromatic plants and bushes of low growth,
+consisting principally of the branching cistuses, which,
+however they may enliven these barren heaths by their
+flowers in the earlier part of the year, increased its parched
+and arid appearance now that the leaves hung withered on
+their stems.</p>
+
+<p>Yet on these barren solitudes the Corsican shepherd
+spends his listless days and watchful nights. He has no
+fixed habitation, and never sleeps under a roof, but when
+he piles some loose stones against a rock to form a hut.
+Roaming over the boundless waste as the necessity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+changing the pasturage of his flock requires, he finds his
+best shelter in the skirts of the forest, and his food in the
+chestnuts, which he luxuriously roasts in the embers of
+his watchfire when he is tired of eating them raw. The
+ground was so undulating that at one view we could see
+a number of these flocks on the distant hill sides; the
+little black sheep in countless numbers dotting the heaths,
+and the shepherds, in their brown <i>pelone</i>, either following
+them as they browsed in scattered groups, or perched on
+strong outline on some rocky pinnacle commanding a wide
+area over which their charge was scattered. Their bleating
+and the tinkling of the sheep-bells were wafted on the
+breeze, and more than once a flock crossed our path, and
+we had a nearer view of the wild and uncouth conductor.</p>
+
+<p>My companion sat down to sketch, while I walked on.
+This often happened. Indeed, his rambles were often discursive,
+so that I lost sight of him for hours together;
+once in Sardinia, when there was reason to fear his
+having been carried off to the mountains by banditti.
+Thus, each had his separate adventures; on the present
+occasion I had opened out a new and splendid view, and,
+having retraced my steps to lead him to the spot, he
+related his.</p>
+
+<p>Intent on his sketch, my friend was startled, on raising
+his head, at seeing a wild figure standing at his elbow.
+Leaning on a staff, its keen eyes were intently fixed on
+him. My friend at once perceived that one of the shepherds
+had crept upon him unawares. A year before, when
+they all carried arms, there would have been nothing in
+his exterior to distinguish him from a bandit, but an ingenuous
+countenance and a gentle demeanour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The young shepherd seemed much interested in my
+friend's occupation, the object of which, however, he could
+not comprehend. His face brightened with pleasure and
+surprise on learning that the visitor to his wilds was an
+Englishman. The memory of the red-coats, who came to
+espouse the cause of Corsican liberty, lingers in Corsican
+traditions, and the English are esteemed as their truest
+friends. It was something new in the monotonous existence
+of the young shepherd to fall in with one of that
+race, though he had not the slightest idea where on the
+face of the earth they lived; still he was intelligent, inquisitive,
+and hospitable.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Would the stranger accompany him to his hut?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It would give me pleasure, but it is growing late.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We are poor, but we could give you milk and cheese.
+You would be welcome.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know it. Like you, I love the forest and the mountain,
+the shade and the sunshine; but yours must be a
+rough life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is our lot, and we are content. We toil not, and
+we love our freedom.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I should like some memorial of having met you, anything
+to show that I have talked with an Englishman.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>My friend rapidly dashed off a slight sketch, a rough
+portrait, I think, of his gaunt visitor&mdash;no bad subject for
+the pencil.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I would rather it had been your own portrait; but I
+shall keep it in remembrance of you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And so they parted; the civilised man to tell his little
+story of human feeling and native intelligence, &ldquo;spending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+their sweetness in the desert air,&rdquo;&mdash;the shepherd to relate
+his adventure over the watchfire, and perhaps draw forth
+from some sexagenarian herdsman his boyish recollections
+of the fall of San Fiorenzo and Bastia, and the march of
+the English red-coats over the mountains.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XII" id="CHAP_XII"></a>CHAP. XII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Chain of the Serra di Tenda.&mdash;A Night at Bigorno.&mdash;A
+Hospitable Priest.&mdash;Descent to the Golo.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>After crossing for some distance an elevated plateau of
+this wild country, we came to a boundary wall of rough
+boulders, and turned to take a last view of the gulf of San
+Fiorenzo and the blue Mediterranean. A heavy gate was
+swung open, and, on advancing a few hundred yards, the
+scene suddenly changed. We found ourselves on the
+brink of a steep descent, with a sea of mountains before
+us, branching from the great central chain, and having
+innumerable ramifications. This part of the chain is
+called the Serra di Tenda; and its highest peak the Monte
+Asto, upwards of 5000 feet above the level of the sea,
+rose directly in front of our point of view. A single altar-shaped
+rock crowned the summit, from which the continuation
+of the ridge, right and left, fell away in a singularly
+graceful outline, the face of the mountain being precipitous
+with escarped cliffs. In other parts of the line,
+the summits were sharply serrated. Northward it was
+lost in the far distance among clouds and mist, but to
+the south-west of Monte Asto a similar, but more blunted
+peak towered above all the others. I observed on our maps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+that several of the summits in this range have the name
+of <i>Monte Rosso</i>; and the centre of the group was indented
+by a deep gorge richly wooded, as were other ravines, and
+forests hung on some of the mountain sides.</p>
+
+<p>We were struck with the extraordinary warmth of
+colouring which pervaded the surface of the vast panorama,
+the slopes as well as the precipitous cliffs. They
+had the ruddy hue of the inner coating of the ilex
+bark, with a piece of which we compared it on the
+spot. Again, I felt convinced that this colouring was
+not merely an atmospheric effect,&mdash;though doubtless
+heightened by the bright sunshine through so pure a
+medium as the mountain air&mdash;but that the brilliance
+indicated the nature of the formation. Whether it was
+granitic or porphyritic, I had no opportunity of examining,
+but incline to think it belonged to the latter.</p>
+
+<p>Of the general features of the geological system of
+Corsica, an opportunity may occur for taking a short
+review. Our present position, embracing so vast an amphitheatre,
+was excellent for forming an idea of the physical
+structure of this lateral branch from the central range.
+Various as were its ramifications, appearing sometimes
+grouped in wild confusion, the general unity of the whole
+formation, both in colour and form, was very observable,
+from the loftiest peak to the offsets of the ridge which
+gradually descended to the level of the valleys, just as the
+peculiar character of a tree runs through its trunk and
+boughs to the minutest twig. Through a gorge to the
+northward we traced the pass, the Col di Tenda, the summit
+being 4500 feet, through which a road is conducted
+to Calvi and l'Isle Rousse, on the western coast; while
+immediately under us lay the valley through which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+Golo, rising in the central chain, makes its long and
+winding course to the <i>littorale</i>, eastward.</p>
+
+<p>The bason, on which we now looked down, was distinguished
+by the same features as that of Oletta,&mdash;gentle
+hills, wooded slopes and glens, and olive groves, vineyards,
+and orchards, in almost equally exuberant richness.
+A dozen villages were within view, crowning, as usual, the
+tops of the hills, or perched far up the mountain sides.
+Of these, Lento and Bigorno are the most considerable,
+although Campittello gives its name to the canton. The
+strong position of Lento caused it to be often contested
+during the wars for Corsican independence, and it was
+General Paoli's head-quarters before his last and fatal
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>We selected Bigorno, a small village, as our quarters for
+the night. The descent to it, about 1000 feet from the
+level of the sheep-walks, is extremely rapid; the village
+itself being still many hundred feet above the banks of the
+Golo, which is seen pouring its white torrent several miles
+distant. The approach was interesting, winding through
+the evergreen copse and scattered ilex, with the sound of
+the church-bell at the <i>Ave-Maria</i> rising from below in the
+still air as we descended the mountain side.</p>
+
+<p>Our quarters here were the best we had yet met with.
+My companion having staid behind to sketch the village,
+and taken shelter from a shower of rain, had been courteously
+invited by a gentleman, who passed, to accept the
+accommodations of his house for the night, but, in the
+meantime, Antoine had conducted me and the baggage to
+another house. It belonged to a small proprietor, who was
+profuse in his politeness, but, we thought, lacked the really
+hospitable feeling we had found in houses of less pretensions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+Curiosity or civility brought about us quite a <i>lev&eacute;e</i>
+of the better class while we were arranging our toilet.
+The supper was execrable, consisting of an <i>olla podrida</i> of
+ham, potatoes, and tomatoes stewed in oil and seasoned
+with garlick, and the wine and grapes were sour. However,
+we had excellent beds. In my room there was a
+small collection of books, on a dusty shelf, which I should
+not have expected to find in such hands. Among them
+were some old works of theological casuistry, Metastasio,
+a translation of Voltaire's plays, and a geographical dictionary
+in Italian. I learnt that they had belonged to
+the proprietor's uncle, a <i>medico</i> at Padua, and were heirlooms
+with his property, which our host inherited. The
+position of these small proprietors is much to be pitied.
+By great penuriousness they contrive to make a poor
+living out of a vineyard and garden with a few acres of
+land, having neither the spirit nor industry, and perhaps
+very little opportunity, to better their condition. There
+was evidently some struggle in the mind of our host
+between his poverty and gentility&mdash;added to what was
+due to the national character for hospitality&mdash;when we
+came to proffer some acknowledgment for our reception.
+It was just an occasion when, travelling in this way, one
+is rather puzzled how to act, but we were relieved from our
+difficulty by finding that our offering was received without
+much scruple.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, to my great surprise, for I was too sleepy
+to notice it on going to bed, I found a gun standing
+ready loaded on one side of the bed, in curious contrast to
+the crucifix and holy-water pot on the other,&mdash;succour
+close at hand against both spiritual and mortal foes. We
+had walked through the country without any alarm, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+concluded that the reign of the rifle and stiletto was ended
+in Corsica. But how came the gun to be loaded? was it
+from inveterate habit even now that fire-arms were proscribed,
+or was Louis Napoleon's decree still eluded?</p>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the view from my chamber windows
+as I threw open the long double casement at six o'clock in
+the morning. It was my first view of Monte Rotondo,
+the loftiest of the Corsican mountains. A long ridge
+and its crowning peak were capped with snow. The
+range to the eastward was in deep shade, but with a rich
+amber hue behind them as the sun rose. I watched
+its kindling light as it touched the snowy top of Monte
+Rotondo, and spread a purple light over the sides of the
+eastern ridge. The night mists had not yet risen from
+the valley of the Golo. We hastened to descend towards
+it, after the usual small cup of <i>caf&eacute; noir</i> and a piece of
+bread. The environs of Bigorno on this side are very
+beautiful. Groves of olive with their silvery leaves and
+green berries not yet ripened mingled with vines planted
+in terraces, the vines festooning and running free, as
+one sees them in Italy. Gardens full of peach and fig
+trees filled all the hollows&mdash;a charming scene through
+which the path wound down the hill. Antoine brought
+us fresh figs from one of the gardens&mdash;a relish to the dry
+remains of our crust. Before the sun had gained much
+elevation, it became exceedingly warm on a southern
+exposure; the green lizards darted from crevices in the
+vineyard walls, all nature was alive and fresh, and the air
+serene, with a most heavenly sky.</p>
+
+<p>All this was very delightful. Nothing can be more so
+than this style of travelling in such a country, with a
+friend of congenial spirit and taste. My companion was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+very well in this respect; but, as I before observed, his
+genius led him to be rather excursive in his rambles,
+so that he was sometimes missing when he was most
+wanted. Now, we had just started on this very agreeable
+morning walk with the prospect of breakfast in due time
+at the post-house on the banks of the Golo. But, instead
+of our enjoying this together, my friend, by a sudden
+impulse, leaped over a vineyard wall, and saying he should
+like to take a sketch from that point, desired me to
+saunter on, and he would soon overtake me.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/122.jpg" width="500" height="363" alt="NEAR BIGORNO." title="NEAR BIGORNO." />
+<p class="caption">NEAR BIGORNO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>What with a Pisan campanile, a Corsican manse, festooning
+vines, a cluster of bamboo canes&mdash;indicative of the
+warm south&mdash;and the group of mountains with the truncated
+peak in the distance, a very clever sketch was produced,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+though not one of my friend's best;&mdash;and I have
+great reason to be obliged to him for his sketches, without
+which I fear this would be a dull book. At that moment,
+indeed, I would have preferred his companionship. However,
+bating this feeling and a certain hankering for my
+breakfast in the course of a two hours' walk, I trudged on
+alone in a very pleasant frame of mind. Nothing could be
+more charming than the green slopes round which the path
+wound, with occasional glimpses of the Golo beneath,&mdash;its
+rapid stream white as the milky Rhone,&mdash;after leaving
+behind the orchards and gardens. The rest of the descent
+lay through evergreen shrubbery so frequently mentioned,
+and a more exquisite piece of <i>m&aacute;quis</i> I had not seen.
+Thus sauntering on, sometimes talking with Antoine, a
+species of shrub, which I had not much observed before,
+attracted my particular attention among the arbutus and
+numerous other well-known varieties. It was a bushy
+evergreen, of shapely growth, five or six feet high, with
+masses of foliage and clusters of bright red berries, having
+an aromatic scent.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you call this shrub, Antoine?&rdquo; plucking
+a branch.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Lustinea</i>; the country people express an oil from the
+berries for use in their lamps.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah! I perceive it is the <i>Lentiscus</i>.&rdquo; In Africa and
+the isle of Scios they make incisions in the stems, from
+which the gum mastic is procured. The Turks chew it to
+sweeten the breath. It grows also in Provence, Italy, and
+Spain.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, I sat down on a bank, casting anxious glances
+up the path after my friend, and, basking in the sun,
+finished Antoine's basket of figs, which only whetted my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+appetite, while I was endeavouring to indoctrinate Antoine
+with the persuasion that our countrymen in general are
+neither &ldquo;<i>Calvinistes</i>&rdquo; nor &ldquo;<i>Juives</i>.&rdquo; Antoine, who had
+been asking a variety of questions about &ldquo;<i>Inghilterra</i>&rdquo;
+and &ldquo;<i>Londra</i>&rdquo; was not better informed on this subject
+than a great many foreigners I have met with in Catholic
+countries, who, by the former term, class all Protestants
+with the Reformed churches of the Continent. I have
+often had to inform them, to their manifest surprise, that
+we have bishops, priests and deacons, cathedrals, choirs,
+deans and canons, vestments, creeds, liturgies and sacraments,
+in the English church, and were, in short, very
+like themselves, at least in externals. Matters of faith I
+did not feel inclined to meddle with.</p>
+
+<p>The discussion ended as we struck the level of the valley
+of the Golo, not far from Ponte Nuovo. The heat in this
+deep valley became suffocating, and the dusty high road
+was an ill exchange for the fresh mountain paths. Here,
+then, I made a decided halt, and this being the battle-field
+on which, in 1769, the French, after a desperate struggle,
+gained a decisive victory over General Paoli and the independent
+Corsicans, I had just engaged Antoine in pointing
+out the positions of the two armies, and tracing the tide
+of battle which, they say, deluged the Golo with blood and
+corpses for many miles,&mdash;when my lost companion came
+rushing down the hill-path among the rustling evergreens.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have been waiting long&mdash;excuse me; I have had
+a little adventure. That has detained me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; My friend's sketching propensities often
+led him into a &ldquo;little adventure,&rdquo; ending in a story which,
+I should almost have imagined, he coined for a peace-offering,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+but that I had chapter and verse for the main incidents.
+There was that story of his being kicked off the
+mule, and&mdash;only the evening before&mdash;his <i>rencontre</i> with
+the interesting young shepherd.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What now?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But you want your breakfast.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I should think I do.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have had mine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The deuce you have, you are luckier than I am.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Now, my dear old fellow, we will push on to Ponte
+Nuovo, and you will soon get your's. I really am very
+sorry, but I could not help it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But this is the famous battle-field, you know, and
+Antoine was just going to describe it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That will keep. We will make our <i>reconnaissance</i>
+after you have had your breakfast. As we go along, I will
+tell you how I got mine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The story shall be told as nearly as possible in my
+friend's own words.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>&ldquo;After you left me, I sat down to sketch in a little terraced
+garden, shaded by fig-trees and vines. My sketch
+was nearly finished, and I was thinking how I should
+overtake you, when a bright-eyed young maiden came
+up, and, with the childlike wonder of a race of people
+living far out of the track of sketching tourists, asked me
+&#8216;what I was doing.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;Sit down, pretty maiden, and you shall see.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She obeyed with a <i>na&iuml;ve</i> simplicity, and we soon
+prattled away, she telling me that she had never gone
+beyond the neighbouring villages, and could not understand
+how I should come so far from <i>Inghilterra</i>, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+country she had never heard of, to draw pictures of their
+wild mountains.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;Ah! you cannot comprehend how it is that I love
+your wild mountains, and children of nature like yourself.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;Will you come again?&#8217;&mdash;a question put with a
+spice of <i>espi&egrave;glerie</i> which, from some other pretty lips,
+would be rather flattering. &#8216;Yes, you will come again,
+and I shall be grown up.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;She did not seem, I found, quite pleased at being
+called &#8216;<i>mon enfant</i>&#8217; by a young stranger, though it was
+all very well from her uncle, who, I learnt, was the priest
+of the church in my sketch. Presently, away she ran,
+blushing and smiling, to tell her uncle that there was a
+traveller come from a far-off land who must be hungry,
+and who must eat and rest under their roof.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The good priest received me with much <i>empressement</i>,
+having been brought out to meet me by the little Graziella,
+as I was following the path to the cottage door.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;Ah! you are English, you are a Protestant, no
+doubt. It matters not; the stranger is welcome under
+my humble roof were he a Jew or a Turk. We are all
+brothers.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I found the priest well informed on English affairs,
+into which, and matters connected with them, we soon
+plunged. Meanwhile, Graziella, with the assistance of a
+hard-faced but kindly old crone, prepared a repast of fruits,
+eggs, coffee; and the priest brought out a bottle of wine,
+the produce of his own vineyard, which I have seldom
+found equalled. It was all very appetising. I only wished
+you were there.&rdquo;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I was just then, curiously enough, indoctrinating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+Antoine, nothing loath, with the priest's sentiment of
+universal brotherhood, a simple Gospel truth, which, overlaid
+with ecclesiastical systems, never took deep root, and
+is sadly out of vogue now-a-days. I imagine we shall
+find the Sards far more bigoted than their neighbours
+here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And you were doing your good work, fasting, while
+I feasted. It was all tempting, but I was puzzled how to
+eat my egg; there were no spoons.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why not ask for one; you were talking French?
+Had you been attempting Italian, you might have stuck
+fast. <i>Cucchiaio</i> is one of the most uncouth words in that
+beautiful language. Well I remember it being one of the
+first I had to pronounce, when, in early days, I got out of
+the line of French <i>gar&ccedil;ons</i>: <i>cuc&mdash;cucchi</i>,&mdash;give me our
+Anglo-Saxon monosyllables for such things as spoons,
+knives, and forks,&mdash;at last I blurted out <i>cucchiaio</i>, in
+all its quadrosyllabic fulness. The Rubicon was passed
+(by the way, it was on the <i>carte</i> of my route); after that
+I stuck at nothing, though for some time it was the
+<i>lingua Toscana&mdash;in bocca&mdash;Inglese</i>.&mdash;But how did you
+manage your egg?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why, it is good manners, you know, to do at Rome
+as others do, so I watched the priest. He removed the
+top, as we do, and then very nicely sipped the contents of
+the shell, which&mdash;charming Graziella! excellent <i>duenna!</i>&mdash;were
+done to a turn, just creamy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah! I perceive it was suction, a primitive idea, when
+spoons were not. Now I understand the old proverb about
+not teaching our venerable progenitors &#8216;to suck eggs.&#8217;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Old fellow, cease your banter, or I shall never get to
+the end of my story. As to the eggs, I did not manage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+mine as cleverly as the priest did his. I made a mess of
+it, bestowing good part of the yolk on my moustache, much
+to Graziella's amusement. I perceived she could hardly
+refrain from tittering. But she was soon sobered,&mdash;the
+conversation turning on the last days of Corsica&mdash;and
+tears came in her eyes. Alas! the ruthless spirit of <i>vendetta</i>
+in this wild country had cost her the lives of her
+father and brothers; and, her mother being dead, she was
+left an orphan under the care of the good priest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;Uncle, persuade him to stay, if only for another
+hour. I should like to hear more of those countries where
+there is no <i>vendetta</i>; where they plough and reap and
+dwell in safety; where fathers and brothers are not compelled
+to flee from their villages to the wild <i>m&aacute;quis</i> and
+the mountain crags.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;My pretty child, I cannot stay now. Perhaps some
+day I may return.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;<i>Addio!</i> then. <i>Evviva! Evviva!</i> In two years I
+shall be grown up, and uncle will no longer call me child,
+and you shall tell me more of lands I shall never see. But
+ah! I know it will never be. <i>Bon voyage!</i> Forget not
+the priest's home among the mountains of Corsica.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I shall not forget it. How often one says hopefully
+&#8216;I will come back,&#8217; when it would be idle ever to expect
+it; and yet I would wish to see once more the little girl
+who said, &#8216;Come, if it is but for an hour!&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I rushed down the mountain side, and found you
+scorched with a burning sun, thirsty, breakfastless,&mdash;the
+very image of the knight of the woeful countenance,&mdash;I
+all joy and fun with my morning's adventure, you perplexed,
+out of patience, hungry, and tired. I cannot help
+laughing at the contrast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XIII" id="CHAP_XIII"></a>CHAP. XIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Ponte Nuovo.&mdash;The Battle-field.&mdash;Antoine's Story.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Half an hour's walk along the high-road brought us to
+the solitary building of which we were in search. Uniting
+the character of an <i>albergo</i> and a fortified post, of which
+there are several scattered throughout the island on commanding
+spots, the loop-holed walls, with projecting angles
+for a cross-fire, and the barrack round a court within, still
+occupied by a small party of <i>gendarmes</i>, were striking
+mementos of the state of insecurity in Corsica, and what
+travelling was at no very distant period. Shut in by the
+mountains, the air of the valley is close and stifling,
+disease marked the countenances of the few inmates, and
+the barrack-room into which we climbed, with its benches
+and tables, were all miserably dirty. The promise of a
+dish of fresh trout from the Golo was a redeeming feature
+in the aspect of affairs to one who had waited long, and
+walked far, without his breakfast. But the dish reeked as
+if the Golo ran oil, and the fish were still floating in the
+unctuous stream, spite of my injunctions to the weird
+priestess of the mysteries of the cave beneath&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Senza
+olio, senza olio</i>,&rdquo; reversing the phrase in the Baron de
+Grimm's story of the Frenchman, who, having sacrificed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+his own <i>go&ucirc;t</i> to his guest's <i>penchant</i> for asparagus <i>au
+naturel</i>, on his friend's falling down in a swoon, rushed to
+the top of the staircase, shouting to his cook, &ldquo;<i>Tout &agrave;
+l'huile, tout &agrave; l'huile</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We stood on the bridge of Ponte Nuovo, just beneath
+the post, the scene of the last struggle for Corsican independence;
+and there Antoine pointed out the details. The
+Corsicans, under Pascal Paoli, having occupied the strong
+position in the Nebbio through which we had been
+rambling for the last few days, the Count de Vaux, the
+French generalissimo, concentrated his forces, amounting
+to forty-five battalions, four regiments of cavalry, and a
+powerful artillery, determined to crush Paoli's brave but
+ill-organised militia, and finish the war by a single blow.
+The French commenced the attack on the 3rd of May,
+1769. For two days it was an affair of outposts, but, on
+the 3rd, De Vaux pressed Paoli with such vigour in his
+fortified camp at Murato, that the Corsican general was
+forced to retire beyond the Golo. He established himself
+in the <i>pieve</i> of Rostino, a few miles above the bridge,
+leaving orders for Gaffori to hold the strong heights of
+Lento, while Grimaldi was to defend Canavaggia,&mdash;two
+points by which the French might penetrate into the
+interior. Bribed by French gold, Grimaldi&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Ah! il
+traditore!</i>&rdquo; exclaimed Antoine,&mdash;and Gaffori, unmindful
+of his honourable name, offered no resistance to the
+advance of the French.</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th of May, the militia left by Paoli to defend
+the passes into the valley, finding themselves unsupported,
+abandoned their posts and fled.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Down the pass we descended this morning from
+Bigorno,&rdquo; said Antoine, &ldquo;through those other gorges you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+see in the mountains, our people poured in wild confusion,
+closely pursued by the enemy. They thronged to the
+bridge. It was held by a company of Prussians, who had
+passed from the Genoese to the Corsican service; and a
+thousand Corsican militia lined the river bank. If the
+French carried the bridge, all was lost. The Prussians
+were the only regular troops in Paoli's army. They stood
+firm in their discipline. The fugitives threw themselves
+upon them, charged with the bayonet by the French in
+the rear. The Prussians had to hold their position against
+friends and foes, indiscriminately, after a vain attempt to
+rally the flying Corsicans. Unfortunately they fired into
+the mass. A cry of &#8216;Treachery!&#8217; was raised, the panic
+became general, disorder spread throughout the ranks, the
+enemy profited by it to secure their victory; the rout
+was complete, and the Corsicans scattered themselves
+among the mountains and forests. The Golo was red
+with blood, and the corpses of my countrymen, mingled
+with their enemies, floated in its current for many miles.
+It was a day of woe, a fatal day!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The feeling of nationality still lingers in Corsica, though
+without an object, without a hope. Men such as Antoine,
+the mountaineers, the shepherds,&mdash;all true-hearted Corsicans
+treasure up the traditions of former times, and, with
+the scene before his eyes, Antoine traced the action of
+Ponte Nuovo with as lively an enthusiasm, as deep an
+interest, as if it had been an affair of yesterday, in which
+he had borne a part.</p>
+
+<p>But the vision passed away. Antoine had pressing
+cares of immediate interest, to which he now gave vent.
+Here we were to part; we had an opportunity of forwarding
+our baggage to Corte by the <i>voiture</i> which daily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+passes Ponte Nuovo, and there was no further need of the
+services of Antoine and his mule. He would gladly have
+followed our steps to the extremity of Corsica&mdash;to the end
+of the world, and we were sorry to part from him. Short
+as our acquaintance was, he had become attached to us.
+Our rambles had brought us into close intimacy, and
+suited his taste.</p>
+
+<p>We sat down on the river bank, and he unbosomed his
+mind more freely than he had yet done. We learnt, on
+our first acquaintance, that he had left his country and
+sailed to foreign parts. What forced him to emigrate had
+been inferred from a fearful disclosure to which no reference
+had been since made. Now, on the eve of parting,
+he told us all his story, and opened out his hopes for the
+future. For reasons into which we did not inquire, there
+seemed to be no apprehensions as to his personal safety;
+but, lamenting the want of means and opportunity for
+bettering his condition at home, his thoughts again
+reverted to emigration. It was the best thing he could
+do; and, reminding him of the success of many of his
+neighbours from Capo Corso, who sought their fortunes
+in South America, we exhorted him not to indulge the
+indolence natural to his countrymen, but apply himself
+manfully to an enterprise for which he had many qualifications,
+and heartily wished him success.</p>
+
+<p>The point on which his story turned was, as I suspected,
+a tale of love, jealousy, revenge. He related the catastrophe
+with more than usual feeling, but without any
+seeming remorse. He was justified by the Corsican code
+of honour. The details, though simple, might be worked
+up into one of those romantic and sentimental tales for
+which Corsican life supplies abundant materials. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+neither is that my <i>r&ocirc;le</i>, nor am I willing to betray
+Antoine's confidence. My readers shall have, instead, a
+similar tale&mdash;of which, as it happens, a namesake of
+Antoine is the hero&mdash;developing the same powerful
+passions. It is not one of the stock stories borrowed from
+books which one finds repeated in writers on Corsica, but,
+I believe, from the source from which I derived it, an
+original as well as authentic tale. The scene lies at a
+village in the mountains, not far from Ponte Nuovo, our
+present halting-place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XIV" id="CHAP_XIV"></a>CHAP. XIV.</h2>
+
+<p class="chap">FILIAL DUTY, LOVE, AND REVENGE: A CORSICAN TALE.</p>
+
+
+<p>On a fine spring morning, some thirty years ago, there
+was an unusual stir in a <i>paese</i> standing near the high-road
+between Bastia and Ajaccio. The village, like most others
+in Corsica, clustered round a hill-top, and stood on the
+skirts of a deep forest, with which the eye linked it
+through intervening groves of spreading chestnut and
+other fruit-trees. It was Sunday; and, after mass, the
+whole population flocked to the market-place, a large open
+area in front of the <i>Mairie</i>, to witness one of those trials
+of skill in shooting at a mark, formerly common in Corsica
+as well as in Switzerland.</p>
+
+<p>Above the roof of the <i>Mairie</i> sprung a grim tower,
+serving at once for a prison, in which criminals were confined,
+and for the barracks of the <i>gendarmerie</i> stationed in
+that wild district. On the present occasion the target was
+set up at the foot of this tower, and all the young men of
+the village were, in turn, making a trial of skill with their
+long guns, while the old peasants stood near giving advice,
+and the village girls, ranged in <i>costume de f&ecirc;te</i> round the
+palisades inclosing the place, rewarded the most successful
+of the competitors with smiles and glances of encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>The contest had lasted for some time, and many shots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+were fired without the mark&mdash;fixed at the distance of
+about 300 paces&mdash;having been hit, when a young man,
+armed with a short Tyrolese rifle, came up to the barrier.
+He was dressed after the fashion of his fathers, but with
+great neatness. Short breeches of green velvet descended
+to the knees, and the calves of his legs were encased in
+deer-skin gaiters fastened by metal buttons. A broad belt
+of red leather girded his loins. It concealed a small pouch
+of cartridges, but the hilt of a strong dagger peeped from
+underneath the belt. His open shirt exposed to view a
+manly breast. He wore a sort of jacket of the same stuff
+as the breeches, but faced with crimson, and garnished,
+after the Spanish fashion, with a number of small silver
+studs. A high-crowned hat of black felt was cocked jantily
+on one side of his head, and a medallion of the <i>Madre dei
+Dolori</i> stuck in the band, completed the picturesque costume
+of the Corsican peasant.</p>
+
+<p>The young man, on his arrival, received a cordial welcome
+from all the competitors for the honours of the day,
+and, among the village maidens, many a bright eye beamed
+with a tender but modest delight on his manly form,
+shown to advantage in the national costume. Still he
+gave no sign of an intention to take any part in the sport
+for which they were assembled.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence, after a short interval, during which the
+firing had ceased, an old villager thus addressed him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How is it, Antonio, that you, the best marksman in
+the village, have joined us so late? The sport flags; let
+us have one of your true, unerring shots.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Excuse me, father Joachimo, I am in no humour
+to-day to partake in the gaiety of my friends.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Pressed, however, by repeated entreaties, the young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+man at last yielded, and, advancing to the barrier, and
+unloosing his rifle from the slings, took a cartridge from
+his pouch, and proceeded to charge his piece with much
+deliberation. While doing this, his eyes were fixed on a
+crevice in the tower, from which was hanging a little iron
+cage containing the mouldering remains of a human skull.
+At this spectacle his countenance changed from its usual
+ruddy hue to a mortal paleness, and tears were seen to
+fill his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Having charged his rifle, Antonio took his position in
+the attitude of firing; but, it was remarked, that in taking
+aim, he levelled the barrel higher than the mark at the
+foot of the tower. A moment of solemn silence was followed
+by a flash, a sharp crack,&mdash;and the whizzing bullet
+struck the skull in the cage. The shock brought both to
+the ground, and, at the same instant, the young man,
+quick as thought, leaped over the palisades, and, gathering
+up the fragments of skull, quickly disappeared. The spectators
+of this strange scene asked each other what it
+meant; and, in the midst of the hubbub, Joachimo, the old
+peasant who had invited Antonio to try his skill in the feat
+of arms, raised his voice to satisfy their curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My children,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;Corsican blood has not degenerated;
+of this you have witnessed a striking proof in the
+act of Antonio. The skull, which hung on the tower wall,
+was that of a man unjustly condemned to death, of a man
+whose only crime was, his having taken vengeance with
+his own hand for the insult offered his wife by an inhabitant
+of the continent. The skull was that of Antonio's father;
+and a son, a true Corsican, could not submit to having his
+father's remains dishonoured. This day he has wiped out
+the ignominy,&mdash;henceforth Antonio is an outlaw, proscribed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+by the men of law, by the French; but we Corsicans
+shall ever esteem him a man of honour and of
+courage.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The crowd then dispersed, full of admiration for the
+brave Antonio, and the event of the morning became the
+theme of the evening's conversation in all the families of
+the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Antonio, having gained the forest, rapidly
+threaded its tangled paths for nearly an hour. He then
+stopped in one of its deepest recesses, and, having keenly
+reconnoitred every avenue of approach, threw himself
+weary at the foot of a tree, and opening the handkerchief
+in which he had wrapped his father's skull, gave vent to a
+flood of tears.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, my father!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;my father! why could I
+not take vengeance on the authors of your death? why
+could I not avenge myself on the descendants of the base
+Frenchman who insulted my mother? why could I not
+wash out, in their blood, the shame that has fallen on our
+family, and embittered our existence?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At the thought of vengeance the eyes of the young
+islander flashed fire, his tears dried up, and that heart, just
+now so open to tender emotions, would have prompted him
+to plunge his dagger in the bosom of those who were the
+cause of his misery.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the fit changed; for, in the midst of this storm of
+passion, a name quivered on his lips, like the star seen in
+the drifting clouds when the tempest is raging.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madal&eacute;na!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;all is now finished between
+us;&mdash;Antonio is a bandit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Then, exercising a strong power over himself, he passed
+his hand over his forehead, as if to drive evil thoughts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+from his brain, and, unsheathing his strong dagger, dug a
+hole at the foot of the oak, in which he deposited his
+precious burthen. A cross, carved by his dagger on the
+trunk of the tree, served for a memorial of his father's
+fate:&mdash;ah! what thoughts, what sorrows, did that cross
+recall to his mind!&mdash;and, after a short prayer, he hastened
+from the spot which had witnessed his last act of filial duty.</p>
+
+<p>Wretched Antonio! a solitary outcast, abandoned by all,
+what refuge was left for you but the forest and the <i>m&aacute;quis</i>?&mdash;what
+protector, but your good rifle&mdash;what hope, but in
+the grave! Nay, another passion, another image, was
+deeply graven on his heart! Love&mdash;that divine passion,
+which ennobles a man, which gives him courage, which fills
+him with heroism&mdash;afforded him strength to survive so
+many calamities.</p>
+
+<p>Some days after these occurrences, a young maiden crept
+stealthily at early dawn from among the houses in the
+village of Allari, fifteen leagues distant from Bastia, and
+gained unseen the <i>purlieus</i> of the neighbouring wood
+before any of the villagers were abroad. The maiden's
+age was about eighteen years; her step was light, her
+form slender and graceful; health sparkled in her dark
+eyes; her enterprise lent a ruddier hue to her olive skin,
+and a profusion of raven-black tresses floated on her
+shoulders, as she brushed through the evergreen shrubbery
+on the verge of the wood, where, concealed in the
+hollow of an aged chestnut tree, a young man had been
+waiting her arrival for upwards of an hour. This young
+man was Antonio, the maiden Madal&eacute;na.</p>
+
+<p>On perceiving her approach, Antonio hastened to quit
+his hiding place, and came to meet her.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How kind you are, Madal&eacute;na,&rdquo; he said: &ldquo;you, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+rich, so young, so beautiful&mdash;to expose yourself for me to
+the cold morning air; to brave, perhaps, the anger of your
+parents, for one of whom you know so little.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is true that you told me once that you loved me;
+and love knows no obstacles, and makes nothing of distances.
+But I must not abuse your confidence. Madal&eacute;na,
+my bosom labours with a secret which I have too
+long preserved. I have done wrong; I have deceived
+you. I feared, I dreaded, that in disclosing it to you, I
+should forfeit your love, your esteem; that you would
+avoid me as the world does a man to whom society gives
+an ill name. Yes, Madal&eacute;na, you have to learn&mdash;Madal&eacute;na,
+hitherto I have not had the courage to tell it to you&mdash;learn
+that I am a....&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Antonio shrunk from giving utterance to a word which
+would probably crush all his hopes, and break the last tie
+which held him to the world. So, changing his purpose,
+he continued in an altered tone:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why should I embitter the moments which ought to
+be given to love? Is it not true, Madal&eacute;na, that you
+love me for myself? Ah! tell me that you love me, for
+there is great need that I should hear it from your own
+lips, and without this love I should be wretched indeed.
+Tell me that you do not want to know my past; that you
+love me because our hearts understand each other; because
+our two souls, breathed into us by the Author of our
+existence, were formed to love each other for ever.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Madal&eacute;na, perceiving the feebleness of her lover, took
+his hand, and fixing on him an eager gaze, made him sit
+by her side. On touching that much-loved hand, the
+young man started, and a sudden shivering ran through
+his veins. The maiden perceived it, and a gleam of satisfaction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+and almost coquetry, sparkled in her eyes. Poor
+woman's heart! Even in the most solemn moments she
+is always a coquette. Such is her nature.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Antonio,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you vow that you love me; why
+then hesitate to confide to me your secrets, your sorrows?
+Am I not some day to be your wife? I have sworn it
+before God and my mother, and I shall be. Why then
+do you defer telling me the cause of your long sufferings.
+I have long perceived that your heart is oppressed by
+some secret thought. Can it be that you are in love with
+another, Antonio? Tell me if it is so; you shall have
+my forgiveness, and I will say to the woman who is the
+choice of your heart, &#8216;Love him, for he is worthy of it!&#8217;
+And if it were required that I should shed my blood for
+your happiness, I would not hesitate a single moment to
+make the sacrifice.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, no, Madal&eacute;na, think not so! Do you suppose
+me capable of betraying you, of casting you off? I, who
+love you with a perfect love, a love as pure as that which
+makes the bliss of angels,&mdash;with which a child loves its
+mother? For one fond look from you I would brave the
+fury of men&mdash;of men and the elements. Drive this suspicion
+from your heart, and God grant that, when you
+have learnt my secret, you may continue to entertain the
+same sentiments towards me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thus speaking, Antonio drew near to the maiden, and,
+hiding his face in her hands, whispered in her ear:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madal&eacute;na, Madal&eacute;na, I am&mdash;a bandit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The young girl shrieked with terror, and fainted in his
+arms. Antonio laid her on the grass, and, having sprinkled
+her face with the fresh morning dew, knelt by her side.
+Presently, Madal&eacute;na opened her eyes, and seeing Antonio<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+kneeling, and still holding her hand, roused herself with
+a sudden effort, and, casting on him a look of mingled
+horror and scorn, said to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Leave me, Antonio, you make me shudder, your hands
+are stained with the blood of the innocent.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Antonio, crazed with love, crawled to her feet and
+wept; but having, after much difficulty, prevailed with her
+to hear him, he related to her the story of the skull, the
+only crime for which he was a bandit. After this explanation,
+Madal&eacute;na seemed to be reassured, and her lover
+awaited his final sentence from her lips in breathless suspense.
+The maiden's heart was touched by his tale, and
+observing him with an air of less severity, she said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am satisfied that you speak the truth; but I have a
+mother and father, and I think, that after this disclosure,
+I could never become your wife without abandoning them
+for ever. At this moment I am too much agitated to
+come to any decision; return to morrow, and you shall
+know my final resolve. Meanwhile, rest assured that I
+pity and love you still, considering you more unfortunate
+than guilty, and that I will either be your wife, or the
+wife of no other man.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, she hastened from the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio saw her depart without having the courage to
+address to her another word. That man so brave, who
+knew no fear, recoiled from no danger, wept like a child.
+A sad presentiment told him that it was his last meeting
+with Madal&eacute;na, though her concluding promise tended in
+some degree to reassure him.</p>
+
+<p>Madal&eacute;na shut herself up in her chamber and shed
+floods of tears&mdash;tears not of love, but of shame. For
+her&mdash;the daughter of a wealthy citizen of Ajaccio, brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+up in the manners, and tinctured with the prejudices of
+the continent, who knew nothing of the world but its
+empty phantoms, nor of love but its coquetry&mdash;it was
+disgrace to love and be loved by the son of a bandit, by
+one who was himself a bandit.</p>
+
+<p>From that day Madal&eacute;na never returned to the wood.
+Every morning the unhappy Antonio retraced his steps to
+the place of meeting, but only to have his hopes crushed.
+He was forgotten, perhaps scorned. Love, the sentiment
+of the heart, had yielded to the influence of the frivolous
+ideas of society, the conventional maxims of the world.
+This young maiden had not the courage to affirm in the
+face of all, &ldquo;I love Antonio, because he is not guilty of
+any crime; I love him because he has avenged his father,
+because he is a true son of Corsica.&rdquo; But she had not the
+spirit, the strength of mind, to say this. The Corsican
+blood had degenerated in her veins, or she would have
+felt that it was no crime for Antonio to achieve the removal
+from public view of the horrid spectacle which was
+a continual witness of shame and ignominy,&mdash;exposed by
+a relic of barbarism, called law, to the gaze and scorn of
+all who passed along the streets,&mdash;that no stain rested
+on the memory of Antonio's father, because, as a husband
+and a father, he had avenged the honour of his wife and
+his children.</p>
+
+<p>A year after these events, the whole population of the
+village of Allari was again astir. Its only bell clanged
+incessantly, and gay troops of both sexes, in holiday dress,
+flocked through the streets in the direction of the <i>Mairie</i>.
+It was a bright morning of the month of April; joy
+floated in the air, and pleasure sparkled in every eye.
+Presently, a nuptial procession was formed, and took its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+way towards the church. All eyes rested on the bride
+and bridegroom; they did not wear the Corsican dress,
+but adopted French fashions. Everything about them
+betokened wealth, and an affectation of continental manners.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the procession had entered the church, the
+streets became deserted; but a young man, who from an
+early hour had concealed himself in the cemetery, now
+glided round the church, casting anxious glances on every
+side, as if apprehensive of being discovered. His clothes,
+torn to tatters, his unshorn beard and long, dishevelled,
+hair, blood-shot eyes, and haggard countenance, betokened
+the extremity of anguish and want. His feet were naked,
+and he carried in his hand a short rifle.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the church door, and having glanced within,
+he paused for a moment, leaning against the pillar. The
+nuptial ceremony had reached the point where the minister
+of God, after pronouncing the mystic words, demands of
+the betrothed their assent to the marriage union; when,
+just as the bride was in the act of uttering the word
+which binds for ever the destinies of both, the barrel of
+the rifle, held by the man stationed at the door, was levelled,
+and the <i>fianc&eacute;e</i> fell, pierced in the breast with a mortal
+wound. The man, who fired, threw down his rifle, and,
+dashing into the church like one demented, took the dying
+woman in his arms, and cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Madal&eacute;na, you broke your troth to me; you rendered
+me desperate; we die together!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And, unsheathing his dagger, he plunged it several times
+into his breast, falling on the dying woman, who opened
+her eyes, and, recognising her lover, expired with the
+name of &ldquo;Antonio&rdquo; on her lips.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her betrothed was conveyed away by his relations, and
+the recollection of this terrible scene disturbed for a long
+while the tranquillity of the village. The church in which
+it took place was, after the catastrophe, stripped of all its
+sacred ornaments, and left to decay. Its ruins may still
+be seen on a point of rising ground, and, if an inquiring
+traveller takes a turn behind the church, he will find in
+the cemetery, on the spot where Antonio was concealed, a
+grave-stone inscribed with the names of Madal&eacute;na and
+Antonio, surmounted by a rude representation of a rifle
+and a dagger.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XV" id="CHAP_XV"></a>CHAP. XV.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Morosaglia, Seat of the Paolis.&mdash;Higher Valley of the Golo.&mdash;Orography
+of Corsica.&mdash;Its Geology</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>On crossing to the right bank of the Golo at <i>Ponte Nuovo</i>,
+we enter the canton of Morosaglia, the former <i>pi&egrave;ve</i> of Rostino,
+and the home of the Paoli family. The canton takes
+its present name from a Franciscan convent, still standing,
+and part of it used as an elementary school, founded by
+the will of Pascal Paoli.</p>
+
+<p>It is about two hours' walk from Ponte Nuovo to the
+hamlet in which the Paolis were born. The house is one
+of those gaunt, misshapen, rude structures, built of rough
+stones, and blackened by age, which one sees everywhere
+in the mountain villages; without even glass to the windows.
+Standing on the craggy summit of an insulated rock, the
+access to it is by a rough wooden staircase. Here Pascal
+Paoli resided, as a simple citizen, after the manner of his
+fathers, polished as his manners were, and highly as he
+was accomplished, after he had attained to almost sovereign
+power. The rooms are so small that he transacted
+public business in the neighbouring convent of Morosaglia.</p>
+
+<p>There also his brother, Clemente Paoli, had a cell to
+which he often retired. His was a singular character. Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+a saturnine cast of disposition, he seldom spoke to those
+by whom he was surrounded; a great part of his time was
+spent in religious observances, and in the practice of the
+most rigid austerities. In short, he was the monk when
+at home, and the most intrepid warrior when engaged
+with the enemy of his country. The sanctity of his
+private life procured him singular veneration, and his
+presence in battle produced a wonderful effect on the
+patriots. Even when pulling the trigger to destroy his
+enemy, he is said to have prayed for the soul of his falling
+antagonist.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> After the fatal field of Ponte Nuovo, declining
+to follow his brother to England, he spent twenty years in
+prayer and penance in the Benedictine Abbey of Vallombrosa,
+that shady and sequestered retreat in the heart of
+the Apennines, returning to his native Corsica only to
+die. Such was Clemente Paoli. Of his brother Pasquale,
+a fitting place for some more extended notice will be found
+at Corte, the seat of his island throne.</p>
+
+<p>The country on the right bank of the river is rugged;
+rude <i>pa&eacute;se</i> crown the heights, and the hollows are shrouded
+in magnificent chestnut woods. The mountains seen from
+beyond Bigorno shut in the valley of the Golo so closely
+in some places, that it is a mere defile giving passage to
+the river and the road. The river is a torrent, and the
+valley is ascended at a sharp angle. At <i>Ponte &agrave; la Leccia</i>,
+we recrossed to the left bank of the river; the valley
+expanded, and there was much cultivated land, though
+the soil was poor. Rounded hills in the foreground were
+backed by a serrated range of mountains, Monte Rotondo
+being just visible.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Approaching now, through the high valleys, the central
+region of the mountain system of Corsica, this may be a
+proper place for a brief survey of the main features in its
+orography and geological structure. We have hitherto
+spoken of a central chain and its ramifications in a loose
+manner; but it would be desirable to convey more precise
+ideas of the structure of this mountain island; and, as the
+system happens to be very simple and intelligible, it
+affords an example, on a small scale, which may give the
+unscientific reader a general idea of the nature of grander
+operations. Having traversed the island from north to
+south, and from east to west, not without an eye to its
+general structure and composition, though making no
+pretensions to exact scientific knowledge, I may be able to
+furnish a not unfaithful digest of the observations of the
+foreign geologists <i>Elie de Beaumont</i>, <i>Raynaud</i>, <i>Gueymard</i>
+and others, as I find them quoted in Marmocchi's work.</p>
+
+
+<p class="title">OROGRAPHY OF CORSICA.</p>
+
+<p>At first sight, Corsica presents the aspect of a chaos of
+mountains piled one on another, with their escarped sides
+rising from the sea to great elevations; but on a closer
+examination, and with the assistance of an accurate map,
+it is soon perceived that these mountains, apparently
+heaped up in wild confusion, are distinctly arranged in
+three principal directions,&mdash;from north-east to south-west,
+from north-west to south-east, and from north to south.</p>
+
+<p>The point which forms the main link of the whole
+system lies high, near the snowy sources of the Golo. This
+elevated part of the island, with the districts immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+surrounding it,&mdash;an Alpine and forest region in which
+the principal rivers and streams take their rise,&mdash;this
+region so sublime in its vast solitudes, so poetic, so
+savagely wild, so picturesque,&mdash;may be called the Switzerland
+of Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>From this central link two great chains, forming, so to
+speak, the backbone of the island, diverge in opposite
+directions. One section, tending to the south-east, traverses
+the centre of the island, where the Monte Rotondo
+and Monte d'Oro lift to the skies their ever snowy
+peaks, and terminates at the Monte Incudine. This high
+chain throws out its longest branches to the south-west,
+each of them forming at its extremity a lofty promontory
+washed by the Mediterranean, and the successive ridges
+inclosing delightful and fertile valleys.</p>
+
+<p>The other section of the central chain describes a curved
+line to the north-north-east, as far as Monte Grosso; and,
+over the Bevinco, links itself with the system of Capo
+Corso by the offsets of Monte Antonio and San Leonardo,
+by which latter <i>col</i> we crossed the ridge on the evening of
+our landing in Corsica. The spurs from this second chain
+take, in general, a north-west direction towards the sea.
+Less considerable than those connected with the first, they
+inclose narrower valleys, and form promontories less
+<i>saillants</i>, and of inferior elevation on the western coast.</p>
+
+<p>The mountains of Capo Corso, extending in a chain
+nearly north and south, at a short distance from the east
+coast, form the third orographic division of the island;
+this chain, as observed in a former chapter, being cut by
+deep valleys of short extent, the channels of torrents discharging
+themselves into the Tuscan Sea.</p>
+
+<p>Between this long chain, extending from Monte Antonio<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+to Monte Incudine, and the tortuous ranges detached
+obliquely from it, lies a central area equal in surface to a
+fifth part of the whole island of which it forms the heart&mdash;the
+interior. The general inclination of this area, with
+the openings of the valleys, tends to the east. It does not
+form one single bason, but, intersected as it is in various
+directions by secondary ranges, and by mountains linking
+the principal chain, its <i>contour</i> is composed of a series of
+deep and generally narrow valleys, rising one above the
+other. The grandest as well as the most elevated of these
+basons is that of the <i>Niolo</i>, the citadel of Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>These lofty mountain chains, with the numerous ramifications
+detached from them, and extending in all directions,
+render the communications between one place and
+another, between the coasts on opposite sides of the island,
+extremely difficult. The passage from the western to the
+eastern shore can only be effected by climbing to great
+elevations, through long and narrow gorges, through deep
+ravines of savage aspect, and covered with dense forests.
+The Corsicans give a lively idea of some of these toilsome
+paths by calling them <i>scale</i>,&mdash;ladders, staircases;&mdash;and
+such, indeed, they are, the steps, often prolonged for miles,
+being partly the work of Nature, partly cut in the rock by
+the hand of man.</p>
+
+
+<p class="title">GEOLOGY OF CORSICA.</p>
+
+<p>In the present state of science there can be no difficulty
+in ascribing the origin of the three great lines of the
+Corsican mountains, to which all the others are subordinate,
+to three vast upheavings of the soil in the direction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+they take. The order of these elevations above the surface
+of the ancient sea thrice repeated in the long series
+of past ages, giving the first existence to the island, and
+by successive conglomerations shaping its present bold
+and irregular profile, may be also distinctly traced.</p>
+
+<p>The masses first raised to the surface of the sea, supposed
+to be of igneous origin, lifted by the intense action
+of fire or subterranean heat from vast depths, and called
+by English geologists &ldquo;Plutonic rocks,&rdquo; as differing from
+&ldquo;Volcanic,&rdquo;&mdash;these masses constitute nearly the whole
+south-western coast of Corsica, one half of the whole
+island.</p>
+
+<p>If an ideal line be drawn diagonally from a point so far
+north-west as Cape <i>Revellata</i>, near Calvi, to the point of
+<i>Araso</i>, far down the south-east coast near Porto Vecchio,
+this primary eruption may be traced in the several ranges,
+perpendicular to the ideal line and parallel with each
+other, which descending to the sea in the direction of from
+north-east to south-west, terminate in the principal promontories
+on the western coast, and form the numerous
+valleys which appear in succession from the Straits of
+Bonifacio to the Gulf of Porto.</p>
+
+<p>Thus at the earliest epoch the principal axis of the
+island had its direction from the north-west to the south-east.
+The Capo Corso of those times lifted its head above
+the Sea of Calvi, and who can say how far the island
+extended at the opposite extremity? All we know is, that
+the group of rocky islets called the <i>Isole Cerbicale</i>, south-west
+of Porto Vecchio, with the <i>Isola du Cavallo</i>, and that
+<i>Di Lavazzi</i> off the coast at Bonifacio; and again, the islets
+<i>Die Razzoli</i> and <i>Budelli</i> on the opposite side of the
+Straits, with the larger islands of <i>La Madal&eacute;na</i> and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+<i>Caprera</i>, all of a similar formation with the primary
+Corsican range,&mdash;like detached fragments of some vast
+ruined structure,&mdash;appear to form the links of a chain
+which united Corsica with the mountain system of the
+north-eastern portion of the island of Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>These primitive masses are almost entirely granitic; and
+thus, at the epoch of its first emergence from the waters
+of the Mediterranean, no spark of animal or vegetable life
+existed in the new island.</p>
+
+<p>So also one half of the masses raised by the <i>second</i>
+upheaval, having the same general direction, are granitic.
+But, as we advance towards the north-east, the granites
+insensibly resolve themselves into <i>ophiolitic</i> rocks,&mdash;a
+name given by French geologists to certain volcanic eruptions
+of the cretaceous era,&mdash;which are also found in the
+Morea.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> There are but few traces remaining of this
+second upheaval, which evidently laid in ruins great part
+of the northern extremity of the former one, cutting it at
+right angles to the east of the Gulf of Porto. This line,
+ranging from the south-west to the north-east into the
+heart of the <i>Nebbio</i>, is broken up and destroyed through
+nearly its whole length.</p>
+
+<p>The disorder and ruin of these several points of the
+original system, and the almost total destruction of its
+northern part, were undoubtedly caused by the <i>third</i> and
+last upheaval which gave the island the form it presents
+at the present day. Its direction was from north to
+south, and so long as the mass then raised did not come in
+contact with the land created by former upheavals, it preserved
+its regular line, as we find in the mountain-chain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+of Capo Corso. But when, on emerging above the surface
+of the sea, this mass had to overcome at its southern
+extremity the resistance of the primary rocks upheaved
+long before, and now become hard and consolidated,&mdash;in
+that terrible shock, on the one hand, it changed, crushed,
+or ruined all that obstructed its progress, while, on the
+other, it varied its own direction and was itself broken up
+in many places, as appears from the openings of the valleys
+communicating from the interior with the plains of the
+eastern littoral and giving a passage to the torrents which
+fall into the sea on this coast,&mdash;the Bevinco, the Golo, the
+Tavignano, the Fiumorbo.</p>
+
+<p>The fundamental rocks brought up by this third and
+last upheaval are ophiolitic, and metamorphic, or primary,
+limestone, overlaid in some places by secondary formations.
+&ldquo;The granites on the west, as well as the south,
+of the island include some beds of <i>gneiss</i> and <i>schistes</i> at
+their extremities.&rdquo;&mdash;(<i>Gueymard</i>). Almost everywhere the
+granite is covered&mdash;an evident proof that the epoch of its
+eruption preceded that when the deposits were formed in
+the depths of the sea, and deposited in horizontal strata
+on the crystalline masses of the granite.</p>
+
+<p>Masses of euritic and porphyritic rocks intersect the
+granites, and a distinct formation of porphyries crowns
+Monte Cinto, Vagliorba, and Pertusato, the highest summits
+of the <i>Niolo</i>, covering the granite. These porphyries
+are pierced by greenstone two or three feet thick, and the
+granites are intersected by numerous veins of amphibolite
+(hornblende) and greenstone, generally running from east
+to west.</p>
+
+<p>Transition rocks, as they are called, occupy the whole
+of Capo Corso and the east of the island. They consist of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+talcose-schiste, bluish-grey limestone, talc in beds, serpentine,
+black marble similar to the oldest in the Alps, quartz,
+feldspar, and porphyries.</p>
+
+<p>The tertiary strata are only found at certain points in
+isolated fragments. One of these occupies the bottom of
+the Gulf of San Fiorenzo and part of its eastern shore.
+There the beds rest with a strong inclination against the
+lower declivities of the chain of Capo Corso, rising from
+upwards of 600 to 900 feet above the level of the Mediterranean,&mdash;a
+distinct proof that their formation at
+the bottom of the sea was anterior to the upheaval of that
+chain, and of the whole system of mountains having their
+direction north and south.</p>
+
+<p>In the deep escarped valleys between San Fiorenzo and
+the tower of <i>Farinole</i>, the tertiary deposits are seen in
+successive layers forming beds which in some places are
+in the aggregate from 400 to 500 feet thick, and the calcareous
+beds contain great quantities of fossil remains of
+marine animals of low organisation, such as sea-urchins,
+pectens, and other shells; forming a compact mass, of
+which the greater part of the formation consists. The
+singular phenomenon of the presence of rounded boulders
+of euritic porphyry, resembling that of the <i>Niolo</i>, embedded
+in these strata, proves to a certainty that at an
+epoch anterior to the upheaval of the system running
+north and south, and of the mountains of <i>La Tenda</i>
+depending on it, the high valleys of the present bason of
+the Golo, and especially that of the Golo, were prolonged
+to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>second</i> tertiary deposit exists near <i>Volpajola</i>, on the
+left bank of the Golo, nearly eight miles from the eastern
+coast. The beds lying horizontally are full of shells.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We find a third fragment of a tertiary formation on the
+part of the <i>littorale</i> stretching from the mouth of the
+Alistro to that of the Fiumorbo, in the middle of which
+stood the ancient city of Aleria. In some places these
+beds have been lifted without any sensible alteration of
+their original form of deposit in horizontal strata, and
+throughout they bear a close resemblance to the tertiary
+formation of San Fiorenzo.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>fourth</i>, and more striking, example of the same
+formation is exhibited at the southern extremity of the
+island. There we find an horizontal <i>plateau</i> from 200
+to 300 feet high between the Gulf of Sta-Manza and Bonifacio.
+The promontory on which that town and fortress
+stands, and the whole adjoining coast along the straits,
+present exactly the same appearances as the white chalk
+cliffs of Dover; and at the <i>Cala di Canetta</i> these calcareous
+rocks rise <i>&agrave; pic</i> over the sea 150 and 200 feet. There is a
+perfect analogy between this formation and those of San
+Fiorenzo and the Fiumorbo already mentioned. Only, this
+last contains a much greater variety of fossil remains, both
+animal and vegetable, consisting of lignites, oyster-shells,
+large pectens, operculites, and fragments of sea-urchins,
+polypi, &amp;c. We shall have an opportunity of mentioning
+hereafter the curious caverns worn in the soft calcareous
+rock by the force of the waves lashing this coast with so
+much violence in the storms to which the Straits of Bonifacio
+are exposed.</p>
+
+<p>Coming now to the alluvial deposits, we find them
+extending over the great plains on the eastern coast of the
+island, the <i>littorale</i> mentioned in an early chapter of this
+work. The plain of Biguglia, for instance, was formed by
+one of those vast inundations which have received the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+name of diluvial currents, and swept away a great number
+of species of animals. In fact, we find traces of one of
+these inundations in a breccia formed of the fossil bones
+of animals in the hills near Bastia. Among these fossil
+bones Cuvier has remarked the head of a <i>lagomys</i>, a
+little hare without any tail,&mdash;a species still existing in
+Siberia.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> It would too much lengthen these remarks
+were we to enter on an inquiry into the age and character
+of these osseous breccia, but the curious reader
+is referred to Lyell's &ldquo;Elements&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> for some interesting
+observations on fossil mammalia found in alluvial deposits
+alternating with breccia. We are not aware, however,
+that the hills near Bastia are connected with volcanic
+action as those of Auvergne, to which Mr. Lyell refers.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, in concluding this notice of Corsican geology,
+we have only to remark that, although Corsica has no
+existing volcanoes, it would appear, from fragments preserved
+in the cabinets of Natural History, that, here and
+there, a few rare traces of extinct volcanoes of very ancient
+date have been discovered, in the neighbourhood of Porto
+Vecchio, Aleria, Cape Balistro, in the Gulf of Sta Manza,
+and some other places.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XVI" id="CHAP_XVI"></a>CHAP. XVI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Approach to Corte.&mdash;Our &ldquo;Man of the Woods.&rdquo;&mdash;Casa Paoli.&mdash;The
+Gaffori.&mdash;Citadel.&mdash;An Evening Stroll.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>At Ponte Francardo we left the valley of the Golo, and
+followed up a stream tributary to it, among hills and
+woods; being now on the outskirts of one of the great
+forest districts of Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>When mounting the last hill in the approach to Corte
+we were joined by an inhabitant of the town, who at first
+seemed disposed to amuse himself at our expense. He
+was surprised, as we afterwards found, at meeting two
+foreigners of somewhat rough exterior, without baggage
+or attendance, engaged on rather a forlorn enterprise. He
+told us that not very long before he had met an Englishman
+under similar circumstances, and related some ridiculous
+stories respecting him. But as I do not believe that
+any of our countrymen have been recently tourists in Corsica,
+I am disposed to think that the person he made his
+butt was a German traveller,&mdash;a mistake we have often
+found occurring in our own case in remote parts of the
+Continent. We got, however, into conversation, and it
+turning on forests,&mdash;a subject on which we happened to be
+rather at home,&mdash;finding us to be practical people, and,
+much as we admired his wild country, not inclined to over-indulgence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+in sentiment and romance, he altered his tone,
+and even went into the opposite extreme of supposing
+that our journey was connected with a speculation in
+timber. That being his hobby, we soon became great
+friends. He informed us that he possessed some large
+tracts of forest, which he should be happy to show us,
+and our &ldquo;man of the woods&rdquo; not only performed his promise,
+but, being a person of considerable intelligence,
+gave us much valuable information, and rendered us many
+services during our stay in Corte.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/157.jpg" width="700" height="421" alt="CORTE." title="CORTE." />
+<p class="caption">CORTE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The approach to Corte on this side is sufficiently striking,
+though not so picturesque as from the point of view on the
+road to Ajaccio, from which my friend's sketch, lithographed
+for this work, was taken. After winding up along
+a steep ascent, the town suddenly burst on our sight from
+the summit of the ridge. Its position is admirable. Seated
+nearly in the centre of the island, in the heart of the
+elevated <i>plateau</i> described in the preceding chapter, and
+surrounded by lofty mountains, the passes of which admit
+of being easily defended, with a bold insulated rock for the
+base of its almost impregnable fortress, the houses of the
+town clustering round it, and, beneath, a valley of exuberant
+fertility, watered by two rivers, having their confluence
+just above, it seems formed to be the capital of an island-kingdom,
+of a nation of mountaineers. Such it was under
+the government of Pascal Paoli, and during the earlier
+period of the English occupation.</p>
+
+<p>We entered the town by the Corso, its modern <i>boulevard</i>,&mdash;a
+long avenue planted with trees. This and a suburb
+beyond the castle, built down the slope of the hill towards
+the bridge over the Tavignano, are the only regular streets
+in the place. Roomy and well-furnished apartments were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+found at the Hotel Paoli on the Corso, where we met with
+most kind treatment and excellent fare. My notes mention
+the mutton and trout as being of superior flavour, and
+a very good red wine of the country. The <i>confitures</i>&mdash;of
+which an <i>armoire</i> in the <i>salle &agrave; manger</i> contained great
+store, the pride of our hostess, and the perfection of her
+art&mdash;were delicious, especially one composed of slices of
+pear and other fruits, larded with walnuts, and preserved
+in a syrup of rich grape-juice. The coffee, of course, was
+excellent. Tea we found nowhere, except from our own
+packets, and made, much to the general amusement, in
+the coffee-pot we improvised at Bastia.</p>
+
+<p>True to his appointment, our &ldquo;man of the woods&rdquo;
+called upon us after we had dined, and accompanied us to
+the principal <i>caf&eacute;</i>. It was noisy and disorderly, and we
+soon adjourned to the hotel and spent the evening in very
+interesting conversation. An excursion to his forest was
+arranged. He told us that it abounded in game; but it
+was mortifying to find that it was out of his power to
+afford us any sport, the prohibition to carry fire-arms
+being so rigorously enforced that no relaxation was allowed
+in favour of anyone. So the <i>chasse</i> was deferred till we
+landed in Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning was devoted to a survey of the town.
+The houses and churches are mean, the only objects of
+interest being the Casa Paoli and the citadel. The house
+inhabited by Pascal Paoli, when Corte was the seat of
+his government, is but little changed, though converted
+into a college founded by the general's will. It has an
+air of rude simplicity. There is still the homely cabinet
+in which he wrote, his library, and a laboratory. The
+library contained about a score of English books; but we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+did not discover among them any of those presented by
+Boswell. In the <i>salle</i> are some second-rate paintings presented
+by Cardinal Fesch. The college did not seem
+to be flourishing. Perhaps the most curious thing in the
+house are some remains of the supports of a canopy for a
+throne, which tradition says Pascal Paoli caused to be
+erected in the <i>salle</i> on an occasion when his council of
+state met, the canopy being surmounted by a crown. If
+Paoli affected royalty, he received no encouragement from
+his council, and never sat on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly opposite is an old house formerly belonging to
+Gaffori, one of the patriot leaders during the Genoese wars.
+Assaulted by the enemy during the general's absence, his
+heroic wife, with the help of a few adherents, barricaded
+the doors and windows, and, herself, gun in hand, made
+such a stout resistance, rejecting all terms of capitulation,
+and threatening to blow it up and bury herself in the
+ruins rather than submit, that she held it for several days
+against all attacks, until her husband brought a strong
+force to rescue her. The shot-holes made in the walls by
+the fire of the assailants are still pointed out.</p>
+
+<p>There is another story connected with the Gaffori family,
+which the inhabitants of Corte relate with great pride.
+During the War of Independence, the general's son was
+carried off by the Genoese and imprisoned in the citadel
+of Corte, which they then held. Assaulted by the Corsicans
+with great vigour, the Genoese had the inhumanity
+to suspend the boy from an embrasure where
+the enemy's fire was the hottest. At this spectacle the
+assailants paused in their attack, till the general ordered
+them to continue their fire. Renucci, who works up the
+story in his usual florid style, makes Gaffori exclaim, &ldquo;<i>Pera<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+il figlio; pera la mia famiglia tutta, e trionfi la causa della
+patria.</i>&rdquo; I prefer the version given me by a native of
+Corte, whose father was an eye-witness of the scene:&mdash;&ldquo;<i>J'&eacute;tais
+citoyen avant que je n'&eacute;tais p&egrave;re.</i>&rdquo; We shuddered
+as we looked up from below at the battlement from
+which the child was suspended. The fire was renewed
+with still more vigour; but the child marvellously escaped,
+and the garrison was forced to surrender.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>permis</i> to visit the castle having been obtained from
+the French commandant, we climbed the rocky ascent by
+corkscrew steps. At present, the whole area of the rock
+is embraced by the fortifications which at different periods
+have grown round the massive citadel on its summit,
+founded by Vincintello d'Istria in the fifteenth century.
+Recently the French have cleared away some old houses
+within the <i>enceinte</i> to strengthen the works.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What can be the use,&rdquo; I said to our conductor, &ldquo;of
+strengthening this place now?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Chi s&agrave;?</i>&rdquo; was the short reply. Our friend, like many
+other Corsicans we met with, still nourished the visionary
+hopes which had caused his country so much blood and
+misery during her long and fruitless struggles for a national
+independence.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>L&agrave;</i>,&rdquo; said he, pointing to the <i>grille</i> of a dungeon,
+&ldquo;<i>mon p&egrave;re &eacute;tait prisonnier.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>On going our rounds, we came to the platform of a
+bastion formed on the site of some of the demolished
+houses.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; he said, with emotion, planting his stick on a
+particular spot, &ldquo;my mother gave me birth. Here we
+lived twenty-five years. She used to talk of the English
+red-coats and the house of King George.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It is now the residence of the family of Arrhigi, Duc de
+Padoue, and contains a portrait of Madame Buonaparte,
+Napoleon's mother, and several pictures connected with
+the events of the emperor's life.</p>
+
+<p>One of the sketches in my friend's portfolio was taken
+in the recess of a bastion, and it required some man&#339;uvring
+to interpose our Corsican friend's portly person between
+the sketcher and the French sentry, as he passed and repassed&mdash;an
+office which our patriotic guide performed
+with much satisfaction&mdash;while a liberty was taken contrary
+to the rules of fortified places.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/161.jpg" width="500" height="386" alt="CITADEL OF CORTE." title="CITADEL OF CORTE." />
+<p class="caption">CITADEL OF CORTE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The view from the top of the citadel, the centre of so
+magnificent a panorama, may be well imagined. We now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+commanded the confluence of the two rivers, the Tavignano
+and the Restonica, beneath the walls, the eye tracing up
+the torrents to the gorges from which they rushed, while
+the details of the town, the gardens, and vineyards, and
+the ruined convents on the neighbouring hills, were
+brought distinctly under view; and the mountains towered
+above our heads, fitting bulwarks of the island capital.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening we strolled down the eastern suburb,
+and, crossing the bridge over the Tavignano, rambled on
+to the hill above, and the ruins of the Franciscan convent
+where Paoli assembled the legislative assembly, and in
+which the Anglo-Corsican parliament met while Corsica
+was united to England. The lithographic sketch of Corte
+was taken from beyond the bridge. Faithful as it is, one
+feels that neither pen nor pencil can do justice to such
+a scene. Art fails to lend the colouring of the tawny-orange
+vines, the pale-green olive-trees, the warm evening
+tints glowing on the purple hills, the mass of shade on the
+mountain sides first buried in twilight, the grey rocks, and,
+far away, a&#275;rial peaks vanishing in distance.</p>
+
+<p>A pleasant thing is the evening stroll on the outskirts
+of town or village, where life offers so much novelty.
+How graceful the forms of those girls at the fountain,
+dipping their pitchers of antique form and a glossy green!
+Poising them on their heads with one arm raised, how
+lightly they trip back to the town, laughing and talking
+in the sweetest of tongues&mdash;sweet in their mouths even in
+its insular dialect!</p>
+
+<p>A lazy Corsican is leading a goat, scarcely more bearded
+and shaggy than its owner. Others, still lazier, and wrapped
+in the rough <i>pelone</i> hanging from their shoulders like an
+Irishman's frieze coat, bestride diminutive mules, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+their wives trudge by the side, carrying burdens of firewood
+or vegetables on their heads and shoulders. Waggons,
+drawn by oxen and loaded with wine-casks, slowly
+creak along the road.</p>
+
+<p>It is dusk as we lounge up the suburb, and the rude
+houses piled up round the base of the citadel look gloomier
+than ever. Light from a blazing pine-torch flashes from
+the door of a <i>cave</i>; it is a wine vault. The owner welcomes
+us to its dark recesses. Smeared with the juice of
+the ruddy grape, he is a very priest of Bacchus; but the
+processes carried on in his cave are only initiatory to the
+orgies. Here are vats filled with the new-pressed juice;
+there vats in the various stages of fermentation. Jolly,
+as becomes his profession, he gives us to taste the sweet
+must and drink the purer extract. He explains the process,
+and tells us that the vintage is a fair average, though
+the vine disease, the o&iuml;dion, has penetrated even into these
+mountains. <i>Evoe Bacche!</i> The fumes of the reeking
+cave mount to our heads, the floor is slippery with the
+lees and trodden vine-leaves. We reel to the door, glad
+to breathe a fresher atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>Calling at the <i>caf&eacute;</i> on the Corso, not from choice but
+by appointment with our &ldquo;man of the woods,&rdquo; we find it,
+as before, dirty, disorderly, and noisy. Where, we ask ourselves,
+are the gentlemen of Corte? But what has any one,
+above the classes who toil for a livelihood, to do in Corte,
+except to lounge the long day under the melancholy elms
+in the Corso, and wile away the evenings by petty gambling
+in its wretched <i>caf&eacute;s</i>?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XVII" id="CHAP_XVII"></a>CHAP. XVII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Pascal Paoli more honoured than Napoleon Buonaparte.&mdash;His
+Memoirs.&mdash;George III. King of Corsica.&mdash;Remarks on
+the Union.&mdash;Paoli's Death and Tomb.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>The suppression of brigandage, security for life and property,
+the stains of blood washed from the soil, the shame
+in the face of Europe wiped out,&mdash;these are signal benefits
+which claim from the Corsicans a warmer homage to the
+younger Napoleon than they ever paid to the first of that
+name. Not even the honour of having given an emperor
+to France, a conqueror to continental Europe, enlisted
+the sympathies, the enthusiasm, of the islanders in the
+wonderful career of their illustrious countryman. A party,
+a faction, the Salicete, the Arena, the Bacchiochi, the
+Abatucci, rallied round him in the first steps of his political
+life, and the Cervoni, the Sebastiani, soldiers of fortune,
+of the true Corsican stamp, fought his battles, and were
+richly rewarded. Some of his countrymen, to their honour,
+adhered to him to the end, sharing his exile in St. Helena.
+But the great emperor was never popular in his own
+country; he neither loved, nor was beloved by, his own
+people. He did nothing for them, as before remarked,
+but construct the great national roads; and that was purely
+a military measure. He left them&mdash;designedly, it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+seem&mdash;to cut one another's throats, and despised them
+for their barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>Pascal Paoli was, and ever will be, the popular hero of
+the Corsicans. He fought their last battles for the national
+independence; moulded their wild aspirations for liberty
+and self-government into a constitutional form; administered
+affairs unselfishly, purely, justly; encouraged industry,
+and checked outrage. He was a man of the people,
+one of themselves, and he never forgot it; nor have they.</p>
+
+<p>In an Englishman's eyes, Pascal Paoli has the additional
+merit of having conceived a just idea of the advantage his
+country would derive from the closest union with the only
+European power under whose protection a weak State
+struggling for freedom could hope for repose. He did
+homage to our principles, and the public feeling was with
+him in England as well as in Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>A work on Corsica that did not tell of banditti, that did
+not speak of Pascal Paoli, would fail in the two points
+with which the name of this island is instinctively associated.
+References to the great Corsican chief have repeatedly
+occurred in these Rambles, connected with
+localities, and may again. We have visited his birthplace,
+the scenes of his last campaign and disastrous defeat, and
+now the seat of his government, Corte. We must not
+leave it, though impatient to proceed on our journey and
+by no means wishing to fill our pages with extraneous
+matter, till we have linked together our desultory notices
+by a summary review of the principal occurrences in Pascal
+Paoli's remarkable life, and of the strange event which
+terminated his political career,&mdash;the creation of an Anglo-Corsican
+kingdom united for a time to the British Crown.</p>
+
+<p>Pascal (Pasquale) Paoli was born at Rostino on the 25th<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+of April, 1725, being the second son of Giacinto Paoli,
+one of the leaders of the Corsican people in their last great
+struggle against the tyranny of the Genoese. Compelled
+by the course of events to retire to Naples in 1739,
+Giacinto Paoli was accompanied by his son Pascal,
+who, inheriting his father's talents and patriotism, there
+received a finished education, both civil and military.
+Being much about the court, the young Corsican acquired,
+with high accomplishments, those polished manners for
+which he was afterwards distinguished; and he held a
+commission in a regiment of cavalry, in which he did good
+service in Calabria.</p>
+
+<p>Recalled to Corsica in 1755, at the early age of thirty,
+to take the supreme management of affairs in consequence
+of the divisions prevailing among the patriot leaders, the
+expulsion of the Genoese became his first duty; and he
+soon succeeded, at least, in freeing the interior of the
+island, and confining their occupation to the narrow limits
+of the fortified towns on the coasts. His next step was to
+remodel, or rather to create, the civil government; and
+in so doing he introduced an admirable form of a representative
+constitution, founded as far as possible on the
+old Corsican institutions. It was, in fact, a republic, of
+which Pascal Paoli was the chief magistrate, and commander
+of the forces. One of the earliest acts of his
+administration was a severe law for the suppression of the
+bloody practice of the <i>vendetta</i>, followed in course of time
+by measures for the encouragement of agriculture, and by
+the foundation of a university at Corte. The necessity of
+meeting the Genoese on their own element led him to get together
+and equip a small squadron of ships, no country being
+better fitted than Corsica, from its position and resources,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+to acquire some share of naval power in the Mediterranean.
+With this squadron, after repulsing the Genoese fleet, he
+landed a body of troops in the island of Capraja, lying off
+the coast of Corsica, and succeeded in wresting it from the
+Republic.</p>
+
+<p>Intestine divisions had always been the bane of Corsican
+independence, and even Paoli's just and popular administration
+could not escape the rivalry of Emanuel Matra, a
+man of ancient family and great power, who became jealous
+of Paoli's pre-eminence. All attempts at conciliation on
+the part of Paoli proving useless, Matra and his adherents
+rose in arms, and, calling the Genoese to their aid, it was
+only after a long and bloody struggle, and some sharp
+defeats, that Paoli and the Nationals were able to crush the
+insurrection; Matra falling, after fighting desperately, in
+the battle which terminated the war.</p>
+
+<p>Pascal Paoli, being now firmly seated in power, and the
+island, settled under a regular form of government, growing
+in strength, the Genoese found themselves unequal to cope
+with a brave and united people. After some further
+ineffectual attempts, they once more applied to France for
+succour, and engaged her to occupy the strong places in
+the island, as she had already done from 1737 to 1741.
+French troops accordingly, landing in Corsica, established
+a footing which has never been relinquished, except during
+the short period of English occupation. But by the Treaty
+of Compiegne, signed before the expedition sailed (1764),
+the French limited their support of the Genoese to a term
+of four years. During that period they maintained a
+strict neutrality towards the Corsican Nationals, confining
+themselves to the limits of their occupation. Their generals
+maintained harmonious relations with Pascal Paoli, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+the Genoese power in the island having shrunk to nothing,
+the patriots had the entire possession of the country, except
+the fortified places, and the Commonwealth flourished
+under the firm and active administration of its wise chief.
+It was at this time that James Boswell visited the island.
+Residing some time with General Paoli, and admitted to
+familiar intercourse with him, he collected the materials
+from which he afterwards compiled &ldquo;An Account of Corsica,
+and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli,&rdquo; published in London
+in 1767,&mdash;a work, the details of which are only equalled
+by his <i>Johnsoniana</i> for their minute and vivid portraiture
+of his hero's life, opinions, character, and habits. The
+&ldquo;Account of Corsica&rdquo; has been the standard, indeed the
+only English, work relating to that island from that day
+to the present.</p>
+
+<p>The time fixed by the Treaty of Compiegne for the
+evacuation of Corsica by the French troops was on the
+point of expiring. They had already withdrawn from
+Ajaccio and Calvi, when the Genoese, finding themselves
+utterly incapable of retaining possession of the island,
+offered to cede their rights to the king of France. This
+was in 1768. The Duc de Choiseul, the minister of
+Louis XV., lent a willing ear to a proposal which opened
+the way to the conquest of Corsica&mdash;a prize, from its
+situation, its forests, its fertility, worthy the ambition of
+the <i>Grand Monarque</i>. The French generals, receiving
+immediate orders to cross the neutral lines, soon made
+themselves masters of Capo Corso, and pushed their successes
+on the eastern side of the island.</p>
+
+<p>Pascal Paoli, his brother Clemente, and the other
+national leaders, were not wanting in this crisis of the fate
+of Corsica, and the people rose <i>en masse</i> against the overwhelming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+force that threatened to crush them. The war,
+though necessarily short, was marked by obstinate bravery
+on the part of the Corsicans. The French troops having
+met with many repulses, received a signal defeat at Borgo.
+There is scarcely a village in the interior that is not illustrious
+for its patriotic efforts at this period. Chauvelin,
+the French general-in-chief, was recalled, and, ultimately,
+the Count de Vaux, an officer of experience, took the field
+as generalissimo of the French army, swelled by successive
+reinforcements to the vast force of 40,000 men.</p>
+
+<p>The great blow which decided the fate of Corsica was
+struck at the battle of Ponte Nuovo, of which some particulars
+are given in a former chapter.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> This defeat entirely
+demoralised the island militia, and crushed Paoli's
+hopes of maintaining the nationality of Corsica. Retiring
+to Corte, and thence, almost as a fugitive, to Vivario, in
+the heart of the mountains, though he might still have
+maintained a <i>guerilla</i> warfare against the French, he resolved
+to abandon a forlorn hope, and, pressed by a large
+body of the enemy's troops, embarked in an English
+frigate at Porto Vecchio, with his brother Clemente and
+300 of his followers.</p>
+
+<p>The conquest of Corsica cost France largely both in men
+and money, it appearing by the official returns, that the
+loss sustained in killed and wounded was 10,721 men,
+while the expense of the war was estimated at 18 millions
+of livres. The fate of the Corsicans met with general
+sympathy. Rousseau on this occasion accused the French
+people of the basest love of tyranny:&mdash;&ldquo;<i>S'ils savoient un
+homme libre &agrave; l'autre bout du monde, je crois qu'ils y iroient
+pour le seul plaisir de l'exterminer.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>After a short stay in Italy, Pascal Paoli proceeded to
+England, landing at Harwich on the 18th of September,
+1769. The succeeding twenty years of his life were spent
+in London. He was well received by the king and queen,
+and the ministers paid him the attention due to his rank
+and services. But, though an object of much general
+interest, he shunned publicity, living in Oxford Street in
+a dignified retirement. He joined, however, in good
+society, and associated with the most eminent literary
+men of the day, among whom it was observed that his
+talents and accomplishments as much fitted him to shine,
+as at the head of his patriotic countrymen. Boswell
+had the happiness of introducing him to Johnson, and
+revelled in the glory of exhibiting his two lions on the
+same stage.</p>
+
+<p>The French Revolution opened the way for Pascal
+Paoli's return to Corsica, with the prospect of again
+devoting himself to the service of his country under a
+constitutional monarchy, the form of government he most
+approved. At Paris, the unfortunate Louis XVI. and his
+queen received him with marks of favour, La Fayette
+greeted him as a brother, and the National Assembly gave
+him an enthusiastic reception. He was named President
+of the Department of Corte and Commander of the National
+Guard.</p>
+
+<p>Landing in Corsica, amidst the congratulations of his
+countrymen, all flocked round him, and mothers raised
+their babes in their arms that they might behold the
+common father of their country. The hopes of the Corsicans
+again revived; for, if they had not a national and
+independent government, they were members of a free
+state, with the man of their choice to administer affairs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Paoli was, however, soon disgusted with the excesses
+of the French Revolution, and, like all citizens of distinguished
+merit, he fell under the suspicions of the, so-called,
+Committee of Public Safety. Summoned to the
+bar of the National Convention, and declining to appear,
+he was proclaimed an enemy of the Republic, and put out
+of the protection of the law. Preparations were made for
+exterminating the Paolists, who flew to arms, resolved
+once more to assert the nationality of the Corsican people,
+and throw off their dependence on France. But intestine
+divisions again weakened the efforts of the patriots, and
+Corsica was divided into two parties&mdash;the Paolists and
+the Republicans; the Buonaparte family at this time supporting
+the patriot chief.</p>
+
+<p>In the face of the new invasion threatened by the
+French Republic, Paoli perceived that there was nothing
+to be done but to call the English, whose fleet hovered on
+the coast, to the aid of the Nationals, and place the island
+under British protection. The firstfruits of this alliance
+were the reduction of San Fiorenzo and the surrender of
+Bastia to the bold attack of Nelson already described.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
+The fall of these fortresses was succeeded by the siege of
+Calvi, in which Nelson also distinguished himself; and
+on the reduction of that place&mdash;Ajaccio and Bonifacio
+being already in the hands of the patriots&mdash;the French
+troops withdrew from the island.</p>
+
+<p>Corsica being once more free to establish a national
+government, the representatives of the people, assembled
+in a convention at Corte on the 14th of June, 1794,
+accepted a constitution framed by Pascal Paoli, in conjunction
+with Sir Gilbert Elliot, the British Plenipotentiary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+By this national act the sovereignty of Corsica
+was hereditarily conferred on the King of Great Britain
+with full executive rights; the legislative power, including
+especially the levying of taxes, being vested in an assembly
+called a parliament, composed of representatives elected in
+the several <i>pi&egrave;ves</i> and towns. All Corsicans of the age of
+twenty-five years, possessed of real property (<i>beni fondi</i>),
+and domiciled for one year in a <i>pi&egrave;ve</i> or town, were entitled
+to vote at the elections. The king's consent was
+required to give force to all laws, and he had the prerogative
+of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the parliament.
+A viceroy, appointed by the sovereign, with a
+council and secretary of state, were to execute the functions
+of government. The press was to be free. In short,
+the kingdom of Corsica&mdash;so called even under the dominion
+of the Genoese Republic&mdash;was to be a limited
+monarchy, with institutions nearly resembling those of
+Great Britain, except that there was no House of Peers.</p>
+
+<p>The subject has some interest, even at this present day,
+as showing how the principles of a limited monarchy
+were adapted by such a man as Pascal Paoli to a <i>quasi</i>-Italian
+nation, than which none could be more ardent in
+their love of freedom, or have made greater struggles in
+its cause. The Constitutional Act<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> will be found in the
+appendix to Mr. Benson's work. It is curious also to find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+that in the time of our George III. a kingdom in the
+Mediterranean was as closely united to the Crown of Great
+Britain, as the kingdom of Ireland was at that time.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Gilbert Elliot was appointed viceroy. Unfortunately,
+with the best dispositions, his government was
+not administered with the tact required to conciliate so
+irascible a people as the Corsicans. While the viceroy
+was personally esteemed and beloved, he pursued a course
+of policy little calculated to calm the irritation which
+speedily arose. Pascal Paoli felt disappointment at not
+having been nominated viceroy, and was suspected of
+secretly fomenting the disaffection to the government.
+So far from this, he published an address to his countrymen,
+endeavouring to allay the ferment, and induce obedience
+to the English authorities. Jealousy, however, of
+his great and well-earned influence over the Corsicans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+appears to have led to his removal from the island.
+Towards the close of the year 1795 the king's command
+that he should repair to England was conveyed to him,
+couched, however, in gracious terms. He immediately
+obeyed, and arrived in London towards the end of
+December.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had Paoli departed than discontent assumed
+a more alarming form. His presence and example had
+kept many calm who had been secretly hostile to the
+English, but who now openly displayed their animosity.
+Petitions were presented to the viceroy by some of the
+leading inhabitants assembled at Bistuglio, declaring the
+grounds of Corsican opposition, and proposing means of
+conciliation; while many bodies of the disaffected assembled
+in the wild neighbourhood of Bocagnono. These
+disorders, coupled with the mutual distrust with which
+the Corsicans and English viewed each other, finally led
+to the abandonment of the island by the latter; and, accordingly,
+between the 14th and 20th of October, 1796,
+the viceroy and troops, under the protection of Nelson,
+embarked for Porto Ferrajo, leaving the island once more
+a prey to French invasion.</p>
+
+<p>Foreign writers sneer at the ignorance and mismanagement
+which so soon alienated the minds of the Corsicans
+from those whom they had lately hailed as their liberators
+and protectors; and it may perhaps be lamented that so
+noble a dependency of the British Crown was thus lost.
+Its commanding position in the Mediterranean, its fine
+harbours and magnificent forests, made it a most desirable
+position, at least during the revolutionary war. Such was
+Nelson's opinion, expressed in a letter to his wife when a
+descent on the coast was first contemplated. Added to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+these, its products of corn, wine, and oil, capable of almost
+indefinite augmentation under a good system of government,
+gave it great value as a permanent possession.
+What are Malta and Gibraltar? Merely rock fortresses,
+compared with such an island, capable of defence by the
+bravest people in the world, and possessed of such resources
+that, so far from being a burden on the finances, a very
+considerable surplus of the revenue now flows into the
+Imperial exchequer. Nothing was wanting but to reconcile
+the natives to the rule of their new masters, making it,
+as it constitutionally professed to be, national. This was
+doubtless a difficult task with a spirited people, alien in
+race, religion, and habits. The ministers of the day committed
+a great error in not giving the vice-royalty to Pascal
+Paoli. He was a thorough Anglo-Corsican, and perfectly
+understood the working of a constitutional government.
+The union had been his policy, and he alone could have
+carried it out.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the annexation of the island to the British
+Empire would have survived the deliberations of the Congress
+of Vienna is another question. One does not see
+why it should not have done so. We retained the Ionian
+Islands, less important in many respects, and with a population
+as turbulent, it seems, and as alien, as the Corsicans.
+The possession of Corsica by the Bourbons was very
+recent, and acquired by the most flagrant injustice. The
+French were scarcely more popular than the English with
+the national party; nor are they, according to the impression
+made during our Rambles, at the present day.
+The island had been offered to Napoleon, and might have
+become his island-empire. Had it even followed the fate
+of Genoa, its former mistress, and been assigned to Sardinia,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+there would be reason now for all friends of constitutional
+government to rejoice; and the Corsicans, essentially an
+Italian people, would more easily have amalgamated with
+their rulers.</p>
+
+<p>However, these are mere speculations. Pascal Paoli's
+retirement left his native island no resource but submission
+to the French, and it became once more a department
+of France, one and undivided. On his return to
+England, Paoli had a small pension from the English
+Government, which he shared with other exiles from his
+own country. Little is known of the latter years of his
+life. He probably resumed, as far as his advanced years
+admitted, the habits he had formed during his former
+residence in London. He died there, on the 25th of
+February, 1807, at the age of eighty-two, and was interred
+in the burial-ground of Old St. Pancras. It is
+ground especially hallowed in the estimation of Roman
+Catholics; and if any reader should chance to turn his
+steps in that direction, he will be surprised to see what a
+large proportion of the monuments and gravestones in the
+vast area are inscribed to the memory of foreigners of all
+ranks, who, during a long course of years, have ended
+their days in London. The little antique church, too&mdash;one
+of the oldest, if not the oldest, in London&mdash;is well
+worth a visit, as an interesting specimen of Romanesque
+architecture, well restored a few years ago.</p>
+
+<p>In the south-western corner of the churchyard, not far
+from the boundary wall, he will find a rather handsome
+tomb marking the spot in which the remains of the great
+Corsican are deposited. It bears on one face a long Latin
+inscription, said to have been penned by one of his countrymen,
+and the east slab bears a coronet, on what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+authority we are at a loss to conceive. So also the more
+humble monument of Theodore of Corsica at St. Anne's,
+Soho, is dignified with a shadowy crown. The mock king
+created Giacinto Paoli, Pascal's father, and one of his
+first ministers of state, a marquis or count. Can it be
+that, under that patent, Pascal Paoli assumed the insignia
+of nobility in his intercourse with the courtly circles of
+London? Was it a weakness in the man of the people,
+who, simple as his general habits were, had high breeding,
+and, as we learn from Boswell's gossip, was not entirely
+free from aristocratic tendencies,&mdash;nay, is said to have
+aspired to a royal crown?<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Or is the coronet on his
+tomb an unauthorised device of the officious friends who
+are said to have spent 500<i>l.</i> in giving the exile a pompous
+funeral?</p>
+
+<p>Peace to his memory! In death, as in life, his heart
+was with the people he had loved and served so well.
+Still caring for their best interests, by a codicil to his will
+he appropriated the annual sum of 200<i>l.</i> to the endowment
+of four professors in a college he proposed to found
+at Corte. They were to teach&mdash;1st. The Evidences of
+Christianity;&mdash;2nd. Ethics and the Laws of Nations;&mdash;3rd.
+The Principles of Natural Philosophy;&mdash;and 4th. The
+Elements of Mathematics. He also bequeathed a salary
+of 50<i>l.</i> to a schoolmaster in his native <i>pi&egrave;ve</i> of Rostino,
+who was to instruct the children in reading, writing, and
+arithmetic. It appears to have been the object of Mr.
+Benson's journey to Corsica to carry into effect these wise
+and benevolent provisions, and Paoli's bequests to his
+poor relations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Paoli said when dying:&mdash;&ldquo;My nephews have little to
+expect from me; but I will bequeath to them, as a
+memorial and consolation, this Bible&mdash;saying, &#8216;I have
+never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
+their bread.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>&#8217;&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XVIII" id="CHAP_XVIII"></a>CHAP. XVIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Excursion to a Forest.&mdash;Borders of the Niolo.&mdash;Adventures.&mdash;Corsican
+Pines.&mdash;The Pinus Maritima and Pinus
+Luriccio.&mdash;Government Forests.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Our excursion to the forest came off on the day before
+we left Corte, under the auspices of our &ldquo;man of the
+woods.&rdquo; He procured us mules, and our hostess supplied
+a basket of provisions and wine; for it promised to be a
+hard day's work, carrying us far into the heart of the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving Corte by the Corso, we soon turned up a valley
+to the left, winding among hills of no great elevation and
+cultivated to their summits. Not much farther than a
+mile from the town, we passed a lone house, the door of
+which was riddled with bullets. The brigands attacked it
+not long before. It was an affair, I believe, of summary
+justice for some trespass on property.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No one was safe,&rdquo; said our conductor, &ldquo;two years ago,
+outside the town. If you had been in the island then,
+you would have seen half Corsica armed to the teeth.&rdquo;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The disarming has been complete, for since our landing
+we have only once seen fire-arms except in the hands of
+the military. Then the banditti, of whom we have heard
+more than enough, no longer exist?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No; they have been shot down, brought to justice,
+or driven out of the island. Many of them escaped to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+Sardinia; if you go there, you will find things just in the
+same state they were here; perhaps worse, if our outlaws
+are roaming there. I will tell you, some time, the story
+of the last of the banditti. Not far from hence they fell
+in a desperate conflict with the gendarmes.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The hollows between some of the hills among which
+we wound were embosomed in chestnut-trees, and the
+husks were beginning to burst and shed the nuts on the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The harvest is approaching,&rdquo; said our guide. &ldquo;Soon
+every house will have great heaps gathered in for the
+winter's store.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We were on the borders of the mountainous district of
+the <i>Niolo</i>, the most primitive, not only geologically, as we
+have lately seen, but in point of manners, of any in Corsica.
+This it owes to its sequestered situation, hemmed in
+by the southern branch of the great central chain. It is
+approached by difficult paths and steps hewn out of the
+rock, the best being the pass of the <i>Santa Regina</i>. The
+interior of the bason is, however, extremely fertile. We
+had now in view the Monte Cinto and Monte Artica, the
+principal summits of the Niolo group, nearly 8000 feet
+high; and from part of our route Monte Rotondo was
+seen rising, with its snowy crest, a thousand feet higher,
+further to the south.</p>
+
+<p>The country now assumed a wilder and more rugged
+character, cultivation disappeared, and the surface was
+either rocky or thickly covered with the natural shrubbery
+so often mentioned. Once more we were in the
+<i>Macchia</i>, threading it by a rough and narrow path.
+Flocks of sheep and goats were browsing among the
+bushes; and the sight of rude shepherds' huts, with their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+blazing fires, gave us to understand that we had reached
+the wilds beyond human habitation. At last, a steep
+ascent through the thickets by a slippery path surmounted
+a ridge commanding the prospect of one flank of a mountain,
+the forest property of our &ldquo;man of the woods.&rdquo; A
+furious torrent, its natural boundary, tumbled and dashed
+in its rocky channel far beneath. Our mules slid down
+the almost precipitous descent clothed with dense underwood;
+we forded the stream, and met our friend's forester,
+who was expecting our arrival, and had shouted to us as
+we crossed the ridge.</p>
+
+<p>A storm of rain poured down in torrents while we were
+clambering up the opposite heights, making for shelter
+with as much speed as such an ascent permitted. Our
+place of refuge was a well-known haunt of the shepherds
+and banditti. It could not be called a cave, but was a
+hollow under a mass of insulated rock, worn away in the
+disintegrated granite, the harder shell of which formed an
+umbrella-shaped canopy, protecting us from the rain. It
+was miserably cold; but there were no dry materials at
+hand for lighting a fire, though the blackened rock and
+heaps of ashes and half-burnt logs looked very tempting.</p>
+
+<p>Under such circumstances, the best thing to be done
+was to apply ourselves to the contents of Madame &mdash;&#8212;'s
+basket, as we had still harder work before us. The contents
+were just displayed when my fellow-traveller made
+his appearance. I had lost sight of him in the bush
+while hurrying on, he having dismounted, and left his
+mule to be led up by a shepherd. He, too, had sought
+shelter in the nearest rock he could find. It had a cavity
+with a low aperture, into which he thrust himself head-foremost.
+What was his surprise at beholding a pair of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+eyes glaring at him through the gloom! The thing&mdash;whether
+it were man or beast he could not at the moment
+distinguish&mdash;shrunk back. He, too, recoiled and made a
+sudden exit. Presently he saw a pair of legs protruding on
+the further side of the rock, which it appeared was perforated
+from both extremities, and the thing, serpent-like,
+gradually wriggled itself out. Then stood erect, shaggy
+and rough as a wild beast startled from its lair, one of the
+shepherd boys, who had also crept into the cavity for
+refuge from the storm. He cast one look of astonishment
+at the intruder, turned round, and, leaping into the bush,
+disappeared without uttering a word.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps he took you for a detective in plain clothes,
+conscience-struck for having assisted to harbour the proscribed
+brigands!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Our meal despatched, and the weather clearing, we
+began clambering up a mountain side, as steep as the
+ridge of a house; and the mules, being useless, were sent
+down in charge of the muleteer to the ford of the torrent.
+Signor F&mdash;&#8212;'s forest spread over the whole face of the
+mountain, and how much further he best knew. We understood
+that he had a larger tract in another direction.</p>
+
+<p>Trackless pine forests&mdash;some belonging to the communes,
+others to private individuals,&mdash;clothe the lower
+ranges of the mountains through all this part of the island.
+Vizzavona, which we crossed on our way to Ajaccio, and
+Aitona, lying to the south-west of the Niolo, belong to
+the State, and the French Admiralty draw from them
+large supplies of timber shipped to Toulon; especially the
+finest masts used in their navy. The Corsican pine-forests
+have been famous from early times. Theophrastus<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> mentions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+a ship built by the Romans with this timber, of such
+large dimensions as to carry fifty sails; and Sextus Pompeius,
+seizing this island as well as Sicily and Sardinia,
+drew from its forests the means of maintaining his naval
+supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>Our &ldquo;man of the woods&rdquo; appeared to have hardly
+earned, and well to merit, the noble property in the possession
+of which he rejoiced. Yet he described himself as
+poor in the midst of his seeming wealth, impoverished to
+get together vast tracts of country, from which, at present,
+he received no return. His object was to obtain a market
+for sale of his timber, which he said could be floated down
+the rivers to the sea-coast at a moderate expense. Having
+seen, as we had, the Norwegian timber floating down
+rivers, precipitated over rapids, and rafted over immense
+lakes, during a <i>flottage</i> to the sea which it sometimes
+takes two years to accomplish<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>, we could find no difficulty
+in believing that advantage might be taken of the rivers
+on either watershed of the central chain in Corsica, to
+bear this, the only wealth of these elevated regions, to the
+coast, which is nowhere more than about fifty miles distant.
+Of the anchorage and depth of water at the mouths of the
+rivers, I have no precise information, except so far that
+Signor F&mdash;&#8212; assured us there would be no difficulty in
+shipping his timber.</p>
+
+<p>I had not counted on such an exhausting effort as climbing
+a thousand feet nearly perpendicular on the rocky and
+rugged surface of a mountain forest in Corsica demanded.
+Accustomed to traverse some of the finest pine-forests of
+Norway in a light <i>carriole</i> on excellent roads, or to canter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+along their avenues on little spirited horses, its native
+breed, without any feeling of fatigue, I had imagined our
+present enterprise to be much easier than it proved.
+Indeed, had it not been that the tangled roots of the pines,
+forming a network on the denuded surface of the rocks,
+afforded secure footing and a firm hold, and that, clasping
+the giant stems, one could take breath on the edge of the
+shelving cliffs, I should never have scrambled, and pulled
+myself, up to the summit.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/185a.jpg" width="120" height="395" alt="PINUS MARITIMA." title="PINUS MARITIMA." />
+<p class="caption">PINUS MARITIMA.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/185b.jpg" width="160" height="191" alt="PINUS LARICCIO." title="PINUS LARICCIO." />
+<p class="caption">PINUS LARICCIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/186a.jpg" width="140" height="143" alt="CONE OF THE PINUS LARICCIO."
+title="CONE OF THE PINUS LARICCIO." />
+<p class="caption">CONE OF THE PINUS LARICCIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our &ldquo;man of the woods,&rdquo; notwithstanding his great
+bulk, was agile as a mountain-goat, leaping from crag to
+crag, and striking off in every direction where he could
+show us trees of the largest growth. Marmocchi mentions
+four species of the pine in his catalogue of the indigenous
+trees growing in Corsica. Of two of these, <i>Pinus Pinea</i>
+(the stone pine), and <i>Pinus Sylvestris</i> (our common Scotch
+fir), I did not remark any specimens in the forests we
+had an opportunity of examining, nor do they equal the
+others in grandeur and value. But both the <i>Pinus Lariccio</i>
+and the <i>Pinus Maritima</i> are magnificent trees. They
+were mingled in the forest I am now describing, the
+<i>Lariccio</i> prevailing.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Pinus Maritima</i>, so well known to all travellers in
+Italy and Greece, and to others by its picturesque effect
+in the landscapes of Claude, has often its trunk clear of
+boughs till near the top, which spreads out in an umbrella-shaped
+head, with a dense mass of foliage; and, where the
+stem is not so denuded, the tree has the same rounded
+contour of boughs. Both are figured and described in
+Lambert's magnificent work on the <span class="smcap">Genus Pinus</span>; but,
+unfortunately, from very insignificant specimens; those of
+the Pinus Maritima being taken from a tree at Sion House,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+only twenty feet high. The spines of the Pinus Maritima
+are longer than those of the Pinus Lariccio,
+and the branches more pensile. The engravings
+for the present work are from specimens
+brought from Corsica. Mr. Lambert's
+description, however, coincides with my own
+observations in the Corsican forests. He says:-&ldquo;The
+branches are very numerous, and bear
+long filiform leaves. The cones are nearly
+the same size as Pinus Rigida. They are so
+remarkably smooth and glossy, that they at
+once distinguish their species. In shedding
+their seeds, they seem to expand very little.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>
+Mr. Lambert considers it to be the same
+species as the &#960;&#949;&#973;&#954;&#959;&#962;, <i>Pinus Picea</i> of Greece,
+which grow on the high mountains, Olympus,
+Pindus, Parnassus, &amp;c.; and quotes an extract
+from Dr. Sibthorp's papers, published in Walpole's
+<i>Turkey</i>, remarking that the &#960;&#949;&#973;&#954;&#959;&#962; furnished a useful
+resin, used in Attica to preserve wine
+from becoming acid, and supplying
+tar and pitch for shipping. &ldquo;The
+resinous parts of the wood,&rdquo; he
+says, &ldquo;are cut into small pieces,
+and serve for candles.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Pinus Lariccio</i> is more disposed
+to retain its lower branches
+than the Pinus Maritima, and has
+a more angular character both in
+the boughs and the footstalks of
+its tassels. The spines are shorter. The boughs slightly
+droop, but by no means in the degree of the spruce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+fir or the <i>larch</i>. From this circumstance, however, it
+probably derives its name, though it has nothing else in
+the slightest degree common with the larch; and writers
+who speak of the &ldquo;Corsican larch&rdquo; betray their readers
+into serious error. The Pinus Lariccio is figured in Mr.
+Lambert's work from two specimens in the Jardin des
+Plantes at Paris, about thirty feet high and three feet in
+girth, in 1823. Their age is not mentioned. Don, quoted
+in this work, remarks that &ldquo;this pine is totally distinct
+from all the varieties of Pinus Sylvestris, with which, however,
+it in some respects agrees. It differs in the branches
+being shorter and more regularly verticellate. The leaves
+are one-third longer; cones shorter,
+ovate, and quite straight, with depressed
+scales, opening freely to
+shed the seed. The wood is more
+weighty, resinous, and, consequently,
+more compact, stronger, and more
+flexible than Pinus Sylvestris. Its
+bark is finer and much more entire.&rdquo;
+The Pinus Lariccio is also at once
+distinguishable from the Pinus Maritima growing in the
+same forest, by the bark alone.
+Drawings are here given of (1)
+the exterior and (2) interior
+coats, from specimens brought
+from Corsica. They are very
+thick, and peel off in large
+flakes, the inner layer being
+most delicately veined, and of
+a rich crimson hue.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/186b.jpg" width="160" height="130" alt="BARK OF THE PINUS LARICCIO."
+title="BARK OF THE PINUS LARICCIO." />
+<p class="caption">BARK OF THE PINUS LARICCIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I observed,&rdquo; says Mr. Hawkins, quoted by Lambert,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+&ldquo;on Cyllene, Taygetus, and the mountains of Thasos, a
+sort of fir, which, though called &#960;&#949;&#973;&#954;&#959;&#962; by the inhabitants,
+and resembling that of the lower regions, has the foliage
+much darker, and the growth of the tree more regular and
+straight. The elevated region on which it grew leads me
+to suspect it must be different from the common &#960;&#949;&#973;&#954;&#959;&#962;.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>
+Mr. Lambert adds:&mdash;&ldquo;The Pinus Lariccio is, I have no
+doubt, the tree here mentioned, especially as it is known
+to grow in Greece, and has been found by Mr. Webb
+near the summit of Mount Ida, in Phrygia.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> We are
+inclined, however, to think that this remark requires confirmation
+by more exact details.</p>
+
+<p>The Pinus Lariccio grows to a greater height than the
+Pinus Maritima. In this forest Signor F&mdash;&#8212; estimated
+some of the finest specimens of the latter at from sixty to
+seventy feet in length, while those of the Lariccio could
+not be less than 120 feet, and perhaps more, with an
+average circumference of about nine feet. Some little
+experience enabled us to confirm this estimate.</p>
+
+<p>But these dimensions are often exceeded. In the
+neighbouring forest of Valdianello, which, again, abuts on
+that of Aitona, the chief of the government reserves, there
+lately stood a Pinus Lariccio, called by the Corsicans &ldquo;<i>Le
+Roi des Arbres</i>.&rdquo; At five feet from the ground its girth was
+upwards of nineteen feet. The height of the tree is not
+mentioned. The king of the forest is dead, but it boasts a
+successor worthy of its honours, the girth being, as Marmocchi
+relates on report, twenty-six feet at one m&egrave;tre
+(three feet three inches) from the ground, and only reduced
+to twenty-one feet where the trunk is fifty-eight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+feet high. Its entire height is 150 feet, and its branches
+cover a circumference nearly 100 feet in diameter.</p>
+
+<p>These dimensions are large for European pines, about averaging
+those of the Norwegian. Growing in a rocky soil,
+I can easily believe that the timber is, as represented, extremely
+durable. It was surprising to see in Signor F&mdash;&#8212;'s
+forest trees of such magnitude springing from fissures in the
+granite cliffs, and from ledges of rocks having only a scanty
+covering of barren soil. The growth must be slow; by
+counting the rings in some of the fallen trees, I calculated
+that they had stood about two centuries. The choicest
+specimens were usually grouped on some platform, or in
+hollows of the precipitous cliffs. In these positions they
+are often exposed to the worst of enemies, such spots being
+the haunts of the brigands and shepherds; and it was
+lamentable to observe the destruction caused by their fires
+in all parts of the wood. Huge half-burnt logs lay at the
+foot of some of the finest pines, and the flames had not
+only scorched all vegetation within reach, but eaten into
+the heart of the trees.</p>
+
+<p>This may be considered as one of the few virgin forests
+remaining in Corsica. The vast consumption by the
+Genoese, and afterwards by the French, governments, has
+greatly exhausted the forests; and it is only in the inaccessible
+parts of the country, where there are no roads,
+that timber of large dimensions is found. Even here they
+were felling the smaller trees, sawing them into planks,
+and carrying them away on mules, one plank balancing
+another on each side of the pack-saddle. We ventured to
+suggest to our &ldquo;man of the woods&rdquo; the advantages of sawmills,
+a machinery of the simplest possible construction,
+adopted in North America, Norway, and all forest countries,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+where, as here, there is abundant water-power. All
+such industrial resources are wanting in Corsica, but our
+friend was too shrewd not to be alive to the value of the
+suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>Our course through the forest had led us round to the
+flank of the mountain, shelving down to the torrent we
+forded on our arrival. A descent is generally considered an
+easy affair: so we found this in comparison with the ascent;
+but the declivity was formidable, there being no sort of
+path, and we had to work our way over and amongst huge
+masses of rock and slippery boulders, and jumping from
+crag to crag, sliding, rolling, and tumbling, not without
+some severe falls, we at last reached the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>Remounting our mules, a very pleasant change&mdash;active,
+light-stepping beasts as they were,&mdash;we rode slowly on our
+return to Corte, often looking back at the broad forest-clad
+mountains, with the snowy dome of Monte Rotondo in
+the distance. Signor F&mdash;&#8212;, anxious to supply us with all
+the information we required, lost no opportunity of pointing
+out remarkable objects.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you see that <i>pa&eacute;se</i>?&rdquo; he said, pointing to some
+grey buildings about five miles off, on the right bank
+of the Golo; &ldquo;that is Soveria, the birth-place of Cervione,
+one of Napoleon's best generals. He fell in the battle of
+Ratisbon. His last words to the emperor, when ordered
+on a desperate attack,&rdquo; said our friend, with Corsican
+feeling &ldquo;were, &#8216;<i>Je vous recommande ma famille</i>.&#8217;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Valery relates an amusing anecdote of this General
+Cervione. Having the command at Rome, which he
+exercised with great severity, it became his duty to convey
+the order to Pope Pius VII. for abdicating his temporal
+power and being sent away, which he executed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+harshly. When Pius VII. was afterwards at the Tuileries,
+Cervione, with other generals, came to pay him his respects.
+The pope, struck by his pure Italian pronunciation,
+complimented him on it. &ldquo;<i>Santo Padre</i>,&rdquo; said Cervione,
+&ldquo;<i>sono quasi Italiano.</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Come?</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Sono Corso.</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Oh!
+oh!</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Sono Cervione.</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Oh! oh! oh!</i>&rdquo;
+At this terrible recollection the pope shrank aghast, hastily
+retreating to the fireside.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Further on,&rdquo; said our conductor, &ldquo;I see it plainly,
+there is an old grey house on the top of a rock; a poor
+place, but the birthplace of Pascal Paoli. He resided
+there after he became our chief, but would not have the
+home of his fathers altered.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Near Soveria is Alando, the native place of Sambuccio,
+the patriot leader in the first insurrection against the
+Genoese. All the neighbourhood of Corte is classic
+ground in Corsican history.</p>
+
+<p>We returned there to a late dinner.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XIX" id="CHAP_XIX"></a>CHAP. XIX.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>The Forest of Asco.&mdash;Corsican Beasts of Chase.&mdash;The
+Moufflon.&mdash;Increase of Wild Animals.&mdash;The last of the
+Banditti.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Our good &ldquo;man of the woods&rdquo; joined us at dinner. It
+was a just source of pride to him that he had shown his
+magnificent forest to foreigners as enthusiastic as himself,
+and who might, perhaps, forward his designs for making
+it profitable. In this view he now wrote the subjoined
+particulars.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p>
+<p>We had already inquired what sport such covers afforded,
+and the account given of deer and wild boars, not to
+speak of smaller game, was very tempting. There were
+bears in the forests in the time of Flippini the historian,
+but for the last century they have been extinct. There
+are no wolves; but the foxes are plentiful, and so strong
+that they venture to attack the flocks of sheep and goats.
+The Corsican <i>cerf</i> is like the red deer. Their colour is
+ferruginous. In size they are a little larger than fallow
+deer with a heavier body, and stronger horns, springing
+upright, spreading less than any other variety, and slightly
+palmated. Both male and female have a dark line down
+the back, rump, and scut. The <i>moufflon</i> or <i>muffori</i> is a
+most curious animal, almost peculiar, I believe, to this
+island and Sardinia, though a variety of the species is
+found in Morocco. Something between a sheep, a deer, and
+a goat, the male has spiral horns like a goat, rather turned
+back, with the legs and hind-quarter of a goat, but the
+head of a sheep. The colour is a reddish brown, with
+some admixture of black and white, brown predominating.
+The skin is fine-grained, not woolly but fine-haired, like a
+deer. It is extremely agile, jumping from rock to rock
+with surprising leaps, and so wild that, like the chamois
+and the reindeer, it frequents only the highest mountains,
+close to the snow-line, in summer, descending, as the
+snow extends, to lower regions. When the winters are
+very severe, and the snow covers the ground, it is driven
+into some of the higher valleys, and has been known to
+take refuge in the stables among the tame sheep and goats.
+The <i>moufflon</i> goes in troops of from four to twenty. The
+females drop their young on the edge of the snow in the
+month of May. There are full-grown specimens of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+<i>moufflon</i> in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, and
+in the <i>Jardin de Plantes</i>, at Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Of smaller game, Corsica abounds in hares and red
+partridges, the only species found in the island. In winter
+there are woodcocks, snipes, and water-fowl, and a <i>grande
+chasse</i> of thrushes, which, feeding on the berries of the
+arbutus, the lentiscus, and the myrtle, become very fat,
+have a fine flavour, and are esteemed a great delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>But all these varieties of game were forbidden fruit, as
+a <i>permis</i> to carry fire-arms could not be obtained by any
+class of persons, or for any purpose whatever. The shepherds
+have only their dogs to protect their flocks. If the
+prohibition continues long, the wild animals must become
+the pest of the island, and with their natural increase
+there will be splendid shooting when the use of fire-arms
+is again allowed. But for the hope of better sport in Sardinia,
+we thought of getting up a boar hunt, with spears,
+in the fashion so picturesquely seen in old pictures, and a
+much more spirited affair than shooting pigs. For deer
+and birds there is nothing left but to fall back on bows
+and arrows, as long as the Corsicans cannot be trusted
+with fire-arms, lest the <i>genus homo</i> should be their prey.</p>
+
+<p>It was the last evening we spent with our &ldquo;man of the
+woods.&rdquo; He was very communicative, and, among other
+things, told us many stories of the heroic deeds of his
+countrymen in former times, and of the wild life of Corsica,
+which has only just expired. I preserve one of his
+tales, relating a recent event, which happily closes the
+bloody chapter of Corsican banditism.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="title"><i>The Last of the Banditti.</i></p>
+
+<p>Two brothers, Pierre-Jean and Xavier-Saverio Massoni,
+men of extraordinary vigour and desperate courage, banded
+with Arrhigi, another determined outlaw, had for many
+years been the terror of the wild district of the <i>Niolo</i> in
+which they harboured, and of the neighbouring country.
+Many were the families they had reduced to misery by
+cutting off their fathers and brothers; but they had numerous
+friends, whom they protected. They shared the scanty
+fare of the shepherds in the mountains, and the people
+entertained them in their houses; some, <i>par amiti&eacute;</i>, with
+cordiality and kindness, others from fear. Such was the
+renown of these banditti chiefs that the authorities used
+every effort to exterminate them, offering large rewards
+for their heads, and threatening with severe penalties any
+who should supply them with the means of existence.</p>
+
+<p>At length a shepherd, who had received some injury
+from one of the band, betrayed their hiding-place in the
+fastnesses of the <i>Niolo</i> to the <i>gendarmes</i>. Led by him
+through tracks known only to the shepherds and banditti,
+before daylight on a morning of the month of October,
+1851, a body of the <i>gendarmerie</i>, twenty or thirty in
+number, reached the neighbourhood in which the three
+resolute bandits were concealed. It was a place called
+Penna-Rosa, near Corscia, a village in the canton of
+Calacuccia, not very far from Corte.</p>
+
+<p>The bandits are in the habit of separating for their
+greater security. At this time Pierre Massoni was alone
+in one of the caves among the rocks; Xavier Massoni and
+Arrhigi together occupied another. The <i>gendarmes</i>, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+active and resolute as the banditti, their mortal foes, with
+whom they often had desperate encounters, crept towards
+the cave occupied by Pierre, who, seeing the disparity of
+numbers, crept into the bush, and attempted to escape,
+probably intending to join his friends, and with them
+make a determined resistance. The <i>gendarmes</i> fired a
+volley, and Pierre fell mortally wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Xavier and Arrhigi had, somehow, received intelligence
+of the approach of the <i>gendarmes</i>, and hastening to the
+spot found them posted in front of the cave. A shot from
+each of the brigands brought down two of their enemies;
+and during the confusion caused by this unexpected diversion,
+the <i>gendarmes</i> drawing off, Xavier Massoni, supposing
+that his brother was concealed in the cave, shouted
+to him&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pierre, come out; I have cleared the way.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This cry drew the attention of the <i>gendarmes</i>, and at the
+same moment he was shot in the thigh by one of the
+party. A general fire was then opened, but Xavier contrived
+to creep into the bush, and afterwards made his
+escape over the mountains, while Arrhigi fled for refuge to
+a deep and almost inaccessible cavern. The party followed
+him, and posted themselves, under cover of the rocks, near
+the mouth of the cave into which they supposed he had
+retired, for they had not seen him enter; and as the access
+was so narrow that it could only be attempted by one at a
+time, the attempt to reconnoitre would have been certain
+death.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>gendarmes</i>, though numbering at least twenty to
+one, thus held at bay by one man, the bravest of the
+brave, sent a messenger to Corte to demand a reinforcement.
+Four hundred troops were detached for this service.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+They were accompanied by the <i>sous-pr&eacute;fet</i>, the
+<i>procureur imperial</i>, a captain of engineers, and men with
+ammunition to blow up the cave. It was a four hours'
+march from Corte, and they arrived late in the day.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the <i>gendarmes</i> beleaguered the spot, keeping
+under cover. The brave Arrhigi kept close, watchful no
+doubt. He must have had a stout heart; but we do not
+paint, we only give the leading details; the reader's imagination
+will supply the rest.</p>
+
+<p>At length the troops marched up. A French <i>gendarme</i>,
+boldly or incautiously, approached the entrance; he was
+shot dead on the spot. Then, no doubt was left that
+Arrhigi was there. Either to spare life, or because no one
+was found bold enough to lead the forlorn hope in storming
+the entrance, it was resolved to blow up the cave.
+The engineers set to work, a shaft was sunk from above, a
+barrel of gunpowder was lodged in it&mdash;the explosion was
+ineffectual; it left the massive vault and sides of the narrow
+cavern as firm as ever. It was too deep to be reached
+without regular mining. Besides, the night was bitter,
+and the whole party shaking with cold.</p>
+
+<p>Engineering operations were abandoned. As they could
+neither beard the bandit in his den, nor blow him up, it
+was determined to starve him out. The troops bivouacked,
+fires were lighted, and sentinels posted. The siege was
+converted into a blockade, all in due military order.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Centinelle, prend garde &agrave; vous!</i>&rdquo; was passed from
+post to post. &ldquo;<i>Centinelle, prend garde &agrave; moi!</i>&rdquo; answered
+the bold Arrhigi from his rocky hold.</p>
+
+<p>The blockade was maintained for five days and four
+nights, not without some loss on the part of the besiegers,
+for Arrhigi opened fire from time to time, as opportunity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+offered, and no less than seven of his enemies were struck
+down by his unerring bullets. Some were wounded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Brave soldiers of Napoleon,&rdquo; cried Arrhigi, &ldquo;carry off
+your wounded comrades, who want your assistance.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It seems extraordinary that 400 troops should be held
+at bay by a single man for so long a period; but such was
+the fact. Perhaps the officials hoped to take him alive, or
+they might wish to spare a further effusion of blood in
+actual conflict with the desperate bandit. Arrhigi's cavern
+had a small store of provisions and some gourds of water.
+When these were expended, he resolved on making a last
+effort to force his way through the troops. Could he have
+stood out a day longer, he might probably have escaped, as
+the weather became so tempestuous that it would have
+been impossible for them to maintain their exposed position
+in those bleak mountains.</p>
+
+<p>On the fourth night, just before the dawn of day, he
+made the attempt. Dashing from the cavern, and shooting
+down the nearest sentries right and left with his
+double-barrelled gun, he gained the thickets. An alarm
+was raised, and there was a general pursuit. Arrhigi fled
+towards the Golo, intending, probably, to place that river
+between him and his pursuers. It was now daylight, and
+they were upon him before he reached it. Again brought
+to bay, he took his stand sheltered by a rock. The soldiers
+cried out to him to surrender; but the resolute bandit,
+refusing quarter, continued to resist till he was shot
+through the head.</p>
+
+<p>We left Xavier Massoni escaping into the <i>maquis</i>, but
+slightly wounded in the thigh. The <i>gendarmes</i> were so
+occupied with his brother Pierre and Arrhigi, that he
+reached, unpursued, a distant forest in the heart of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+mountains. Soon, however, an officer of the <i>Gendarmerie
+Corse</i>, with a detachment of forty or fifty men, was laid
+on his track. After seven days they discovered the lone
+cave in which, the last of his band, he had hoped for concealment.
+It was high up the face of the mountain, but
+the party scaled it, and summoning Xavier to surrender,
+he gave his <i>parole</i>. Just at that moment a <i>gendarme</i> offering
+a shot, the bandit levelled his gun at him and killed
+him. He then threw down his arms and came out of the
+cave, prepared to surrender himself. A sentry posted near,
+imagining that he intended to escape, shot him dead
+without challenging him or allowing him time to give
+himself up. The sentry was punished, as they wished to
+take the bandit alive, hoping that he would discover those
+who were in league with him.</p>
+
+<p>Thus fell, with a gallantry worthy of a better cause,
+these renowned banditti chiefs, who for many years had
+infested the country, and filled it with alarm and grief.
+The rest of the band dispersed, were killed, or taken
+prisoners. Arrhigi's heroic defence closed the series of
+romantic stories on which the Corsicans delight to dwell.
+His example might have encouraged the outlaws to emulate
+his daring resistance; but the unusual force brought
+against him convinced them that the authorities were no
+longer to be trifled with. The brigands became thoroughly
+disheartened, and we hear of no more desperate encounters
+with the <i>gendarmerie</i>. In the course of the following
+year, the deep solitudes of the Corsican forests and mountains,
+echoing no longer to the crack of the rifle, were left
+in the undisturbed possession of the shepherds and their
+flocks, the foxes and the <i>moufflons</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There is another version of the story of the Massoni<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+and Arrhigi, cleverly wrought up, and giving it, what was
+scarcely needed, a more romantic character. It differs
+from that here given in many of the circumstances, and in
+passing, perhaps, from hand to hand, even the scene has
+been transferred to the neighbourhood of Monte Rotondo,
+many miles distant from the spot where the events occurred.
+My informant was not likely to omit any actual
+occurrence of a striking nature; and as he lived at Corte,
+and his occupation often led him to the canton of Callacuccia,
+he had the best opportunities of learning the facts,
+if indeed he was not present at the time. His simple
+narrative is therefore adhered to.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XX" id="CHAP_XX"></a>CHAP. XX.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Leave Corte for Ajaccio.&mdash;A legend of Venaco.&mdash;Arrival
+at Vivario.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>The distance from Corte to Ajaccio is about fifty miles;
+the most interesting objects on the road being the great
+forest of Vizzavona, and Bocagnono embosomed in chestnut
+woods. In order to take these leisurely, mules were
+bespoken at Vivario, a mountain village at the foot of
+Monte d'Oro, as far as which we determined to avail ourselves
+of the <i>diligence</i> passing through Corte, <i>en route</i>
+from Bastia to Ajaccio. For the first two stages after
+leaving Corte we knew that there was little temptation to
+linger on the way; and it is unadvisable to waste time
+and strength by walking or riding on high-roads when
+coach or rail will hurry you on to a good starting point
+for independent rambling. To travel systematically from
+one great town to another by such conveyances, with perhaps
+an occasional excursion in the neighbourhood, is a
+very different affair.</p>
+
+<p>We were called at midnight, and walking to the <i>bureau</i>,
+shortly afterwards the <i>voiture</i> came rumbling up, a small
+primitive vehicle, drawn by three mules. It contained
+five passengers, &ldquo;booked through;&rdquo; three rough fellows,
+all smoking, and a woman with a squalling <i>bambino</i>, dignified
+by the name of Auguste. Under these circumstances,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+we proposed taking our seat on the roof, as there
+was no <i>banquette</i>. The <i>commis du bureau</i> objected;&mdash;we
+should fall off, and he would be blamed; it was <i>contre les
+r&eacute;gles</i>; and every traveller knows how despotically the
+rules are administered by foreign officials. He must submit
+to be a mere machine in their hands, to be stowed
+away and conveyed like his portmanteau. The rules are,
+however, generally enforced with great civility; but the
+<i>commis</i> was not civil. Early rising, or sitting up late,
+had put him out of temper, and the passion into which
+he worked himself about this trifle was very amusing.
+&ldquo;There was room inside, and why could not <i>messieurs</i>
+accommodate themselves in the <i>voiture</i> like sensible
+people?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We did not lose our temper, and carrying our point,
+had every reason to rejoice in our victory. The moon was
+up, and showed the sort of scenery through which we
+passed, by a very hilly but well-engineered road, to great
+advantage, in its various aspects. Now we were slowly
+ascending a bare hill-side in the full light; then plunging
+into hollows buried in the deepest shade of chestnut woods
+branching over the road. Then there were scattered groups
+of the rugged ilex, with its pale green leaves silvered by
+the moonbeams; and, where the land was cultivated, there
+was the livelier green of the young wheat, and the dark
+verdure of luxuriant crops of sainfoin: scarcely a house
+was passed; a solitary habitation is a rare sight in
+Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>Our position also gave us the advantage of the <i>voiturier's</i>
+conversation, which, under the inspiration of the scene,
+the woods, and moonlight on a lonely road, was well spiced
+with stories of banditti. At that corner they stole from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+the thicket, and gave their victim a mortal stab. There was
+a cross over his grave, but it has been removed. A deadly
+shot from behind that grey rock struck down another.
+Here they had a bloody fight with the <i>sbirri</i>. Such tales,
+as it has been already remarked, are heard everywhere.
+I forget the particulars; but they are all variations of one
+wild strain, of which the key-note is blood.</p>
+
+<p>One legend of another kind I remember. The <i>voiturier</i>
+related it as we approached Venaco:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A long while ago&mdash;it was in the tenth century, I believe&mdash;there
+lived here a Count of Corsica, by name Arrhigo
+Colonna, who was so handsome that he was called <i>Il Bel
+Messere</i>. He had a beautiful wife and seven beautiful
+children. Feuds arose in the country, and his enemies,
+jealous of his great power, slew the Count and his seven
+children, and threw their bodies into a little lake among
+the hills. There was deep lamentation among the vassals
+of the <i>Bel Messere</i>; and his wife, having escaped, led
+them against the assassins, who had taken refuge in a
+neighbouring castle, stormed it, and put them all to the
+sword. Often are the ghosts of the <i>Bel Messere</i> and his
+seven children seen flitting by the pale moonlight&mdash;on such
+a night as this&mdash;among the woods and on the green hills of
+Venaco; and the shepherds on the mountains all around
+preserve the tradition of their sorrowful fate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We reached Vivario before daylight, and leaving the
+<i>voiture</i>, scrambled up a lane, then some dark stairs, and
+found ourselves in the gaunt rooms of a rude <i>locanda</i>.
+The people were astir, expecting us, and the best sight
+was, not indeed a blazing fire of logs&mdash;though Vivario is
+close to the forest, such fires are not to be seen indoors&mdash;but
+at least some lighted embers on the cooking-hearth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+giving promise of a speedy cup of hot coffee, for we were
+very cold. The mountain air was keen, Vivario standing
+nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The best news
+was that the mules for our journey were forthcoming.
+Meanwhile, we got our wash, and, it being too early to
+eat, had our <i>d&eacute;je&ucirc;ner</i> of bread and wine, grapes and ham,
+packed in a basket, to be eaten on the road.</p>
+
+<p>We were objects of much curiosity. Whence did we
+come? where were we going? what was our business?&mdash;were
+questions of course.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;From London.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Sono chiesi in Londra?</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Inglesi&mdash;sono tutti Christiani?</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It may easily be imagined that the communal schools
+in Corsica give little instruction in ethnology; and even
+intelligent persons, like our former guide Antoine, appeared
+to doubt our right to be called Christians. That
+was often questioned, the people seeming little better
+informed than they were when Boswell travelled in
+Corsica, almost a century ago.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Inglesi</i>,&rdquo; said a strong black fellow to him, &ldquo;<i>sono
+barbare; non credono in Dio grande.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Excuse me, sir,&rdquo; replied Boswell; &ldquo;we do believe in
+God, and in Jesus Christ too.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Um,</i>&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;<i>e nel Papa?</i>&rdquo; (and in the Pope?)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>E perche?</i>&rdquo; (And why?)</p>
+
+<p>This was a puzzling question under the circumstances,
+for there was a great audience listening to the controversy.
+So Boswell thought he would try a method of his own,
+and he very gravely replied:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Perche siamo troppo lontano.</i>&rdquo; (Because we are too far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+off.) A very new argument against the universal infallibility
+of the Pope. It took, however; for his opponent
+mused awhile, and then said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Troppo lontano! Ha&mdash;Sicilia &egrave; tanto lontano che l'Inghilterra;
+e in Sicilia si credono nel Papa.</i>&rdquo; (Too far off!
+why Sicily is as far off as England; yet in Sicily they
+believe in the Pope.)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Boswell, &ldquo;<i>Noi siamo dieci volte pi&ugrave; lontano
+che la Sicilia.</i>&rdquo; (We are ten times farther off than Sicily.)</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Aha!</i>&rdquo; said the questioner; and seemed quite satisfied.
+&ldquo;In this manner,&rdquo; concludes Boswell, &ldquo;I got off
+very well. I question much whether any of the learned
+reasonings of our Protestant divines would have had so
+good an effect.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><i>Barbari</i>, <i>heretici</i>, whatever we were, we parted on good
+terms with our kind hostess. Two mules were at the
+door, attended by a lad, who, at first sight, appeared too
+young for the long and rather fatiguing journey before us;
+but he had a most intelligent countenance, with hair, eyes,
+and features of the true Italian character, and he handled
+his mules well, and proved a most active and agreeable
+attendant.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/204.jpg" width="700" height="450" alt="VIVARIO." title="VIVARIO." />
+<p class="caption">VIVARIO.</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXI" id="CHAP_XXI"></a>CHAP. XXI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Leave Vivario.&mdash;Forest of Vizzavona.&mdash;A roadside adventure.&mdash;Bocagnono.&mdash;Arrive
+late at Ajaccio.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>It was broad daylight when we wound up a narrow path
+to the heights above the village of Vivario, thus saving an
+angle of the well-engineered high-road by which the <i>voiture</i>,
+preceding us, had gained the summit. Here we
+seated ourselves on a bank while my friend sketched. His
+view, reproduced in these pages, happily dispenses with
+the necessity of any lengthened description. Below, the
+eye rested on the tall and graceful <i>campanile</i> of the village
+church, with the houses radiating from it, half concealed
+by the groves of chestnut-trees embowering the valley.
+The slope beneath our point of view, as well as that on
+the left under the high-road, was covered by vineyards in
+terraces and gardens. The contrast of this verdure with
+the bare ridge beyond the fertile basin, still in deep shade,
+and the atmospheric effects of a soft and not overpowering
+light on the foreground, as well as of the vapour rising in
+the gorge, and hanging in a&euml;rial folds about the mountain
+tops, can only be imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Smoke now began to curl up from the village hearths,
+and men, in rough jackets of black sheep's wool, with axes
+slung in their belts, are seen slowly winding up the steep
+to their work in the forest. The villages on the tops of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+the hills under the mountain ranges, of which we counted
+ten or more, reflect the early sunlight. A small fortified
+barrack, garrisoned by a party of <i>gendarmes</i>, held in
+check the banditti, whose strongest fastnesses were in this
+wild neighbourhood, and commands the high-road.</p>
+
+<p>This we now follow; and the views from it are exceedingly
+picturesque, the engineers having obtained their level
+for it by pursuing the sinuosities of the defiles round
+Monte d'Oro, the rival monarch with Monte Rotondo
+of the Corsican Alps. Its snowy summit is continually in
+sight on our right, and we observe streaks of new-fallen
+snow for some distance beneath. On the left, we have
+the great forest of Vizzavona, which we shortly entered.
+Having before described a Corsican pine-forest of similar
+character, repetition would be wearisome. The trees here
+are of the same species, with some admixture of oak, many
+of them on a scale of equal or greater magnificence. The
+finest masts for the French navy have been drawn from
+this forest.</p>
+
+<p>Heat and hunger now combined to make us look out for
+a rill of water at a convenient spot for taking our <i>d&eacute;je&ucirc;ner</i>,
+and a torrent crossing the road, with a rude bridge over it,
+we sat down on the low parapet, and, opening our baskets,
+the boy, Filippi, fetched water from the pure stream to
+cool and temper our wine. Bread, slices of ham, and
+grapes, were rapidly disappearing, when unexpected visitors
+appeared on the scene, in the shape of two country girls,
+travellers to Ajaccio like ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>We had not been so much struck, to speak the truth,
+as some travellers seem to have been with the beauty
+and gracefulness of the Corsican women; but these really
+were two very pretty girls, of the age of fifteen or sixteen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+brunettes, bright eyed, slightly formed, and with pleasing
+and expressive features. They were lightly clad, and one
+of them carried a small bundle. Accosted by Filippi, we
+learnt that they came from Corte, and were on their way
+to Ajaccio, in search of domestic service. Filippi appeared
+to know some of their family. To desire the boy to share
+with them the meal he was making at some little distance
+was only returning Corsican hospitality. The girls were
+shy at first, and it was only by degrees that we were able
+to establish a chat with them; and I was struck with the
+manner in which the eldest, taking a handful of new
+chestnuts from a bag, offered the contribution to our pic-nic.
+Poor girls! chestnuts and the running brooks were
+probably all they had to depend upon for refreshment
+during their journey. Happily, both were easily to be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>Our road lying the same way, and the girls having
+walked from Vivario, while we had been riding, they were
+offered a ride on the mules, and, after some hesitation, the
+offer was accepted. With Filippi for their squire, the trio
+being about the same age, they were a merry party, making
+the glades of the old forest ring with their laughter and
+the sound of their young voices in the sweetest of tongues.
+The girls were in such glee, Filippi pressing the mules to
+a gallop, that though we enjoyed the fun, we really feared
+they would be thrown off. Our fears were groundless;
+riding astride, as is the fashion of the country&mdash;but with
+all propriety&mdash;they had a firm seat, and laughed at our
+apprehensions.</p>
+
+<p>With all this exuberance of spirits, there were the
+greatest modesty and simplicity in the demeanour of
+these poor girls. When they proceeded in a more sober<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+mood, we joined in the conversation, asking questions
+about their prospects at Ajaccio, and the schooling they
+had received. They had no friends at Ajaccio; but the
+&ldquo;Mother of Mercy&rdquo; would guide and protect them!</p>
+
+<p>The number of the girls receiving education at the communal
+and conventual schools in Corsica is very disproportionate
+to that of the boys. Marmocchi states the
+number of the former, in 1851 or 1852, as 2362, while the
+males receiving public instruction were 14,196. Of the
+girls, only 546 are educated in the communal schools, and
+1816 in the establishments of the <i>S&#339;urs de St. Joseph</i> or
+the <i>Filles de Marie</i>. The proportion of boys frequenting
+the Corsican schools, relatively with those of France, is
+137 to 100 in the winter, and 226 to 100 in the summer;
+but that of the girls is in the inverse, the relative number
+being much smaller in Corsica&mdash;12 only to 100 in the
+winter, and 21 to 100 in the summer.</p>
+
+<p>Our fellow-travellers were among the favoured number.
+Bridget, the eldest, opened her bundle, and took from
+among the folds of their slender stock of clothes two little
+books, which she showed us with modest pride. They
+contained catechisms, the <i>Pater-noster</i>, the <i>Ave Maria</i>,
+and a short litany to the Blessed Virgin. Poor girls!
+their trust was in Heaven! They had little else to trust
+in; but there was a &ldquo;Mother of Mercy&rdquo; to befriend her
+loving children. That was the most comfortable article in
+their creed&mdash;ideal, but very beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>At the highest point of the <i>Col</i> of Vizzavona, nearly
+4000 feet above the level of the sea, we find a loopholed
+barrack, surrounded by a ditch, where a small force of the
+<i>gendarmerie</i> is stationed to operate against the brigands.
+Standing among bare rocks, with the precipices of Monte<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+d'Oro frowning above it, the position is most dismal.
+Fancy that bleak barrack in the long, dreary winter of
+such an elevation, when ice and snow reign over the
+whole <i>plateau</i>! And what must have been the severity
+of the service when the bleak forest was the hiding-place,
+and Bocagnono, just under, the head-quarters, of the most
+desperate banditti!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/209.jpg" width="500" height="415" alt="BOCAGNONO." title="BOCAGNONO." />
+<p class="caption">BOCAGNONO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We still walked on, really preferring it, and glad not
+only to give the girls a lift, but to spare the mules, while
+carrying their light weight, for the hard service yet before
+them. After passing the <i>col</i>, we had a splendid view of
+Bocagnono and its hamlets, buried in trees, with bold
+mountains beyond. The pines now gave way to beech
+woods, and soon afterwards we reached the level of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+chestnut. The fall of the ground became rapid, but, as usual
+in such cases, the face of the hill being traversed by stages
+of inclined planes, blasted by gunpowder in the rocks, the
+gradients of the road were easy.</p>
+
+<p>The chestnut trees in the valley are of extraordinary
+size, and a rich <i>contour</i> of growth. Scattered capriciously
+among the groves are no less than ten hamlets, all attached
+to Bocagnono. It is a wild and romantic neighbourhood;
+and the principal village, though surrounded with verdure,
+has a most desolate aspect, the houses being built of
+unhewn stone, black with age, and the windows unglazed.</p>
+
+<p>Walking down the long, straggling street, noting appearances,
+a little in advance of our singular cavalcade, we
+observed a very magnificent officer of police, with a cocked
+hat and feathers, and sword by his side, sitting on a bench,
+smoking his pipe. He scrutinised us closely as we passed,
+munching chestnuts, and carelessly throwing the shells
+not very far from his worshipful presence. Filippi soon
+following with the mules, he was stopped by this important
+personage, who questioned him sharply about us. Appearances
+were rather against us. The spruce <i>gendarme</i> might
+possibly not understand&mdash;and it is often a puzzle&mdash;how
+gentlemen in light coats and stout shoes, bronzed, dusty,
+and travel-stained, could be walking through the country
+quite at their ease. Foreigners make themselves up for
+travelling in a very different style. Our juvenile <i>suite</i> also
+was somewhat singular, and, altogether, as I have said,
+circumstances were suspicious. We might be the last of
+the bandits, making their escape to the coast in disguise,
+with part of their little family. The orders to arrest such
+characters were very strict.</p>
+
+<p>However, it is to be presumed that the official was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+satisfied with Filippi's report, and we escaped a detention
+which might have caused us loss of time and patience.
+Having cleared the town, we took counsel together. The
+day was wearing away, and we were still some thirty miles
+from Ajaccio. It was Saturday, and we wished to get to
+the end of our journey in order to enjoy a quiet Sunday.
+There was nothing on the road to tempt us to linger, and
+no probability of finding decent accommodations; while
+at Ajaccio, we should be in clover, and get a fresh outfit,
+our baggage having been forwarded there. On the other
+hand, it was a long pull, and Filippi remonstrated on behalf
+of the mules and himself. The first objection was
+overruled, and the other removed by our engaging to take
+the boy <i>en croupe</i> by turns. Our female attendants we
+dismissed with the means of procuring lodgings for the
+night; and we relieved Bridget of her burthen, desiring
+her to call for it at the hotel at Ajaccio.</p>
+
+<p>Bocagnono stands in the gorge of a long valley, watered
+by the Gravone. This river falls into the sea a little south
+of Ajaccio, and the road, for the most part following its
+course, is generally easy. After leaving Bocagnono, the
+valley opened. We were among green hills, with the river
+flowing through a rich plain; the Alpine range, from which
+we had just descended, making a fine background to this
+pleasant landscape. Further on, some very picturesque
+villages, perched as usual on heights, increased its interest.</p>
+
+<p>We kept the mules to as sharp a trot as was consistent
+with the work still before us. Unfortunately, in the jolting,
+poor Bridget's bundle got loose, and the contents being
+scattered on the road, the wardrobe of a Corsican girl was
+exposed to profane eyes, and it became incumbent on me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+in discharge of my trust, to restore it to order with all possible
+neatness and security. Again we pricked on, and
+crossing the Gravone at the Ponte d'Usciano, the road
+began to ascend, carrying us for some miles over a rugged
+spur of the mountains. Here we found ourselves again
+among the shrubbery which forms so characteristic a feature
+in the landscape of these islands. Having passed the
+ruins of a house, the inmates of which, even to the infant
+in the cradle, had been butchered in one of the feuds so
+common in Corsica, we halted at a roadside <i>albergo</i>, near
+a <i>baraque</i> of the <i>gendarmerie</i>. Bread and grapes, with
+new wine, were spread for us under the shade of a tree,
+and we refreshed ourselves while our mules got their feed
+of barley.</p>
+
+<p>We had now nearly a level road all the way to Ajaccio.
+The plain was well cultivated, and we remarked some irrigated
+fields of maize. Soon afterwards it became dark,
+and the mules being much distressed, we could only proceed
+at a slow pace. The fatigue of riding was much lessened
+by having an English saddle; still it was a hard day's
+travelling: but the air was deliciously balmy, and the glowworm's
+lamp and cricket's chirp helped to cheer the weariness
+of a road which seemed interminable. Presently, we
+met country people returning from the market at Ajaccio,
+lights were seen more frequently on the hills, and, at last,
+the lantern on the pier-head&mdash;a welcome beacon&mdash;came
+in view. Half an hour afterwards, we dismounted at an
+hotel on the Corso.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXII" id="CHAP_XXII"></a>CHAP. XXII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Ajaccio.&mdash;Coll&egrave;ge-Fesch.&mdash;Reminiscences of the Buonaparte
+Family.&mdash;Excursion in the Gulf.&mdash;Chapel of the Greeks.&mdash;Evening
+Scenes.&mdash;Council-General of the Department.&mdash;Statistics.&mdash;State
+of Agriculture in Corsica&mdash;Her Prospects.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Sunday morning we attended high-mass at the cathedral
+of Ajaccio, a building of the sixteenth century, in the
+Italian style, having a belfry and dome, with the interior
+richly decorated. The service was well performed, there
+being a fine-toned organ, and the music of the mass well
+selected. The congregation was numerous, the girls'
+school especially. I was struck with the pensive cast of
+features in many of the girls, so like the Madonnas of the
+Italian masters. There were formerly six dioceses in Corsica,
+Mariana being the principal; for many years they
+have been all administered by the Bishop of Ajaccio, who
+is at present a suffragan of the Archbishop of Aix, in
+France.</p>
+
+<p>After service, we called on one of the professors of the
+<i>Coll&egrave;ge-Fesch</i>, to whom we had letters of introduction.
+This college and the <i>S&eacute;minaire</i> are the best buildings in
+Ajaccio, both being finely situated fronting the sea. The
+<i>S&eacute;minaire</i> is confined exclusively to the education of theological
+students intended for the clerical orders. In the
+other, founded and endowed by Cardinal Fesch, the course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+of study is that generally pursued in the French colleges.
+The cardinal appears to have had more affection for his native
+place than any other member of the Bonaparte family,
+giving a proof of it in this noble foundation. He also
+bequeathed to his native place a large collection of pictures,
+few of them, however, of much merit. His remains
+are deposited with those of Madame Letizia, his sister, in
+a chapel of the cathedral of Ajaccio, having been brought
+from Rome; where I recollect seeing him in 1819,&mdash;short
+and portly in person, with a mild and good-humoured
+expression of countenance. He had been a kind guardian
+of the young Bonapartes, and carefully administered the
+small property they inherited.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Coll&egrave;ge-Fesch</i> is a large building, with spacious lecture-rooms,
+long and lofty corridors, and a yard for exercise;
+the windows of the front looking out on the Gulf of
+Ajaccio and the mountains beyond. The professor's apartments
+had all the air of the rooms of a college fellow and
+tutor in one of our universities, carpets <i>et aliis mutandis</i>;
+only they were more airy and spacious. There are fifteen
+professors, of whom the Abbate Porazzi is one of the
+most distinguished. We were indebted to him for many
+good offices during our stay at Ajaccio. The number of
+students at this time was 260. They appeared to be of all
+ranks and ages; some of them grown men.</p>
+
+<p>Everything here has the southern character. We find
+rows of lemon-trees on the Corso; and the cactus, or
+Indian fig, flourishes in the environs,&mdash;the bright oleander
+thriving in the open air. The heat was excessive, my
+thermometer standing at 80&deg; at noon, in the shade of an
+airy room. From the Corso, a short street leads into the
+market-place, a square, bounded on one side by the port,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+and embellished by a fountain. During the last year it
+has been further ornamented by a statue of the first Napoleon,
+of white marble, standing on a granite pedestal, and
+facing the harbour. Concealed during the reigns of the
+restored Bourbons, its erection was a homage to the rising
+fortunes of the President of the French Republic. Ajaccio,
+being the modern capital of Corsica, the <i>chef-lieu</i> of
+the department, and seat of the <i>pr&eacute;fetture</i> and administration,
+is more French in habits and feeling than any
+other town in the island. But even here, I apprehend,
+there has never been much enthusiasm for the Bonapartes.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a>
+Among the native Corsicans, Pascal Paoli is the national
+hero.</p>
+
+<p>We visited, of course, the house in which the first Napoleon
+was born, standing in a little solitary court dignified<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+with the name of the <i>Piazza Lucrezia</i>, near the market-place.
+It has been often described. Uninhabited, and
+without a vestige of furniture, except some faded tapestry
+on the walls, the desolate and gloomy air of the birthplace
+of the great emperor struck me even more than the
+deserted apartments at Longwood, from which his spirit
+took its flight. There, sheaves of corn and implements of
+husbandry still gave signs of human life, singularly as
+they contrasted with the relics of imperial grandeur recently
+witnessed by the homely apartments. A man, born
+in the first year of the French Revolution, and who has
+followed the career of its &ldquo;child and champion&rdquo; with the
+feelings common to most Englishmen, can have no Napoleonic
+sympathies; yet, without forgetting the atrocities,
+the selfishness, and the littleness which stained and disfigured
+that career, it is impossible that such scenes could
+be contemplated by a thoughtful mind, not only without
+profound reflection on the vicissitudes of life, but without
+a full impression of the genius and force of character
+which lifted the Corsican adventurer to the dangerous
+height from whence he fell.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon we hired a boat in the harbour, and sailed
+down the Gulf of Ajaccio. This fine inlet, opening to the
+south-west, is from three to four leagues in length and
+breadth, and forms a basin of about twelve leagues in circumference,
+from the northern extremity, where the old
+city stood, to its outlet between the <i>Isles Sanguinaires</i> and
+the Capo di Moro, on the opposite coast. A range of
+mountains, considerably inferior in elevation to the central
+chain from which they ramify, rises almost from the shore,
+and stretches along the northern side of the gulf. The
+other coast is more indented, and swells into the ridges of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+the Bastelica, embracing the rich valley of Campo Loro
+(<i>Campo del' Oro</i>), washed by the Gravone. The Gulf of
+Ajaccio, like many others, has been compared to the Bay
+of Naples; but, I think, without much reason, except for
+the colouring lent by a brilliant and transparent atmosphere
+to both sea and land. In the case of Ajaccio, the
+effects are heightened by a still more southern climate, and
+the grander scale of the mountain scenery.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/217.jpg" width="500" height="291" alt="HARBOUR OF AJACCIO."
+title="HARBOUR OF AJACCIO." />
+<p class="caption">HARBOUR OF AJACCIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There were only a few small vessels, employed in the
+coasting trade, in the port. We rowed round the mole,
+under the frowning bastions of the citadel, a regular work
+covering a point stretching into the bay; and then hoisting
+sail, stood out into the gulf. The wind was too light
+to admit of our gaining its entrance; we sailed down it,
+however, for four or five miles in the mid-channel, the
+rocky islands at the northern entrance gradually opening;
+one crowned with the tower of a lighthouse, another with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+a village on its summit. The coast to our right was clothed
+with the deep verdure of the ever memorable Corsican
+shrubbery, breathing aromatic odours as we drifted along:
+otherwise, it appeared desolate; not a village appeared,
+and the barren and rugged mountain chain towered above.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that we made but little progress, the boat was
+steered for a little reef of rocks on the northern shore,
+and landing, we dismissed the boatman, determining to
+walk back to Ajaccio along the water's edge. Meanwhile
+we sat down on the rocks while my companion sketched.
+Presently I strolled up to a little chapel, standing by the
+side of the road which winds round the gulf towards <i>les
+Isles Sanguinaires</i>. A simple and chaste style of Italian architecture
+distinguished the white <i>fa&ccedil;ade</i>, rising gracefully
+to a pediment, crowned with a cross; pilasters, supporting
+arches, divided the portico beneath into three compartments,
+the central one forming the entrance. The door was
+closed, but the interior was visible through a <i>grille</i> at
+the side. The nave was paved with blue and white squares,
+and marble steps led up to the sanctuary, forming, with
+two side chapels, a Greek cross. There was no ornament,
+no furniture, except two or three low chairs for kneeling.
+Under the portico was a marble tablet, inscribed in good
+Latin, to the pious memory of a Pozzo di Borgo<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>, who
+restored the chapel in 1632. I read on another tablet:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>&ldquo;Per gli Orfanelli dei Marinari Naufragati.&rdquo;</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>Under an arch supported by pillars of green marble, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+lamp was feebly glimmering, fed perhaps by the offerings
+of loving mothers and fond wives who here offered their
+vows for the safe return of those dear to them.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was setting behind the islands at the mouth of
+the gulf, perfect stillness reigned, broken only by a gentle
+ripple on the granite rocks forming ledges from the water's
+edge to the base of the chapel. Struck with its singular
+interest, and wishing to learn more about it, on returning
+to my friend, who was still sketching, I found him in conversation
+with some loungers from the town. They could
+only tell us that it was called &ldquo;The Chapel of the Greeks,&rdquo;
+and, laughing, turned on their heels when I pursued my
+inquiries. Did they suppose that we Northerns had no
+sentiment in our religion, or had they none themselves?
+I afterwards heard two traditions respecting the Chapel of
+the Greeks. One, that it was founded by the remains of a
+colony from the Morea, who, having been expelled with
+great loss from their settlement at Cargese, were granted
+an asylum here;&mdash;the other, that the original building
+was erected, by Greek mariners, in acknowledgment of
+their escape from shipwreck on this coast.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult, I imagine, to find a more favourable
+point of view, or a happier moment, than that of which
+my friend availed himself to make the sketch of Ajaccio,
+which has been selected for the frontispiece of this volume.
+The gulf was perfectly calm, and of the deepest green and
+azure, a slight ripple being only discernible where a boat
+lay in one of the long streams of light reflected from the
+mass of orange and golden clouds in which the sun was
+setting behind the islands; while, to the east, flakes of rosy
+hue floated in the mid-heaven. The sails of the feluccas,
+becalmed in the gulf, faintly caught the light, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+gleamed on the houses of Ajaccio, particularly those of the
+modern town, distinguished by its white walls and red
+roofs from the old buildings about the cathedral. Behind
+were sugar-loaf hills; and the mountain-sides across the
+gulf glowed with the richest purple. Then came gradual
+changes of colour, softer and deeper hues, till, at last, a
+steamy veil of mist from seaward stole over the gulf. A
+faint glimmer from the lighthouse at the entrance of the
+harbour was scarcely visible in the blaze left behind by the
+glorious sunset.</p>
+
+<p>The lights began to twinkle from the windows of Ajaccio,
+and the cathedral bells tolling for the Ave Maria, stole on
+the ear across the gulf in the silence of the twilight hour.
+Reluctant to leave the scene, we lingered till it was
+shrouded from view, and an evening never to be forgotten
+closed in. Then we wound slowly towards the city along
+the shore, at the foot of hills laid out in vineyards hedged
+by the prickly cactus, or lightly sprinkled with myrtles
+and cystus, and all those odoriferous plants which now
+perfumed the balmy night air. Embowered in these, we
+had remarked some mortuary chapels, the burying-places
+of Ajaccian families. One of them, high up on the hill-side,
+was in the form of a Grecian temple; and we now
+passed another, standing among cypresses, close to the
+shore. Nearer the city, two stone pillars stand at the entrance
+of an avenue leading up to a dilapidated country-house,
+formerly the residence of Cardinal Fesch, and where
+Madame Bonaparte and her family generally spent the
+summer. Among the neglected shrubberies, and surrounded
+by the wild olive, the cactus, the clematis, and
+the almond, is a singular and isolated granite rock, called
+Napoleon's grotto, once his favourite retreat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On our return, we found the streets thronged; braziers
+with roasted chestnuts stood at every corner; strings of
+mules, loaded with wine casks suspended on each side,
+were returning from the vineyards; and there was a gay
+promenade on the Corso&mdash;ladies with no covering for
+their heads but the graceful black <i>faldetta</i>, French officers
+in not very brilliant uniforms, and a sprinkling of ecclesiastics
+in <i>soutanes</i> and prodigious beavers.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Porazzi took us to the only bookseller's shop
+in Ajaccio, where we made some purchases. It was a
+small affair, the book trade being combined with the sale
+of a variety of miscellaneous articles. The <i>pr&eacute;fetture</i>, a
+handsome building, lately finished, contains a library of
+25,000 volumes. We were introduced there to M. Camille
+Friess, the author of a compendious history of Corsica,
+who was kind enough to show us some of the archives, of
+which he has the custody. Among the documents connected
+with the Bonaparte family is a memorial, addressed
+by Napoleon to the Intendant of Corsica, respecting his
+mother's right to a garden. I jotted down the beginning
+and end:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+&ldquo;<i>Memoire relative &agrave; la p&eacute;pini&egrave;re d'Ajaccio.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="date">&ldquo;<i>Letizia Ramolini, veuve de Buonaparte, d'Ajaccio, a l'honneur de
+vous exposer....</i></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 20%;">&ldquo;<i>Votre tr&egrave;s humble</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 30%;"><i>et tr&egrave;s obeissant serviteur</i>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 40%;">&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Buonaparte</span><a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>, <i>Officier d'Artillerie</i>.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p class="date">&ldquo;<i>Hotel de Cherbourg</i>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10%;">
+&ldquo;<i>Rue St. Honor&eacute;, Paris, le 9 Nov. 1787.</i>&rdquo;</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The claim for a few roods of nursery garden was made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
+by a young man who afterwards distributed kingdoms and
+principalities! It is said that in the division of some property
+which fell to the family after he became emperor,
+his share was an olive-yard in the environs of Ajaccio.</p>
+
+<p>M. Friess obligingly gave me copies of the <i>proc&egrave;s-verbals</i>
+of the proceedings of the Council-General of the
+Department for the preceding years. These reports are
+printed annually, and, I believe, similar ones are made in
+all the departments of France. Those I possess are models
+of good arrangement in whatever concerns provincial administration.
+They have supplied more information on
+the present state of Corsica and its prospects of improvement
+than all the books of travel, and works of greater
+pretensions, it has been my fortune to meet with.</p>
+
+<p>The Council-General, as many of my readers know, is a
+body elected by the people; each canton, of which there are
+sixty-one in Corsica, sending representatives in proportion
+to the population. The <i>pr&eacute;fet</i>, who is <i>ex-officio</i> president,
+opens the session by a speech, in which he reviews the
+affairs of the department under the heads of finance, public
+works, education, &amp;c., &amp;c., and presents a budget, with
+detailed reports on the various branches of administration.
+All these are printed, with a short <i>proc&egrave;s-verbal</i> of the debates,
+and the divisions when the Council-General comes
+to a vote. The proceedings are submitted to the Minister
+of the Interior, who approves or rejects the proposals made.
+Virtually, however, although the Council has no power to
+act on its resolutions until they are confirmed by the central<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+government, whatever relates to the assessment of
+taxes, police, roads, and other works, all matters of local
+interest not only come under discussion in these provincial
+assemblies, but are shaped and decided by them. The services
+thus rendered must therefore be very valuable, and
+it is worth considering whether our over-worked House of
+Commons might not be relieved of some of its burthens,
+and the business better done, by similar representative
+bodies, entrusted with legislative powers so far as concerns
+matters of local interest. Such assemblies would well
+accord with our Anglo-Saxon institutions. But to give
+them a fair field, with sufficient weight, impartiality, and
+importance, a considerable area should be embraced in each
+jurisdiction. Durham might be united with Yorkshire;
+the three western counties, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall,
+might form a province; North and South Wales,
+each one. And what a valuable body of statistics would
+be furnished by an annual report, corresponding with
+those which have led to these remarks!</p>
+
+<p>We gather some general statistics from these documents
+and other sources.</p>
+
+<p>By the census of 1851, the population of Corsica was
+236,251 souls, of whom 117,938 were males, and 118,313
+females. All but 54 were Roman Catholics. There were
+no less than 32,364 proprietors of land. The day-labourers
+were 34,427; government officials, 1229; clergy, 955; regular
+troops, <i>gendarmes</i>, &amp;c., 5000. The number of students
+in all the public colleges and schools was from 16,000 to
+17,000, of which 15,000 were male, and only from 2000 to
+3000 females. The proportion of males frequenting the
+schools is greater than in France, it being as 137 to 100 in
+the winter, and 226 to 100 in the summer; while that of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+the girls is the reverse, being as 12 to 100 in the winter,
+and 21 to 100 in the summer. This disproportion between
+male and female scholars in Corsica is very remarkable.</p>
+
+<p>The superficies of the island is estimated at somewhat
+less than two millions and a quarter of English acres. Of
+this surface, only a six-hundredth part is, on an average,
+under cultivation, an area which, it is said, might be
+doubled. Vast portions of the soil belong to the communes,
+and measures are in contemplation for their improvement.</p>
+
+<p>Wheat produces, on an average of years, an increase
+of nine times the seed sown; barley and oats, twelve or
+thirteen; maize, thirty-eight to forty; and potatoes,
+twenty.</p>
+
+<p>The rate of daily wages for the year 1851 was fixed by
+the Council-General at 75 <i>centimes</i> for the towns of Ajaccio
+and Bastia, and 50 <i>centimes</i> for all the other communes.</p>
+
+<p>Among the most important subjects brought to notice
+by the <i>proc&egrave;s-verbal</i> of 1851 is the state of agriculture in
+the island; on which the <i>Pr&eacute;fet</i> finds little to congratulate
+the Council-General except an increase in the cultivation
+of lucerne and in the plantations of mulberry-trees. The
+obstacles to its progress are found in the insecurity of life,
+the want of inclosures, and the unbounded rights of common
+enjoyed by the shepherds; in the richest plains being
+uninhabited, and their distance from the villages; in the
+pestilential air of these plains, and the want of roads.&mdash;A
+stranger will be disposed to add to this list the indolence
+of the natives. So far as the obstacles to improvement
+can be surmounted by judicious legislation and encouragement,
+the <i>proc&egrave;s-verbals</i> of the Council-General exhibit
+enlightened ideas far in advance of the opinions and habits<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+of the people; and there is much good sense and right
+feeling in the observation with which the <i>Pr&egrave;fet</i>, in one of
+his addresses, concludes his statement of the position of
+affairs:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Si la Corse,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;devait passer subitement &agrave;
+l'&eacute;tat des civilisations avanc&eacute;es, elle courait risque de
+perdre dans cette transformation (et ce serait &agrave; jamais
+deplorable) tout ce qu'il y a de primitif, de g&eacute;n&eacute;reux,
+d'&eacute;nergetique dans ses m&#339;urs s&eacute;culaires. Je n'en citerai
+qu'un exemple. Le mouvement civilisateur trouve, &agrave;
+certains &eacute;gards, r&eacute;sistance dans la force des sentiments de
+famille, dans la coh&eacute;sion des membres qui la composent.
+Et, cependant, qui d'entre vous consentirait &agrave; acheter les
+progr&egrave;s de la civilisation au prix du r&eacute;l&acirc;chement de ces
+liens sacr&eacute;s qui sont la clef de vo&ucirc;te de toute soci&eacute;t&eacute;
+organis&eacute;e?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Delivered from the scourge of <i>banditisme</i> and the <i>vendetta</i>
+by severe measures, supposed to be strongly opposed
+to the popular instinct, and with hopes held out of such
+further improvement in civilisation as the progress of ideas
+will admit, Corsica may, perhaps, have no reason to regret
+that she failed in her long struggles for national independence.
+But France will not have performed her duty to
+this outlying department of the empire till she promotes
+the manufactures and commerce of the island. It is a part
+of the protective system to which she clings to discourage
+all direct foreign trade, just as England formerly engrossed
+the commerce of her colonies. The result is that the poor
+Corsicans, compelled to purchase the commodities they
+require&mdash;manufactured goods, colonial produce, and even
+corn and cattle&mdash;in the French market, buy at enormously
+high prices. The balance of trade is much against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
+them, their annual exports to France being only a million
+and a half of <i>francs</i>, while they import from thence articles
+of the value of three millions. The present Emperor of
+France is understood to entertain enlightened views on
+the subject of free trade; and it is to be hoped that,
+when he is able to carry them out, Corsica will share in
+the benefits of an unrestricted commerce.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXIII" id="CHAP_XXIII"></a>CHAP. XXIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Leave Ajaccio.&mdash;Neighbourhood of Olmeto.&mdash;Sollacar&oacute;.&mdash;James
+Boswell's Residence there.&mdash;Scene in the &ldquo;Corsican
+Brothers&rdquo; laid there&mdash;Quarrel of the Vincenti and Grimaldi.&mdash;Road
+to Sartene.&mdash;Corsican Marbles.&mdash;Arrive at
+Bonifacio</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>We were quite as well served, and the accommodations
+were as good, at Ajaccio as in any provincial city of France.
+They gave us a delicate white wine made in the neighbourhood,
+an agreeable beverage, which, we thought, resembled
+<i>Chablais</i>; and a <i>confiture</i> of cherries preserved in jelly,
+which was exquisite. I had told the story of our adventure
+with the poor girls from Corte to the mistress of the
+house, and, on Bridget's appearing the day after our arrival
+to claim her wardrobe, she informed me, with great joy, that
+our good hostess had taken her into her service.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving Ajaccio, Sartene was our next point. The
+road crosses the Gravone and the Prunelle, flowing into
+the gulf through fertile valleys, and then winds through a
+wild and mountainous country, in which Cauro is the only
+village, till, surmounting the Col San Georgio, 2000 feet
+above the level of the sea, it descends into a rich plain,
+watered by the Taravo. In its upper course its branches
+water two romantic valleys, which formed the ancient fiefs
+of Ornano and Istria, the seats of powerful lords in the old
+times. Picturesque scenery, ruins of castles, and medi&aelig;val<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+tales lend a charm to this region, in which we would
+gladly have wandered for some days, but that Sardinia
+was before us.</p>
+
+<p>There are few finer spots in the island than the <i>paese</i> of
+Olmeto, the principal village being surrounded by mountains,
+with a plain below, extending to the deep inlet of
+the Mediterranean, called the Gulf of Valinco, and rich in
+corn-lands, olive, and fruit trees. At Olmeto we were
+served with a dish of magnificent apples, some of them
+said to weigh two pounds. On the Monte Buturetto, 3000
+feet high, are seen the ruins of the stronghold of Arrigo
+della Rocca; and, further on, near Sollacar&oacute;, another almost
+inaccessible summit was crowned by a castle, built by his
+nephew, Vincentello d'Istria&mdash;both famed in Corsican
+story.</p>
+
+<p>It was at Sollacar&oacute;, standing at the foot of this hill,
+that our countryman, Boswell, first presented himself
+to Pascal Paoli, in a house of the Colonna's, with letters
+of introduction from the Count de Rivarola and
+Rousseau. Boswell remained some time with Paoli,
+who was then keeping a sort of court at Sollacar&oacute;,
+and admitted him to the most familiar intercourse. His
+conversations with the illustrious Corsican, jotted down in
+his own peculiar style, form the most interesting part of
+the account of his tour, published after his return to
+England. &ldquo;From my first setting out on this tour,&rdquo; he
+states, &ldquo;I wrote down every night what I had observed
+during the day. Of these particulars the most valuable to
+my readers, as well as to myself, must surely be the
+memoirs and remarkable sayings of Pascal Paoli, which I
+am proud to record.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p>
+<p>Boswell was treated with much distinction, and appears
+to have been flattered with the character, which ignorance
+or policy attributed to him, of being <i>Il Ambasciadore Inglese</i>.
+&ldquo;In the morning,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I had my chocolate
+served up on a silver salver, adorned with the arms of Corsica.
+I dined and supped constantly with the general. I
+was visited by all the nobility; and when I chose to make
+a little tour, I was attended by a party of guards. One
+day, when I rode out, I was mounted on Paoli's own
+horse, with rich furniture of crimson velvet and broad
+gold lace, and had my guards marching along with me.&rdquo;
+His vanity so flattered, and with what he calls Attic evenings,
+&ldquo;<i>noctes, c&#339;n&aelig;que De&ucirc;m</i>,&rdquo; giving scope to his ruling
+passion, James Boswell must have been in the seventh
+heaven while Paoli's guest at Sollacar&oacute;.</p>
+
+<p>But the most amusing part of the affair is the efforts he
+made to ingratiate himself with the lower classes of the
+Corsicans, his admiration of whom is sometimes chequered
+by a wholesome fear of their wild instincts. &ldquo;I got a
+Corsican dress made,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;in which I walked about
+with an air of true satisfaction. The general did me the
+honour to present me with his own pistols, made in the
+island, all of Corsican wood and iron, and of excellent
+workmanship. I had every other accoutrement.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The
+peasants and soldiers became quite free and easy with me.
+One day, they would needs hear me play upon my German
+flute. I gave them one or two Italian airs, and then some
+of our beautiful old Scotch tunes&mdash;&#8216;Gilderoy,&#8217; &#8216;The Lass
+of Patie's Mill,&#8217; &#8216;Corn-riggs are bonny.&#8217; The pathetic
+simplicity and pastoral gaiety of the Scotch music will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+always please those who have the genuine feelings of nature.
+The Corsicans were charmed with the specimens I
+gave them.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My good friends insisted also on having an English
+song from me. I endeavoured to please them in this, too,
+and was very lucky in what occurred to me. I sung to
+them &#8216;Hearts of oak are our ships; hearts of oak are our
+men.&#8217; I translated it into Italian for them; and never
+did I see men so delighted with a song as the Corsicans
+were with &#8216;Hearts of Oak.&#8217; &#8216;<i>Cuore di querco</i>,&#8217; cried they,
+&#8216;<i>bravo Inglese!</i>&#8217; It was quite a joyous riot.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Boswell's correspondence during this tour is also characteristic.
+He informs us that he walked one day to Corte,
+from the convent where he lodged, purposely to write
+a letter to Mr. Samuel Johnson.&mdash;&ldquo;I told my revered
+friend, that from a kind of superstition, agreeable in a
+certain degree to him as well as to myself, I had, during
+my travels, written to him from <span class="smcap">Loca Solemnia</span>, places in
+some measure sacred. That, as I had written to him from
+the tomb of Melancthon, sacred to learning and piety, I
+now wrote to him from the palace of Pascal Paoli, sacred
+to wisdom and liberty; knowing that, however his political
+principles may have been represented, he had always a
+generous zeal for the common rights of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Johnson was pleased with what I wrote here; for
+I received, at Paris, an answer from him, which I keep as
+a valuable charter. &#8216;When you return, you will return to
+an unaltered and, I hope, unalterable friend. All that you
+have to fear from me is the vexation of disappointing me.
+No man loves to frustrate expectations which have been
+formed in his favour, and the pleasure which I promise
+myself from your journals and remarks is so great, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+perhaps no degree of attention or discernment will be able
+to afford it. Come home, however, and take your chance.
+I long to see you and to hear you; and hope that we shall
+not be so long separated again. Come home, and expect
+such a welcome as is due to him whom a wise and noble
+curiosity has led where, perhaps, no native of this country
+ever was before.&#8217;&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>We have a certain sympathy for Boswell. He was the
+first Englishman on record who penetrated into Corsica,
+and none but ourselves, as far as we have any account,
+have followed his steps for nearly a century. Not to
+weary the reader, we have done him injustice in only
+making extracts from his work betraying the weak points
+of his character; for his account of Corsica is valuable for
+its research, its descriptions, and its history of the times.
+His <i>memorabilia</i> of Pascal Paoli supply ample materials for
+any modern Plutarch who would contrast his character
+with that of his rival countryman, Napoleon Bonaparte.
+Commencing their political career in unison, widely as it
+diverged, both ended their lives in exile on British soil.
+Though Paoli's sphere was narrow, so was that of some of
+the greatest men in Grecian history; and, like theirs, it
+had far extended relations. The eyes of Europe were upon
+him; Corsica was then its battle-field, and the principles
+of his conduct and administration are of universal application.</p>
+
+<p>But Sollacar&oacute; may have more interest for the public of
+the present day from its connection with a romance of
+Alexandre Dumas, and the play founded upon it, than
+from Paoli's having held court, or Boswell's visit to him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+there. We have traced the wizard's footsteps, in one
+of his works of genius, at the Ch&acirc;teau d'If and Monte
+Cristo<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>, we meet them again in the wilds of Corsica. Few
+of my readers can follow us there; but let them go to the
+&ldquo;Princess's&rdquo; when &ldquo;The Corsican Brothers&rdquo; is performed,
+and they will realise much that we have told them of the
+Corsican temperament and Corsican life. How true to
+nature is the reply of Fabian, in the first act, to the suggestion
+of his friend, &ldquo;Then you will never leave the
+village of Sollacar&oacute;?&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;It seems strange to you that a
+man should cling to such a miserable country as Corsica;
+but what else can you expect? I am one of those plants
+that will only live in the open air. I must breathe an
+atmosphere impregnated with the life-giving emanations
+of the mountains and the sharp breezes of the sea. I
+must have my torrents to cross, my rocks to climb, my
+forests to explore. I must have my carbine, room, independence,
+and liberty. If I were transported into a city,
+methinks I should be stifled, as if I were in a prison.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The scene of the first act is laid in an old mansion of the
+Colonna's at Sollacar&oacute;, perhaps that in which Boswell
+lodged. The action turns upon an antient feud between the
+Orlandi and Colonne, which is with difficulty extinguished
+by the intervention of Fabian, one of the Corsican brothers.
+A short dialogue tells the story:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fabian.</span> &#8216;You come among us to witness a <i>vendetta</i>;
+well! you will behold something much more rare&mdash;you
+will be present at a reconciliation.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alfred.</span> &#8216;A reconciliation?&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;Which will be no easy matter, I assure you,
+considering the point to which things are come.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alf.</span> &#8216;And from what did this great quarrel originate,
+which, thanks to you, is on the eve of being extinguished?&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;Why, I confess I feel some difficulty in telling
+you that. The first cause was&mdash;&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alf.</span> &#8216;Was what?&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;The first cause was a hen.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alf.</span> (<i>astonished</i>) &#8216;A hen!&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;Yes. About ten years ago, a hen escaped from
+the poultry-yard of the Orlandi, and took refuge in that of
+one of the Colonne. The Orlandi claimed the hen. The
+Colonne maintained it was theirs. In the heat of the discussion,
+an Orlando was imprudent enough to threaten
+that he would summon the Colonne before the <i>Juge de
+Paix</i>, and put them on their oath. At this menace, an
+old woman of the Colonna family, who held the hen in
+her hand, twisted its neck, and threw it in the face of the
+mother of Orlando. &ldquo;There,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;if the hen be
+thine, eat it!&rdquo; Upon this, an Orlando picked up the
+hen by the claws, and raised his hand, with the hen in it,
+to strike her who had thrown it in the face of his mother;
+but at the moment he lifted his hand, a Colonna, who unfortunately
+had his loaded carbine with him, without hesitation,
+fired, and shot him in the breast, and killed him.&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alf.</span> &#8216;Good heavens! And how many lives has this
+ridiculous squabble cost?&#8217;<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;There have been nine persons killed and five
+wounded.&#8217;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alf.</span> &#8216;What! and all for a miserable hen?&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;Yes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Alf.</span> &#8216;And it is, doubtless, in compliance with the
+prayers of one of these two families that you have interfered
+to terminate this quarrel?&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;Oh! not at all. They would have exterminated
+one another to the very last man rather than have
+made a single step towards each other. No, no; it is at
+the entreaty of my brother.&#8217;&rdquo; ...</p>
+
+<p>The action of this scene consists in the formal but unwilling
+reconciliation of the two clans, represented by their
+chiefs, in the presence of a <i>juge de paix</i>; in token of which
+a hen was to be presented by the Orlando to the Colonna.
+The situation affords scope for ludicrous disputes whether it
+should be a white hen or a black one&mdash;dead or alive&mdash;which
+should hold out his hand first, and so on; mixed with the
+more serious question, whether they met on equal terms,
+only four Orlandi having been slain against five Colonne,
+but four Orlandi wounded to one Colonna&mdash;the Colonne
+&ldquo;counting the wounded for nothing,&rdquo; if they did not die
+of their wounds.</p>
+
+<p>The main plot is beside our purpose. The scene changes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+to Paris, and the catastrophe may be imagined from the
+words of Fabian in the last act, which give, alas! too true
+a picture of what the social state of Corsica was.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;A Corsican family is the ancient hydra, one of whose
+heads has no sooner been cut off than there springs forth
+another, which bites and tears in the place of the one that
+has been severed from the trunk. What is my will, sir?
+My will is to kill him who has killed my brother!&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;&#8216;You are determined to kill me, sir! How?&#8217;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Fab.</span> &#8216;Oh, be satisfied! Not from behind a wall, not
+through a hedge, as is the mode in my country, as is the
+practice there; but, as it is done here, <i>&agrave; la mode Fran&ccedil;aise</i>,
+with a frilled shirt and white gloves;&mdash;and you see, sir, I
+am in fighting costume.&#8217;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>But we must return to our Rambles, trusting to the indulgent
+reader's forgiveness, if our pen sometimes rambles too.
+On leaving Olmeto, the road skirts the Gulf of Valinco,
+and, after touching the little port of Propriano, ascends to
+Sartene. This town, the seat of one of the five <i>sous-pr&eacute;fettures</i>
+into which the island is divided, stands on the
+summit of a hill, the plain below being covered with olive-yards
+and fruit-trees, with vineyards on the slopes, and
+groves of ilex further up. The place has a melancholy
+aspect, all the houses being of the rudest construction,
+built of unhewn granite, black with age, and very lofty.
+It is divided into two quarters; one inhabited by wealthy
+families, among which, we were told, there are fifteen
+worth 200,000 <i>francs</i> each; and the other by the lower
+class of people, a turbulent race, between whom and the
+patricians there have long been bloody feuds, breaking out
+into open war.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The country between Sartene and Bonifacio is wild and
+mountainous; and the road winding along the sides of the
+hills, many fine points of view are presented. To the
+northward, the eye rested on the lofty peak of Monte
+Incudine, and the long ridge of the Cascione, the high
+pasturages of which are occupied during the summer
+months by the shepherds of Quenza and other villages of
+the Serra. Southward, we have the coast, deeply indented,
+the blue Mediterranean, and, at about two hours from
+Sartene, the distant mountains of Sardinia, in faint outline.
+Now, there is in sight the grey tower of one of the
+old feudal castles, overgrown with wood, and rising among
+pinnacles of rock; vast forests clothe some of the mountain-sides,
+and everywhere we find the arbutus, the myrtle,
+and evergreen shrubbery. Here it contrasts well with the
+red and grey rocks we see around. That reddish rock is a
+compact granite, evidently admitting of a high polish.
+There are quarries by the side of the road, which is cut
+through it; and we are informed that it is sent to Rome
+for works of art.</p>
+
+<p>Corsica is rich in valuable marbles, as yet turned to
+little account. Not far from Olmeto, in this route, in the
+canton of Santa Lucia, is found a beautiful granite, peculiar
+to the island. They call it <i>orbicularis</i>. It has a blueish
+cast, with white and black spots. I have observed it among
+the choice specimens with which the chapel of the Medici,
+at Florence, is so richly inlaid. The Corsican mountains
+present a variety of other fine granites, with porphyry and
+serpentine, in some of which agates and jaspers are incorporated.
+Of marbles proper, there are quarries in the
+island of a statuary marble, of a pure and dazzling whiteness,
+said to be equal to the best Carrara. Blocks of it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
+from five to eight feet thick, can be obtained from a single
+layer. Blueish-grey and pale yellow marbles are found
+near Corte and Bastia. But of metalliferous rocks and
+deposits the island cannot boast; a few iron mines, that of
+Olmeta in particular, one of copper, another of antimony,
+and one of manganese, form the scanty catalogue. It
+is to the island of Elba that we must look for mineral
+wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Connected with the mineralogy of Corsica, I would just
+mention, in passing, that the island abounds in warm, sulphureous,
+and chalybeate springs, some of them strongly
+impregnated with carbonic acid gas. Those of Orezza,
+Puzzichello, and the Fiumorbo, are in great repute; and I
+collect from the <i>proc&egrave;s-verbals</i> of the Council-General, that
+the mineral waters of Corsica are considered objects of
+much importance, considerable sums being annually voted
+for making baths, with roads to them, and encouraging
+parties engaged in opening them to the public.</p>
+
+<p>Descending from the heights, after halting at a solitary
+post-house, we cross a large tract of partially-cultivated
+flats, through which the Ortolo flows sluggishly into the
+Gulf of Roccapina. Again we climb a ridge, and the
+mountains of Sardinia rise distinctly before us over the
+straits and islands beneath us. The road now approaches
+the Mediterranean, crossing the heads of the small Gulfs of
+Figari and Ventiligni. Many streams flow into them
+through a country uninhabited, and said to be unhealthy.</p>
+
+<p>Some miles succeed of the undulating shrubbery of the
+<i>maquis</i>, over a poor and rugged surface, till we surmount
+the last ridge, and, suddenly, Bonifacio appears across the
+harbour, crowning a rocky peninsula rising boldly from
+the sea, which washes almost the whole circuit of its base.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>
+The chalk cliffs are of a dazzling whiteness, and scooped
+out by the action of the waves and the weather into the
+most fantastic shapes. Their entire <i>enceinte</i> is surrounded
+by fortifications, screening from sight most of the town;
+the church domes, with watch-towers and a massive citadel,
+alone breaking the picturesque outline. At the foot of
+the road, along the harbour-side, lies the <i>Marino</i>, inhabited
+by fishermen, and the seat of a small coasting trade
+and some commerce across the straits with the island of
+Sardinia.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/240.jpg" width="500" height="368" alt="BONIFACIO ON THE SEA-SIDE."
+title="BONIFACIO ON THE SEA-SIDE." />
+<p class="caption">BONIFACIO ON THE SEA-SIDE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>To this Marino we rumble down the steep bank on the
+opposite side of the creek, through ilex woods festooned
+with wild vines, and, lower down, through olive groves.
+We travelled in the <i>coup&eacute;</i> of the <i>diligence</i> from Sartene
+with a young Corsican officer in the French service, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+had come on leave from Dieppe to bid farewell to his
+family at Bonifacio, expecting to be employed in the expedition
+to the East. We talked of the coming war, with
+an almost impregnable fortress before us, memorable for
+its obstinate resistance to sieges, as remarkable in old times
+as that in which both, probably, of my fellow-travellers
+were, twelve months afterwards, engaged. On approaching
+the place, we witnessed a scene which gave us some idea of
+the warmth of family feeling among the Corsicans. At
+the foot of the descent, a mile from the town, the <i>diligence</i>
+suddenly stopped. By the road-side a group, of all ages
+and both sexes, was waiting its arrival. What fond greetings!
+what tender embraces! A young urchin seized his
+brother's sword, almost as long as himself; the mother and
+sisters clung to his side. Leaving him to walk to the town
+thus happily escorted, we are set down on the quay. The
+only access to the town itself is by a steep inclined plane,
+with slopes and steps cut in the rock. No wheel carriage
+ever enters the place. We pass under a gloomy arch in
+the barbican, surmounted by a strong tower, and establish
+ourselves in a very unpromising <i>locanda</i>, after vainly
+searching for better quarters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXIV" id="CHAP_XXIV"></a>CHAP. XXIV.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Bonifacio.&mdash;Foundation and History.&mdash;Besieged by Alfonso
+of Arragon.&mdash;By Dragut and the Turks.&mdash;Singularity of
+the Place.&mdash;Its Medi&aelig;val Aspect.&mdash;The Post-office.&mdash;Passports.&mdash;Detention.&mdash;Marine
+Grottoes.&mdash;Ruined Convent of
+St. Julian.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Boniface, Marquis of Tuscany, one of the noblest and
+bravest of Charlemagne's peers, was entrusted by his feeble
+successor with the defence of the most salient point in the
+southern frontier of his dominions against the incessant
+ravages of the Saracen Corsairs from Barbary and Spain.
+Created Count of Corsica, Boniface founded, in 830, the
+strong fortress, on the southern extremity of the island,
+which bears his name. A massive round tower, called <i>Il
+Torrione</i>, the original citadel, still proudly crowns the
+heights, having withstood for ages the storms of war and
+the tempests which lash its exposed and sea-girt site.
+Three other ancient towers, including the barbican already
+mentioned, strengthened the position; and others, with
+ramparts, curtains, and bastions, were added to the works
+in succeeding times, till the whole circuit of the rocky
+<i>plateau</i> bristles with defensive works. Within these the
+town is closely packed in narrow streets;&mdash;but of that
+hereafter.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/243.jpg" width="700" height="451" alt="BONIFACIO." title="BONIFACIO." />
+<p class="caption">BONIFACIO.</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of its history it need only be mentioned, that after
+passing to the Pisans, the Genoese got possession of the
+place by a stratagem, and it remained for many centuries
+under their protection, but enjoying great independent
+privileges. Genoese families of distinction settled there,
+and, during the wars with the Corsicans and their allies,
+Bonifacio steadfastly adhered to the fortunes of the Republic.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of these wars, the place sustained two
+sieges, so signalised by the vigour and obstinacy of the
+attack and defence, especially by the heroic resistance of
+the Bonifacians and the extremity of suffering they endured,
+that these sieges are memorable amongst the most
+famous of either ancient or modern times.</p>
+
+<p>In 1420, Alfonso of Arragon, having pretensions on Corsica,
+invested Bonifacio by sea and land with a powerful
+force, supported by his partisan, Vincintello d'Istria, at
+the head of his Corsican vassals. The siege, which lasted
+five months, was vigorously pressed on the part of the
+Spaniards, and met by a defence equally determined.
+Night and day, a terrible shower of stone balls and other
+missiles was hurled at the walls and into the town by the
+besiegers' engines, both from the fleet and the position
+occupied by the king's army on a neighbouring hill. The
+besiegers also threw arrows from the ships' towers and
+round-tops, and leaden acorns from certain hand-bombards,
+of cast metal, hollow, like a reed, as they are described by
+the Corsican historian, these leaden acorns being propelled
+by fire, and piercing through a man in armour. Artillery,
+the great arm in modern sieges, thus helped to sweep the
+ranks of the devoted Bonifacians. Seventy years before,
+it had been employed, in a rude shape, by the English at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+the battle of Cr&eacute;ci. The walls and towers crumbled under
+the storm of heavier missiles discharged by the machines
+of ancient warfare, and the houses were laid in ruins.
+Twice, practicable breaches were effected, and the Spaniards,
+bravely mounting to the assault, which lasted
+several days, were repulsed with severe loss; the women of
+Bonifacio, as well as the priests and monks, vyeing with the
+townsmen in heroic courage while defending the breaches.
+Then, both sexes and every age worked night and day in
+throwing up barricades and repairing the walls.</p>
+
+<p>In the face of this obstinate defence, Alfonso, despairing
+of being able to carry the place by assault, determined on
+forcing the enemy to surrender from starvation, during a
+protracted siege; and, still pouring missiles incessantly into
+the place, he maintained a close blockade by sea and land,
+drawing chains across the harbour to prevent supplies
+being thrown in. The corn magazine had been burnt;
+and the besieged, reduced to the last extremity, were compelled
+to devour the most loathsome herbs and animals.
+Many, wounded and helpless, would have been carried off
+by hunger had not the compassion of the women afforded
+them relief; for the kind-hearted women of Bonifacio, we
+are told, actually offered their breasts to their brothers,
+children, blood-relations, and sponsors; and there was no
+one during the terrible siege of Bonifacio who had not
+sucked the breast of a woman. They even, it is said,
+made a cheese of their milk, and sent it to the king, as
+well as threw bread from the walls, to disguise their state
+of distress from the Spaniards.</p>
+
+<p>The republic of Genoa, receiving intelligence of the
+extremity to which its faithful town was reduced, lost no
+time in fitting out a fleet to convey to its aid a strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+reinforcement, with supplies of arms and food; but the
+season was so stormy that for three months, between September
+and January (1421), the expedition was detained
+in the harbour of Genoa.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the townsmen, almost in despair, listened to
+the honourable terms offered by the King of Arragon, and
+at last agreed to capitulate if no relief arrived within
+forty days. But the king refusing to allow them to send
+messengers to Genoa, they hastily built a small vessel,
+and lowering it by ropes from the rock, then let down the
+devoted crew, who, at every peril, were to convey the
+magistrates' letters to the senate of Genoa. Followed to
+the point of rock by multitudes of the citizens, the women,
+it is said, by turns offered them their breasts: food there
+was little or none to take with them.</p>
+
+<p>After fifteen days of terrible suspense, during which the
+churches were open from early morning till late at night,
+the people praying for deliverance from their enemies and
+for forgiveness of their sins, and going in procession, barefoot,
+though the winter was severe, from the cathedral of
+St. Mary to St. Dominic and the other churches, chanting
+litanies;&mdash;at last, when hopes were failing, the little vessel
+crept under the rock by night, and the crew, giving the signal
+and being drawn up by ropes, brought the joyful news to the
+anxious crowd that the Genoese fleet was close at hand.
+The period for the surrender was come, when sorrow was
+turned to joy. The bells pealed, fire signals were lighted
+on all the towers, and shouts of exultation rose to heaven.
+The Arragonese thundered at the gates, demanding the
+surrender, for the relieving fleet was not yet descried. The
+Bonifacians asserted that relief had arrived in the night;
+and, to countenance the assertion, there appeared bands of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+armed men, who marched round the battlements, with
+glittering lances and armour, and the standard of Genoa
+at their head; for the women of Bonifacio had put on
+armour, so that, like the female peasantry of the coast of
+Cardigan, in their red whittles, when the French landed
+during the war of the revolution, the force opposed to the
+enemy was apparently doubled or tripled.</p>
+
+<p>Alfonso of Arragon, seeing this, exclaimed, &ldquo;Have the
+Genoese wings, that they can come to Bonifacio when we
+are keeping a strict blockade by land and by sea?&rdquo; And
+again he gave orders for the assault, and his engines shot
+a storm of missiles against the place. Three days afterwards,
+the relieving fleet anchored off the harbour, and
+some brave Bonifacians, swimming off to the ships, horrified
+the Genoese by their haggard and famine-worn
+features. After a terrible fight, which lasted for seven
+hours&mdash;ship jammed against ship in the narrow channel,
+and the Bonifacians hurling firebrands, harpoons, and all
+kinds of missiles on such of the enemy's ships as they
+could reach from the walls and towers&mdash;the Genoese burst
+the chain across the harbour, and unbounded was the joy
+of the famished townsmen when seven ships, loaded with
+corn, were safely moored along the Marino. Alfonso of
+Arragon raised the siege, and, abandoning his enterprise in
+deep mortification, sailed for Italy.</p>
+
+<p>The citizens of Bonifacio displayed equal heroism in
+defence of their town in 1554. It was then the turn of
+Henry IV. of France to invade Corsica. Invited by Sampiero
+and the other patriot chiefs, the French troops,
+acting in concert with the island militia, drove the Genoese
+from all their positions except some fortified places on the
+coast; while the Turks, the natural enemies of the republic,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+co-operating with the French, appeared off the island with
+a powerful fleet, under the command of their admiral,
+Dragut, and laid siege to Bonifacio.</p>
+
+<p>The defence offered by the townsmen was all the more
+obstinate from their being inspired with the sentiment that
+it was a religious duty to fight against the Infidel. Again
+the women rushed to the ramparts, and fell gloriously in
+the breach. The Turks had been repulsed with great
+slaughter in repeated assaults, and Dragut had drawn off
+his forces to some distance, disconcerted, and almost resolved
+to raise the siege, when an unexpected occurrence
+brought it to an end. An inhabitant of Bonifacio was
+entrusted by the senate of Genoa to carry over a sum of
+money, and announce the approach of succour to the besieged
+town. Landing at Girolata, he was making his way
+through the island, when, betrayed by one of his guides,
+he was arrested, and brought to De Thermes, the French
+general. Means were found of inducing the Genoese
+emissary to betray his employers. He was instructed to
+proceed to Bonifacio with Da Mare, a Corsican noble, and
+engage the authorities to surrender, informing them that
+the Genoese could afford them no relief.</p>
+
+<p>The stratagem succeeded. The letters of credence with
+which the traitor had been furnished at Genoa satisfied the
+commandant of the truth of his mission, and he consented
+to deliver up the place to Da Mare, on condition that the
+town should be saved from pillage, and the soldiers conducted
+to Bastia, and embarked for Genoa. But when the
+Turks saw those brave men, who had foiled all their
+assaults by an obstinate defence, file out of the place, they
+fell on them, and massacred them without mercy. Moreover,
+Dragut demanded that Bonifacio should be put into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+his hands, or that he should receive an indemnity of 25,000
+crowns. It was impossible to deliver up a town to be
+sacked by the Turks, the inhabitants of which it was policy
+to conciliate, nor could De Thermes provide the sum required.
+He promised, however, speedy payment, and sent
+his nephew to the Turks as an hostage. Dragut then
+sailed for the Levant, in dudgeon with his allies, and disgusted
+with an enterprise which had terminated so little to
+his honour. Bonifacio, with the rest of Corsica, was soon
+afterwards restored by the treaty of Ch&acirc;teau-Cambresis to
+the Genoese, who repaired and considerably added to the
+fortifications.</p>
+
+<p>One easily conceives that the rock fortress must have
+been impregnable in ancient times, if bravely defended.
+Even now it is a place of considerable strength, garrisoned
+by the French, who have erected barracks and improved
+the works. But the place still singularly preserves the
+character of a fortified town of the Middle Ages. Nothing
+seems changed except that French sentries pace the battlements
+instead of Genoese. There are the old towers, walls,
+churches, and houses;&mdash;the houses, tall and gloomy, many
+of them having the arms of Genoese families carved in
+stone over the portals. A network of narrow and irregular
+streets spreads over the whole <i>plateau</i> within the
+walls, which rise from the very edge of the cliffs. There is
+not a yard of vacant space, except an esplanade and <i>place
+d'armes</i>, where the promontory narrows at its southern
+extremity. The only entrance is under the vaulted archway
+of the barbican, still as jealously guarded as if Saracen,
+Turk, or Spaniard threatened an attack. This tower commands
+the approach from the Marino by the broad ramp,
+a long inclined plane, at a sharp angle, the ascent of which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+<i>en &eacute;chelon</i>, by the troops of diminutive mules and asses
+employed for conveying all articles necessary for subsistence
+and use in the town, it was painful to witness. The
+streets are as void of every kind of vehicle as those of
+Venice, and almost as unsavoury as its canals. There is
+scarcely room for two loaded mules to pass each other.
+Every morning, nearly the whole population pours forth,
+with their beasts of burthen, to their labour in the country,
+there being no villages in the canton; returning to their
+homes in the evening. They are an industrious race,
+snatching their subsistence from a barren soil.</p>
+
+<p>Few strangers visit Bonifacio, and those who do must be
+content with very indifferent accommodations. We were
+lodged <i>au premier</i> of a gaunt <i>locanda</i>, our last resource,
+after exploring the place for better quarters. Its best recommendation
+was the zeal and kindness of the host; and
+even the resources of his culinary skill, which, I believe,
+could have produced a <i>ragout</i> from a piece of leather, failed
+for want of materials on which to exercise it. The supplies
+of flesh, fowl, and&mdash;strange to say&mdash;fish, were scanty
+and bad. The French officers in garrison messed, <i>en pension</i>,
+at our hotel, but their fare, limited by a close economy,
+was not only meagre, but, with all the accompaniments of
+the table, absolutely disgusting.</p>
+
+<p>To make matters worse, we were detained several days
+beyond our allotted time in this ill-provisioned fortress by
+an unexpected mischance. Armed with Foreign Office
+passports, current at least through the friendly states of
+France and Sardinia without the slightest hindrance, we
+had taken the additional precaution of proposing to have
+them <i>vis&eacute;</i> by the French and Sardinian Legations in London,
+that there might be no sort of obstacle to our crossing from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+one of the two islands in our route to the other. The <i>vis&eacute;</i>
+was refused as perfectly unnecessary; and even at Ajaccio,
+where we passed some hours at the <i>Pr&eacute;feture</i>, our passports
+were returned to us on mere inspection. Greatly,
+however, to our mortification, we discovered, at Bonifacio,
+that international conventions between friendly governments
+had no force in this out-of-the-way corner of the
+civilised world. We could not be allowed to embark for
+Sardinia without authority from the Administration at
+Ajaccio, which it would take at least forty-eight hours to
+procure. All arguments were vain; the Foreign Office
+passport could not be recognised; the orders were precise
+for a strict <i>surveillance</i> of all persons endeavouring to
+cross the Straits. As private individuals and English gentlemen,
+we were on particularly pleasant terms with the
+<i>maire</i> and his son; but, officially, such was their language,
+they had nothing to show that we were not brigands meditating
+escape. Officials generally, and foreign officials
+especially, are not to be moved by any force of circumstances
+from their regular track.</p>
+
+<p>Unwilling to submit, and anxious to get forward, we lost
+twenty-four hours of precious time in vainly negotiating
+with the master of a small vessel to smuggle us over.
+He would be well paid, and we proposed going to some
+unfrequented part of the coast, from whence he could take
+us off. But, tempting as the offers were, after much deliberation,
+they were rejected. Such things were common
+a short time before, and hundreds of the banditti had been
+ferried over to the coast of Sardinia; but now there was
+a sharp look-out, and discovery would be ruin. Insignificant
+as is the commerce of Bonifacio, it is well watched by
+a staff of <i>douaniers</i>, consisting of a captain, four <i>sous-officiers</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+and thirteen or fourteen <i>pr&eacute;pos&eacute;s</i>, <i>matelots</i>, &amp;c.,
+besides <i>officiers de sant&eacute;</i> and swarms of <i>gendarmes</i>. They
+were everywhere: at our landing; while sketching; always
+in pairs; and seeming to dodge our steps. Two presented
+themselves while we were at supper the evening after
+our arrival. The passports had been exhibited;&mdash;what
+could they want with us? what offence had we committed?
+Their business was with the innkeeper; he had omitted to
+fix a lantern at his door! He hated the French like a
+true Corsican. He would not pay even decent respect to
+the officers, his guests, and boasted of starving them to
+the last fraction his contract for the mess allowed; while
+nothing was good enough for the Englishmen.</p>
+
+<p>Pi&eacute;tro was, indeed, a true Corsican; had killed his man,
+given a <i>coup</i>, as he called it, to his enemy, was condemned
+to death, but bought off. <i>Encore</i>; a man he had offended
+came to his hotel, and called for food. They sat down to
+table in company, Pi&eacute;tro observing that his enemy frequently
+kept his hand on a side-pocket. After supper, the
+man asked for a chamber to sleep. Pi&eacute;tro replied that
+they were all occupied, but he might sleep with him. The
+other was staggered at his coolness, and, hesitating to
+comply, Pi&eacute;tro seized him, and finding a pistol secreted on
+his person, doubled him up, and kicked him down stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Our host was not singular in his disaffection to the
+French. The Bonifacians feel their thraldom more perhaps
+than any other people in Corsica, overshadowed as their
+small population is by a strong garrison and a host of
+<i>douaniers</i> and <i>gendarmes</i>. Republican ideas prevail; and
+they have not forgotten the days when their important town
+was more an ally, than a dependance, of Genoa. Now,
+from their small population, a single deputy represents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+them in the departmental council, while Ajaccio sends
+twenty-nine and Bastia twenty-five members. The Bonifacians
+despise their masters. &ldquo;The French are inconstant,&rdquo;
+said an inhabitant, high in office, with whom I
+was talking politics; &ldquo;they have <i>tant de petitesses</i>; they
+have no national character: we have, and you;&mdash;our very
+quarrels, which are deep and lasting, show it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Everything is primitive in Bonifacio, except the emblems
+of French domination. On the evening of our arrival,
+having threaded my way alone with some difficulty through
+a labyrinth of dark streets and lanes to the Post Office, I
+found it closed; and there being no apparent means of
+announcing my errand, was departing in despair, when
+a neighbour good-humouredly cried out, &ldquo;<i>Tirate la corda,
+signore!</i>&rdquo; After some search, for it was getting dark, I
+discovered a string, running up the wall of the house to
+the third story. Pulling it lustily, at last a window
+opened, and an old woman put her head out, inquiring, in
+a shrill voice, &ldquo;<i>Que volete?</i>&rdquo; Having made known my
+wants, after some delay, steps were heard slowly descending
+the stairs. Admitted at length into the <i>bureau</i>, the
+old crone, spectacle on nose, proceeded very deliberately to
+spell over, by a feeble lamplight, the addresses of a bundle
+of letters taken from a shelf. The process was excruciating,
+anxious as we were for news from home. She could make
+nothing of my friend's truly Saxon name;&mdash;what foreign
+official can ever decipher English names? Mine was more
+pronounceable, and as I kept repeating both, she caught
+that, and, incapable as I should have thought her of
+making a pun, she exclaimed at last, in despair, &ldquo;<i>Forestier,
+ecco! sono tutti foresti&egrave;re</i>,&rdquo; tossing me the whole bundle
+to choose for myself. Happily, I was not disappointed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We shall not easily forget Bonifacio. Our detention
+within the narrow bounds of the fortress-town afforded us
+leisure to realise the scenes which the crowded <i>enceinte</i>
+must have offered during its memorable sieges. The combined
+effects, too, of loathsome smells&mdash;the filth of the
+purlieus being indescribable&mdash;of bad diet, confinement,
+and the irritation natural to Englishmen under detention,
+brought on suddenly severe attacks of diarrh&#339;a, though
+we were both before in robust health. Our sufferings
+shadowed out, however faintly, the miseries endured by a
+crowded population during the sieges, and again when half
+the inhabitants of Bonifacio became victims to the plague
+in 1582&mdash;a scourge which then devastated Corsica and
+parts of Italy.</p>
+
+<p>Gasping for pure air, we were forbidden by the everwatchful
+<i>gendarmes</i> to walk on the town ramparts. From
+early dawn till late evening, the eternal clang of hand cornmills
+forbade repose in our <i>locanda</i>. The neighbouring
+country has few attractions, even if we had been in a state
+to profit by them. All interest is concentrated in the place
+itself. Our steps were therefore especially attracted to the
+open area forming
+the southern
+extremity of the
+Cape, as already
+mentioned.
+There at least
+we could breathe
+the fresh air, look
+down on the blue Mediterranean washing the base of the
+chalk cliffs, far beneath, and trace the outline of the coast
+of Sardinia across the Straits. The Gallura mountains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
+rose boldly on the horizon, and the low island of Madal&eacute;na,
+our proposed landing-place, was distinctly visible.
+It needed not that we should indulge imagination in picturing
+to ourselves Castel Sardo, and other places along
+the coast, which we hoped soon to visit. The esplanade
+was generally solitary, and suited our musings. One
+evening, the silence was broken by a melancholy chant
+from the chapel of a ruined monastery within the guarded
+<i>enceinte</i>. It was a service for the dead, at which a prostrate
+crowd assisted in deep devotion. The sentries on the
+walls rested on their arms, and we stood at the open door,
+facing the western sky and the rolling waves, listening to
+strains of wailing which would have suited the times of
+the siege and the plague.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/254.jpg" width="350" height="150" alt="OUTLINE OF SARDINIA FROM BONIFACIO."
+title="OUTLINE OF SARDINIA FROM BONIFACIO." />
+<p class="caption">OUTLINE OF SARDINIA FROM BONIFACIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Nearer the town stands the old church of the Templars,
+dedicated to St. Dominic, of fine Gothic architecture, full
+of interest for its armorial and other memorials of the
+knightly defenders of the faith, and of noble Genoese
+families. Over the edge of the cliff towers the massive
+<i>Torrione</i>, the original fortress of the Marquis Bonifacio,
+consecrated in memory as long the bulwark of the island
+against the incursions of Saracen corsairs. Here, is the
+spot where the hastily-built galley, with its adventurous
+crew, was lowered down the face of the cliff, to convey to
+Genoa the intelligence of the extremity to which the citizens
+of Bonifacio were reduced when besieged by Alfonso
+of Arragon. There, is a ladder of rude steps, cut in the
+chalk cliffs to the edge of the water, two hundred feet
+beneath, the descent of which it made one dizzy to contemplate.
+Perhaps, under cover of night, the now ruinous
+steps have been boldly trodden in a sally for surprising the
+enemy, or stealthily mounted by emissaries from without,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+conveying intelligence to the beleaguered party. Perhaps,
+in the Genoese times, some Romeo and Juliet, of rival families,
+found the means of elopement by this sequestered
+staircase. One could imagine shrouded figures gliding
+from the convent church close by&mdash;the perilous descent,
+the light skiff tossing beneath, with its white sails a-peak,
+waiting to bear off the lovers to freedom and bliss. For
+what legends and tales of romance, real or imaginary, have
+we materials here!</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/255.jpg" width="350" height="224" alt="CAVE UNDER BONIFACIO."
+title="CAVE UNDER BONIFACIO." />
+<p class="caption">CAVE UNDER BONIFACIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is by sea only that one can escape from Bonifacio, except
+by miles of dreary road. To the sea we looked for ours.
+<i>En attendant</i>, we tried our wings to the utmost length of
+the chain which bound us to the rock. Procuring a boat,
+we pulled out of the harbour, and round the jutting points
+crowned by the fortress, half inclined to pitch the <i>padrone</i>
+overboard, and make a straight course for the opposite
+coast of Sardinia. Not driven to that extremity, we
+wiled away the time pleasantly enough in a visit to the
+caverns worn by the sea in the chalk cliffs, which front
+its surges. Some of these are exceedingly picturesque.
+Their entrances
+festooned
+with hanging
+boughs, they
+penetrate far
+into the interior
+of the
+rocks, and the
+water percolating
+through
+their vaulted
+roofs, has formed stalactites of fantastic shapes. The boat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+glides through the arched entrance, and we find ourselves
+in the cool and grateful shade of these marine grottoes.
+Fishes are flitting in the clear water; limpid streams
+oozing through the rocks form fresh-water basins, with
+pebbly bottoms; and the channels from the blue sea, flowing
+over the chalk, become cerulean. These are, indeed,
+the halls of Amphitrite, fitting baths of Thetis and her
+nymphs. Poetic imagination has never pictured anything
+more enchanting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/256.jpg" width="500" height="308" alt="BONIFACIO FROM THE CONVENT IN THE VALLEY."
+title="BONIFACIO FROM THE CONVENT IN THE VALLEY." />
+<p class="caption">BONIFACIO FROM THE CONVENT IN THE VALLEY.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>One afternoon, we walked a mile out of the town, up a
+narrow valley in the limestone cliffs, to the ruined convent
+of St. Julian. The bottom of the valley is laid out in
+gardens, with cross walls, and channels for irrigation.
+The gardens appeared neglected, but there were some
+vines and fig-trees, pomegranates, and crops of a large-growing
+kale. The ruins lie at the head of the glen,
+facing Bonifacio and the sea; the walls of the convent
+and church still standing, approached by a broad paved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
+way on a flight of marble steps. Seated on these, we
+enjoyed at leisure a charming view.</p>
+
+<p>Vineyards and plots of cultivated land overspread the
+slopes on either side of the valley. There were scattered
+olive-trees, and bamboos waving in the wind. The old
+convent walls, mantled with ivy, contrasted with a chapel
+at the foot of the steps, having a handsome dome, covered
+with bright glazed tiles of green, red, and black, and surmounted
+by a cross&mdash;the only portion of the conventual
+buildings still perfect. In the distance was the little landlocked
+haven, with a brig and some small lateen-sailed
+vessels moored alongside the Marino. Above it rose
+the fortress-town, with its towers and battlements. The
+sound of the church bells tolling for vespers rose, softened
+by distance, up the valley. Ravens were croaking over the
+ruins of the convent, and lizards frisking on the banks
+and the marble steps on which we reposed. It was a fitting
+spot for a Sunday afternoon's meditation&mdash;our last in
+Corsica!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXV" id="CHAP_XXV"></a>CHAP. XXV.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><span class="smcap">Island of Sardinia.</span>&mdash;<i>Cross the Straits of Bonifacio.&mdash;The
+Town and Harbour of La Madelena.&mdash;Agincourt Sound, the
+Station of the British Fleet in 1803.&mdash;Anecdotes of Nelson.&mdash;Napoleon
+Bonaparte repulsed at La Madelena.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Released, at length, from our irksome detention by the
+return of the courier with the passports <i>vis&eacute;s</i> from Ajaccio,
+and a boat we had hired, meanwhile, lying ready at the
+Marino to carry us over to Sardinia, not a moment was
+lost in getting under sail to cross the straits.</p>
+
+<p>The Bocche di Bonifacio were called by the Romans
+<i>Fossa Fretum</i>, and by the Greeks <i>Tappros</i>, a trench, from
+their dividing the islands of Corsica and Sardinia like a
+ditch or dyke. These straits are considered dangerous by
+navigators, from the violence of the squalls gushing suddenly
+from the mountains and causing strong currents,
+especially during the prevalence of winds from the north-west
+during nine months of the year. Lord Nelson
+describes them during one of these squalls as &ldquo;looking
+tremendous, from the number of rocks and the heavy seas
+breaking over them.&rdquo; In another letter he says, &ldquo;We
+worked the &#8216;Victory&#8217; every foot of the way from Asinara
+to this anchorage, [off La Madelena,] blowing hard from
+Longo Sardo, under double-reefed topsails.&rdquo; The difficulties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+of the Bonifacio passage can hardly be understood
+by a landsman who has not visited the straits, but they
+are stated to have been so great, &ldquo;and the ships to have
+passed in so extraordinary a manner, that their captains
+could only consider it as a providential interposition in
+favour of the great officer who commanded them.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/259.jpg" width="350" height="180" alt="LOOKING BACK ON CORSICA."
+title="LOOKING BACK ON CORSICA." />
+<p class="caption">LOOKING BACK ON CORSICA.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It has been my fortune to pass these straits on three
+several occasions when they were perfectly calm. During
+the passage from Corsica in an open boat, which I am now
+relating, there was so little wind that, with all the spread
+of high-peaked sails a Mediterranean boat can carry, we
+made but little
+way, and the
+surface was so
+unruffled that
+my friend was
+able to sketch
+at ease the outline
+of the Corsican
+mountains,
+from which we were slowly receding. It was, however,
+pleasurable to linger midway between the two islands,
+retracing our route in the one by the lines of its mountain
+ranges, and anticipating fresh delight in penetrating those
+of the Gallura now in prospect. The appearance of a
+French revenue cutter to windward tended to reconcile us
+to the failure of our plan of getting smuggled across the
+straits, which might have led to more serious consequences
+than the detention we suffered.</p>
+
+<p>The coast line on both sides of the channel, as on all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+the shores of the two islands, is remarkably bold; and the
+scene was diversified by the groups of rocky islets scattered
+across the straits, and described in a former chapter
+as the broken links of a chain which once united Corsica
+with the mountain system of the north-east-portion of the
+island of Sardinia. They are composed entirely of a fine-grained
+red granite. In some of the islets lying nearest
+the Corsican coast quarries were worked to supply blocks
+and columns for the temples and palaces of imperial
+Rome. Quarries of the same material were also worked
+by the Romans, as we shall find presently, on the coast of
+Sardinia, opposite these islands.</p>
+
+<p>With two exceptions, these &ldquo;Intermediate Islands&rdquo; are
+uninhabited. They were considered of so little importance
+that, till the middle of the last century, it was considered
+a question which of them belonged to Sardinia
+and which to Corsica. It was then easily settled by
+drawing a visual line equidistant from Point Lo Sprono on
+the latter, and Capo Falcone on the former; it being
+agreed that all north of this line should belong to Corsica,
+and all south of it to Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>The distance between the two capes is about ten nautical
+miles. To the westward of Capo Falcone lies the small
+harbour of Longo Sardo, or Longone, the nearest landing-place
+from Bonifacio, from which it has long carried on a
+contraband trade; its proximity to Corsica also making it
+the asylum of the outlaws exiled from that island. A
+new town, called Villa Teresa, built on a more healthy
+spot on the neighbouring heights, has received a considerable
+access of population from the same source.</p>
+
+<p>The Capes Falcone, with La Marmorata close by, and
+La Testa forming the north-west point of Sardinia, are all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+of the same formation as the rocky islands in the straits
+already mentioned, and, like them, this district furnished
+the Romans with many of the granite columns which still
+form magnificent ornaments of the Eternal City. Those
+of the Pantheon are said to have been excavated near
+Longone; and several similar ones, as well as rude blocks,
+may still be seen in the quarries on the promontory of
+Santa Reparata, near which the remains of some Roman
+villas have also been discovered. In later days we find
+the value of the Gallura granite appreciated by the Pisans.
+Their Duomo, built by Buschetto in 1063, soon after their
+possession of Sardinia, shows the beauty of the Marmorata
+rocks; and the Battisterio, built in 1152 by Dioti Salvi,
+has also much of Gallura material in its construction.</p>
+
+<p>La Madelena is the largest island in the Sardinian
+group, and while Porto Longone is a poor place, the town
+and harbour of La Madelena are much frequented in the
+communications and trade between Corsica and Sardinia.
+Our course therefore was shaped for the latter, though
+twice the distance from shore to shore. The island of La
+Madelena, the <i>Insula Ilva</i>, or <i>Phintonis</i>, of the Romans, is
+about eleven miles in circumference. Till about a century
+ago it was only inhabited or frequented by shepherds, natives
+of Corsica, who led a nomad life, and by their constant
+intercourse with Corsica and Sardinia, and by intermarriages
+with natives of both, formed a mixed but distinct race, as
+the Ilvese are still considered. The town of La Madelena
+was only founded in 1767, some Corsican refugees being
+among its first settlers; but from its fine harbour, the
+healthiness of its site, and its convenience for commerce
+with Italy, it rapidly became a place of considerable population
+and trade.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There are numerous channels and many sheltered bays
+frequented by ships between the group of islands of which
+La Madelena is the principal. Our own course from the
+north-west led us through a strait between the main land
+of Sardinia and the islands of Sparagi, Madelena, and Caprera,
+which opened to view all the points of interest in
+its most celebrated harbour. Right ahead, it was almost
+closed by the little rocky islet of Santo Stefano, now
+defended by a fort, and remarkable for having been the
+scene of a severe repulse received by Napoleon at the
+outset of his long successful career. A point to the south,
+on the main land of Sardinia, marking the entrance of the
+Gulf of Arsachena, is called the Capo dell'Orso, from a
+mass of granite so exactly resembling the figure of a bear
+recumbent on its hind legs, that it attracted the notice of
+Ptolemy 1400 years ago. The island of Caprera, probably
+deriving its name from the wild goats till lately its
+sole inhabitants, presents a ridge of rugged mountains,
+rising in the centre to a ridge called Tagiolona, upwards of
+750 feet high, with some little sheltered bays, and a few
+cultivated spots on its western side.</p>
+
+<p>Sheltered by Caprera, La Madelena, and Santo Stefano,
+we find the fine anchorage of Mezzo Schifo; the town of
+La Madelena, for which we are steering, lying about half
+a mile south-west of the anchorage. This harbour, named
+by Lord Nelson &ldquo;Agincourt Sound,&rdquo; was his head-quarters
+while maintaining the blockade of Toulon, from 1803 to
+1805. He formed the highest opinion of its position for a
+naval station, as affording safe and sheltered anchorage,
+and ingress and egress with any winds. His public and
+private correspondence at that period shows the importance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+he attached to its possession, and his anxiety that it
+should be secured permanently to the crown of England.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If we could possess the island of Sardinia,&rdquo; he says,
+in a letter to Lord Hobart, &ldquo;we should want neither
+Malta nor any other island in the Mediterranean. This,
+which is the finest of them, possesses harbours fit for
+arsenals, and of a capacity to hold our navy,&mdash;within
+twenty-four hours' sail of Toulon,&mdash;bays to ride our fleets
+in, and to watch both Italy and Toulon.&rdquo; In another
+letter, he says:&mdash;&ldquo;What a noble harbour is formed by
+these islands! The world cannot produce a finer. From
+its position, it is worth fifty Maltas.&rdquo; This opinion we
+find repeated in a variety of forms, and with Nelson's
+characteristic energy of expression.</p>
+
+<p>When at anchor in Agincourt Sound, he kept two or
+three frigates constantly cruising between Toulon and the
+Straits of Bonifacio, to signal any attempt of the enemy
+to leave their port; occasionally cruising with his whole
+fleet, and then retreating to head-quarters. His sudden
+appearance and disappearance off Toulon, in one of these
+exercises, with the hope of alluring the French to put to
+sea, led their admiral, M. Latouche-Tr&eacute;ville, to make the
+ludicrous boast, that he had chased the whole British
+fleet, which fled before him. This bravado so irritated
+Nelson, that it drew from him the well-known threat,
+contained in a letter to his brother: &ldquo;You will have seen
+by Latouche's letter how he chased me, and how I ran. I
+keep it; and, if I take him, by God, he shall eat it!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Our boatman pointed out to us the channel through
+which Lord Nelson led his fleet when at length, after
+more than two years' watching, the object of all his hopes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+and vows was accomplished by the French fleet putting to
+sea. This, the eastern channel, of which the low isle of
+Biscie forms the outer point, is the most dangerous of all,
+from the sunken rocks which lie in the fairway, and its
+little breadth of sea room. Yet Nelson beat through it in
+a gale of wind, in the dusk of the evening, escaping these
+dangers almost miraculously. Our sailor pointed out all
+this with lively interest, for Nelson's name and heroic
+deeds are still household words among the seafaring
+people of La Madelena.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the 19th of January, 1805, that the look-out
+frigate in the offing signalled to the admiral that the
+French fleet had put to sea. At that season there was
+much gaiety, in dances, private theatricals, and other
+amusements, on board the different ships in the harbour,
+and preparations for an evening's entertainment were
+going on at the moment the stirring signal was discovered.
+It was no sooner acknowledged on board the &ldquo;Victory&rdquo;
+than the responding one appeared, &ldquo;Weigh immediately!&rdquo;
+The scene of excitement and confusion ensuing the sudden
+departure and interruption of festivities may be easily conceived.
+It was a dark wintry evening; but the suddenness
+of the order to get under way was equalled by the skill
+and courage with which it was executed. The passage is
+so narrow that only one ship could pass at a time, and
+each was guided only by the stern lights of the preceding
+vessel. At seven o'clock, the whole of the fleet was entirely
+clear of the passage, and, bidding a long farewell to
+La Madelena, they stood to the southward in pursuit of
+the French fleet. The daring and determined spirit exhibited
+by Nelson on this particular occasion was the subject
+of especial eulogy in the House of Lords by his late Majesty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+then Duke of Clarence; being cited as the greatest
+instance of his unflinching courage and constant activity.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, as we have already found Corsica, we now see
+Sardinia, witnessing some of the boldest achievements of
+our great naval hero.</p>
+
+<p>Further interest attaches to La Madelena from its
+having repulsed the attack of Napoleon, and driven him
+to a precipitate retreat from his first field of arms. The
+young soldier, after being for some months in garrison at
+Bonifacio, was attached, by order of Paschal Paoli, to the
+expedition which sailed from thence in February, 1793, to
+reduce La Madelena. He acted as second in command of
+the artillery, the whole force being under the command of
+General Colonna-Cesari. A body of troops having effected
+a lodgment on the island of Santo Stefano by night, and a
+battery having been thrown up and armed, a heavy fire was
+opened by Bonaparte on the town and its defences. They
+were held by a garrison of 500 men, and the fire was
+returned by the islanders with equal fury. The opposite
+shore of Gallura was lined by its brave mountaineers,
+who, on the French frigate being dismasted and bearing
+up for the Gulf of Arsachena, embarked from Parao, and
+attacked Santo Stefano. Their assault was so vigorous that
+Bonaparte found himself compelled to make a precipitate
+retreat from the island with a few of his followers, leaving
+200 prisoners, with all the <i>mat&eacute;riel</i>, baggage, and artillery.
+In passing between the other islands, the fugitives were
+also attacked by some Gallurese, who, concealing themselves
+near Capo della Caprera, by the precision of their
+firing committed great havoc on the flying enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tyndale states that many of the Corsicans and
+Ilvese who witnessed this action, being still living when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+he visited La Madelena, and relating various circumstances
+relative to it, he heard the following story from an old
+veteran, who was an eyewitness of the fact:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Bonaparte was superintending the firing from the
+battery, and watching the effect of it with his telescope,
+when observing the people at Madelena going to mass, he
+exclaimed, &#8216;<i>Voglio tirare alla chiesa, per far fuggire le
+donne!</i>&#8217; (&#8216;I should like to fire at the church, just to
+frighten the women!&#8217;) While in garrison at Bonifacio,
+as lieutenant [? captain] of artillery, he had mortar and
+gun practice every morning, and had on all occasions
+shown the greatest precision in firing. In this instance
+he was no less successful, for the shell entered the church
+window, and fell at the foot of the image of N.S. di Madelena.
+It failed to burst in this presence, and this miraculous
+instance of religious respect had its due weight
+with the pious islanders, by whom it was taken up, and
+for a long time preserved among the sacred curiosities of
+the town. A natural cause was, however, soon discovered
+for the harmlessness of the projectile. Napoleon continued
+his firing; but finding that the shells took no effect,
+though they fell on the very spot he intended, he examined
+some of them, and found that they were filled with sand.
+&#8216;<i>Amici</i>,&#8217; he exclaimed, burning with indignation; &#8216;<i>eccole
+il tradimento</i>;&#8217; and the troops, who had been suffering
+much by the fire from Madelena, imagining that the
+treason was on the part of General Cesari, would have
+put him <i>alla lanterna</i>, had he not made his escape on
+board the frigate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It has, indeed, been said that Paoli, reluctantly obeying
+the orders of the French Convention to undertake the
+expedition against Sardinia, entrusted the command to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
+Colonna-Cesari, his intimate friend, with instructions to
+secure its failure, considering Sardinia as the natural ally
+of their own island. However this may be, the affair terminated
+by the retreat of the general with the rest of his
+force, having thrown from Santo Stefano 500 shells and
+5000 round shot into Madelena, without much effect.</p>
+
+<p>We found in the harbour a Sardinian steam-ship of war<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>,
+and ten or twelve vessels of very small tonnage, engaged
+in the trade with Corsica, Leghorn, and Marseilles. About
+twenty of this class belong to the port; besides which it is
+frequented annually by from 200 to 300 other small vessels,
+principally Genoese, their united tonnage amounting
+to about 5000 tons. Besides this legitimate commerce,
+the Ilvese carry on a prosperous contraband trade, taking
+advantage of the numerous little creeks and bays along
+the rocky coasts of the island. They are naturally a seafaring
+people, while the Sardes manifest a decided repugnance
+to engage in seafaring pursuits. The quays round
+the port of Madelena are spacious, and the town, straggling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+up the side of a hill, has a neat appearance, is said
+to be healthy, and is cleaner than any Sardinian town we
+saw.</p>
+
+<p>There are tolerable accommodations at Santa's Hotel.
+The reception of foreign guests is however, I imagine, a
+rare occurrence, and the means of supplying the table
+from the resources of the island appeared scanty; so that
+we should have fared ill but for the kindness of an English
+officer long settled at Madelena, who sent some substantial
+contributions to our comforts, in addition to his
+own hospitality. The name of Captain Roberts, <span class="smcap">R.N.</span>, is so
+well known to all visitors, as well as among the Sardes,
+that it is public property, and I may be allowed to bear
+testimony to the high esteem in which the hearty and
+genial old sailor is generally held. His loss would occasion
+a blank at Madelena not easily filled up; and I was
+happy to hear on my last visit to Sardinia that his health
+had improved.</p>
+
+<p>More English, I believe, are settled in the neighbourhood
+of La Madelena than in the whole island of Sardinia;
+if, indeed, there are any to be found, we did not hear of
+them. The English visitors consist principally of officers
+on shooting excursions from Malta. We had a very pleasant
+walk along the shore to the villa of an Australian
+colonist who, after wandering about the world, had, seemingly
+to his content, settled down on a small farm on the
+slopes of a valley a mile or two from the town. A man
+fond of cultivation might be very happy here, with such a
+climate, and the means of commanding a profusion of
+vegetables, fruits, and flowers. Irrigation was effected
+from a well provided with the simple machinery for lifting
+the water common in such countries, and by its aid the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+gardens just seeded and planted for the spring, or rather
+winter, crops, so early is vegetation, looked greener and
+fresher than anything we had seen for a long time. The
+cauliflowers and peas were already making forward progress;
+the latter, indeed, grow wild in this neighbourhood.
+But while these carried us in imagination to the latter
+days of an English spring, the hedges of prickly pear bore
+witness to the arid nature of the soil and the heat of the
+climate; of that, indeed, we were very sensible in our
+walks, though the month of November had now commenced.</p>
+
+<p>A cottage occupied, it was said, by an English botanist
+was pointed out to us; and an English family has been
+settled for some time in the solitude of the island of
+Caprera, of whose improvements great things were said.
+Every one spoke especially of Mrs. C.'s beautiful flower
+garden, and an anecdote was told respecting it, characteristic,
+I think, rather of Sarde than of English feeling. On
+some occasion when the king visited La Madelena, Mrs. C.
+having been requested to contribute flowers to the decorations
+of the festa in preparation to do honour to the
+royal visit, she is said to have replied: &ldquo;I cultivate my
+flowers for my own pleasure&mdash;<i>pour m'amuser</i>&mdash;not to
+ingratiate myself with a court. If his majesty desires to
+see them, he must come to Caprera.&rdquo; I cannot vouch for
+the truth of the story, though it was in every one's mouth.
+What amused me was, that the islanders considered this
+as evincing a truly English spirit of independence, which
+they heartily approved.</p>
+
+<p>The principal church of La Madelena, dedicated to St.
+Mary Magdalene, is a neat structure of granite and marble.
+Its decorations are less gaudy than those one usually sees,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
+the most valued ornaments being a pair of massive altar
+candlesticks and a crucifix, all of silver, the gift of Lord
+Nelson, in acknowledgment of the kindness and hospitality
+he received from the islanders while his fleet lay in the
+harbour. On the base of the candlesticks are enchased
+the arms of Nelson and Bront&euml;, with this inscription:</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+VICE COMES<br />
+NELSON NILI<br />
+DUX BRONTIS ECC<sup>E.</sup><br />
+ST<sup>E.</sup> MAGDAL<sup>E.</sup> INS<sup>E.</sup><br />
+ST<sup>E.</sup> MAGDAL<sup>E.</sup><br />
+D.D.D.
+</p>
+
+<p>It is said that when the town publicly thanked Lord
+Nelson for the donation, he replied: &ldquo;These little ornaments
+are nothing; wait till I catch the French outside
+their port. If they will but come out, I am sure to capture
+them; and I promise to give you the value of one of their
+frigates to build a church with. I have only to ask you
+to pray to La Santissima Madonna that the French fleet
+may come out of Toulon. Do you pray to her for that,
+and as for capturing them, I will undertake to do all the
+rest.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>We landed at La Madelena on the anniversary of the
+day when Nelson first anchored his fleet off the town just
+fifty years before. As we trace his career among the
+Mediterranean islands, recollections of those eventful
+times crowd on our memories. In the half century that
+has intervened, how has the aspect of affairs changed!</p>
+
+<p>It was the eve of the feast of All Saints (1st Nov.),
+devoutly observed, with that of All Souls on the day following,
+in all Catholic countries. From daylight till ten
+at night the bells of St. Magdalene incessantly clanged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
+and the church was thronged with successive crowds,
+absorbed in pious and affectionate devotion to the memories
+of their departed friends, according to the rites of the
+Roman Church. How thrilling are the deep tones of the
+<i>De Profundis</i> from the compositions of a good musical
+school! And what observance can be more touching than
+this periodical commemoration of the dead? There is
+none that more harmonises with the best feelings of our
+nature; and yet of all the dogmas rejected by ecclesiastical
+reforms, I know of none which has less pretensions
+to Scriptural authority or has been more mischievous,
+corrupting alike the priesthood and the laity, than that
+which makes the masses and prayers incident to the commemoration
+of the dead propitiatory for sins committed in
+the flesh.</p>
+
+<p>The solemn festival brought out all the women of La
+Madelena, never perhaps seen to more advantage than in
+a costume of black silk, suited to the solemnity, with the
+Genoese mantle of white transparent muslin attached to
+the back of the head, and falling gracefully over the
+shoulders.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXVI" id="CHAP_XXVI"></a>CHAP. XXVI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Ferried over to the Main Island.&mdash;Start for the Mountain
+Passes of the Gallura.&mdash;Sarde Horses and Cavallante.&mdash;Valley
+of the Liscia.&mdash;Pass some Holy Places on the Hills.&mdash;Festivals
+held there.&mdash;Usages of the Sardes indicating
+their Eastern Origin.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>The halt at La Madelena was only a step in our route to
+the main island. We had still to cross a broad channel,
+and landing at Parao, on the Sardinian shore, horses were
+to be waiting for us. This arrangement, kindly made by
+Captain Roberts, required a day's delay. We were to
+proceed to Tempio, in the heart of the Gallura Mountains,
+under guidance of the courier in charge of the post
+letters.</p>
+
+<p>Ferried across the channel in less than an hour, we
+found the horses tethered among the bushes. House there
+was none, which must be inconvenient when the weather
+is too tempestuous for crossing the strait from Parao. We
+took shelter from the heat under a rook, making studies of
+a group of picturesque shepherds, and amusing ourselves
+with some luscious grapes,&mdash;baskets of which were waiting
+for the return of the passage-boat to La Madelena,&mdash;while
+a pack-horse was loaded with our baggage.</p>
+
+<p>The outfit for this expedition was more than usually
+cumbersome, as it comprised blankets and other appendages<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+for camping out, if occasion required. The cavallante,
+however, made nothing of stowing it away, cleverly
+thrusting bag and baggage into the capacious leather
+pouches which hung balanced on each side of the stout
+beast, with a portmanteau across the pack-saddle. When
+all was done, the cavallante mounted to the top of the
+load, where he perched himself like an Arab on a dromedary.</p>
+
+<p>The cavallo Sardo <i>par excellence</i>, such as the higher
+classes ride, is a strong spirited barb, highly valued. These
+horses are carefully broken to a peculiar step, called the
+&ldquo;portante,&rdquo; something between an amble and a trot, for
+which we have neither a corresponding word or pace. I
+cannot say that I admired the pace. It only makes
+four or five miles an hour, and, to my apprehension,
+might be described as a shuffle, not being so easy as a
+canter, nor having the invigorating swing of a trot. The
+natives, however, consider the movement delightful; and
+a writer on Sardinia says: &ldquo;<i>Il viaggiare in Sardegna &egrave;
+perci&ograve; la pi&ugrave; dolce cosa del mondo; l'antipongo all'andare
+in barca col vento in poppa</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;The travelling in Sardinia
+is, on this account, one of the pleasantest things in the
+world; I prefer it to sailing in a vessel with the wind
+astern.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary Sarde horse is a hardy, sure-footed animal,
+undersized, but capable of carrying heavy burthens. Great
+numbers of them are kept, as the poorest native disdains
+walking. They are ill fed, and have rough treatment. As
+pack-horses they convey all the commodities of home produce,
+or imported and interchanged, throughout the interior
+of the island, there being scarcely any roads, and consequently
+no wheel-carriages employed, except on the Strada<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>
+Reale, through the level plains of the Campidano, between
+Cagliari and Porto Torres.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>viandanti</i> who conduct this traffic are a numerous
+and hardy class of people, much enduring in the long and
+toilsome journeys through such a country as their vocation
+requires them to traverse. We found them civil, patient,
+and attentive, but hard at a bargain,&mdash;so that this mode of
+travelling is more expensive than might be expected,&mdash;and
+occasionally rather independent. A curious instance of
+this occurred at Tempio. We had made a bargain, on his
+own terms, with one of these people, for horses to proceed
+on our route, and they were brought to the door ready for
+loading up and mounting, when the cavallante refused to
+allow our using our English saddles. Not wishing to lose
+time, we took considerable pains to point out that the
+saddles being well padded would not wring his horses'
+backs, conceiving that to be what he apprehended. But
+it was to no purpose; there seemed to be no other reason
+for the scruple than that a Sarde horse must be caparisoned
+<i>&agrave; la Sarde</i>, with high-peaked saddle and velvet housings.
+The cavallante, persisting, led his horses back to the stable,
+losing a profitable engagement rather than being willing
+to submit to their being equipped in a foreign fashion.
+After a short delay we procured others from a cavallante
+who made no such difficulties, and proved a very serviceable
+and attentive conductor.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/274.jpg" width="700" height="477" alt="VALLEY OF THE LISCIA."
+title="VALLEY OF THE LISCIA." />
+<p class="caption">VALLEY OF THE LISCIA.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>After leaving Parao, and calling at a solitary <i>stazza</i> or
+farm, the track we pursued led through a wide plain
+watered by the Liscia. The river made many windings
+among meadows clothed with luxuriant herbage, and fed
+by numerous herds of cattle, and sheep, and goats; forming
+a pastoral scene of singular beauty, of which my companion's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
+sketch, here annexed, conveys a good idea. The
+valley is bounded by ridges of no great elevation, partially
+covered with a shrubbery of myrtle, cistus, and other such
+underwood, among rocks and cliffs worn by the waters
+into fantastic shapes. We occasionally crossed spurs of
+these ridges, commanding extensive views of the Straits of
+Bonifacio, with the mountains of Corsica in the distance
+on the one hand, and the nearer island of Madelena on the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all the province of Gallura, washed by the
+Mediterranean on three sides, consists of mountainous
+tracts, with valleys intervening, similar to this of the Liscia.
+There is scarcely any cultivation, and they are uninhabited;
+almost all the towns and villages of the Capo di Sopra
+lying on the coast. On these plains a few shepherds lead
+a nomad life during the healthy season, being driven from
+them by the deadly <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i> prevailing in summer and
+autumn. Until lately, the whole district was notorious for
+the crimes of robbery and vindictive murder, for the perpetration
+of which, and the security of the offenders, its
+solitudes and natural fastnesses afforded the greatest
+facilities.</p>
+
+<p>Continuing our route we crossed some park-like glades,
+with scattered forest trees, and fringed by the graceful
+shrubbery, the <i>macchia</i>, common to both the islands of
+Corsica and Sardinia. At some distance on our left (south-east)
+appeared a beautifully wooded hill, with a chapel on
+the summit, Santa Maria di Arsachena, one of the sanctuaries
+held in great veneration by the Gallurese. To these
+holy places they flock in great numbers on certain festivals,
+when the lonely spots, often hill-tops, surrounded by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+most wild and romantic scenery, witness devotions and
+festivities, to which the revels form the chief allurement.</p>
+
+<p>There is a still holier place further to the south of our
+track, the Monte Santo, and I think its lofty summit, with
+a small chapel scarcely visible amid the dark verdure of
+the surrounding woods, was pointed out to us. It overhangs
+the village of Logo Santo, well described as the
+&ldquo;Mecca of the Gallurese.&rdquo; The sanctity of the place was
+established in the thirteenth century, the tradition being
+that the relics of St. Nicholas and St. Trano, anchorites
+and martyrs here <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 362, were discovered on the spot by
+two Franciscan monks, led to Sardinia by a vision of the
+Virgin Mary at Jerusalem. A village grew up round the
+three churches then erected in honour of the Saints and
+the Blessed Virgin, with a Franciscan convent, long
+stripped of its endowments, and fallen to ruin.</p>
+
+<p>On the occurrence of the festivals celebrated at these
+holy places, the people of the neighbouring parishes assemble
+in multitudes, marching in procession, with their
+banners at their head; and the sacred flag of Tempio, surmounted
+by a silver cross, is brought by the canons of the
+cathedral and planted on the spot. The devotions are
+accompanied by feasting, dancing, music, and sports, the
+people prolonging the revels into the night, as many of
+them come from far, and the festivals occupy more than
+one day.</p>
+
+<p>That Christian rites were, from very early times, blended
+with festivities accordant to the national habits of the new
+converts, with even some alloy of pagan usages, is understood
+to have been a policy adopted by the founders of the
+faith among semi-barbarous nations&mdash;a concession to the
+weakness of their neophytes. Our own village wakes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+fairs, with their green boughs and flags, cakes and ale,
+originally held in the precincts of the church on the feast-day
+of the patron saint, partook of a similar character as
+the festivals of the Gallurese; but with us the religious
+element has been long extinct.</p>
+
+<p>The festivals are not confined to the Gallura; they have
+their stations throughout the island, every district having
+some shrine of peculiar sanctity. Their celebration is
+distinguished by some peculiarities, which, in common
+with many other customs of the Sardes, and numerous
+existing monuments and remains, leave no doubt of Sardinia
+having been early colonised from the East. Traces
+may also be found in the customs of the Sardes of similarity
+with the Greek life and manners, derived indeed by
+the Greeks from the same common source.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the usages of the Sardes afford, in a variety of
+instances, a living commentary, perhaps the best still
+existing, on the modes of life and thought recorded in
+Homer and the Bible. This they owe to their insular
+position, their slight admixture with other races, and the
+consequent tenacity with which they have adhered to their
+primitive traditions.</p>
+
+<p>Of some of these indications of origin we may take
+occasion to treat hereafter, as they fall in our way. For
+our present purpose may we not refer to the worship in
+&ldquo;high places&rdquo; and in &ldquo;groves,&rdquo; to which the Sardes are so
+zealously addicted, as a relic of practices often denounced
+in the Old Testament, when the sacrifice was offered to
+idols? They appear also to have been common and legitimate
+in the patriarchal age and the earlier times of the Israelitish
+commonwealth, Jehovah alone being the object of worship.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+What more biblical, as far as the Old Testament is concerned,
+than the idea that worship and prayer are more
+acceptable to the Almighty when offered on certain spots,
+holy ground, remote, perhaps, from the usual haunts of
+the worshipper! What a living picture we have in the
+festivities of the religious assemblies at Logo Santo and
+Santa Maria di Arsachena, of the feasting and music, the
+songs and dances accompanying the rites of Israelitish
+worship in common with those of other eastern nations;
+not to speak of the festive character of Greek solemnities,
+derived, indeed, from the same source, vestiges of which,
+left by the Hellenic colonies, may also be traced.</p>
+
+<p>However contrary these ideas and practices may be to the
+spirit and precepts of the Gospel, they are so inherent in
+the genius and traditions of the Sarde people, that I have
+heard it asserted that these festas give, at the present day,
+almost the only vitality to the ecclesiastical system established
+in the island. Their religious character has almost
+entirely evaporated, though the forms remain. The
+&ldquo;solemn meetings,&rdquo; instead of merely ending in innocent
+merriment, have degenerated into scenes of riot, and often
+of bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>I was informed by the same person who made the
+remark that the festas were the main prop of the priesthood
+in Sardinia&mdash;and a more competent observer could
+not be found&mdash;that, from his own observation, men of the
+most sober habits of life lost all command of themselves,
+became absolutely frantic when tempted by the force of
+example, and led by what may be called an instinctive
+national passion to participate in these religious orgies.
+And Captain Smyth, <span class="smcap">r.n.</span>, who gives an interesting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+account of one of these feasts, at which he was present<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>,
+after mentioning that &ldquo;prayers, dances, poems, dinner,
+and supper concluded [occupied] the day,&rdquo; remarks, &ldquo;that
+the feast of Santa Maria di Arsachena has seldom been
+celebrated without the sacrifice of three or four lives.&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+year preceding my visit,&rdquo; he states, &ldquo;two of the carabiniere
+reale had been killed; and I was shown a young
+man who, on the same occasion, received a ball through
+the breast, but having thus satisfied his foe according to
+the Sarde code of honour, and fortunately recovering, was,
+with his wife and a beautiful child, now enjoying the
+gaieties of the day.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Captain Smyth adds:&mdash;&ldquo;I could not learn why there
+were no carabineers in attendance on this anniversary;
+but the consequence was a numerous concourse of banditti
+from the circumjacent fastnesses, notwithstanding the
+presence of a great many &#8216;barancelli,&#8217;<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> who, it is known,
+will not arrest a man that is only an assassin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The themes suggested by wayside objects have led us
+away from our track, and we have still a long and rugged
+road to Tempio. We shall be in the saddle for hours after
+sunset. Let us devote another chapter to the continuation
+of our journey.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXVII" id="CHAP_XXVII"></a>CHAP. XXVII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>The Valley narrows.&mdash;Romantic Glen.&mdash;Al fresco Meal.&mdash;Forest
+of Cork Trees.&mdash;Salvator Rosa Scenery.&mdash;Haunts
+of Outlaws.&mdash;Their Atrocities.&mdash;Anecdotes of them in a better
+Spirit.&mdash;The Defile in the Mountains&mdash;Elevated Plateau.&mdash;A
+Night March.&mdash;Arrival at Tempio, the Capital of
+Gallura.&mdash;Our Reception.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>After following the course of the Liscia for about an
+hour, we struck up a lateral valley, the water of which
+stood in pools, separated by pebbly shallows, but overhung
+by drooping willows, and fringed with a luxuriant
+growth of ferns and rank weeds. The hills were covered
+with dense woods, intersected by rare clearings and inclosures
+on their slopes. Here and there stood a solitary
+<i>stazza</i>, as the stations or homesteads of the few resident
+farmers are here called. We observed that they were
+generally fixed on rising ground. At some of these the
+courier stopped, his errands consisting not in the delivery
+of letters, that office appearing to be a sinecure in this
+wild track, but in leaving packets of coffee, sugar, &amp;c.,
+and, in one instance, a cotton dress,&mdash;commodities none
+of which had probably been taxed to the Customs at
+La Madelena.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The valley narrowed, and its water quickened into a
+lively trout stream, gurgling over a rocky bed, bordered
+on one side by thick underwood, feathering down to its
+edge. The myrtles here were thirty feet high, and,
+blended with the tall heath (Erica arborea), the branching
+arbutus, the cistus, lentiscus, with scores of other shrubs,
+formed thickets of as exquisite beauty as any we had seen
+in Corsica. The stream on its hither bank washed a narrow
+margin of grass beneath the woods. Here we rested our
+horses and dined. Wayfarers in such countries generally
+select the right spot for their halt. This was a delightful
+one, and we fared well enough on the contents of a basket
+provided at La Madelena. Such rough <i>al fresco</i> meals,
+the uncertainty when you will get another, even when
+and where your ride will end, the living in the present,
+with fresh air and sunshine, and perpetual though
+gradual change of scene, with the absence of all care
+about the future&mdash;these form the charms of such travelling
+as ours.</p>
+
+<p>Again in the saddle, we soon afterwards entered a forest
+of magnificent cork trees, festooned with wild vines,
+relieving the sombre tints of the forest by the bright
+colours of their fading leaves. It hung on a mountain's
+side, and the gloomy depth of shade became deeper and
+deeper, as, after a while, the dusk of evening came on,
+and we began to thread the gorges which led to the summit
+of the pass.</p>
+
+<p>Salvator Rosa himself might have studied the wild
+scenery of Sardinia to advantage. If I recollect right, we
+are informed that he did. Nor would it require much
+effort of the imagination to add life to the picture in forms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+suited to its savage aspect,&mdash;to conjure up the grim
+bandit bursting from the thickets on his prey, or lurking
+behind the rock for the hour of vengeance on his enemy.
+Such scenes are by no means imaginary.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/282.jpg" width="500" height="390" alt="A SALVATOR ROSA SCENE."
+title="A SALVATOR ROSA SCENE." />
+<p class="caption">A SALVATOR ROSA SCENE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Even now, numbers of the <i>fuorusciti</i> find shelter in the
+fastnesses of the Gallura; the remnant of bands once so
+formidable that they spread terror through the whole province,
+bidding defiance alike to the law and the sword.
+Only within the present century the government has succeeded
+in quelling their ferocity, but not without desperate
+resistance to the troops employed, eighty of whom were
+destroyed by a party of the bandits in a single attack.</p>
+
+<p>Still, though a better spirit begins to prevail, and outrages
+have become less common and flagrant, we found,
+in travelling through the island, a prevailing sense of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+insecurity quite incompatible with our ideas of the
+supremacy of law under a well-ordered government. Some
+of the mountainous districts were in so disturbed a state
+that we were cautioned not to approach them; and every
+one we met throughout our journey was armed to the teeth.</p>
+
+<p>For ourselves, we felt no apprehensions, and took no
+precautions. In the first place, we were not to be easily
+frightened by possible dangers; and, in the second, we
+knew that a peaceable guise, in the character of foreign
+travellers, was our best protection. The violences of the
+<i>fuorusciti</i> are, it is well understood, mingled and tempered
+with a strong sense of honour. I imagine, indeed, that
+they originate for the most part in that principle, developed
+in <i>vendetta</i>, though degenerating into rapine and
+robbery. Outlaws must find means of subsistence as well
+as honest men, and are not likely to be very scrupulous as
+to the mode of obtaining them. Among such characters
+there will be miscreants capable of any crime, and therefore
+there is always danger. But, still, the virtue of
+hospitality to strangers, so inherent amongst the Sardes, as
+in most semi-barbarous races, is not extinguished in hearts
+which are hardened against every other feeling of humanity.
+As the stranger is secure when he has &ldquo;eaten salt&rdquo; in the
+tent of the Bedouin, the Caffre's kraal, or the wigwam of
+the Red Indian, so there are numerous instances of the
+Sarde outlaws having afforded shelter and assistance to
+strangers throwing themselves on their honour and hospitality.
+Mr. Warre Tyndale relates such an adventure by
+a friend of his. We will venture to give the details.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In passing over the mountains from Tempio to Longone
+he fell in with five or six <i>fuorusciti</i>, who, after the
+usual questions, finding that he was a stranger in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
+country, offered to escort him a few miles on his road, for
+&#8216;security.&#8217; According to his story of the occurrence, he
+could not at all comprehend the meaning of their expression;
+for the fact of finding himself completely at the
+mercy of six men, any one of whom might, could, or would
+in an instant have deprived him of life, gave him very
+different ideas as to the meaning of the word. In thanking
+them for their offer he elicited their interpretation of the
+phrase, and was not a little amused and comforted by
+their assurance that the proffered security consisted in
+delivering him safely into the hands of the very party with
+whom they were waging deadly warfare. &#8216;<i>Incidit in
+Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim</i>,&#8217; thought my friend;
+but having no alternative he accepted their offer, and,
+after partaking of an excellent breakfast with them, they
+all proceeded onwards. For three hours they continued
+their slow and cautious march through defiles to which he
+was a perfect stranger; and while in conversation with
+them on matters totally unconnected with the dangers of
+the place, they made a sudden and simultaneous halt.
+Closing in together, a whispering conference ensued among
+them, and as my friend was excluded from it, he began to
+suspect he had been ensnared by the offer of escort, and
+that the fatal moment had arrived when he was to fall
+their dupe and victim. His suspicions were increased by
+seeing one of the party ride forward, and leave his companions
+in still closer confabulation; but the suspense,
+though painful, was short, for in a few minutes the envoy
+returned, and an explanation of their mysterious halt and
+secrecy took place. It appeared that the keen eyes and
+ears of his friends had perceived their foes, who were concealed
+in the adjoining wood, and that, having halted, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+of them had gone as ambassador with a flag of truce and
+negotiated an armistice for his safe escort. My friend
+parted from his first guard of banditti with all their blessings
+on his head, and having traversed a space of neutral
+ground, was received by the second with no less kindness,
+and treated with no less honourable protection. They
+accompanied him till he was safely out of their district,
+assuring him that his accidental arrival and demand on
+their mutual honour and hospitality did not at all interfere
+with their dispute and revenge; and that if they were
+to meet each other the day after they had discharged the
+duty of safely escorting him, they would not be deterred
+by what had happened from instantaneously shedding each
+others' blood.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This scene,&rdquo; adds Mr. Warre Tyndale<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>, &ldquo;took place in
+the forest of Cinque-Denti, or &#8216;five-teeth,&#8217; a tract of several
+miles in extent, said to contain upwards of 100,000,000
+trees and shrubs, principally oak, ilex, and cork, with an
+underwood of arbutus and lentiscus; and such is the thickness
+of the foliage, that the sunbeams and the foot of man
+are said never to have entered many parts of it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Another instance of the honourable feeling and forbearance
+hospitably shown by the Sarde mountaineer outlaws,
+under circumstances of great temptation to plunder, was
+related to me by a friend long resident in the island, as
+having occurred in his own experience.</p>
+
+<p>Not many years ago, he was passing through the wild
+district in the defiles of which we have just described ourselves
+as being engaged. My friend had a considerable
+sum of money in his possession, more, he remarked, than he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
+should have liked to lose. &ldquo;<i>Cantabit vacuus coram latrone
+viator</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;A traveller who meets robbers with his purse
+empty may hope to escape scot free.&rdquo; That was not my
+friend's case when he fell in with a party of outlaws armed
+to the teeth. The rencontre was not very pleasant, but
+putting the best face on it, he replied to their inquiries
+&ldquo;whither he was bent,&rdquo; that he was in search of <i>them</i>;
+knowing that they were in the neighbourhood, and would
+give him shelter, as night was approaching, and on the
+morrow put him on his way, which he had lost. This
+appeal to their best feelings had the desired effect. Pleased
+with my friend's assurance of the confidence he placed in
+them, the outlaws conducted him to their place of refuge,
+treated him with the best they had, and, next morning,
+escorted him to the high-road, where they parted from
+him with good wishes for the prosecution of his journey.
+&ldquo;These men must have known,&rdquo; said my friend, &ldquo;from
+the weight of my valise, which they handled, that I had a
+large sum of money with me. It was no less than 600<i>l.</i>&rdquo;
+The weight of such an amount of <i>scudi</i> could not have
+escaped their notice.</p>
+
+<p>Pages might be filled with tales of the secret assassinations
+and wholesale butcheries perpetrated, at no very
+distant period, by the <i>malviventi</i> who swarmed in the
+woods and mountains of Sardinia; of deadly feuds in which
+families, and sometimes whole villages, were involved with
+an implacable thirst for revenge; of places sacked, and of
+travellers murdered and plundered in lone defiles. Some
+instances of a generous sympathy for adversaries in distress,
+and more of a gallantry displayed by some of the
+bandits which would have graced a better cause, might
+serve to relieve the dark shades of these pictures. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+enough of this kind has found a place in our chapters on
+Corsica. I prefer relating a story which may leave on the
+mind pleasing recollections of the Robin Hoods of the
+Sardinian wilds. My friend, lately mentioned, who is
+universally esteemed and respected by all classes of the
+Sardes throughout the island, has been thrown by circumstances
+into communication with the better sort of outlaws,
+and occasionally been the medium of communication
+between them and the Sardinian authorities, to their
+mutual advantage. He has thus acquired considerable
+influence over those unhappy men, enjoying their full
+confidence, without which the circumstances I am about
+to relate could not have occurred.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that, not very long since, my friend had
+kindly undertaken to conduct an English party from La
+Madelena to Tempio, the same route on which we are now
+engaged. The party consisted of an officer and his lady,
+and I believe some others. The lady was fond of sketching;
+attractive subjects, we know, are not wanting, and the
+indulgence of her taste caused frequent delays on the road,
+notwithstanding my friend's repeated warnings of the ill
+repute in which that district was held in consequence of
+its proximity to the haunts of the banditti. Of all things
+the tourists would have rejoiced to have seen a real bandit,
+but, probably, under any other circumstances than in a
+wild pass of the Gallura mountains. So when the shades
+of night were closing in, as they do very soon after sunset
+in southern latitudes, and the party became apprehensive
+that they should be benighted in those dreary solitudes,
+there was considerable alarm:&mdash;what was to be done?</p>
+
+<p>My friend, having politely suggested that he had not
+been remiss in pointing out the consequences of delay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+replied that they must make for shelter in some <i>stazza</i>,
+which they might possibly reach. Accordingly he led the
+way by a rough track through dusky thickets, and after
+pursuing it for some time, great was the joy of his companions
+at discovering a house, where they were received
+with great hospitality, and the promise of all the comforts
+a mountain farm could offer.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies had thrown aside their travelling equipments,
+the table was spread, and, congratulating themselves on
+having found such an asylum, the party sat down to
+supper, in all the hilarity which their escape from the
+perils and inconveniences of a night spent in the forest
+was calculated to promote. The occurrence was regarded
+as one of those unexpected adventures which give a zest to
+rough travelling.</p>
+
+<p>While, however, their gaiety was at the highest, it was
+interrupted by loud knocking at the house door, and
+hoarse voices were heard without, demanding immediate
+admittance. A short consultation took place between my
+friend and their host, who agreed that no resistance could
+be offered, that the door should be opened, and they must
+all submit to their fate. Then the banditti rushed in with
+fierce gestures; truculent men, with shaggy hair and
+beards, wrapped in dark <i>capotes</i>, with long guns in their
+hands, and daggers in their belts and bosoms. &ldquo;Spare
+our lives, and take our money, and all that we have,&rdquo; was
+the cry of some of the travellers. Nor were the bandits
+slow in falling upon the <i>sacs</i> and <i>malles</i>, and beginning
+to rummage their contents, without, however, offering the
+slightest molestation to any of the party, who stood aghast
+witnessing their movements.</p>
+
+<p>So far from it, suddenly, as if by a concerted signal, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+outlaws, relinquishing their booty, throw off their dark
+mantles, disclosing all the bravery of the picturesque
+costume of Gallurese mountaineers, and grouping themselves
+round the table, leaned on the slender barrels
+of their fusils with a proud expression of countenance
+which seemed to say:&mdash;&ldquo;We are outlaws, indeed; but
+we hold sacred the laws of hospitality and honour.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The travellers found that they were safe, and, recovering
+from their panic, finished their supper with renewed
+gaiety. The outlaws withdrew, but shortly returning,
+some of them accompanied by their wives and children
+<i>en habits de f&ecirc;te</i>, the evening was spent in the exhibition
+of national dances, with songs and merriment.</p>
+
+<p>This formed the concluding scene in the little drama
+which my informant had got up for the gratification of
+his friends. Travellers might naturally wish to see specimens
+of a race so unique and so celebrated as the Corsican
+and Sardinian bandits, if they could do so with impunity,
+just as they would a lion or a tiger uncaged and in his
+native woods, from a safe point of view. My informant
+was able to gratify his friends at the expense of a temporary
+fright. Perhaps they might have been better
+pleased if the &ldquo;<i>Deus ex machin&acirc;</i>&rdquo; had not appeared to
+disclose the plot, and they had been suffered to consider
+the happy <i>d&eacute;nouement</i> as the natural result of the outlaws'
+magnanimity. Such, by all accounts, it might have
+been.</p>
+
+<p>But I can assure my readers that it requires a stout
+heart, and a strong faith in what one has heard of the
+redeeming qualities in the outlaws' character, to meet
+them in the open field without shuddering. It was in the
+dusk of early morning, that, soon after leaving a village<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+on the borders of the Campidano, where we had passed
+the night, we suddenly fell in with a party of ten or twelve
+of these men, who crossed our track making for the hills.
+They were mounted on small-sized horses, stepping lightly
+under the great weight they carried; for the bandits were
+stalwart men, and heavily accoutred. Their guns were,
+variously, slung behind them, held upright on the thigh,
+or carried across the saddle-bows; short daggers were
+stuck in each belt, and a longer one hung by the side; a
+large powder-horn was suspended under the arm. Saddles
+<i>en pique</i>, with sheepskin housings, and leathern pouches
+attached on both sides, supplying the place of knapsack
+and haversack, completed the equipment. The &ldquo;cabbanu,&rdquo;
+a cloak of coarse brown cloth, hung negligently from the
+shoulders, and underneath appeared the tight-fitting pelisse
+or vest of leather; and the loose white linen drawers,
+which give the Sardes a Moorish appearance, were gathered
+below the knee underneath a long black gaiter tightly
+buckled.</p>
+
+<p>Already familiar with the garb and equipments of a
+Sarde mountaineer, these details were caught at a glance.
+The gaze was riveted on the features of these desperate
+men,&mdash;the keen black eyes flashing from their swarthy
+countenances, to which a profusion of hair, falling on the
+shoulders from beneath the dark <i>berette</i>, gave, with their
+bushy beards, a ferocious aspect;&mdash;and, above all, the
+resolute but melancholy cast of features which expressed
+so well their lot of daring&mdash;and despair.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the party was bent on a plundering raid, or
+returning from some terrible act of midnight murder,
+there was nothing to indicate; but the impression was
+that they were the men &ldquo;to do or die&rdquo; in whatever enterprise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+they were engaged. The party kept well together,
+riding in single file with almost military precision. Their
+pace was steady, with no appearance of haste, though they
+must probably have been aware that some carabineers
+were stationed in the place hard by, which we had just left.
+It was a startling apparition,&mdash;these &ldquo;children of the
+mist&rdquo;&mdash;sweeping by us in grim cavalcade over a wild
+heath, in the cold grey dawn of a November day, every
+hand stained with blood, every bosom steeled to vengeance.
+They took no notice of us, though we passed them closely,
+not even exchanging salutations with our <i>cavallante</i>. We
+gazed on them till they were out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>No such thoughts as those suggested by the occurrences
+just related occupied our minds while we ascended the
+defile which penetrates the mountain chain intervening
+between Tempio and the valleys terminating on the coast.
+The savage character and the traditions of the locality
+might have inspired them, but we were under the protection
+of the courier, a privileged person&mdash;probably for
+good reasons,&mdash;and, besides this, as I have already said,
+under no sort of personal apprehension. Our attention
+was divided between the stern magnificence of the gorge,
+the more striking from its being now half veiled in darkness,
+and the difficulties of the ascent which, as usual,
+increased step by step, until, at last, winding stairs cut in
+the rock surmounted the highest cliffs and landed us at
+the summit of the pass.</p>
+
+<p>On emerging from the gloomy defile, there was a total
+change of scene. We found ourselves on open downs,
+apparently of great extent, with a flood of light shed over
+them by a bright moon, and two brilliant planets in the
+south-west, pointing like beacon lights to the position of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+Tempio. An easy descent of the sloping downs brought
+us to the level of a vast elevated plateau, extending, with
+slight undulations, and broken by only one rocky ridge, to
+the vicinity of the town. When at the summit of the
+pass, we had still eight or ten miles to accomplish. Late
+as it was, the ride would have been highly enjoyable, in
+that pure atmosphere, with the vault of heaven blazing
+overhead, and the stillness of the night broken only by
+our horses' hoofs, but for the weariness of the poor beasts
+after a long day's journey and the toilsome ascent of a
+mountain pass, and the ruggedness of the tracks along
+which we had to pick our way.</p>
+
+<p>Welcome, therefore, were the lights of Agius, Luras, and
+Nuches, villages standing some little way out of the road,
+at from two to three miles' distance from Tempio. These
+places, Agius in particular, were formerly notorious for robbery
+and vendetta, notwithstanding which the population,
+which is chiefly pastoral, has always maintained a high character
+for kindness, hospitality, industry, and temperance.</p>
+
+<p>Our path lay now through very narrow lanes, dividing
+vineyards and gardens, extending all the way to Tempio.
+The replies of the courier to our inquiries after a hotel
+had left a complete blank in our prospects of bed, board,
+and lodging at the end of our journey. For travellers,
+such as ourselves, there was no accommodation. Tempio
+was rarely visited by strangers. This looked serious, after
+a mountain ride of nearly thirty miles, and between nine
+and ten o'clock at night;&mdash;what was to be done? We
+had letters of introduction to persons of the highest distinction
+in the place, but they hardly warranted our
+intruding ourselves on them, hungry, travel-stained, and
+houseless, at that late hour. The case, however, being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+desperate we decided, at last, on presenting ourselves to
+the Commandant of the garrison, as the most likely person
+to give or procure us quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The horses' feet clattered sharply on the <i>pav&eacute;</i> in the
+stillness of the narrow deserted streets; and the huge
+granito-built houses overhanging them, gloomy at all
+hours, appeared doubly inhospitable now that all lights
+were extinguished, the doors closed, and none ready to be
+opened at the call of weary travellers. Thus we traversed
+the whole city, the Commandant's mansion lying at the
+furthest extremity. Our tramp roused to attention a
+drowsy sentry at the gate; there were lights <i>&agrave; la prima</i>&mdash;the
+family then had not retired for the night. The
+strange arrival is announced, and our <i>viandante</i> makes no
+scruple of depositing our baggage in the hall. The Commandant
+receives us with politeness, regrets that he is so
+straitened in his quarters that he cannot offer us beds,
+and sends an orderly who procures us a lodging, meanwhile
+giving us coffee. Attended by two soldiers, carrying our
+baggage, we retrace our steps to the centre of the town,
+and take possession of very sorry apartments, the best
+portion of a gaunt filthy house. We are installed by the
+mistress, a shrewish person, who, making pretensions to
+gentility, receives her guests under protest that she does
+not keep a hotel, but is willing to accommodate strangers,&mdash;a
+phrase repeated a hundred times while we were under
+her roof, and emphatically when presenting a rather unconscionable
+bill on our departure. And this was the
+only refuge in a city of from six to eight thousand inhabitants,
+many of them boasting nobility, the capital of a
+province, the seat of a governor and a bishop, and head-quarters
+of a military district. I may be pardoned for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+being circumstantial in details giving an idea of what
+travelling in Sardinia is. Things are much the same
+throughout the island. The tourist who sets foot on it
+must be steeled against brigands, vermin, <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>, and
+indifferent fare. &ldquo;<i>Per aspera tendens</i>&rdquo; would be his
+suitable motto. He must be prepared to rough it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXVIII" id="CHAP_XXVIII"></a>CHAP. XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Tempio.&mdash;The Town and Environs.&mdash;The Limbara Mountains.&mdash;Vineyards.&mdash;The
+Governor or Intendente of the Province.&mdash;Deadly
+Feuds.&mdash;Sarde Girls at the Fountains.&mdash;Hunting
+in Sardinia.&mdash;Singular Conference with the Tempiese
+Hunters.&mdash;Society at the Casino.&mdash;Description of a Boar
+Hunt.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Unpropitious as first appearances were, we found no want
+of real hospitality and kindness among the Tempiese, and
+I have seldom spent a few days more pleasantly in a
+provincial town. Daylight, indeed, failed to improve the
+internal aspect of the place, but rather disclosed the filth
+of the narrow streets, without entirely dissipating the
+gloom shed upon them from the dusky granite of which
+the buildings are constructed, and the heavy wooden
+balconies protruding over the thoroughfares. The houses
+have, however, a substantial air, some of them are stuccoed,
+and Tempio can even boast its palaces of an ancient
+nobility, with coats of arms sculptured in white marble
+over the entrances. It possesses not less than thirteen
+churches, of which the collegiate and cathedral church of
+St. Peter is the only one worth notice,&mdash;a large and
+lofty building of a mixture of styles, with some tawdry
+ornaments, but a handsome high altar and well carved
+oak stalls in the choir. The foundation consists of a dean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+and twelve canons, with eighteen other inferior clergy.
+Since 1839 it has ranked as a cathedral, Tempio having
+been erected into a see united with those of Civit&agrave; and
+Ampurias, and the bishop residing here six months of the
+year. There is a massive old nunnery, now, I believe,
+suppressed, in the centre of the place, and outside the
+town a reformatory for the confinement of criminals
+sentenced to secondary punishment, a large building with
+a handsome elevation.</p>
+
+<p>A finer position for a large city, of greater importance
+than Tempio, can scarcely be imagined. Placed on a
+gentle swell of the wide undulating plain already mentioned&mdash;the
+Gemini plain,&mdash;a plateau of nearly 2000 feet
+above the level of the sea, it stands midway between two
+grand mountain ranges, the Limbara stretching the bold
+outlines of its massive forms in a course south of the town,
+its summit rising to 4396 feet; and, to the north-east, a
+chain not quite so elevated, but of an equally wild and
+irregular formation, and presenting to the eye, when
+viewed from Tempio, even a more rugged and serrated
+ridge. The defiles of this chain we passed in approaching
+Tempio; those of the Limbara were to be penetrated in
+our progress southward.</p>
+
+<p>Its high situation and exposure render Tempio healthy,
+and it is even said to be cold in winter, of which we found
+no symptoms in the month of November, when Limbara
+is supposed to assume its diadem of snow, retaining it till
+April.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/296.jpg" width="700" height="249" alt="THE LIMBARA, FROM TEMPIO."
+title="THE LIMBARA, FROM TEMPIO." />
+<p class="caption">THE LIMBARA, FROM TEMPIO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>I hardly recollect anything finer of its kind than the
+panoramic view of the country between Tempio and the
+mountains on either side, as seen from its terraces. It
+combined great breadth, striking contrasts, and a most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+harmonious blending of colour. For a wide circuit round
+the town, gardens, orchards, vineyards, and a variety of
+small inclosures, occupying the slopes and hollows of the
+undulating surface, and well massed, give an idea of
+fertility one should not expect at this elevation. Here
+and there, a single round-topped pine, or a group of such
+pines, crowns a knoll, and breaks the flowing outlines. The
+open pastoral country beyond is linked to this cultivated
+zone by detached masses of copse and woods of cork and
+ilex, extending to the base of the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The Tempiese are a hardy and industrious people,
+exhibiting their spirit of activity in the careful cultivation
+about the town and the occupations of vast numbers of
+the population as shepherds, <i>cavallanti</i>, or <i>viandanti</i>. The
+dull town also shows some signs of life by a considerable
+trade in the country produce of cheese, fruits, hams,
+bacon, &amp;c. They manufacture here the best guns in
+Sardinia, and know how to use them; being capital sportsmen,
+<i>cacciatori</i>, as well as formidable enemies in the
+vindictive feuds for which they have been celebrated, and
+not yet entirely extinct. A short time ago, two factions
+fought in the streets, and, though the bloody strife was
+quelled, they are said still to eye each other askance.
+Returning one night from the Casino, in company of the
+Commandant, he stopped on the piazza in front of the
+cathedral and related to us the circumstances of an
+assassination perpetrated a short time before on the very
+steps of the church.</p>
+
+<p>The office of viceroy of Sardinia having been abolished,
+each of the eleven provinces into which the island is divided,
+the principal being Cagliari, Oristano, Sassari, and Tempio
+including the whole of Gallura, is administered by an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+<i>Intendente</i>, who communicates directly with the Ministers
+at Turin. The military districts correspond with the civil
+divisions of the island. We found two companies of the
+line, and a squad of <i>carabinieri</i>, mounted gendarmes,
+stationed at Tempio. Sardinia returns twenty-four members
+to the national parliament at Turin. The ecclesiastical
+jurisdiction is administered by three archbishops, filling
+the sees of Cagliari, Sassari, and Oristano, and eight
+bishops, seated in the other principal cities.</p>
+
+<p>High official appointments at Tempio are not very
+enviable posts; governors and commandants not being
+exempt from the summary vengeance, for real or supposed
+wrongs, at which the Sardes are so apt. The Commandant
+told us that his immediate predecessor had received one of
+the death-warnings which precede the fatal stroke: I
+believe he was soon afterwards removed. For himself, his
+successor said, he took no precautions, did his duty, and
+braved the consequences. A few years before, the Governor,
+having compromised himself by acts of injustice, was
+assassinated, after receiving one of these &ldquo;death-warnings&rdquo;
+peculiar to Sardinia. &ldquo;During the night he heard a pane
+of glass crack, and on examining it in the morning he
+found the fatal bullet on the floor. The custom of the
+country is that, whenever the <i>vendetta alla morte</i>, revenge
+even to death, is to be carried out, the party avenging himself
+shall give his adversary timely notice by throwing a
+bullet into his window, in order that he may either make
+immediate compensation for the injury or prepare himself
+for death. The Governor for some time used every
+caution as to when and where he went, but at length
+disregarded the warning, imagining he was safe. The
+assassin, however, had watched him with an eagle's eye,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+and he fell in a moment he least expected. Report further
+says,&rdquo; observes Mr. Tyndale, in whose words we relate the
+occurrence, &ldquo;that he is not the only Governor of Gallura
+to whom this summary mode of obtaining justice, or
+inflicting vengeance, has been intimated.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The present Intendente of Tempio, the Marchese
+Clavarino, though he only entered on his office in the
+month of April before our visit, had already done much
+by his firm and enlightened administration to restore
+order and confidence. He had been able to collect the
+arrears of taxes, and, by impartial justice between all
+factions, had removed every pretence for a resort to deeds
+of violence for the redress of injuries.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The Governor's palace, establishment, and retinue,&rdquo;
+observes Mr. Tyndale, &ldquo;consist of three rooms on a
+second story, a female servant, and a sentry at the door.&rdquo;
+Things were little changed in 1853, but, in the absence of
+all state, we were impressed on our first visit of ceremony
+that the government of a turbulent province could not
+have been intrusted to better hands. In the antechamber
+we found a priest waiting, as it struck me from his deportment,
+to prefer his suit with &ldquo;bated breath,&rdquo; and the
+feeling that the wings of the priesthood are now clipped in
+the Sardinian states. The Marquis conversed with frankness
+on his own position and the state of the island. He
+had been in London at the time of the &ldquo;Great Exhibition,&rdquo;
+and his views of the English alliance, and of politics
+generally, were just such as might be expected from an
+enlightened Sardinian. A worthy coadjutor to such
+statesmen as D'Azeglio and Cavour, I would venture to
+predict that the Intendente of Tempio will ere long be
+called to fill a higher post.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Our rambles in the environs of Tempio were very
+pleasant. It was the season of the vintage, late here; and
+great numbers of the people were busily employed in the
+vineyards and the &ldquo;lodges&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> attached to them. Observing
+smoke issuing from most of these, we learned, in answer to
+our inquiries, that a portion of boiled lees is added in the
+manufacture of wine, to insure its keeping, the grapes not
+sufficiently ripening in consequence of the coldness of the
+climate. We found no such fault with those we tasted.
+A very considerable extent of surface is planted with vines,
+divided, however, into small vineyards. At the entrance
+of each stands an arched gateway, generally a solid structure
+of granite, with more or less architectural pretensions,
+and a date and initials carved in stone, commemorative,
+no doubt, of the planting of so cherished a family inheritance.
+One of these is represented in the foreground of
+the accompanying plate.</p>
+
+<p>There are several fountains in the neighbourhood of
+Tempio, the waters of which are deliciously cool and pure.
+One of them, on the road beyond the Commandant's house,
+gushes out of the rock, under shade of some fine Babylonian
+willows. Sheltered by these in the heat of noon,
+and in still greater numbers at eventide, one saw the damsels
+of Tempio resort with their pitchers, as in ancient
+times Abraham's steward, in his journey to Mesopotamia,
+stood at the well of Nahor, when the daughters of the men
+of the city came out with their pitchers<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>; as Saul, passing
+through Mount Ephraim and ascending the hill of Zuph,
+met the maidens going out to draw water<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>; or as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
+spies of Ulysses fell in with the daughter of Antiphates at
+the well of Artacia.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Sardinia abounds with such mementos
+of primitive times.</p>
+
+<p>The Tempiese women have the singular habit of raising
+the hinder part of the upper petticoat, the <i>suncurinu</i>,
+when they go abroad, and bringing it over the head and
+shoulders, so as to form a sort of hood. So far from this
+fashion giving them, as might be supposed, a <i>dowdy</i>
+appearance, it is not inelegant when the garment is gracefully
+arranged. It has generally broad stripes, and is often
+of silk or a fine material. The under-petticoat, of cloth,
+is either of a bright colour, or dark with a bright-coloured
+border. Both of them are worn very full. The jacket is
+of scarlet, blue, or green velvet, fitting very tightly to the
+figure, the edges having a border of a different colour, and
+sometimes brocaded. The simple head-dress consists of a
+gaily-coloured kerchief wound round the head, and tied in
+knots before and behind.</p>
+
+<p>We expected to get some shooting in the woods at the
+foot of the Limbara, as they abound with wild hogs,
+<i>cingale</i>, and deer, <i>capreoli</i>, a sort of roebuck. Our letters
+of introduction to some gentlemen of Tempio failed of
+assisting us. They were from home, probably engaged in
+the vintage. But the Sardes of all ranks are determined
+sportsmen, <i>cacciatori</i>, and we did not despair, though
+hunting excursions in the island require, as we shall find,
+a certain organisation. In our dilemma we made the acquaintance&mdash;of
+all people in the world&mdash;of a little barber,
+who appeared deeply versed in the politics of the place,
+and undertook to arrange the desired <i>chasse</i> with the Tempiese
+hunters. We were to meet him the same evening, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+a low <i>caff&egrave;</i>, where he was to introduce us to the leaders of
+the band. A singular conference it was, that meeting of
+ourselves, men of the north, with the wild <i>chasseurs</i> of the
+Gallura, between whom there was nothing in common but
+enthusiastic love of the field and the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>The low vault of the <i>Caff&egrave; de la Costituzione</i> was lighted
+by a single lamp, by whose glimmerings we dimly discerned,
+amidst wreaths of tobacco-smoke, the grim features
+of the men with whom we had to do. They were honest
+enough, no doubt, according to Sarde notions of honour,
+and received us with great cordiality; but the consultation
+between themselves was carried on in a patois quite unintelligible,
+except that we gathered that there were some
+difficulties in the way.</p>
+
+<p><i>La caccia di cingale</i>, a boar-hunt in Sardinia, requires
+a number of hunters, besides those who beat the woods to
+rouse the game; and, whether there were any feuds to be
+stifled, any jealousies to be allayed, which, with armed
+men in that state of society, might endanger the peace,
+the difficulties appeared serious. Whatever they were, our
+<i>Barbi&egrave;re di Seviglia</i>, who, to use a familiar phrase, seemed
+up to everything, and conducted the treaty on our part, did
+not think proper to disclose them. One thing, however, we
+soon learned, that the services of these men were not to be
+hired; their ruling passion for the chase and the national
+principle of hospitality were incentives enough to the proposed
+expedition. We were also informed that there were
+other parties to be consulted, and the meeting was adjourned
+to the following day.</p>
+
+<p>Very different was the scene at the Casino to which we
+were introduced by the Commandant shortly after our consultation
+with the hunters. At the Casino there is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+<i>r&eacute;union</i> of the best society in Tempio every evening. We
+found good rooms, well lighted, with coffee and refreshments
+nicely served. There were newspapers, and a small
+collection of books,&mdash;the standard works of Italian
+writers, with some French. The society was unexpectedly
+good for such a place as Tempio, consisting, besides the
+officers of the garrison, of many of the resident nobles and
+gentry. We spent some pleasant hours there, finding
+among the members well-informed and intelligent persons.
+Politics were freely discussed, liberal opinions prevailing
+even to the degree of such ultra-liberalism as might have
+better suited the class of persons we met at the <i>Caff&egrave; de la
+Costituzione</i>, if politics are discussed there also. No doubt
+they are, the Tempiese, like the rest of the islanders, being
+a shrewd race, devotedly patriotic, and jealous of their
+independence.</p>
+
+<p>We could not, as already hinted, reckon Madame
+Rosalie's <i>m&eacute;nage</i> among the pleasant things that reconciled
+us to a longer stay than we intended in the rude
+capital of Gallura; but, at least, she supplied us in her
+own person with a fund of amusement. My companion,
+who had the happy gift for a traveller of being almost
+omnivorous, used to laugh heartily at my vain attempts to
+extract something edible from the meagre <i>carte</i> offered by
+Madame. Her replies parrying my demands, and uttered
+with amazing volubility, in shrill tones and a patois almost
+unintelligible, invariably ended to this effect:&mdash;&ldquo;Signore,
+my house is not a locanda, though I have opened my
+doors to accommodate you.&rdquo; It was a species of hospitality
+that cost us dear. Madame's airs of gentility,
+though very amusing, were of course treated with due
+respect. But what gave zest to my friend's mirth, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>
+with the hopeless prospect of dinner, produced in me a
+slight irritation, sometimes, perhaps, ill concealed, was
+Madame Rosalie's evolutions on these occasions. I fancy,
+now, that I see her slight figure skipping into the room,
+dancing a jig round the table, never at rest, screeching all
+the while at the highest pitch of her voice, with every
+limb in motion, as if she had St. Vitus's dance, or, as they
+say, went on wires. I can only compare the play of her
+limbs to that of one of those children's puppets of which
+all the limbs&mdash;head, legs, and arms&mdash;are set in motion
+by pulling a string.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing detained us at Tempio but the proposed boar-hunt.
+We attended a second meeting of the principal
+hunters, committing ourselves unreservedly to their disposal,
+and, after some further consultation, among themselves,
+our little barber had the glory of bringing the
+negotiations to a successful issue. All the difficulties,
+whatever they were, had been removed, and it was settled
+that the affair should come off on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, at an early hour, there was an unusual
+stir in the dull streets of Tempio, snapping of guns,
+trampling of horses, and barking of dogs. On our joining
+the party at the rendezvous in front of the <i>caff&egrave;</i>, we found
+some twenty horsemen, carrying guns,&mdash;rough and ready
+fellows, looking as if a dash into the forest, whether
+against hogs or gendarmes, would equally suit them. We
+were followed by a rabble on foot, attended by dogs of a
+variety of species, some of them strong and fierce. After
+winding through the narrow lanes among the vineyards,
+our cavalcade was joined by one of the gentlemen on
+whom we had called with a letter of introduction, and his
+son, who mixed freely with our rank and file. There is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+happy fellowship in field sports which, to a great degree,
+levels for the time distinctions of rank; and this we found
+particularly in Sardinia, where all classes are so devoted to
+these sports, and they are of a character requiring extended
+and rather promiscuous operations.</p>
+
+<p>Our irregular cavalry shaped their march in broken
+order towards a spur of the mountains, covered with dense
+thickets, at the foot of the Punta Balestiere, the highest
+point of the Limbara. After clearing the inclosures our
+track led us over the wide undulating plain already
+described, interspersed with scattered thickets, but with
+few signs of cultivation. On approaching the mountains
+there were indications giving promise of sport in patches
+of soil grubbed up by the wild hogs in search for the root
+of the Asphodel, which they greedily devour. This handsome
+plant springs from a bunch of long fibrous bulbs,
+something like the Dahlia, throwing up straight stems two
+or three feet high, with numerous angular filiformed leaves
+and yellow flowers.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> It grows freely on all the wastes
+throughout the island. The root contains so large a
+portion of saccharine matter, and is so plentiful, that while
+we were in Sardinia a Frenchman was forming a company
+for distilling alcohol from it on an extensive scale. A
+distillery was to be established at Sassari, with moveable
+stills throughout the island, wherever the bulbs could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+most easily procured. The projector gave us a sample-bottle
+of the alcohol, a strong and purely tasteless spirit.
+I heard afterwards that the speculation did not succeed.
+There is fine feeding for the wild hogs, in season, on the
+acorns of the vast cork and other oak woods in the interior
+of the island, where we afterwards hunted them. They
+commit great ravages in the cultivated grounds. One was
+shot in the vineyards skirting the town during our stay at
+Tempio.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching the mountains we threw off our attendants
+on foot, with their mongrel pack, whose business it was to
+scale the wooded ridge from behind, and beat the thickets
+for the game. The rest of our party soon afterwards
+struck up a valley parallel with the ridge, and facing the
+mountain side, which rose above it a vast amphitheatre of
+hanging woods, shelving and precipitous cliffs, rocks and
+pinnacles,&mdash;so glorious a spectacle that it riveted my
+attention, and almost drew it off from the work before
+us. But now our leaders proceeded to &ldquo;tell off&rdquo; the
+party, stationing them singly at distances of about seventy
+or eighty paces along the bottom of the valley, within
+gunshot of the verge of the wood, which sloped to it. In
+this open order the line extended more than half a mile.
+The horses were tethered in the rear.</p>
+
+<p>It was my lot to be posted near the extreme right on a
+detached rock, slightly elevated, so as to command the
+ground. I could just distinguish my neighbours on either
+hand, &ldquo;low down in the broom,&rdquo; the valley being rather
+thickly covered with brakes of underwood. The instructions
+for my noviciate in boar-hunting were,&mdash;not to quit
+my post, and to maintain strict silence; injunctions not
+likely to be disregarded, as a breach of the former might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+have exposed me to be winged, in mistake for a pig
+among the rustling bushes, considering that there were
+dead shots on either flank, with two or three balls in their
+barrels. As to the other word of order, silence, the
+injunction was needless, for the ear of my nearest neighbour
+could only have been reached by shouts which might
+scare the game, and prevent their breaking cover, and
+that I was not quite novice enough to risk.</p>
+
+<p>So I sat down on the rock, with my gun across my
+knees, watching the play of light and shade on the mountain
+sides as the clouds flitted round them. But this did
+not last long, for the line of <i>vedettes</i> could have been
+scarcely formed when the shouts of the party who had
+now gained the heights, and were beating the woods in
+face of our position, summoned the hunters in the valley
+beneath to be on the alert. The interval of suspense and
+silence being now broken, the scene became very exciting.
+The dogs in the wood gave tongue, and the short and
+snapping bark was shortly followed by a full burst, which
+told that the game was on foot. Then, no doubt, every
+gun was at full cock, every eye intently watching the
+avenues in the thickets through which boar or deer,
+driven from the woods, might cross the valley. The
+shouts and cries sounded nearer and nearer, till at length
+a shot from the extreme left announced that some game
+had been marked as it broke cover. A dropping fire now
+extended at intervals along the line, as cingale or capreole
+burst from the thickets. Several fell to the guns of the
+party, some escaped; others, wounded, were pursued by
+the dogs to the rear of the position, with a rush of some
+of the hunters on their trail.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The thickets having been completely swept, the line was
+now broken, and the party remounting their horses bore
+their trophies to a woody glen, where we dined, the spot
+chosen being the grassy bank of a little rivulet. Arms
+were piled; some gathered wood and lighted fires, others
+fetched water from the brook, and the more handy opened
+the baskets of provisions we had brought from Tempio and
+spread them on the grass. A wild boar was cut open, and,
+in Homeric style, the choicest portions of the intestines
+were torn out, and, broiled on wooden skewers, offered to
+the hunting-knives of the guests. The wine cup went
+round, and the hunters' feast was seasoned with rude
+merriment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When they had eaten and drank enough,&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> the party
+mounted their horses and returned to Tempio, carrying
+the game across their saddle-bows. The cavalcade was as
+joyous as the feast. Jumping from their horses when they
+got among the vineyards, some dashed over the fences and
+brought away large bunches of grapes. And so we entered
+the city in triumph. In the course of the evening the skin
+of the finest wild boar was sent to our quarters as a trophy
+of our share in the work of the day, with a joint of the
+meat. Madame Rosalie's <i>cuisine</i> failed to do it justice;
+but, when well cooked, wild boar is excellent eating. This
+mode of hunting, generally practised by the Sardes, resembles
+the <i>battue</i> of wolves and leopards at which I have
+assisted in South Africa, where the Boers, assembling in
+numbers, make an onslaught on the ravagers of their
+flocks; having the dens and thickets driven, and stationing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+themselves on the outskirts with their long roers to shoot
+down the vermin as they issue forth. Such meetings are
+jovial, and the sport is exciting, but not to be compared,
+I think, to deer-stalking or fox-hunting, to say nothing of
+a foray against lions and tigers.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXIX" id="CHAP_XXIX"></a>CHAP. XXIX.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Leave Tempio.&mdash;Sunrise.&mdash;Light Wreaths of Mist across the
+Valley.&mdash;A Pass of the Limbara.&mdash;View from the Summit.&mdash;Dense
+Vapour over the Plain beneath.&mdash;The Lowlands unhealthy.&mdash;The
+deadly Intemp&eacute;rie.&mdash;It recently carried off an
+English Traveller.&mdash;Descend a romantic Glen to the Level of
+the Campidano.&mdash;Its peculiar Character.&mdash;Gallop over it.&mdash;Reach
+Ozieri</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>I have reason to believe from information received during
+a recent visit to Sardinia that the insecurity which, to
+some extent, prevailed when we were in the island in
+1853, had considerably lessened. But while at Tempio in
+that year we learnt by an official communication from
+Cagliari that some of the central mountain districts,
+through which we proposed to pass on a shooting excursion,
+were in a disturbed state and must be approached with
+caution. In consequence, the <i>Lascia portare arma</i> forwarded
+to us was accompanied by an open order from the
+Colonel commanding the royal Caribineers, addressed to all
+the stations, for our being furnished with an escort. So,
+also, on our visit of leave to the Intendente of Tempio he
+pressed us to allow him to send us forward under escort,
+though I did not learn that there had been any recent
+outrages in his own province. On our declining the offer,
+as at variance with our habits and feelings, the Intendente<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+said, &ldquo;I assure you that, here, the lowest government
+employ&eacute; will not travel without an escort;&rdquo;&mdash;and he
+again urged our accepting it, adding, &ldquo;the Marchese
+d'Azeglio having put you under my especial protection, I
+am responsible for your safety, and wish to use every precaution,
+lest anything unpleasant should occur.&rdquo; On our
+again respectfully declining the offer, the kind Intendente
+said, with a shrug, &ldquo;Well, gentlemen, I have done my
+duty, and I hope that when you get to Turin you will so
+represent it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Such precautions exhibit a singular state of society in
+the midst of European civilisation; I apprehend, however,
+that the Piedmontese officials, and the continentals in
+general, paint the Sardes in darker colours than they
+merit; and there is little good blood between them.</p>
+
+<p>Having no such prejudices, and entertaining no apprehensions,
+we started, as usual, having a honest viandante,
+with his saddle and pack-horses, for our only escort. The
+sun was just rising over the serrated ridge of the eastern
+mountains, when, emerging from the fetid shade of the
+narrow streets of Tempio, we came suddenly into his
+blessed light. The mountain sides still formed an indistinct
+mass of the richest purple hue, while, over the
+whole plain beneath, light mists rolled in fantastic waves,
+floating like a mysterious gauze-like veil, shreds of which
+touched by the sun's rays became brilliantly coloured, and
+others drifting through the scattered woods had the appearance
+of being combed out into long and fine-spun threads
+like the spiders'-webs which, gemmed with dew-drops,
+hung from spray to spray. It was a magnificent view, of
+great breadth, like one of Martin's mysterious pictures,
+and seen under the most splendid effects; but so transitory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+that after we crossed the first ridge all was changed.
+Meanwhile denser, but still light, wreaths close at hand
+mingled with the mists, as the blue smoke curled up from
+the vineyard sheds where the industrious Tempiese had
+already commenced their labours. The temperature was
+delicious, and rain had fallen in the night cooling the air
+and refreshing vegetation. Pleasanter than ever was our
+early ride through the pretty winding lanes dividing the
+vineyards and gardens skirting the town, and again, as we
+descended through deep banks among scattered woodlands
+to the open plains extending to the foot of the Limbara
+Mountains.</p>
+
+<p>A long but easy ascent led to the top of the pass, the
+ridge we mounted being thickly clothed with evergreen
+shrubbery, the arbutus predominating, profusely decked
+with fruit and flower. The summit of the pass opened to
+us a double view in strong contrast. Looking back, we
+once more saw through a gap the mountains of Corsica,
+in faint outlines, eighty miles distant, with a glimpse of
+a blue stripe of water, the Straits of Bonifacio. Turning
+southward, we stood at the summit of a long winding glen
+richly wooded with ilex and cork trees, and far away beneath
+there lay before us a broad plain partially covered with
+a sea of vapour, not like the gay wreaths of mist that
+lightly floated over the elevated plateau surrounding
+Tempio, but so still, so condensed, so white, as to have
+been easily mistaken for a frozen lake powdered with snow,
+and its hills for islands rising out of the water.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>But such an image is unsuited to the climate of Sardinia
+at any season. Smiling as the landscape now appeared, its
+most striking feature was associated with the idea of death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That dense creamy vapour, formed by the pestiferous
+exhalations of the lowlands, is the death shroud of the
+plain outstretched beneath it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/313.jpg" width="500" height="349" alt="DESCENT TO THE CAMPIDANO."
+title="DESCENT TO THE CAMPIDANO." />
+<p class="caption">DESCENT TO THE CAMPIDANO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>During the heats of summer, nay, sometimes from April
+till the latter end of November, the ravages of the deadly
+<i>intemp&eacute;rie</i> extend throughout the island to such a degree
+that in Captain Smyth's list of nearly 350 towns and
+villages included in his &ldquo;Statistical Table of Sardinia,&rdquo;
+full a third are noted as insalubrious. The disorder has
+the same character as malaria, but is far more virulent.
+Captain Smyth thus describes the symptoms: &ldquo;The
+patient is first attacked by a headache and painful tension
+of the epigastric region, with alternate sensations of heat
+and chilliness; a fever ensues, the exacerbations of which
+are extremely severe, and are followed by a mournful
+debility, more or less injurious even to those accustomed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
+to it, but usually fatal to strangers.&rdquo; We have conversed
+with natives and residents who have recovered from repeated
+attacks of <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>; foreigners suffer most.
+&ldquo;Instances have been related to me,&rdquo; observes Captain
+Smyth, &ldquo;of strangers landing for a few hours only from
+Italian coasters, who were almost immediately carried off
+by its virulence; indeed, the very breathing of the air by
+a foreigner at night, or in the cool of the evening, is considered
+as certain death in some parts.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>Not twelve months before our visit, an English officer was
+suddenly struck down and carried off while on a similar
+excursion in this part of the island. Sir Harry Darrell
+was one of the last men I should have thought liable to
+so fatal an attack. A few years ago, when returning from
+Caffreland just before the breaking out of the last war, I
+met him on the march to the frontier. I had off-saddled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
+at noon, and while my horses were grazing, knee-haltered,
+on a slip of grass by the side of a running stream, was
+lying under the shade of a wild olive-tree, when the head-quarters'
+division of the &mdash;&#8212; Dragoon Guards passed along
+the road. Sir Harry and some other officers rode down into
+the meadow, and we talked of the state of Caffreland and
+of the principal chiefs, most of whom I had recently seen.
+I heard afterwards that he had got out fox-hounds and
+hunted the country about Fort Beaufort. He was a keen
+sportsman and clever artist. Some of his sketches in
+South Africa were published by Ackerman. His remains
+lie at Cagliari, where he was conveyed when struck by the
+<i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>, dying a few days after. A friend of mine,
+who was there at the time, informs me that Sir Harry's
+constitution had become debilitated, and he had rendered
+himself liable to the attack by exposure and over-fatigue.
+I mention the circumstance as a warning, but do not think
+there is much risk, with proper precautions, for men in good
+health, through most parts of the island, after the November
+rains have precipitated the miasma and purified the air.
+We ourselves slept in most pestiferous places, where the
+ravages of the disease were marked in the sallow countenances
+of the inhabitants, without experiencing the least
+inconvenience.</p>
+
+<p>We rested at the summit of the pass commanding the
+distant view of the Campidano, which led to these remarks
+on the insalubrity of the country and the scourge of the
+<i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>. They are not, however, confined to the plains,
+but of course are more prevalent where marshes, stagnant
+waters, and rank vegetation engender vapours rising in
+the summer. Leaving my companion to finish the sketch
+copied in a former page, I slowly trotted on with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+<i>viandante</i>, and, the descent becoming rapid, proceeded
+leisurely down the wooded glen, a depth of shade in which
+the heat, as well as the picturesque character of the
+scenery, tempted to linger. Old cork and ilex trees, with
+their rugged bark and grey foliage, throwing out rectangular
+arms of stiff and fantastic growth, wild vines
+hanging from the branches in festoons of brilliant hues,
+other trees with tawny orange leaves,&mdash;I believe a species
+of ash,&mdash;some of a rich claret, and the never-failing
+arbutus, here quite a tree, with its orange and crimson
+berries, all these massed together formed admirable contrasts
+in shape and colour. And then there was the
+gentle brook, never roaring or boisterous, but purling
+among rocks dividing it into still pools, with giant ferns
+hanging over the stream and bunches of hassock-grass
+luxuriating in the alluvial soil of its little deltas, and,
+where the forest receded, a graceful growth of shrubbery
+feathering the winding banks.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the cork-trees were fine specimens, of great age.
+Several I measured in a rough way by embracing their
+trunks with extended arms. This, repeated four or five
+times, gave a circumference of twenty or twenty-five feet.
+The bark was ten inches thick. While so employed I was
+startled by a wild boar rushing by me into the thickets.
+The cork wood gradually thinned into scattered clumps on
+the slopes of the hills, and the winding valley, five or six
+miles long, was abruptly terminated by a bold mamelon,
+or green mound, covered with dwarf heath or turf; so
+shorn and smooth it appeared, probably from being pastured,
+in immediate contrast with the shaggy sides of the
+mountain glen. The horsetrack, avoiding this obstacle,
+led up the eastern acclivity of the glen, and the summit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
+commanded the Campidano, now clear of fog, spread out
+before us, far as the eye could reach, in a broad level,
+broken only by some singular flat-topped hills in the foreground.</p>
+
+<p>Striking and novel as this landscape appeared at the
+first glance, I confess that, at the moment, my attention
+was most directed backward on the track I had just
+followed. It was now some hours since I parted from my
+fellow-traveller. I had often listened for his horse's steps
+in the deep glen, where there was no seeing many hundred
+yards backwards or forwards; and though the present
+elevation commanded some points in the track, he did not
+appear. I was getting fidgetty, and the guide's replies
+to my inquiries did not tend to reassure me, for there are
+&ldquo;<i>malviventi</i>&rdquo; as well as &ldquo;<i>fuorusciti</i>&rdquo; in the wilds&mdash;a
+well known distinction&mdash;when, just as we were on the
+point of returning back, after half an hour's additional
+suspense, I got a glimpse of my friend trotting out of the
+woods close under the point of view. He, too, had lingered
+in the romantic glen after finishing his sketch.</p>
+
+<p>We had now cleared the defiles of the Limbara, and,
+descending to the level of the plains, made up for lost time
+by galloping <i>ventre &agrave; terre</i> over the boundless waste.
+Here were no shady nooks, no forest masses, no fantastic
+growths, no grey crags, no bright-flowered thickets, so
+grouped as one might never see again, and tempting to
+linger. All the features were now on a broad scale; they
+were caught at a glance, and the few which broke the
+monotony of the scene were repeated again and again.
+But they were not without interest. The rivulet had expanded
+into a wide stream, making long bends through
+the deep loam of the grassy meads, and looking so cool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+and refreshing, that, but for the pebbly shoals in its bed,
+it was difficult to conceive the midsummer heats rendering
+these verdant plains desolate and pestilential.</p>
+
+<p>Along the banks of the river, and far away in every
+direction, were scattered herds of cattle, guarded by armed
+shepherds, wild bearded fellows in goatskin mantles and
+leather doublets, mostly on horseback. We meet such
+figures on the grassy track, looking fiercely as we sweep
+along; we see them at a distance on the edge of some of
+the gentle slopes in which the plain is rolled, when only
+the profile of the horse, the stalwart rider and his long
+gun, comes out clear against the sky. There is more life
+on the Campidano than in the mountains. Not that it is
+inhabited; there is scarcely a house on this whole plain,
+fifty or sixty miles in circumference. Not that there is
+much cultivation; here and there, at rare intervals, we
+see patches of a livelier green than the surrounding expanse
+of grass, and the young wheat just springing up,
+the strong blade and rich loamy furrow, remind us that
+Sardinia was reckoned in former times a granary of Rome.
+We see also the grey mounds of the Nuraghe scattered
+over the plain, some mouldering down to its level, a few
+still rearing their truncated cones, like solitary watch-towers,
+for which they have been mistaken. They, too,
+remind us of times long past, of a primitive age. But they
+are to be found in all parts of the island, and we shall fall
+in with them again, more at leisure to examine their
+structure and hazard a conjecture as to their origin. Now
+we gallop on over the level plain. The sward on the
+beaten track is close and elastic, and our cavallante's
+spirited barbs, spared in the glen during the noontide
+heat, spring as if they had never been broken to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+<i>portante</i> pace. The morning fog and the cadaverous
+features of the shepherds have warned us that the teeming
+Campidano is no place to linger in after nightfall. Their
+homes are in the villages scattered round the edge of the
+great plain; not much elevated, as the <i>paese</i> in Corsica, but
+standing on gentle acclivities. We marked them at a
+distance. Already we have passed Sassu on our right and
+Oschiri on our left; they are poor places. Codriaghe and
+Codrongianus and Florinas stand at the extremity of the
+plain towards Sassari, and we shall see them on our road
+thither, if we ever get there. Ardara, once the capital of
+the province of Logudoro, founded as early as 1060, and
+having many historic traditions, crowns, with its massive
+towers rising above the ruined walls, a hillock on the plain
+right before us. It boasts also a fine church, enriched
+with curious objects of art; but the town has dwindled
+to a collection of hovels with a small population, few of
+whom, we are told, survive their fiftieth year, so destructive
+is the <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>. We turn away: Ozieri stands
+invitingly on rather a bold eminence at the head of a
+gorge where the plain narrows towards the hills. The
+rays of the setting sun are full upon its houses and
+churches. It is a place of some importance, and lies in
+our proposed line through byroads to the forest districts
+of the interior. If our pace holds on we may reach it
+by an hour after sunset. Perhaps we shall find good
+cheer, the best preservative, I should imagine, against the
+miasma that produces <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/319.jpg" width="700" height="454" alt="THE PLAIN OF OZIERI."
+title="THE PLAIN OF OZIERI." />
+<p class="caption">THE PLAIN OF OZIERI.</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXX" id="CHAP_XXX"></a>CHAP. XXX.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Effects of vast Levels as compared with Mountain Scenery.&mdash;Sketches
+of Sardinian Geology.&mdash;The primitive Chains and
+other Formations.&mdash;Traces of extensive Volcanic action.&mdash;The
+&ldquo;Campidani,&rdquo; or Plains.&mdash;Mineral Products.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Vast open plains, such as that described in the preceding
+chapter, form a singular feature in the physical aspect of
+the island of Sardinia. There are few travellers, I think,
+of much experience who, in traversing such tracts of country,
+have not been struck at one time by the desolation of
+their depths of solitude, or been pleased, at another, by the
+glimpses of nomade life, their occasional accompaniments;
+and who would not be willing to admit that, in their
+general impressions on the imagination, they sometimes
+rival even mountain scenery. For if grandeur be one
+main ingredient in the sublime, when an object such as a
+seemingly boundless level, or rolling plain, the extent of
+which the eye is unable to scan, lies before you, when,
+after long marches, it still appears interminable, the mind
+is perhaps more impressed with the idea of magnitude than
+by large masses, however enormous, with defined outlines
+presented to the view. In the former instance, the
+imagination is called into play and fills out the picture on
+a scale corresponding with the actual features, as far as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>
+they are subject to observation; but the imagination proverbially
+adopts an extravagant measure.</p>
+
+<p>One of my friend's sketches of Campidano scenery, introduced
+here, cleverly represents the effects produced by
+great distances on one of these rolling plains.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/321.jpg" width="500" height="181" alt="THE CAMPIDANO."
+title="THE CAMPIDANO." />
+<p class="caption">THE CAMPIDANO.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Perhaps the idea of illimitable extent is better conveyed
+by the lithographic sketch, No. 8, in which the
+level, not being interrupted by the intersection of a mountain
+ridge, as in the former, vanishes in distance. But
+the termination of the plain in the woodcut is only apparent
+as, winding round the base of the mountains, the level
+is still continued though lost to sight. It is not however
+intended to intimate that these Sardinian plains can at all
+vie with the great continental levels in various quarters
+of the globe, the immensity of which occurred to my mind,
+and some of them to my recollection, when remarking on
+the impressions such scenes produce on the traveller's sensations.
+The most extensive of the Sardinian Campidani
+is only fifty miles in length, and they are all of far less
+breadth. Their effect is therefore only comparative, but
+being proportioned to the scale of other surrounding objects,
+to the area of the insular surface, and the limited height
+and extent of the mountain ranges, they produce a proportionate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+effect; but that, as it has been already remarked,
+is sufficiently striking.</p>
+
+<p>Some brief details of these interesting features in
+Sardinian scenery&mdash;the larger of which are termed <i>Campidani</i>,
+and the secondary <i>Campi</i>&mdash;will be fitly combined
+with a general sketch of the geological formations of the
+island; as we are now approaching the same standing
+point, the central districts, from which we took occasion
+to review the orology of Corsica. It was then remarked
+that the mountain systems of the two islands are of similar
+character and were formerly united; of which there is
+evidence in the rocky islets scattered from one coast to the
+other, across the Straits of Bonifacio.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> Sardinia, however,
+though apparently a continuation of Corsica, is essentially
+different in its physical aspect; the elevations being less,
+the plains more extensive and fertile, its mineralogical
+riches far more varied, and volcanic action on a large scale
+being traced throughout the island, while few vestiges of
+it are discovered in Corsica.</p>
+
+<p>While these sheets have been passing through the press,
+General Alberto de la Marmora has published two volumes
+in continuation of his &ldquo;<i>Voyages en Sardaigne</i>,&rdquo; devoted
+exclusively, with an accompanying Atlas, to the geology of
+the island; a work of the greatest scientific value, from the
+high character of the author, and the time he has zealously
+spent in his researches, but too elaborate for any attempt
+to reduce its details within the compass or the scope of these
+pages. Our brief sketch must be confined to a few general
+remarks derived from La Marmora's former volumes, and
+Captain Smyth's very accurate account of Sardinia;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>
+availing ourselves also of Mr. Warre Tyndale's digest of
+these accounts, and giving some results of our own limited
+observation.</p>
+
+<p>The principal chain of primitive mountains trends from
+north to south, extending through the districts of Gallura,
+Barbagia, Ogliastra, and Budui, along the whole eastern
+coast of the island. This range consists of granite, with
+ramifications of schist, and large masses of quartz, mica,
+and felspar. It is intersected by transverse ranges, and
+by plains and valleys partly formed by volcanic agency;
+indeed, the connection between the Gallura group and
+that of Barbagia is entirely cut off by the great plain of
+Ozieri.</p>
+
+<p>The most northerly of the series is the Limbara group.
+Its highest peak, according to La Marmora 4287 feet, is
+an entire mass of granite. The Genargentu in the Barbagia
+range, of the same formation, the highest and most central
+mountain in Sardinia, has two culminating points of the respective
+heights of 6230 and 6118 feet. They are covered
+with snow from September till May, and the inhabitants
+of Aritzu, who make it an object of traffic, are, I believe,
+able to continue the supply throughout the year.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+Monte Oliena in the central group near Nuoro, 4390 feet
+high, is calcareous, as are two others, between 2000 and
+3000 feet high, in the same chain. It terminates with
+the Sette Fratelli, prolonged to Cape Carbonaro, the
+eastern point of the gulf of Cagliari, the highest point of
+the group, which is entirely granite, being 3142 feet.</p>
+
+<p>We find a detached formation called the Nurra mountains,
+composed of granite, schist, and primitive limestone,
+filling the isthmus of the Cape at the north-west extremity
+of the island, and extending to the little isle of Asinara.
+The mountains of Sulcis, at the extreme south-west, and
+terminating in the Capes Teulada and Spartivento, are
+similarly composed; their highest peaks, the Monte Linas
+and Severa, being from 3000 to 4000 feet high.</p>
+
+<p>But the most striking geological feature in Sardinia
+consists in the great extent of the volcanic formations.
+These, as well as the slighter traces of such action in
+Corsica, are doubtless connected with the subterranean
+and submarine fires of which the coasts and islands of the
+central Mediterranean basin afford so many evidences in
+active and extinct volcanoes (some of them in activity in
+the times of Homer, Pindar, and Thucydides), and ranging
+in a circle from the Roman territory to that of Naples, to
+the Lipari islands, Sicily, and those forming the subject of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
+our present inquiry. Sardinia has been widely ravaged
+by internal fires, but at too remote an era to admit of our
+conjecturing the period. The volcanic action can be traced
+from Castel Sardo, where it has formed precipices on the
+northern coast, to the vicinity of Monastir, a distance
+southward of more than 100 miles; its central focus
+appearing to have been about half-way between Ales,
+Milis, and St. Lussurgiu, where, as Captain Smyth remarks,
+&ldquo;the phl&aelig;grean evidences are particularly abundant.&rdquo;
+The action was principally confined to the western
+side of the island, though, south of Genargentu, the
+volcanic formations approach the primitive chain, and the
+rounded hills we remarked in the present rambles, after
+crossing the Limbara, as far east as Oschiri on the Campo
+d'Ozieri, are, I doubt not, craters of extinct volcanoes.
+The flat-topped hill, or truncated cone, figured in the
+lithograph drawing, No. 8, represents one of them, and,
+scattered as these verdant cones are over the long sweeps
+of the Campidani, they formed additional features in the
+interest with which, as I have already said, we regarded
+those immense tracts.</p>
+
+<p>From the supposed centre of volcanic action just suggested,
+it may be traced northward through the districts
+of Macomer, Bonorva, Giavesu, Keremule, with the hillock
+on which Ardara stands, and Codrongianus, to its termination
+in the cliffs of Lungo Sardo. But its most salient
+feature is the detached group of mountains on the western
+coast between Macomer and Orestano, which are entirely
+volcanic. This group has the name of &ldquo;Monte del Marghine,&rdquo;
+in the small map prefixed to Captain Smyth's
+survey, but I do not find that or any other distinct name
+attached to it in La Marmora's large &ldquo;Carta dell'Isola.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>&rdquo;
+The village of St. Lussurgiu is literally built in a crater
+connected with this group, as is also that of Cuglieri. The
+highest point, Monte Articu, the summit of Monte Ferro,
+entirely volcanic, rises 3442 feet above the Mediterranean,
+and the Trebia Lada, 2723 feet high, is one of the three
+basaltic feet forming the <i>Trebina</i>, or Tripod, on the summit
+of Monte Arcuentu, a mountain between Orestano and
+Ales formed of horizontal layers of basalt. Further south
+at Nurri, closely approaching the primitive chain, are two
+hills, called &ldquo;pizz&egrave;-ogheddu,&rdquo; and &ldquo;pizz&egrave; ogu mannu,&rdquo;
+or peaks of the little and great eye, which were certainly
+ignivomous mouths, and the peasants believe that they
+still have a subterraneous communication. A volcanic
+stream has run from them over a calcareous tract, forming
+an elevated plain nearly 1600 feet above the level of the
+sea, called, &ldquo;<i>Sa giara e Serri</i>.&rdquo; It overlooks Gergei, and
+is covered with oaks and cork trees, while the northern
+side of its declivity affords rich pasture. North-west from
+this place is the &ldquo;<i>Giara di Gestori</i>,&rdquo; of similar formation,
+proceeding from a crater at Ales, but strewed with numerous
+square masses of stone&mdash;principally fragments of
+obsidian, and trachytic and cellular lava&mdash;so as to resemble
+a city in ruins. At Monastir there is a distinct double
+crater, now well wooded; and a bridge constructed of fine
+red trap, with the bold outline of the neighbourhood,
+render the entrance to the village by the Strada Reale
+singularly picturesque. The volcanic current, flowing
+westward from Monastir by Siliqua and Massargiu, again
+approached the coast towards the southern extremity of
+Sardinia, extending across the deep gulf of Palmas to the
+islands of S. Pietro and S. Antonio, which are entirely
+composed of trachytic rocks. Their bold escarpments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>
+arrested our attention on approaching the coast, near Cape
+Teulada, in one of our excursions to Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>Plains of lava, called &ldquo;<i>giare</i>&rdquo; by the natives, are often
+found reposing on the large tracts of recent formation,
+such as those of Sardara, Ploaghe, and other places; and
+considerable extents of trap and pitchstone are frequently
+met with on limestone strata, while others, tending fast to
+decomposition, are incorporated with an earth formed of
+comminuted lava. Vestiges of craters, though generally ill
+defined, still exist in the vicinity of Osilo, Florinas, Keremule,
+St. Lussurgiu, Monastir, &amp;c. Some of these are
+considered, from their less broken and conical shape, and
+from the surrounding country consisting of fine red ashes,
+slaggy lava, scoria, obsidian, and indurated pozzolana,
+with hills of porphyritic trap,&mdash;all lying over tertiary
+rock,&mdash;to have been of a much more recent formation
+than the others, which in form present a lengthened straggling
+appearance, and in composition resemble those of
+Auvergne.</p>
+
+<p>The tertiary formation lies on the west side of the principal
+granitic chain, and, besides forming the Campidano
+and the bases on which the volcanic substances rest, constitutes
+the hills of Cagliari, Sassari, and Sorso. The
+tertiary limestone seldom ranges more than 1313 feet
+above the level of the sea, though at Isili and some
+other places it is 1542 feet high. La Marmora considers
+it analogous to the upper tertiary formations found in
+the south of France, central and southern Italy, Sicily,
+Malta, the Balearic Islands, and Africa. The plains generally
+consist of a deep alluvial silt, interspersed with
+shingly patches, containing boulder stones. Such is the
+valley of the Liscia, occupying nearly the whole surface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>
+from sea to sea towards the northern extremity of the
+island. This, it may be recollected, we crossed north of
+the Limbara. Then succeeds the series of <i>Campi</i> or <i>Campidani</i>,
+properly so called. We have already spoken of
+the vast plain of Ozieri, terminating in the south-west
+with its minor branches, the Campi di Mela, St. Lazarus,
+and Giavesu, to which it spreads transversely from the
+Gulf of Terranova, on the eastern coast. The bottom of
+this gulf forms one of the finest harbours in the island,
+with some trade, but the town of that name is a wretched
+place, remarkable for its insalubrity and the truculent
+character of the inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>On the western side of the island are the small <i>Campi</i>
+of Anglona, lying round Castel Sardo, and another plain
+highly cultivated between Sassari and Porto Torres. The
+largest of these plains on the eastern side of the island is
+that of Orosei, washed by several rivers having their
+sources in the neighbouring primitive chain of mountains.
+Westward of this chain we have the great central plain,
+which, first surrounding the Gulf of Oristano, extends in
+an unbroken line, for upwards of fifty miles, to the Gulf
+of Cagliari. This is generally spoken of as &ldquo;<i>the Campidano</i>,&rdquo;
+without further specification, though its parts are
+distinguished by local names, such as&mdash;di Uras, di Gavino,
+&amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>The mineral riches of Sardinia were well known to the
+ancients, and vast excavations, with the remains of a
+number of foundries, afford ample testimony of the extent
+of their operations. Tradition asserts that gold was formerly
+extracted; and there is no doubt that silver was
+found in considerable quantities, as it is even now procured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
+in assaying the lead. Copper is found near Cape
+Teulada, and at other places, and in one of the mines
+beautiful specimens of malachite occur. Iron is very
+plentifully distributed, but is found principally at the
+Monte Santo of Cape Teulada, and at Monte Ferru. The
+richest mine is in the Ogliastra, where the <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>,
+however, is so malignant as to preclude the formation of
+an establishment. Lead is the most abundant of Sardinian
+ores, and its mines are profusely scattered throughout the
+islands.</p>
+
+<p>Anthracite has been found, but only that of the Nurra
+district is fit for working; and the coal, though met with
+in various places in the secondary formations, and especially
+in the lower parts of the beds of magnesian limestone,
+is neither sufficient in quantity nor good enough in
+quality to be generally used. The granites of the Gallura,
+as we have already mentioned, were known to the ancients,
+and highly appreciated in Italy for their beauty and
+colours. Among the other mineral products may also be
+mentioned the porphyries of the Limbara, the basalt of
+Nurri, Gestori, and Serri, the alabaster of Sarcidanu, and
+the marbles of the Goceano and Monte Raso. Jasper
+abounds in the trachyte and dolomite, and large blocks, of
+beautiful variety, are found in some districts. Among the
+chalcedonies are the sardonyx, agates, and cornelian. The
+districts from whence the ancients obtained the sardonyx,
+once held in high repute, are not known, but the vicinity
+of Bosa abounds in chalcedenous formations. A fine
+quality of quartz amethyst has been obtained, and also
+hydrophane, known for its peculiar property of becoming
+transparent when immersed in water. Good turquoises<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>
+and garnets are also found, but not frequently. Though
+there have been so many volcanoes, and selenite, gypsum,
+lime, and aluminous schist frequently occur, neither
+sulphur nor rock salt have been discovered, and but very
+little alum. Mineral springs are numerous, but not much
+frequented.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXI" id="CHAP_XXXI"></a>CHAP. XXXI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Ozieri.&mdash;A Refugee Colonel turned Cook and Traiteur.&mdash;Traces
+of Phenician Superstitions in Sarde Usages.&mdash;The
+Rites of Adonis.&mdash;Passing through the Fire to
+Moloch</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>We entered Ozieri by a new carriage-road in the course of
+construction to connect it with the great Strada Reale
+between Sassari and Cagliari; such an undertaking being
+a novelty in Sardinia, and, of itself, indicating that Ozieri
+is an improving place. It is the chief town of a province,
+and contains a population of 8000, having the character of
+being, and who were to all appearance, thriving, industrious,
+and orderly. The streets are airy and clean,
+the principal thoroughfare being watered by a stream
+issuing from a handsome fountain. There are many good
+houses, and, including the cathedral, a large heavy building,
+nine churches in the city, with three massive convents.
+That of the Capucins, from its cypress-planted terrace,
+commands a fine view of the Campidano, as does the
+church of N.S. di Montserrato on the summit of a neighbouring
+hill.</p>
+
+<p>The piazza, a large area in the centre of the town, was
+thronged with people, lounging and enjoying the evening
+air, when we rode into it, not having the slightest idea
+where we were to dismount. In this dilemma, observing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
+among the crowd, through which we slowly moved, a
+serjeant of the Bersaglieri, distinguished by the neat
+uniform of his rifle corps, with the drooping plume of
+cock's feathers in his cap, we addressed ourselves to him,
+having among our letters one to the Commandant of the
+garrison, which he undertook to deliver. Meanwhile, he
+turned our horses' heads to a house in the piazza, kept by
+an Italian, with the accommodations of which we found
+reason to be well satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tyndale describes the osteria at Ozieri as execrable,
+while, on the other hand, Captain Smyth speaks favourably
+of the locanda at Tempio. At the period of our visit the circumstances
+were just the reverse. The &ldquo;<i>Caf&eacute; et Restaurant
+de Rome</i>&rdquo; proved more than its titles implied. Fully
+maintaining the latter of these, it supplied us also with two
+good apartments. Mine was festooned with bunches of
+grapes hung from the ceiling, and heaps of apples and
+pears were stored on shelves&mdash;so there was no lack of
+fruit; while, much to our surprise, several excellent <i>plats</i>
+were served for supper, the master of the house uniting
+the offices of <i>chef de cuisine</i> and <i>gar&ccedil;on</i>. On our praising
+his dishes,&mdash;&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said he, rather theatrically, &ldquo;<i>Je n'ai
+pas toujours rempli un tel m&eacute;tier!</i>&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;How so?&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Sirs,
+I am a Roman exile; I have fought for liberty; I was a
+Colonel in the service of the republic,&mdash;and now I make
+dishes in Sardinia! But a good time is coming; before
+long, I shall be recalled, and then&rdquo;&mdash;there would be an
+end of popes and cardinals, &amp;c. He told us that many of
+Mazzini's partisans had taken refuge in Sardinia. We
+afterwards met with another of them under similar circumstances.
+Unwilling to wound the feelings of a Colonel
+who, like the Theban general, was also our Amphitryon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+we did not inquire under what circumstances our host had
+acquired the arts which he practised so well; suspecting,
+however, that our Colonel's earliest experience was in
+handling <i>batteries de cuisine</i>. In his double capacity,
+he might have more than rivalled in the Crimea even
+our &ldquo;General Soyer.&rdquo; To recommend some liqueurs of
+his own composition, which certainly were excellent, he
+told us that Sir Harry Darrell, who was here the preceding
+winter, just before he was seized with the <i>intemp&eacute;rie</i>,
+prized them so much that he carried off great part of his
+stock.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the evening we had a visit from the
+Commandant. Among other civilities, he made the
+agreeable proposal that we should join a party formed by
+the Conte di T&mdash;&#8212; to hunt in the mountains south of
+Ozieri, following the sport for several days. This scheme
+suited us exactly, as it would lead us into the forest district
+of Barbagia, which it was our design to visit. Such
+is the warmth of the climate, that though it was now the
+middle of November, after the Commandant took his leave
+we sat to a late hour in our shirt-sleeves, with the casements
+wide open on the now solitary piazza, while I wrote and
+my companion was drawing. So employed, a strain of distant
+music stole on the ear in the stillness of the night,
+one of those plaintive melodies common among the Sardes,
+a sort of recitative by a tenor voice, with others joining
+in a chorus.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many usages derived by the Sardes from
+their Phenician ancestors, one of a singular character is
+still practised by the Oziese, of which Father Bresciani
+gives the following account:&mdash;&ldquo;Towards the end of
+March, or the beginning of April, it is the custom for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>
+young men and women to agree together to fill the relation
+of godfathers and godmothers of St. John, <i>compare e
+comare</i>&mdash;such is the phrase&mdash;for the ensuing year. At
+the end of May, the proposed <i>comare</i>, having procured a
+segment of the bark of a cork tree, fashions it in the
+shape of a vase, and fills it with rich light mould in
+which are planted some grains of barley or wheat. The
+vase being placed in the sunshine, well watered and carefully
+tended, the seed soon germinates, blades spring up,
+and, making a rapid growth, in the course of twenty-one
+days,&mdash;that is, before the eve of St. John,&mdash;the vase is
+filled by a spreading and vigorous plant of young corn.
+It then receives the name of <i>Hermes</i>, or, more commonly,
+of <i>Su Nennere</i>, from a Sarde word, which possibly has the
+same signification as the Phenician name of garden;
+similar vases being called, in ancient times, &#8216;the gardens
+of Adonis.&#8217;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of St. John, the cereal vase, ornamented
+with ribbons, is exposed on a balcony, decorated with
+garlands and flags. Formerly, also, a little image in
+female attire, or phallic emblems moulded in clay, such as
+were exhibited in the feasts of Hermes, were placed among
+the blades of corn; but these representations have been
+so severely denounced by the Church, that they are fallen
+into disuse. The young men flock in crowds to witness
+the spectacle and attend the maidens who come out to
+grace the feast. A great fire is lit on the <i>piazza</i>, round
+which they leap and gambol, the couple who have agreed
+to be St. John's <i>compare</i> completing the ceremony in this
+manner:&mdash;the man is placed on one side of the fire, the
+woman on the other, each holding opposite ends of a
+stick extended over the burning embers, which they pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>
+rapidly backwards and forward. This is repeated three
+times, so that the hand of each party passes thrice through
+the flames. The union being thus sealed, the <i>comparatico</i>,
+or spiritual alliance, is considered perfect.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> After that,
+the music strikes up, and the festival is concluded by
+dances, prolonged to a late hour of the night.</p>
+
+<p>In some places the couple go in procession, attended by
+a gay company of youths and damsels, all in holiday
+dresses, to some country church. Arrived there, they
+dash the vase of Hermes against the door, so that it falls
+in pieces. The company then seat themselves in a circle
+on the grass, and feast on eggs fried with herbs, while
+gay tunes are played on the <i>lionedda</i>.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> A cup of wine is
+passed round from one to another, and each, laying his
+hand on his neighbour, repeats, with a certain modulation
+of voice, supported by the music of the pipes, &ldquo;<i>Compare
+e comare di San Giovanni!</i>&rdquo;. The toast is repeated, in a
+joyous chorus, for some time, till, at length, the company
+rise, still singing, and, forming a circle, dance merrily for
+many hours.</p>
+
+<p>Father Bresciani, La Marmora, and other writers, justly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+consider the <i>Nennere</i> as one of the many relics of the
+Phenician colonisation of Sardinia. Every one knows
+that the Sun and Moon, under various names, such as
+Isis and Osiris, Adonis and Astarte, were the principal
+objects of worship in the East from the earliest times; the
+sun being considered as the vivifying power of universal
+nature, the moon, represented as a female, deriving her
+light from the sun, as the passive principle of production.
+The abstruse doctrines on the origin of things, thus shadowed
+out by the ancient seers, generated the grossest
+ideas, expressed in the phallic emblems, the lewdness and
+obscenities mixed up in the popular worship of the deified
+principles of all existence. Of the prevalence in Sardinia
+of the Egypto-Phenician mythology, in times the most
+remote, no one who has examined the large collection of
+relics in the Royal Museum at Cagliari, or who consults
+the plates attached to La Marmora's work, can entertain
+any doubt. But it is surprising to find, among the usages
+of the Sardes at the present day, a very exact representation
+of the rites of a primitive religion, introduced into
+the island nearly thirty-five centuries ago, though it now
+partakes rather of the character of a popular festival than
+of a religious ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>The Phenicians worshipped the sun under the name of
+Adonis, while the moon, Astarte, the Astaroth of the
+Bible, and the Venus-Ouranie of the Greeks, was their
+goddess of heaven. The story of Adonis is well known:&mdash;how,
+being slain by a wild boar in the Libanus,
+his mistress sought him in vain, with loud lamentations,
+throughout the earth, and following him to the
+infernal regions, prevailed on Proserpine by her tears and
+prayers to allow him to spend one half the year on earth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>
+to which he returned in youth perpetually renewed. Thus
+was shadowed out the annual course of the sun in the
+zodiac, and especially his return to ascendancy at the
+summer solstice, a season devoted to joy and festivity.
+In after times, this period corresponding with the feast
+of St. John the Baptist (24th June), that festival was
+celebrated in many parts of Christendom with bonfires
+and merriment,&mdash;usages adopted from pagan traditions.
+The practices of the <i>Nennere</i>, in the neighbourhood of
+Ozieri and other parts of Sardinia, still more distinctly
+coincide with the rites which accompanied the ancient
+festival.</p>
+
+<p>It was the custom of the Phenician women, towards the
+end of May, to place before the shrine, or in the portico
+of the temples, of Adonis, certain vessels, in which were
+sown grains of barley or wheat. These vessels were made
+of wicker-work or pieces of bark, and sometimes wrought
+of plaster. The seeds, sown in rich earth, soon sprung
+up, and formed plants of luxuriant growth. These verdant
+vases were then called by the Phenicians &ldquo;the Gardens of
+Adonis.&rdquo; The ceremonies of the summer solstice commenced
+over night with lamentations by the women,
+expressive of grief for the loss of Adonis. But on the
+morrow, &ldquo;when the sun came out of his chamber like a
+giant refreshed,&rdquo; all was changed to joy; the garden vases
+were crowned with wreaths of purple and various-coloured
+ribbons, and the resurrection of the boy-god was celebrated
+by dancing, feasting, and revelry. The priestesses
+of Adonis led the way in a mysterious procession, bearing
+the vases, with other symbols already alluded to, and on
+re-entering the temples, dancing and singing, they cast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
+the vases and scattered their verdure at the feet of the
+god. All the women then danced in a circle round the
+altar, and the day and night were spent in pious orgies,
+feasting, and revelry. It is needless to point out the close
+identity of the Oziese <i>Nennere</i> with these Phenician rites.</p>
+
+<p>The worship of Adonis, under the name of Tammuz<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a>,
+with all its seductive abominations, was one of the
+Canaanitish idolatries into which the Israelites were
+prone to fall. Father Bresciani considers these rites to be
+emphatically referred to in the indignant apostrophe of
+Isaiah:&mdash;<i>How is the faithful city become an harlot!...
+ye shall be confounded with idols to which ye have sacrificed,
+and be ashamed of the gardens which ye have chosen.</i><a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>
+And again, in the prophet's terrible denunciation:&mdash;<i>Behold,
+the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a
+whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke
+with flames of fire ... and the slain of the Lord
+shall be many. They that sanctified themselves and
+esteemed themselves clean in the garden of the portico<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a>
+shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.</i></p>
+
+<p>Whether the learned Jesuit's interpretation of these
+passages be well founded or not, we may add another
+from the prophet Ezekiel, not referred to by him, but of
+the application of which to some of these rites there can
+be no doubt. In one of those lofty visions, vividly portraying
+the iniquities of Israel, her idolatries and wicked
+abominations, the prophet's attention is directed to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>
+intolerable scandal that, even <i>at the gate of the Lord's
+house, behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz</i>.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">&ldquo;Thammuz came next behind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Syrian damsels to lament his fate,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In amorous ditties, all a summer day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While smooth Adonis, from his native rock<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of Thammuz, yearly wounded: the love tale<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Infected Zion's daughters with like heat;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His eye surveyed the dark idolatries<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of alienated Judah.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Par. Lost</i>, i. 447.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>One of the remarkable incidents in the Sarde <i>Nennere</i>,
+just described, consists in the consecration of the spiritual
+relation between the <i>compare</i> and <i>comare</i>, by their thrice
+crossing hands over the fire in the ceremonies of St. John's
+day. A still more extraordinary vestige of the idolatrous
+rite of &ldquo;passing through the fire,&rdquo; is said to be still subsisting
+among the customs of the people of Logudoro, in
+the neighbourhood of Ozieri, and in other parts of Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>Of the worship of Moloch&mdash;<i>par excellence</i> the Syrian
+and Phenician god of fire&mdash;by the ancient Sardes, there
+is undoubted proof. We find among the prodigious quantity
+of such relics, collected from all parts of the island,
+in the Royal Museum at Cagliari, a <i>statuette</i> of this idol,
+supposed to have been a household god. Its features are
+appalling: great goggle eyes leer fiercely from their hollow
+sockets; the broad nostrils seem ready to sniff the fumes
+of the horrid sacrifice; a wide gaping mouth grins with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>
+rabid fury at the supposed victim; dark plumes spring
+from the forehead, like horns, and expanded wings from
+each shoulder and knee. The image brandishes a sword
+with the left hand, holding in the right a small grate,
+formed of metal bars. It would appear that, this being
+heated, the wretched victim was placed on it, and then,
+scorched so that the fumes of the disgusting incense
+savoured in the nostrils of the rabid idol, it fell upon a
+brazier of burning coals beneath, where it was consumed.
+There is another idol in this collection with the same
+truculent cast of features, but horned, and clasping a
+bunch of snakes in the right hand, a trident in the left,
+with serpents twined round its legs. This image has a
+large orifice in the belly, and flames are issuing between
+the ribs, so that it would appear that when the brazen
+image of the idol was thoroughly heated, the unhappy
+children intended for sacrifice were thrust into the mouth
+in the navel, and there grilled,&mdash;savoury morsels, on
+which the idol seems, from his features, rabidly gloating,
+while the priests, we are told, endeavoured to drown the
+cries of the sufferers by shouts and the noise of drums
+and timbrels&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo; ... horrid king, besmeared with blood<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd through fire<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To his grim idol.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Par. Lost</i>, i. 392.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This cruel child-sacrifice was probably the giving of his
+seed to Moloch<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>, fwhich any Israelite, or stranger that
+sojourned in Israel, guilty of the crime was, according to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+the Mosaic law, to be stoned to death. We are informed
+in the Sacred Records, that no such denunciations of the
+idolatries of the surrounding nations, no revelations of the
+attributes, or teachings of the pure worship of Jehovah,
+restrained the Israelites from the practice of the foul and
+cruel rites of their heathen neighbours; and we find, in
+the latter days of the Jewish commonwealth, the prophet
+Jeremiah predicting<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> the desolation of the people for this
+sin among others, that they had estranged themselves from
+the worship of Jehovah, and burned incense to strange
+gods, and filled the holy place with the blood of innocents,
+and burned their sons and their daughters with fire for
+burnt-offerings unto Baal.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p>
+
+<p>There appear to have been two modes in which the
+ancient idolaters devoted their children to Moloch. In
+one they were sacrificed and consumed in the manner
+already described, a burnt-offering to the cruel idol for the
+expiation of the sins of their parents or their people. In
+the other, they were only made <i>to pass through the fire</i>, in
+honour of the deity, and as a sort of initiation into his
+mysteries, and consecration to his service. Thus Ahaz,
+King of Judah, is said to have &ldquo;made his son to pass
+through the fire, according to the abominations of the
+heathen.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> And it is reckoned in the catalogue of the
+sins of Judah, which drew on them the vengeance of God,
+that they &ldquo;built the high places of Baal, to cause their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>
+sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto
+Moloch.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the case of infants, it is supposed that this initiation,
+this &ldquo;baptism by fire,&rdquo; was performed either by placing
+them on a sort of grate suspended by chains from the vault
+of the temple, and passed rapidly over the sacred fire, or
+by the priests taking the infants in their arms, and swaying
+them to and fro over or across the fire, chanting meanwhile
+certain prayers or incantations. With respect to
+children of older growth, they were made to leap naked
+through the fire before the idol, so that their whole bodies
+might be touched by the sacred flames, and purified, as it
+were, by contact with the divinity.</p>
+
+<p>The Sardes, we are informed by Father Bresciani<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> still
+preserve a custom representing this initiation by fire, but,
+as in other Phenician rites and practices, without the
+slightest idea of their profane origin. In the first days
+of spring, from one end of the island to the other, the
+villagers assemble, and light great fires in the <i>piazze</i> and
+at the cross-roads. The flames beginning to ascend, the
+children leap through them at a bound, so rapidly and
+with such dexterity, that when the flames are highest it is
+seldom that their clothes or a hair of their head are singed.
+They continue this practice till the fuel is reduced to
+embers, the musicians meanwhile playing on the <i>lionedda</i>
+tunes adapted to a Phyrric dance. This, says the learned
+Father, is a representation of the initiation through fire
+into the mysteries of Moloch; and, singular as its preservation
+may appear through the vast lapse of time since such
+rites were practised, we see no reason to doubt his relation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+exactly as he treats on this subject after repeated visits to
+the island, even if the account were not confirmed by
+other writers, as we find it is. Bresciani's recent work
+is almost entirely devoted, as we have already observed, to
+the task of tracing numerous customs still existing among
+the Sardes to their eastern origin. We may find future
+opportunities of noticing some in which the coincidence is
+most striking.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXII" id="CHAP_XXXII"></a>CHAP. XXXII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Expedition to the Mountains.&mdash;Environs of Ozieri.&mdash;First
+View of the Peaks of Genargentu.&mdash;Forests.&mdash;Value of
+the Oak Timber.&mdash;Cork Trees; their Produce, and Statistics
+of the Trade.&mdash;Hunting the Wild Boar, &amp;c.&mdash;The Hunters'
+Feast.&mdash;A Bivouac in the Woods.&mdash;Notices of the Province
+of Barbagia.&mdash;Independence of the Mountaineers.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>The hunting excursion in the mountains south of Ozieri
+was in the order of the day, the expedition being on a
+much larger scale than that arranged by our honest Tempiese
+friends at the <i>Caff&egrave; de la Costituzione</i>. We were
+to camp out; and the party consisted of upwards of thirty
+horsemen, well mounted and armed, with the Conte di
+T&mdash;&#8212; and some other Oziese gentlemen for leaders. We
+had also a large pack of dogs, some of them fine animals,
+almost equal to bloodhounds.</p>
+
+<p>Our route from the town led us over a succession of
+scraggy hills, with cultivation in the bottoms, and some
+straggling vineyards, not very flourishing. The walnut
+trees in the glens, and small inclosures mixed with copse
+wood, reminded us more of English or Welsh scenery than
+anything we had before seen in either of the Mediterranean
+islands. After passing a village standing on high ground,
+there was a long ascent, and in about an hour and a half<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+from our leaving Ozieri, on gaining the summit of a ridge
+of hills outlying from the Goceano range, we opened on a
+magnificent view of the great central chain of mountains,
+stretching away to the south-east in giant limbs and folds,
+with Genargentu and other summits shrouded in a grey
+silvery haze. A broad valley was spread out beneath our
+point of view, and the mountain range immediately opposite,
+the lower regions of which, as far as the eye could
+command the view, right and left, were clothed with dense
+forests, straggling down in broken masses and detached
+clumps to the edge of the intervening valley.</p>
+
+<p>Into the depths of these forests we were to penetrate in
+pursuit of our game, and finer covers to be stocked with
+<i>cingale</i> and <i>capriole</i>, or bolder scenery for the theatre of
+our sylvan sport, can scarcely be imagined. It was spirit-stirring
+when, full in view of these grand natural features,
+our numerous cavalcade wound down the hill in scattered
+groups to the plain beneath, among pollard cork trees, just
+now shedding their acorns. There was deep ploughing
+in the rich vale watered by the upper streams of the Tirso,
+which winds through the valley at the foot of the Goceano
+range. After crossing the holms, we were on slopes of
+greensward, lightly feathered with the red fern, and dotted
+with trees, like a park.</p>
+
+<p>And now we touched the verge of the forest, rough
+with brakes of giant heaths, such underwood alternating
+with grassy glades wherever the woods opened. This part
+of the forest consists of an unbroken mass of primitive
+cork trees of great size. The rugged bark, the strangely-angular
+growth of the limbs, hung with grey lichens in
+fantastic combs, and the thick olive-green foliage almost
+excluding the light of heaven, with the roar of the wind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
+through the trees,&mdash;for it was a dull, cold day, the coldest
+we spent in Sardinia,&mdash;with all this, a Scandinavian forest
+could not be more dreary and savage. After tracking the
+gloomy depths of shade for a considerable distance, it was
+an agreeable change to quit the forest and warm our blood
+by cantering up a slope of scrub. Then, after crossing a
+grassy hollow, we came among scattered woods of the most
+magnificent oaks, both evergreen and deciduous, I ever saw.
+Some of the trees were of enormous size, and if the quality
+of the timber be equal to the scantling, Sardinia would
+supply materials of great value for naval purposes.</p>
+
+<p>The forests of the Barbagia, into which we now penetrated,
+like those of the Gallura, are principally virgin
+forests; the want of roads, of navigable rivers, and even of
+flottage, presenting formidable obstacles to the conveyance
+of the timber to the seaboard for exportation, though the
+first is not insurmountable. The forests of the Marghine
+and Goceano ranges round Macomer, having the little
+port of Boso on the western coast for an outlet, are felled
+to some extent. The contracts are mostly in the hands of
+foreigners, who obtain them on such low terms that their
+profits are enormous. Mr. Tyndale gives the details of a
+contract obtained by a Frenchman for 18,000 oak trees,
+at fifteen <i>lire nove</i>, 12<i>s.</i> each, the trees being said to realise
+from 200 to 300 francs (8<i>l.</i> to 12<i>l.</i>) each at Toulon or Marseilles.
+In England, we pay from 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> to 2<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i> per
+cubic foot for very indifferent American oak, and from
+1<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i> to 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> for Baltic oak, perhaps superior to the
+Sardinian.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the Corsican notices in this volume, it
+was mentioned that after my return to England, I had
+some communications with a government department respecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>
+the pine forests of Corsica.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> On my taking occasion
+also to represent the great abundance of oak timber
+of large dimensions standing in Sardinia, I learnt that a
+valuable report on the subject had been made to the
+Admiralty by Mr. Craig, Her Majesty's excellent Consul-General
+in the island. It did not, however, appear that
+any steps had been taken in consequence.</p>
+
+<p>Great damage is done to the forests by the herdsmen
+and shepherds, who are permitted, under certain restrictions,
+to burn down portions of underwood, such as the
+lentiscus, daphne, and cistus, to allow the pasturage to
+grow for their flocks. But though this is not legal before
+the eighth of September, when the intense heat of the
+summer has passed away, and the periodical autumnal
+rains are necessary for the young herbage, the law is
+broken, and not only accidental but wilful conflagrations
+have been the destruction of numerous forests. What
+with this waste, the injury done to the growing timber by
+the contractors, and the indolence of the natives, the noble
+forests of Sardinia are of little account. Even the government,
+it is said, purchase most of the oak used in the
+dockyards of Genoa at the French ports before mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>Similar observations apply to cork, though capable of
+easier transport, and said to be as fine as any in the world.
+The Sardinian forests would supply large quantities; but
+it enters little into the exports of the island. We saw a
+great many trees stripped by the peasants for domestic uses,
+naked and miserable skeletons; with them it is indiscriminate
+slaughter, doing irreparable injury to the trees. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
+now lie before me the specimens I collected of the successive
+layers of the bark. The spongy external cuticle,
+swelling into excrescences, is only used for floats of the
+fishermen's nets in the island. Beneath lies a coating of
+more compact, but cellular, tissue, of a beautiful rich
+colour&mdash;a sort of red umber. This layer, called <i>la camicia</i>
+(the shift), covers the good or &ldquo;female&rdquo; bark, with which
+every one is acquainted in the shape of corks.</p>
+
+<p>The bark will bear cutting every ten years, commencing
+when the trees are about that age; but it should not be
+cut till the inner bark is an inch or an inch and a quarter
+thick. I consider that the bark of old trees is less valuable.
+Some of those we saw in the forests of the Gallura
+and Barbagia must have been the growth of many centuries.
+It is calculated that each tree, on an average,
+produces upwards of 30 lbs. of bark at a cutting; there
+are about 220 lbs. in a quintal, worth, at Marseilles, 20
+francs; and a quintal of cork makes from 4500 to 5000
+bottle-corks.</p>
+
+<p>The woods are generally leased at an annual rent, proportioned
+to the number of trees; but this rent, with the
+cost of stripping the bark, and even the transport to the
+coast, form but small items in the lessee's account of profit
+and loss. The heaviest charges are the export duty from
+Sardinia, the freight, and the import duties in France, to
+which country, I understand, the greatest part of the cork
+cut in the island is shipped. The French customs' duty is
+2frs. 20 cents. the quintal. England imports no cork in
+its rough state from the island of Sardinia; but probably
+a considerable part of the manufactured corks we import
+from France (upwards of 226,000 lbs. in 1855<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a>) grew in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>
+Sardinian forests. Our principal imports of unmanufactured
+cork bark are from Portugal, the quantity in the
+year just mentioned being 3300 tons and upwards. From
+Spain we only received 300 tons, and about 100 from Tuscany
+and other parts; the official value being from 32<i>l.</i> to
+35<i>l.</i> per ton. It appears extraordinary that we should
+draw so considerable a portion of our supplies of this valuable
+commodity from France in a manufactured state, and
+subject to a heavy customs' duty and other double charges,
+when the raw material might be imported direct from
+Sardinia, subject only to an export duty of 1fr. 20 cents.
+per quintal. This arises, I imagine, from the trade being
+left by the apathy of the islanders mostly in the hands of
+French houses, who take leases of the forests and conduct
+the whole operations.</p>
+
+<p>These details, though they smack of woodcraft, have led
+us away from our sylvan sports. We had reached the
+point where the dogs were thrown into the covers with a
+party detached to drive the woods. Having given a description
+in a former chapter of the <i>caccia clamorosa</i>, as
+wild boar hunting is well termed by the Sardes, repetition
+would be wearisome. It was conducted precisely as on
+the former occasion, except that the proceedings were on a
+more extended scale, and led us far among wilder and
+more varied scenery. As before, the stations of the
+hunters were assigned at about seventy or eighty paces
+apart, with the horses tethered in the rear. The line of
+shooters was first formed among the heather on the easy
+slope of a glen, lightly sprinkled with wood. The exhilarating
+sounds of the men and dogs breaking the silence of
+the woods as they drove the game before them, the minutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>
+of eager expectation, the sharp look-out, the ringing shots,
+may now be easily imagined.</p>
+
+<p>My fellow-traveller was fortunate enough to knock over
+the first wild boar that ran the gauntlet of the <i>cordon</i>,
+when the Count's gun had missed fire from the cap having
+become damp. Our next position was in an open piece of
+forest, where luck planted me in a notched cork tree,
+standing on a wooded knoll, at which several avenues met,
+so that I had not only a good chance of a shot, but the
+command of the <i>champ de bataille</i> on all sides. Wild
+boars were plentiful, roebucks not so, hares innumerable
+in some of our <i>battues</i>. I confess, however, that the incident
+in the day's sport in which I felt most interest was
+when a wild boar, slightly wounded, rushed by one of my
+posts, pursued by some of the dogs. Throwing myself on
+my spirited barb, I led the chase, followed by my neighbours,
+right and left, and was lucky enough to be in at the
+death, after a sharp run. Under such circumstances the
+wild boar, standing at bay with his formidable tusks, becomes
+dangerous to the dogs, if not to the hunters. Then
+the sharp steel is wanting. Oh, for a boar spear! instead
+of having to despatch the rabid animal by a shot.</p>
+
+<p>Having had a long morning's ride, our first day's <i>battue</i>
+was closed early. The party defiled in loose order among
+the trees in the open forest, cantered over springy turf,
+and brushed through patches of fern to a sheltered dell in
+which we were to bivouac, and where the sumpter horses
+had already halted. Then followed such a rude feast as in
+all my rambles I had never before chanced to witness.
+Imagine the grassy margin of a rivulet, surrounded by
+thick bushes, which spread in brakes throughout the glen
+under scattered oaks, intermingled with crags and detached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>
+masses of rock, covered with white lichens. On the grass
+are piles of flat bread, which served for plates, loads of
+sausages, hams, cheeses, bundles of radishes, and heaps of
+apples, pears, grapes, and chestnuts, strewed about in the
+happiest confusion, with no lack of flasks and runlets of
+various sorts of wines. Our contribution to the pic-nic,
+a basket of signor Juliani's best cold dishes and larded
+fowls, seemed perfectly insignificant. Add to all this, the
+game we had bagged,&mdash;wild boar and roebuck, to say nothing
+of hares,&mdash;and the general stock might seem inexhaustible,
+if one glance at the crowd of hungry hunters
+did not banish the thought.</p>
+
+<p>Eager for the attack, they were busily employed in preparations
+for it. Horses were unsaddled and tethered
+among the bushes, guns piled or rested against the boughs,
+wood collected, fires lighted, and dagger-knives whetted,
+ready to rip open and quarter the game. The leaders only
+stood apart, under a spreading tree. They had a grave
+duty to perform in apportioning the spoils among those
+who had been successful in the day's sport. This was
+done with great exactness and the perfect equality existing
+among all ranks on these occasions. It was Robin Hood
+and his merry men all through; or might have been taken
+for an episode of Sarde banditti life, except that, our party
+being all honest fellows, there was no plunder to divide.
+By the laws of the chase in Sardinia, the hunter to whose
+gun an animal falls is entitled exclusively to some distinct
+portion, varying with the species of the game,&mdash;sometimes
+to the skin, sometimes to the choicest parts of the <i>roba
+interiora</i>, the intestines; the rest falls into the common
+stock. The award being made, such choice morsels, with
+rashers of hog and venison steaks, were grilled over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>
+embers on skewers of sweet wood, and handed round, filled
+each pause in the attack on the cold provisions, portions
+being detached by the formidable <i>couteaux de chasse</i> with
+which every man was armed; nor did English steel fail of
+doing its duty.</p>
+
+<p>Though the party distributed themselves indiscriminately
+on the grass, they naturally fell into familiar
+messes, perfect harmony and good fellowship prevailing.
+But at times there was great confusion. Now, the horses,
+kicking and fighting, got free from their tethers, and
+there was a rush of the hunters to restore order; while
+the ravenous hounds, not content with the bones and fragments
+thrown to them, were making perpetual inroads on
+the circle of guests, and snatching at the morsels they
+were appropriating to themselves. The feast was drawing
+to a close, when Count T&mdash;&#8212; proposed the health of the
+foreigners associated in their sports, and the toast, with
+the reply, which, if not eloquent, was short and feeling,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Agli
+nobili cacciatori della Sardegna, e di noi forestieri
+li sozii amicissimi, benevolentissimi</i>,&rdquo; &amp;c., &amp;c., &amp;c., drew
+forth <i>ev-vivas</i> which made the old woods ring to the echo.
+And now all started on their legs, and there was a rush to
+the guns as if scouts had suddenly announced that the
+woods were filled with enemies. As an hour or two of
+daylight still remained, a <i>bersaglio</i>, or match of shooting
+at a mark, had been arranged during the feast.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>bersaglio</i> is a favourite amusement of the Sardes,
+forming part of most of their festivities; and constant
+practice on these occasions, and in the field, makes them
+expert shots. Our party now addressed themselves to this
+exercise of skill with passionate eagerness. Some ran to
+fix a small card against the bole of a tree, eighty or a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>
+hundred yards distant, the rest gathered round the point
+of sight, loading their guns or applying caps, all talking
+rapidly, in sharp tones, as if they were quarrelling. They
+formed picturesque groups, in all attitudes&mdash;those mountain
+rangers, with their semi-Moorish costume, embroidered
+pouches, and bright ornamented arms, their dark-olive
+complexions and bushy hair, in strong contrast with their
+visitors from the north, in gray plaid and brown felt, unmistakable
+in their physiognomy, though almost as hairy
+and sunburnt as the children of the soil. The match was
+well contested, the card being often hit; which, as the
+Sarde guns are not rifled, may be considered good shooting,
+at the distance stated. The firing was continued till it
+was almost dark with eager zest, but much irregularity,
+and almost as great an expenditure of animal spirits in
+vociferation, as of powder and bullets.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after sunset, when night came on, fresh wood
+was heaped on the smouldering fires, and after sitting
+round them, smoking and chatting, the party gradually
+broke up, some stretching themselves near the embers,
+and the rest seeking some shelter for the night, about
+which a Sarde mountaineer is not fastidious, any bush or
+hollow in a rock serving his purpose. For ourselves,
+after exchanging the &ldquo;<i>felice notte</i>&rdquo; with the Count and
+his friends, we lingered over a scene so singular in civilised
+Europe, though with such I had been familiar in other
+hemispheres. The smouldering fires cast fitful gleams on
+piled arms and the hardy men sleeping around in their
+sheepskins or shaggy cloaks; the deep silence of the woods
+was only broken by a neighing horse or the bay of a
+hound, and presently the stars shone out from the vault of
+heaven with a lustre unknown in northern climes. We,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span>
+too, lay down ensconced in a brake, the younger traveller
+disdaining any other wrapping than his plaid, and the
+elder luxuriously enveloped in a couple of blankets which
+formed part of his equipments, having his saddle for a
+pillow. With sound sleep, the rivulet for our ablutions,
+and a hot cup of coffee, bread, cheese, and fruit for the
+<i>collazione</i>,&mdash;what more could be wanting?</p>
+
+<p>In this expedition one day was like another, except in
+the ever-varying scenery, interesting enough to the traveller,
+but wearisome in description. Suffice it to say,
+that on the third morning, the provisions being exhausted,
+and no fresh supplies to be had in that wild country, our
+leaders decided on returning to Ozieri. It then became a
+question with us whether we should return with them, or
+pursue the mountain tracks to Nuoro, whence it was only
+two days' journey to the foot of Monte Genargentu, on
+the higher regions of which it had been our intention to
+hunt the <i>moufflon</i>, proceeding then, along byroads, through
+a chain of mountain villages to Cagliari. Nuoro, a poor
+place, though dignified with the title of &ldquo;<i>citt&agrave;</i>,&rdquo; and a
+large ecclesiastical establishment, stands high on a great
+table-land in the heart of the central chain, answering, in
+many respects, to the Corte of the sister island. This
+ancient capital of Barbagia is still the chief place of a
+province containing a population of 54,000 souls, very
+much scattered through an extensive and mountainous
+district, but containing many large villages, such as Fonni,
+Tonara, and Aritzu already mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The mountaineers of Barbagia have been distinguished
+from the earliest times for their indomitable courage and
+spirit of independence. Some of the best ancient writers
+relate that Iolaus, son of Iphicles, king of Thessaly, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>
+nephew of Hercules, settled Greek colonies in this part of
+the island. The expedition, in which he was joined by the
+Thespiad&aelig;, was undertaken in obedience to the oracle of
+Delphi; and it declared that, on their establishing themselves
+in Sardinia, they would never be conquered. Iolaus
+is said to have been buried in this district, after founding
+many cities; and, the Greek colonists intermingling with
+the native Sardes, their descendants, deriving their name
+of Iolaese or Iliese from their founder, became the most
+powerful race in the island,&mdash;just as the Roumains of
+Wallachia, boasting their descent from Trajan's Dacian
+colonists, long proved their right to the proud patronymic.</p>
+
+<p>The Iolaese offered a determined resistance to the Carthaginian
+invaders, and, on the decline of their power in
+Sardinia, maintained, during a long series of years, an
+unequal contest with the Roman legions; for, though
+often worsted in pitched battles, they found a safe and
+impregnable retreat in their mountain fastnesses. The
+triumphs of the Romans figure in history; but the traditions
+of the Sardes do justice to the heroic and patriarchal
+chiefs who fought in defence of their country. In after
+times, the Barbaricini (the Barbari of the Romans,
+whence Barbagia) exhibited their hereditary warlike spirit
+in resisting the invasions of the Moors; and, when Sardinia
+passed to the crown of Arragon, they refused to
+acknowledge Alfonso's rights and authority, resisting all
+claims of homage, tribute, or service. A sullen submission
+of three centuries to their Spanish sovereigns had not
+effaced their spirit of independence, and the Barbaricini
+were in arms against an unjust tax, and, moving their
+wives, children, and valuables to the mountains, kept the
+Spaniards entirely at bay, when, in 1719, Sardinia was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
+ceded to the house of Savoy. The demand being prudently
+withdrawn, they returned to their villages, and
+their allegiance to the present dynasty has not been
+broken by any open revolt. But the indomitable spirit of
+their race has still been exhibited in sullen or violent
+resistance to the Piedmontese authorities. Driven by the
+corrupt administration of the laws to take a wild and
+summary justice, every man's hand has been against his
+neighbours' and the government officials. Mr. Tyndale
+states &ldquo;that upwards of 100 (or one in every 279) annually
+fall victims to <i>vendetta</i>, in contest with their enemies, or with
+the authorities. Those openly known to live in the mountains
+as <i>fuorusciti</i>, of some kind, are more than 300; and to
+them may be added another 300 unknown to the Government,
+so that, on an average, there is nearly one in every
+46 an outcast from society, a fugitive from his hearth.&rdquo; I
+was happy to learn, on a second visit to the island of Sardinia,
+in 1857, that the numbers of these unhappy men
+were decreasing, outrages had diminished, and the system
+of <i>vendetta</i> was gradually dying out. This, it was stated,
+principally resulted from the Barbaricini beginning to feel
+that the government is able and willing to afford them the
+redress of their private wrongs, and the personal protection
+which, as individuals or banded together, they have so long
+asserted by the red hand in defiance of the authorities.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the independence predicted by the oracle of Delphi
+to the race of Iolaus, preserved for untold centuries and
+through all political changes, has been maintained to the
+last by their direct descendants, the <i>fuorusciti</i> of Barbagia.
+They were in arms as late as our travels in 1853,
+and we were officially warned against venturing into the
+mountains without due precautions. It was not, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>
+this state of affairs which interfered with the prosecution
+of our journey, as we did not doubt being able to establish,
+as foreigners, amicable relations with their chiefs. Such a
+state of society could not be without interest, the scenery
+is represented as most romantic, the shooting excellent;
+but our time was limited, and, reserving the expedition to
+Barbagia for a future opportunity, we reluctantly retraced
+our steps to Ozieri, in company with our friendly hunters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXIII" id="CHAP_XXXIII"></a>CHAP. XXXIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Leave Ozieri.&mdash;The New Road and Travelling in the
+Campagna.&mdash;Monte
+Santo.&mdash;Scenes at the Halfway House.&mdash;Volcanic
+Hills.&mdash;Sassari; its History.&mdash;Liberal opinions
+of the Sassarese.&mdash;Constitutional Government.&mdash;Reforms
+wanted in Sardinia.&mdash;Means for its Improvement</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Ozieri standing on the verge of the great Sardinian plains,
+we dismissed our <i>cavallante</i>, and changed our mode of
+travelling. A primitive <i>diligence</i> plies occasionally between
+Ozieri and Sassari, by the new road just constructed to
+join the Strada Reale between Cagliari and Porto Torres.
+Missing the opportunity during our hunting excursion, we
+hired a <i>voiture</i> for the day's journey. It was comparatively
+a smart affair, a light <i>cal&egrave;che</i> with bright yellow
+pannels, and drawn by a pair of quick-stepping horses; so
+that we travelled in much comfort. Carriages are seldom
+found in the island except on this great road, and in a few
+of the principal towns; the mode of travelling in the interior,
+for persons of all ranks and both sexes, being either
+on horseback or on oxen.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span></p>
+<p>We rattled out of Ozieri with a flourish of the driver's
+horn, more intent on which than on the management of his
+spirited horses he nearly brought us to grief. After some
+narrow escapes of being capsized over the heaps of stones
+scattered along the new road, now in the course of construction,
+we came to a dead lock in an excavation; and
+one of the horses, though mettlesome enough, hung in the
+collar, refusing to draw. It was said to be an Irish horse,
+but how or when it got to Sardinia was as much a myth
+as the immigration of some of the various races by which
+the island is said to have been peopled in ancient times.
+However, Miss Edgeworth's Irish postilion and &ldquo;Knockecroghery,&rdquo;
+could scarcely have afforded us more amusement
+than our Sarde driver and his horse, whose good
+qualities he ludicrously vaunted, alternately cursing and
+glorifying, thumping and coaxing, the vicious beast, while
+we heaved at the wheels. Our united efforts at length
+succeeded in extricating the vehicle from the sandy hollow;
+and after jolting for awhile over the new-formed road, the
+material having become solid and compact, we rolled at
+our ease across the plain. I remarked, that though the
+road was well levelled and macadamised, scarcely a man
+was to be seen employed in the present operations. Boys
+were breaking the metal, and girls carrying it in baskets on
+their heads.</p>
+
+<p>The plains being undulating, extensive views are commanded
+by the eminences far away over the Campidano,
+backed by the Limbara mountains on the north-west. We
+passed the village of Nores, pleasantly situated on a hill
+at the verge of the Ozieri plain, across which Monte
+Santo, appearing from this point a long ridge, rose in full
+view to our left, 2000 feet high. The junction with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
+Strada Reale from Cagliari to Sassari was reached soon
+afterwards. About noon, we halted while the horses baited
+at a roadside <i>locanda</i>, the half-way house to Sassari, standing
+at the foot of Monte Santo, here reduced to the shape
+of a round-topped mountain. Lesser hills fell away to the
+great plain, the slopes and flats being sprinkled with large
+flocks of sheep. On a hillock two or three miles distant,
+were the ruins of a Nuraghe, mellowed to a rich orange
+tint.</p>
+
+<p>It was a pleasant spot, and at the present moment
+full of life, numbers of Sardes of all classes having, like
+ourselves, halted there for rest. Two <i>voitures</i> were drawn
+up by the roadside, as well as several light carts, with high
+wheels and tilts made of rushes or cloth, conveying goods
+to and fro between Cagliari and Sassari. Women in yellow
+petticoats and red mantles, with bright kerchiefs round
+their heads, and men in their white shirt sleeves open to the
+elbow, and Moorish cotton trowsers, contrasting with their
+dark jackets, caps, and gaiters, were bustling about, fetching
+water and fodder for the horses. Others were sitting
+and eating under the shade of a group of weeping willows,
+overshadowing a bason of pure water, fed by a streamlet
+trickling down from the neighbouring hills. Intermingled
+with these were Sarde cavaliers, in a more brilliant
+costume; and a priest, carrying a huge crimson umbrella,
+came forth from the <i>locanda</i>, and with his attendants,
+mounting their horses, proceeded on their journey at a pace
+suited to the priest's gravity, and the requirements of his
+gorgeous canopy.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a horn sounded, and a coach came thundering
+down the hill,&mdash;the diligence on its daily service between
+the two capitals. The vehicle was double-bodied, well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
+horsed, and, altogether, a superior turn-out. We took the
+opportunity of its pulling up for a moment to bespeak
+beds at Sassari. After amusing ourselves with a scene of
+life on the road not often witnessed in Sardinia,&mdash;having
+already lunched in our <i>voiture</i> on a basket of grapes, with
+bread, and a bottle of the excellent white wine of Oristano,&mdash;we
+sauntered up the course of the rivulet to its source,
+at the foot of a rock among the woods. There we drank
+of the clear fountain, and washed; bees humming among
+the flowers, as in the height of the summer, and the
+gabble from the roadside below, coming up mixed with
+the cries of the carrier's fierce dogs. The spot commanded
+charming views of Monte Santo and the far-stretching
+<i>campagna</i> beneath.</p>
+
+<p>Pursuing our route, the country assumed a peculiar
+aspect from the number of the flat-topped hills, swelling
+in green slopes out of the plains which spread before us
+in long sweeps. These vividly green hillocks are probably
+the craters of long extinct volcanoes, as we were now in
+the line, and near the centre, of that wide igneous action
+mentioned in a former chapter. There were signs of more
+extensive cultivation than we had hitherto observed, and
+the evident fertility of the soil left no doubt on the mind
+of its powers of production under a better system. Large
+flocks of sheep were feeding in every direction; this being
+the season for their being driven from the mountains for
+pasture and shelter in the teeming plains. Sardinia remains
+still in that pastoral state, which, however picturesque
+to the eyes of the traveller, as well as suited to
+the indolent habits of the Sarde peasant, must yield to
+agricultural progress, or, at least, be reduced within due
+bounds, before the soil of the island can be made the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
+source of that wealth which, with proper cultivation, large
+portions of it are naturally fitted to yield. Sardinia will
+continue to be poor and uncivilised while vast tracts of
+country are open to almost promiscuous and lawless commonage,
+and while the occupation of the shepherd, with
+all its hardships, is esteemed preferable and more honourable
+than that of the tiller of the soil.</p>
+
+<p>After this, we got among hills bounding the plain in
+the neighbourhood of Florinas and Campo di Mela. The
+country became rugged, and, after crossing a river, over a
+still perfect Roman bridge, of several arches, with massive
+substructions of large square stones, which we alighted to
+examine, there commenced a steep ascent, winding among
+woods. We walked up it by moonlight, our driver's bugle
+echoing that of a <i>diligence</i> which preceded us at some distance
+in mounting the pass. Sassari was entered by an
+arched and embattled gateway in the square-towered wall
+surrounding the place; and, passing through the best
+quarter of the town, the dark mass of the citadel contrasting
+well with the white <i>fa&ccedil;ades</i> and lofty colonnades of
+the neighbouring houses, we were set down at the Albergo
+di Progresso, opposite the great convent of St. Pietro, one
+of the richest of the many religious houses of which Sassari
+once boasted. The accommodations at the hotel were the
+best we enjoyed in the island.</p>
+
+<p>Sassari, the second city of Sardinia, containing a population
+of some 30,000 souls, has always been a jealous rival
+of Cagliari, the metropolis, boasting an independent history
+of its own, of which it has just pretensions to be
+proud. It was an insignificant village till the inhabitants
+of Porto-Torres,&mdash;the ancient <i>Turris Libysonis</i>, founded on
+the neighbouring coast by the Greeks, and colonised by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
+Romans,&mdash;were driven by the incursions of the Saracen
+corsairs, and, finally, by the ruin of their town by the
+Genoese, in 1166, to seek a refuge further inland. They
+established themselves at Sassari, where the long street,
+still called Turritana, was named from the new settlers.
+In 1441, the archiepiscopal see and chapter of St. Gavino,
+near Porto-Torres, were translated to Sassari by Pope
+Eugenius IV., and thenceforward it rivalled the metropolis
+in opulence and power. When, in the thirteenth century,
+the Genoese occupied the northern division of the island,
+Sassari became a republic, entering into an alliance, offensive
+and defensive, with that of Genoa. The articles of
+the treaty are a curious amalgamation of independence
+assumed by the one, and of interference and jurisdiction
+claimed by the other. The general effect was, that the
+Sassarese accepted annually from the Genoese a Podesta,
+who swore fidelity to their constitution; and the Sassarese
+assert that while their city was under the protection of
+Genoa, they only styled that haughty republic in their
+statutes and diplomas, &ldquo;<i>Mater et Magistra, sed non Domina:</i>&rdquo;
+&ldquo;<i>non Signora, ma Amica.</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mutual quarrels induced a rupture of the alliance in
+1306, and on the Arragonese kings advancing pretensions
+to the sovereignty of the island, the Sassarese made a
+voluntary transfer of their allegiance to Diego II. of
+Arragon, who, in return, guaranteed their rights and
+privileges; and Sassari continued to be governed as a
+republic long after the Spanish conquest in 1325. The
+city, however, suffered severely during the protracted
+contests between the Genoese, Pisans, and the Giudici of
+Arborea, for the expulsion of the Spaniards; sustaining no
+less than ten sieges, courageously defended, in the short<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
+interval between 1332 and 1409. It continued to be the
+victim of contending parties till 1420, when for the last time,
+and after a struggle of nearly a hundred years, it fell into
+the hands of Alfonso V., who conferred on it the title of
+&ldquo;Citt&agrave; Reale.&rdquo; In the middle of the fifteenth century
+it flourished both commercially and politically, enjoying
+privileges beyond any other town in the island. From
+this power and prosperity arose its rivalry with Cagliari;
+and the jealousies and dissensions in matters of government,
+religion, and education, surviving the transference of
+the sovereignly to the House of Savoy, have descended
+from generation to generation.</p>
+
+<p>This feeling prevails to the present day, partly owing,
+perhaps, to the circumstance of society in Sassari being
+less under the influence of Piedmontese and Continental
+opinions than in the capital, Cagliari,&mdash;and partly to the
+Sassarese population being mostly of Genoese extraction.
+The descendants of these settlers having almost all the
+trade, commerce, and employment in their hands, form
+a very important and influential middle class. I found
+at Sassari opinions more distinctly pronounced on the
+abuses of the government, and the necessity of reforms
+in the various branches of the administration, than I have
+reason to believe they are in the more courtly circles of
+Cagliari. Some numbers of a work, in course of publication,
+were put into my hands during our stay at Sassari,
+in which these topics were discussed in a sensible, bold,
+but temperate style.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> Though written by a foreigner, a
+Venetian refugee, I have no doubt, from the manner in
+which it was spoken of by well-informed persons, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>
+from its having reached a second edition, that it may be
+accepted as representing the opinions of a large class of
+the Sassarese, and I imagine of Sardes in general.</p>
+
+<p>Much interest attaches to the working of the constitutional
+system in the Sardinian dominions, not only politically,
+but in its effects on the social and economical condition
+of the country. Hitherto the island of Sardinia
+has been treated by the cabinet of Turin much as it was
+long the misfortune of the English government to deal
+with Ireland; regarding the native race as a conquered,
+but turbulent, impracticable and semi-barbarous people;
+the consequences of such misrule being poverty, disaffection
+and bloodshed. But I trust we see the dawn of
+brighter days, when this fine island, partaking of the
+benefits following in the train of constitutional government,&mdash;its
+wrongs redressed, its great natural resources
+developed, and the natural genius and many virtues of its
+inhabitants being cultivated and having free scope,&mdash;will
+be no insignificant jewel in the crown which assumed
+its regal title from this insular possession.</p>
+
+<p>With our own happy country in the van of political,
+social, and material progress, there are three secondary
+European states, which, in our own memory, have raised
+the banner of freedom, and are consistently marching
+under it with firm, vigorous, and well-poised steps. It
+need hardly be explained that we speak of Norway, Belgium,
+and Sardinia.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Occupying, geographically and
+politically, important positions ranging, at wide intervals,
+from the far north to the extreme south of Europe, these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>
+small, flourishing, and well-ordered states, offer a spectacle
+as full of hope and encouragement to all lovers of constitutional
+liberty, as it must necessarily be offensive to the
+despotic governments of the great continental monarchies,
+on whose thresholds the altars of freedom, newly lighted,
+have burnt with so steady and pure a flame. They may
+serve as beacon-lights to European populations gasping for
+that political regeneration, the hour of which will assuredly
+come, and may not be far distant.</p>
+
+<p>Of the state and prospects of the kingdom of Norway,<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>
+we have treated in another work. The democratic element
+is so predominant in its constitutional code, that the
+only fear was lest it should clash with the executive
+functions of even a limited monarchy. But, hitherto, the
+natural good sense, patriotism, and loyalty of the Norwegian
+people, though represented in a Storthing of peasant
+farmers,&mdash;and we may add, the moderation displayed by
+the Bernadotte dynasty,&mdash;have so obviated the difficulties
+of a hastily formed, and somewhat crude, code of fundamental
+laws, that it has been harmoniously worked to the
+great benefit of the nation. In Belgium, notwithstanding
+religious antagonisms, which have also perplexed the
+young councils of Sardinia, the constitutional system has
+been so consolidated, under the rule of a sagacious prince,
+that it may be hoped its permanence is secured. We need
+not speak of the rising fortunes of the Sardinian States,
+the only hope of fair Italy. The eyes of Europe are upon
+them; they are closely watched by friends and foes. Our
+business at present is, not with the political, but with the
+social and material, condition of the insular kingdom which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>
+forms a valuable portion of those singularly aggregated
+dominions. In a work devoted to a survey of the island,
+even a passing traveller may be pardoned for pausing in
+his narrative while he collects some cursory notices of its
+present condition under these aspects, and its requirements
+for improvement.</p>
+
+<p>All enlightened Sardes with whom we conversed unite
+with Signor Sala, who has devoted several sections of his
+work to the subject, in representing the corruption and
+other abuses pervading the administration of justice in
+Sardinia, as lying at the root of its greatest social evil. It
+is the ready excuse for rude justice, for private revenge,
+for the assertion of the rights of persons or of things by
+the strong hand, that the laws are inoperative, or iniquitously
+administered. There is too much reason to believe
+that this has been the normal state of Sardinia under all
+its rulers for ages past. And when at the same time we
+find the natural instincts of the people to be turbulent and
+lawless, and prone to theft and robbery, and consider the
+facilities afforded by a wild, mountainous, and densely
+wooded country, for the commission of crimes of violence,
+the scenes of bloodshed and rapine by which it has been
+desolated, are not to be wondered at. In the absence of a
+vigorous justice, and a sufficient military or police force
+for the protection of property, a voluntary association
+sprung up, consisting of armed men, under the name of
+Barancelli, who, for a sort of black mail paid by the
+peasants, undertook to recover their stolen cattle, or indemnify
+them for the loss. They fell, however, into disrepute,
+and I believe have been disbanded. Banditism has
+been finally and effectually extinguished in Corsica, as
+related in a former part of this work, by a total disarmament<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>
+of the population, without respect of persons, or of
+the purposes for which fire-arms may be properly required.
+So stern a measure is neither suited to the genius of the
+Sardes or their rulers. With a numerous resident gentry,
+who, with their retainers, and the great mass of the population,
+are passionately fond of the chase, and with wastes
+so stocked with destructive wild animals, the total prohibition
+of fire-arms must be both unpopular and impolitic.
+The law, however, requires that no one shall carry them
+without a license. But it is not, or cannot be, enforced,
+for we saw them in every one's hands.</p>
+
+<p>It gave me great pleasure to learn, as it has been
+already stated, on a recent visit to Sardinia, that the
+administration of the law was become more pure, the police
+improved, outrages were less frequent, and confident
+hopes entertained that banditism, now confined to a small
+number of outlaws, would gradually die out. There is no
+doubt it will do so when the laws are respected as in other
+parts of the Sardinian dominions.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to the judges and other civil functionaries, we
+found everywhere the deepest antipathy towards the Piedmontese.
+Sardinia for the Sardes, was like the cry we
+often hear from our own sister island. Sala treats the
+subject with his usual temper and good sense. He admits
+the advantages of an administration conducted by natives
+possessing a knowledge of the country, conversant with
+its language and customs, and of a temper more conciliatory
+than foreigners invested with authority are likely to
+exhibit. He also admits that there is extreme mediocrity,
+and even ignorance, in the lower class of functionaries
+who arrive in the island with appointments obtained in
+Turin or Genoa. Sala relates a ludicrous story of one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>
+these officials, who chanced to be his companion in the
+steam-boat from Genoa to Cagliari, being recommended to
+the Intendant-General as the chief of a department under
+him. When half-way across, the candidate for office had
+yet to learn whither they were bent,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Si fece interrogarci
+per dove possimo diretti</i>.&rdquo; Afterwards, says Sala, when
+chatting in Cagliari, he reproached the Sardes with ignorance
+and indolence because, though their land was surrounded
+by the sea, they did not know how to supply
+themselves with a river,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Non sapevano formarsi un
+fiume</i>;&rdquo; adding, with great self-complacency,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Li civilizzeremo,
+li civilizzeremo!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Such impertinences are calculated to irritate the native
+Sardes against the continental officials; and they are generally
+detested. Our author, however, candidly allows that
+intrigue prevails so universally in the island, and the influences
+of relationship and connexions are so great, as to
+raise suspicions of the purity and fairness of native functionaries,
+especially of those who have been brought up
+under the old system,&mdash;a school of corruption. Signor
+Sala therefore suggests, that while appointments, both on
+the continent and the island, should be equally open to
+competent candidates, without respect of birth, great
+advantages would be obtained by this interchange. The
+Sardes being habituated by residence for a while, and the
+transaction of business, on Terra Firma; and thus withdrawn
+from unfavourable influences, would be prepared to
+fill honourably offices at home. This seems a wise and
+obvious mode of abating a grievance of which the Sardes
+not unjustly complain.</p>
+
+<p>Having mentioned before the gigantic evil of the vast
+extent of commonage claimed and exercised throughout the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>
+island, destructive of the rights of property and quite incompatible
+with agricultural progress, I have only to add that
+measures are contemplated for facilitating and protecting
+inclosures where lawfully made; but so as not to injure the
+great interest of the proprietors of flocks and herds, the
+staple production of the island. In this view it is proposed
+to place the great domains of the communes under
+better management.</p>
+
+<p>Among various other reforms and beneficial projects to
+which the attention of a more enlightened government
+must be directed, in order to raise Sardinia to the rank she
+is entitled to hold by the extent of her resources, and the
+intelligence of great numbers of her inhabitants, we can
+only enumerate, without observation, the educational
+system generally, including a reform of the Universities of
+Cagliari and Sassari,&mdash;sanitary measures tending, at least,
+to alleviate the insalubrity which is the scourge of the
+island,&mdash;improved police arrangements throughout the
+interior,&mdash;an increased supply of the circulating medium,
+the deficiency of which is represented as extreme and
+injurious to trade, and &ldquo;Agrarian Banks;&rdquo;&mdash;an entire new
+system of communal roads, connected with the great
+national highways, which roads, it is said, would double
+the value of property wherever they passed,&mdash;the protection
+and careful administration of the forests,&mdash;measures for
+developing the great mineral wealth of the island,&mdash;and the
+encouragement of the coral fisheries.</p>
+
+<p>Nor have we exhausted the list; but enough has been
+shown to satisfy the reader who accepts the statements we
+have laid before him, from our own observation and from
+the best information of the capabilities of Sardinia and its
+present condition,&mdash;how much is required to place her on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>
+a footing with other European states, and with what hope
+of eventual success. A vast field is, indeed, open for
+cultivation by an enlightened and patriotic administration.
+Great difficulties will have to be encountered, arising
+mainly from the indolence, the supineness, the prejudices,
+the ignorance, and the poverty of the Sarde population.
+The progress must be gradual, but noble will be the
+reward earned by that exercise of vigour, discretion, and
+perseverance, by which the obstacles to improvement may
+be overcome.</p>
+
+<p>There is one highly gifted man, who has long filled a
+distinguished place in the service of his sovereign and
+the eyes of the world, in whose hands the task of regenerating
+Sardinia, herculean as it may appear, would be
+not only a labour of love, but facile comparatively with any
+others on which it may devolve. I speak of General the
+Count Alberto di Marmora, known to all Europe by his
+Topographical Survey, and his able work, the <i>Voyage en
+Sardaigne</i>, of which two additional volumes have been
+recently published. But, perhaps, his devotion to the best
+interests of the Sarde people, his labours in that cause,
+and the esteem and affection with which he is universally
+regarded in the island are less understood. Enjoying also
+the confidence of the king and his ministers, General La
+Marmora is eminently fitted to carry out the beneficial
+designs which he has long conceived and furthered; but
+his advanced age precludes the hope of his seeing them
+accomplished. May his mantle fall on no unworthy
+successor!</p>
+
+<p>One subject of special interest in connection with Sardinian
+progress has been reserved for a more particular
+notice than we have been able to afford most others, both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>
+on account of its importance, and its having much engaged
+the attention of the master-mind most conversant with
+the situation of affairs. At the outset of our rambles in
+Sardinia, it was observed that the Sardes are averse to
+maritime occupations; the Iliese of La Madelena, who
+are so employed to some extent, being a distinct race.
+Sardinia has no mercantile marine. Signor Sala states
+that there are only four or five vessels belonging to
+natives, and, of these, two are the property of the same
+rich owner. Considering the advantages of her position,
+and the products the island is capable of supplying for
+an active commerce, he considers the want of a mercantile
+marine one of Sardinia's greatest misfortunes, and treats
+with much good sense of the means calculated to promote
+its establishment.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p>
+
+<p>General La Marmora drew attention to the subject in a
+pamphlet published at Cagliari in 1850, under the title of
+<i>Questioni marittimi spettanti all'isola di Sardegna</i>; and
+resumed the subject in 1856, in another work, which he was
+so obliging as to give me, when at Cagliari, in 1857. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>
+originated in the expected completion of the line of Electric
+Telegraph between Algeria, Sardinia, Corsica, and the
+continent of Europe; its connexion with which, and its
+bearings on commerce, I may have to refer to on a future
+occasion. The General comments on the extraordinary fact,
+that, in an island 800 miles in circumference, there only
+exist four sea-ports, properly so called. These are Cagliari,
+on the south coast, Terranova, on the east, Porto-Torres, on
+the north, and Alghero on the west. All the other villages
+and towns on the coast stand more or less distantly from it,
+and cannot be called maritime. He considers this depopulation
+of the coast as the deplorable consequence of the
+devastations of the Saracen corsairs, and the continual
+piracy which was carried on to a late period, and only
+ceased on the conquest of Algeria by the French.</p>
+
+<p>It would be foreign to our province to detail the projects
+which General La Marmora suggests, or advocates, for
+giving expansion to the commerce of Sardinia,&mdash;such as
+the establishment of light-houses on Cape Spartivento, and
+other points; improvements in the harbour of Cagliari, and
+a better supply of the place with water. He considers the
+now almost deserted town and port of Terranova, at the
+head of the fine gulf <i>Degli Aranci</i>, on the north-eastern
+coast, to be a point of great importance from its position in
+face of the Italian ports, and as the proper station for the
+postal steamboats communicating between Genoa and the
+island of Sardinia. In reference to this, he mentions that
+the project of a law for encouraging colonisation in the
+island, was presented by the Minister to the Chamber of
+Deputies in February, 1856; the proposal being to grant
+60,000 hectares of the national domains to a company
+formed for establishing agrarian colonies. The cabinet of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>
+Turin, then, are alive to one of the great wants of Sardinia,&mdash;an
+increased and industrious agricultural population. But
+General La Marmora desires that a part of the colonists
+should be maritime, drawn from La Madalena, Genoa, and
+other ports, and settled at the proposed new harbour of
+Terranova.</p>
+
+<p>By these and other aids, the General is sanguine that
+Sardinia will, ere long, take the place naturally belonging
+to it among maritime countries, and he repeats as a motto
+to his recent pamphlet, a sentence from the first edition of
+his <i>Voyage en Sardaigne</i>, published in 1826, to which, he
+remarks, recent events have almost given the character of
+a prediction in the course of speedy accomplishment:&mdash;<i>Qui
+sait si un jour, par suite des progr&egrave;s que fait depuis
+quelque temps l'Egypte moderne, le commerce des Indes
+Orientales ne prendra pas la route de la Mer-Rouge et de
+Suez? La Sardaigne, alors, ne pourrait-elle pas devenir la
+plus belle et la plus commode &eacute;chelle de la M&eacute;diterran&eacute;e?</i></p>
+
+<p>The cabinet of Turin and the national legislature must
+be well disposed to foster the commerce and agriculture,
+the natural resources, and social interests of the Sardes.
+Should the Ministers be negligent or ill-advised, the representatives
+of the people, or, in the last resort, the Sarde
+constituencies, have their constitutional remedy. British
+institutions are said to be models imitated in the young
+commonwealth. They present similar features; and let
+it be recollected what influence either the Irish or the
+Scotch members, acting in concert in our House of Commons,
+can bring to bear on any question affecting the
+interests of their respective countries. The Sardes return
+twenty-four deputies to the popular chamber, and if they
+be good men and true, inaccessible to intrigue, and find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>
+in their patriotism a bond of union, their united votes
+cannot be disregarded by any Minister.</p>
+
+<p>How different is the case of Corsica, the sister island!
+In reviewing her industrial position we quoted rather
+largely from a <i>Proc&egrave;s-Verbal</i> of the deliberations of the
+Council-General, also an elective body, which canvasses,
+but not regulates, the internal administration of the island.
+It arrives at certain conclusions, but without any power to
+give them effect. &ldquo;Le Conseil-G&eacute;n&eacute;ral &eacute;met le v&#339;u,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;appelle l'attention,&rdquo; are the phrases wherewith, with bated
+breath, the representatives of the people convey their
+resolutions to the foot of the throne. The courtly Prefect
+communicates them to the Minister of the Interior, and
+he, the organ of the Imperial will, rejects, confirms, or
+modifies the &ldquo;v&#339;u.&rdquo; The Sarde representatives meet the
+Ministers face to face in the Parliament at Turin, demand,
+discuss, explain, remonstrate, carry their point, or are
+content to yield to a majority of the Chamber. With a
+free press, the public learns all; public opinion ratifies or
+condemns the vote. It will prevail in the end. Herein
+lies the difference between a despotic and a popular government.
+A bright day dawned on the future destinies of
+Sardinia, when it exchanged the one for the other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXIV" id="CHAP_XXXIV"></a>CHAP. XXXIV.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Alghero&mdash;Notice of.&mdash;The Cathedral of Sassari.&mdash;University.&mdash;Museum.&mdash;A
+Student's private Cabinet.&mdash;Excursion to a
+Nuraghe&mdash;Description of.&mdash;Remarks on the Origin and
+Design of these Structures</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Sassari is about equidistant from Alghero and Porto-Torres.
+Of these two ports Alghero is far the best, but all the
+commerce of Sassari passes through Porto-Torres, by the
+Strada Reale. The ancient rivalry between the two cities
+engendered a hatred which continues to the present day,
+insomuch that the Sassarese have resisted all efforts to
+make a good road from Alghero, to enable it to become
+their port of trade. These feuds arose in the age when
+Alghero was the chief seat of the Arragonese power in
+the island, enjoyed great exclusive privileges, and was
+peopled by Catalonian settlers. It is still Spanish in the
+character of the inhabitants, their customs, and buildings.
+Surrounded by a fertile and well-cultivated country,
+abounding in orange and olive groves, vineyards, and
+fields of corn and flax, Alghero is a city of some seven
+thousand inhabitants, many of them in affluent circumstances.
+It is a fortified place, with a richly ornamented
+cathedral, and thirteen other churches.</p>
+
+<p>Sassari also boasts a spacious cathedral, with a very
+elaborate fa&ccedil;ade, a work of the 17th century. It contains
+also twenty churches, including those that are conventual.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>
+If the religious state of the community were to be estimated
+by the number of those devoted to the service of
+the church, the Sassarese ought to be models of piety; for
+Mr. Tyndale calculates the number of priests and monks
+in 1840 as giving a total of 769 clerical persons, about one
+for every thirty-two individuals of the community. Their
+numbers have been diminished by the suppression of
+some of the convents, but, even at the time of our visit,
+his remark, that one cannot walk fifty yards in the street
+without meeting an ecclesiastic, was confirmed by our own
+observation.</p>
+
+<p>The object which the Sassarese are most proud to exhibit
+to strangers, is the fountain of Rosello, outside the north-east
+or Macella gate. At the angles are large figures of
+the four seasons, at the feet of which the stream issues
+forth, as well as from eight lions' mouths in the sides of
+the building. The whole is of white marble, and though
+open to criticism as an architectural design, the utility of
+a fountain, which has twelve mouths constantly pouring
+forth pure water, in such a climate, cannot be overrated.</p>
+
+<p>The University of Sassari, founded by Philip IV. in
+1634, is established in the spacious college formerly
+belonging to the Jesuits. It numbers about 200 students.
+The library contains a scanty collection of books, mostly
+ecclesiastical works. The museum exhibits some few
+articles of interest, relics of the Ph&#339;nician colonisation
+and Roman occupation of the island, mixed up in the
+greatest confusion, as in a broker's shop, with meagre
+specimens of mineralogy and conchology; and cannot for
+a moment be compared with the museum of Cagliari, rich
+in valuable remains of antiquity, and admirably arranged.
+It will be noticed in its proper place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We were much more interested in being allowed to
+examine a small private collection belonging to a young
+Sassarese, whose acquaintance it was our good fortune
+to make, and of whose talents, intelligence, and courtesy
+I retain a most pleasing impression. The pursuits of the
+young men of the higher classes in Sassari, are described
+as entirely frivolous, and the bent of the bourgeoisie as
+eminently sordid. It was, therefore, with an agreeable
+surprise, that we found ourselves in a studio embellished
+with the portraits of such characters as Dante, Ariosto,
+and Sir Isaac Newton; and where mathematical instruments,
+scattered about, and a cabinet containing some of
+the best French, English, German, and Italian authors,
+gave a pleasing idea of the tastes of the owner. With
+imperfect aid he had made himself sufficiently proficient
+in foreign languages to be able to read them; and it
+appeared that his severer studies were relieved by accomplishments
+displaying considerable talent, such as painting,
+and taking impressions from the antique in electrotype.
+He was good enough to offer me some of his casts, with
+a few coins from his museum of antiquities; two engravings
+from which, illustrating the Punic and Saracenic periods
+of the history of Sardinia, will appear in future pages, together
+with one copied from a unique coin of the Roman
+age, preserved in the Royal Museum at Cagliari.</p>
+
+<p>One seldom finds such talents and accomplishments
+accompanied by the modesty with which our young student
+spoke of his pursuits. Nor was he a mere recluse, though
+his health appeared feeble; for he entered with zest into
+conversation on the various topics of European interest
+suggested by a visit from foreigners, while he did not
+hesitate to expose, with patriotic zeal, the follies and abuses
+which opposed the march of civilisation in his native<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>
+country. Such characters are rare. We had unexpectedly
+stumbled on a delicate flower, nurtured on an ungrateful
+soil, and destined to shed its sweetness in an atmosphere
+where, I fear, it is little appreciated. I may be excused,
+then, for devoting a page to the adventure, and allowed to
+inscribe on that page, a name of which I have so agreeable
+a recollection&mdash;that of Carlo Rugiu.</p>
+
+<p>Our new friend was kind enough to be our conductor in
+a walk to a Nuraghe, standing about three miles from
+Sassari, and in good preservation. We had already seen
+many of these very ancient structures scattered over all
+parts of the country; more or less ruinous, they are said
+to number 3000 at the present day, and many others have
+been destroyed.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/379.jpg" width="350" height="266" alt="EXTERIOR OF A NURAGHE."
+title="EXTERIOR OF A NURAGHE." />
+<p class="caption">EXTERIOR OF A NURAGHE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Whether seen on the plains or on the mountains, the
+Nuraghe are generally built on the summits of hillocks, or
+on artificial mounds, commanding the country. Some are
+partially inclosed at a slight distance by a low wall of
+similar construction with the building. Their external
+appearance is that of a
+truncated cone from
+thirty to sixty feet in
+height, and from 100
+to 300 in circumference
+at the base. The
+walls are composed of
+rough masses of the
+stones peculiar to the
+locality, each from two
+to six cubic feet, built in regular horizontal layers, in
+somewhat of the Cyclopean style, and gradually diminishing
+in size to the summit. Most commonly they betray no
+marks of the chisel, but in many instances the stones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>
+appear to have been rudely worked by the hammer, though
+not exactly squared.</p>
+
+<p>The interior is almost invariably divided into two domed
+chambers, one above the other; the lowest averaging from
+fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, and from twenty to
+twenty-five feet in height. Access to the upper chamber
+is gained by a spiral ramp, or rude steps, between the internal
+and external walls. These are continued to the
+summit of the tower, which is generally supposed to have
+formed a platform; but scarcely any of the Nuraghe now
+present a perfect apex. On the ground floor, there are
+generally from two to four cells worked in the solid masonry
+of the base of the cone.</p>
+
+<p>Independently of the interest attached to the object of
+our search, the fertile plains surrounding Sassari formed a
+sufficient attraction for a long walk. Plantations of olives,
+of vines, oranges, and other fruit-trees, succeeded each
+other in rich profusion; the olive trees being especially
+productive, and the oil, exported from Sassari in large
+quantities, being of the first quality. The environs, far
+and wide, are laid out in these plantations, and in gardens
+highly cultivated, interspersed with villas and pleasure-grounds.
+Tobacco is largely cultivated, and the vegetables
+are excellent. A cauliflower served up at dinner was of
+enormous size, nor can I forget the baskets of delicious
+figs which, at this late period of the year, were brought by
+the market-women to the door of our hotel.</p>
+
+<p>The Nuraghe to which our steps were directed proved to
+be a very picturesque object, rising out of a thicket of
+shrubs, with tufts growing in the crevices of the tower,
+which on one side was dilapidated. The other, composed
+of huge boulders, laid horizontally with much precision,
+considering the rude materials, still preserved its conical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>
+form, rising to the height of twenty or twenty-five feet.
+The entrance was so low that
+we were obliged to stoop almost
+to our knees in passing
+through it. A lintel, consisting
+of a single stone, some
+two tons' weight, was supported
+by the protruding
+jambs. No light being admitted
+to the chamber, but by
+a low passage through the
+double walls, it was gloomy
+enough.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/381a.jpg" width="250" height="308" alt="ENTRANCE TO A NURAGHE."
+title="ENTRANCE TO A NURAGHE." />
+<p class="caption">ENTRANCE TO A NURAGHE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/381b.jpg" width="250" height="310" alt="INTERIOR OF A NURAGHE."
+title="INTERIOR OF A NURAGHE." />
+<p class="caption">INTERIOR OF A NURAGHE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In this instance, the interior
+formed a single dome or
+cone about twenty-five feet high, well-proportioned, and
+diminishing till a single massive stone formed the apex.
+The chamber was fifteen feet
+in diameter, and had four recesses
+or cells worked in the
+solid masonry, about five feet
+high, three deep, and nearly
+the same in breadth.</p>
+
+<p>The small platform on the
+summit of the cone, to which
+we ascended by the ramp in
+the interior of the wall and
+some rugged steps, commanded
+a rich view of the plain of
+Sassari, appearing from the
+top one dense thicket of olive
+and fruit trees spreading for miles round the city. Out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>
+these groves rise the towers and domes of Sassari, the
+enceinte of its grey battlemented walls, and the lofty
+masses of its white houses. The view over the plain to
+the west is bounded by the Mediterranean, intersected by
+the bold outlines of the island of Asmara. After feasting
+our eyes on perhaps the most charming <i>tableau</i> the island
+affords, decked with nature's choicest gifts, and exhibiting
+an industry unusual among the modern Sardes, we sat
+down at the foot of the hillock, while my friend was completing
+his sketches of the Nuraghe, and our thoughts were
+naturally drawn to these relics of a primitive age. &ldquo;What
+was their origin&mdash;their history&mdash;what were the purposes
+for which they were designed?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It needed only that we should lift our eyes to the rude
+but shapely cone before us,&mdash;massive in its materials and
+fabric, and yet constructed with some degree of mechanical
+skill,&mdash;to come to the conclusion that the Nuraghe are
+works of a very early period, just when rude labour had
+begun to be directed by some rules of geometrical art.
+But, in examining the details, we find little or nothing to
+assist us in forming any clear idea of the period at which
+they were erected, or the purpose for which they were
+designed. There are not the slightest vestiges of ornament,
+any rude sculpture, any inscriptions. Of an antiquity
+probably anterior to all written records, history not
+only throws no certain light on their origin, but, till modern
+times, was silent as to their existence. Successive races,
+and powers, and dynasties have flourished in the island, and
+passed away, scarcely any of them without leaving some
+relics, some medals of history, some impress on the manners
+and character of the people still to be traced. The
+mouldering cones which arrest the traveller's attention,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>
+scattered, as we have observed, in great numbers throughout
+the island, enduring in their simple and massive structure,
+have thrown their shade over Ph&#339;nicians and Greeks,
+Romans and Carthaginians, Saracens, Pisans, Genoese,
+and Spaniards, and still survive the wreck of time and so
+many other early buildings,&mdash;the remains of a people of
+whose existence they are the only record, and, except
+monoliths, the oldest of, at least, European monuments.</p>
+
+<p>In the absence of any positive evidence regarding the
+origin and design of the Sardinian Nuraghe<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>, there has
+been abundance of conjecture and speculation on the subject.
+On the present occasion, I had the advantage of discussing
+it with our intelligent Sassarese student, I have also
+heard the remarks of one of the most distinguished Sarde
+antiquarians, and having since consulted the works of La
+Marmora and other writers, whose extensive researches
+and personal investigations entitle their opinions to much
+respect, I shall endeavour to lay the result, unsatisfactory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span>
+as it proves, before the reader, in the shortest compass to
+which so wide an inquiry can be reduced.</p>
+
+<p>The world has been searched for styles of building corresponding
+with that of the Sarde Nuraghe; without success.
+Neither in Etruscan, Pelasgic, or any other European
+architecture are any such models to be found, nor do
+Indian, Assyrian, or Egyptian remains exhibit any identity
+with them. They have been supposed, among other
+theories, to have some affinity with the Round Towers of
+Ireland; but after a careful examination of some of those
+almost equally mysterious structures, and considerable
+research among the authorities for their antiquity and
+uses, I have failed to discover anything in common between
+them and the Nuraghe. If my memory be correct, Mr.
+Petrie, the highest authority on the subject of the Round
+Towers, though he had not seen the Nuraghe, incidentally
+expresses the same opinion. The only existing buildings
+exhibiting a cognate character with those of Sardinia, are
+certain conical towers found in the Balearic islands, which
+were also colonised by the Ph&#339;nicians. They are called
+<i>talayots</i>, a diminutive, it is said, of <i>atalaya</i>, meaning the
+&ldquo;Giants' Burrow;&rdquo; and if the plate annexed to Father
+Bresciani's work be a correct representation, they would
+appear to be identical with the Nuraghe in the exterior,
+except that the ramp leading to the summit is worked in
+the outward face of the wall. We find, also, from La Marmora's
+description of the <i>talayots</i> examined by him, that
+the character of the cells is different, the style of masonry
+more cyclopean, and that many of them are surrounded
+with circles of stones and supposed altars, scarcely ever met
+with in Sardinia. The resemblance, however, is striking, as
+connected with the facts of the contiguity of Minorca, and
+the colonisation of both the islands by the Ph&#339;nicians.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Opinions as to the purposes for which the Nuraghe were
+erected are as various as those regarding their origin.
+From their great number, scattered over the country, they
+are supposed by some to have been the habitations of the
+most ancient shepherds; and the words of Micah&mdash;&ldquo;the
+tower of the flocks,&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> and other similar passages, are referred
+to as supporting this view. But it is hardly necessary
+to point out that the inconveniences of the structure,
+from its low entrance and dark interior, to say nothing of
+the waste of labour in heaping up such vast structures for
+shepherds' huts, will not admit of the idea being entertained.
+With somewhat more reason, but still with little
+probability, they have been represented as watch-towers,
+strongholds, and places of refuge; a theory to which their
+position, their numbers, and their structure are all opposed.
+Another hypothesis treats the Nuraghe as monuments
+commemorating heroes or great national events, whether
+in peace or war; forgetting, as Father Bresciani suggests,
+the centuries that must have elapsed while the mountains,
+and hills, and plains of Sardinia were being successively
+crowned with monuments of this description.</p>
+
+<p>Discarding such conjectural theories, the best-informed
+travellers and writers are agreed in considering the Nuraghe
+as being designed either for religious edifices or tombs
+for the dead. La Marmora confesses his inability to pronounce
+decidedly between the two opinions, but inclines
+to the opinion that they may have been intended for both
+purposes. Father Bresciani, the latest writer on Sardinian
+antiquities, after a personal examination of the Nuraghe
+and much general research, though he does not venture a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span>
+decided opinion, is disposed to agree with La Marmora.
+In confirmation of the idea that the most ancient monuments
+were at once tombs and altars, he quotes a Spanish
+writer<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> on the antiquities of Mexico, referring also to Lord
+Kingsborough's splendid work. So general an assumption
+is hardly warranted either by historical testimony or existing
+relics of antiquity. If such were the primitive custom,
+it did not prevail among the Greeks and Romans, and it
+is in the rites and practices of the Christian Church that
+we find its revival.</p>
+
+<p>However this may be, the theory not only of the twofold
+design or use of the Nuraghe, but of either of them, is confessedly
+quite conjectural: it rests upon a narrow basis of
+facts. Though a great number of the Nuraghe have been
+carefully ransacked, in very few instances only have human
+bones been discovered, but neither urns, arms, nor ornaments
+usually inhumed with the dead; nor are many of them
+so constructed as to permit the supposition that they were
+designed for sepulchral purposes. Occasionally, also, some
+of the miniature idols, such as are preserved in the museum
+at Cagliari, have been found buried in Nuraghe, or their
+precincts. But this is not general; and there are neither
+altars nor any other indications in the structure of the
+buildings to indicate their appropriation to religious uses,
+except their pyramidal or conical form, which they share
+in common with most buildings of the earliest age. So
+far as these were designed for idolatrous uses&mdash;as many of
+them doubtless were&mdash;the argument from analogy may
+apply to the Nuraghe, but it can be carried no further.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whatever were the purposes of the Nuraghe, almost all
+writers on Sardinia consider these ancient structures of
+Eastern origin. Father Bresciani attributes them to Canaanitish
+or Ph&#339;nician colonies, which migrated to the
+west in early times; and he takes great pains, but, I consider,
+without much success, to establish their identity,
+or, at least, their analogy, with the religious or sepulchral
+erections,&mdash;the altars, and &ldquo;high places,&rdquo; and tombs,&mdash;of
+which notices are found in the Old Testament. No doubt
+exists that extensive migrations, favoured by the enterprise
+of the earliest maritime people of whom we have any
+record, took place, perhaps both before and after the age
+of Moses, from the shores of Syria to the islands and
+shores of the West of Europe. There is reason to think
+that the island of Sardinia, if not the first seat, was, from
+its peculiar situation, the very centre, of a colonisation,
+embracing in its ramifications the coasts of Africa and
+Spain, with Malta, Sicily, and the Balearic islands. It
+appears singular that Corsica, the sister island to Sardinia,
+should not have shared in this movement of settlers from
+the East; perhaps from its lying out of the direct current,
+while, in its onward course, the wave flowing through
+the Straits of Hercules bore forward on the ocean the
+&ldquo;merchants of many isles,&rdquo; for commerce if not for settlement,
+as far as the Cassiterides, our own Scilly Isles.</p>
+
+<p>Though there is little historical evidence of the Ph&#339;nician
+colonisation of Sardinia, and even that of the early Greek
+settlements in the island is obscure and conflicting, we
+have abundant traces of the former, more imperishable
+than written records, still lingering in the manners and
+customs of the modern Sardes, and in the great number of
+those extraordinary antiquities known as the Sarde idols.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>
+The greater part of these, as Mr. Tyndale undertakes to
+show, were symbols of Canaanitish worship, the miniature
+representations of the gods adored by the Syrian nations,
+especially of Moloch, Baal, Astarte or Astaroth, Adonis or
+Tammuz, the very objects of that idolatry so frequently
+and emphatically denounced in the Old Testament, to
+which we have already referred. Mr. Tyndale, however,
+justly observes, that &ldquo;so distinct and peculiar is the character
+of these relics, that their counterparts are no more
+to be met with out of Sardinia than the Nuraghe themselves.&rdquo;
+From this circumstance, in conjunction with the
+fact of the images being often found in and near those
+buildings, he infers that they may have been, directly or
+indirectly, connected with each other, in either a religious,
+sepulchral, or united character.</p>
+
+<p>The inquiry would be incomplete unless it were extended
+to other Sarde remains, of equal or greater antiquity, for
+the purpose of discovering whether they have any affinity
+with, or can throw any light on, the mysterious origin of
+the Nuraghe. We propose devoting another chapter to
+this investigation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXV" id="CHAP_XXXV"></a>CHAP. XXXV.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Sardinian Monoliths.&mdash;The Sepolture, or &ldquo;Tombs of the
+Giants.&rdquo;&mdash;Traditions regarding Giant Races.&mdash;The Anakim,
+&amp;c., of Canaan.&mdash;Their supposed Migration to Sardinia.&mdash;Remarks
+on Aboriginal Races.&mdash;Antiquity of the
+Nuraghe and Sepolture.&mdash;Their Founders unknown</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>We can hardly be mistaken in supposing that, among the
+relics of antiquity still existing in Sardinia, the monoliths,
+of somewhat similar character with the Celtic remains at
+Carnac, Avebury, and Stonehenge, and common also in
+other countries, belong to the earliest age. These Sarde
+monoliths are found in several parts of the island, being, as
+the name expresses, single stones, or obelisks, set upright
+in the ground. In Sardinia they are called <i>Pietra-</i> or
+<i>Perda-fitta</i>, and <i>Perda-Lunga</i>. We generally find them
+rounded by the hammer, but irregularly, in a conical form
+tapering to the top, but with a gradual swell in the middle;
+and their height varies from six to eighteen feet. They
+differ from the Celtic monuments, in being generally thus
+worked and shaped; in not being often congregated on one
+spot beyond three in number&mdash;a <i>Perda-Lunga</i> with two
+lesser stones; and in there not being any appearance of
+their ever having had, like the Trilithons of Stonehenge,
+any impost horizontal stone.</p>
+
+<p>Father Bresciani finds the prototype of all these rude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span>
+pillars scattered throughout the world, in the Beth-El of
+Jacob and other Bethylia, sepulchral or commemorative,
+mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. By Mr. Tyndale,
+the Sarde <i>Perda-Lunga</i> is considered a relic of the religion
+common to all the idolatrous Syro-Arabian nations, which,
+deifying the powers and laws of nature, considers the male
+sex to be the type of its active, generative, and destructive
+powers, while that passive power of nature, whose function
+is to conceive and bring forth, is embodied under the
+female form. And this worship, he conceives, was introduced
+into Sardinia, with the symbols just described, by
+the Ph&#339;nician or Canaanitish immigrants.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/390.jpg" width="250" height="175" alt="SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES."
+title="SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES." />
+<p class="caption">SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The <i>Sepolture de is Gigantes</i>, the tombs of the giants,
+as they are called, form another class of Sarde antiquities
+of the earliest age. The structures to which the popular
+traditions ascribe this name, may be described as a series
+of large stones placed together without any cement, inclosing
+a foss or hollow from fifteen to thirty-six feet long,
+from three to six wide,
+and the same in depth,
+with immense flat stones
+resting on them as a covering.
+Though the latter
+are not always found,
+it is evident, by a comparison
+with the more perfect
+Sepolture, that they
+have once existed, and
+have been destroyed or removed.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
+
+<p>The foss runs invariably from north-west to south-east;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span>
+and at the latter point there is a large upright headstone,
+averaging from ten to fifteen feet high, varying in its form,
+from the square, elliptical, and conical, to that of three-fourths
+of an egg; and having in many instances an
+aperture about eighteen inches square at its base.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/391.jpg" width="250" height="177" alt="SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES."
+title="SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES." />
+<p class="caption">SEPOLTURA DE IS GIGANTES.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On each side of this stele, or headstone, commences
+a series of separate stones, irregular in size and shape,
+but forming an arc, the
+chord of which varies
+from twenty to twenty-six
+feet; so that the
+whole figure somewhat
+resembles the bow and
+shank of a spur.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The shape of the
+foss and headstone,&rdquo; observes
+Mr. Tyndale, &ldquo;of
+these remains, fairly admits of the probability that they
+were graves, as some of the earliest forms of sepulchres
+on record are the upright stones with superincumbent
+slabs, such as the Druidical cistvaens and some tombs
+in Greece. Still, like the &#8216;Sarde Idols&#8217; and the Nuraghe,
+the <i>Sepolture</i> are peculiar to the island, being
+entirely different in point of size and character from any
+other sepulchral remains. Judging from the many remains
+of those partially destroyed, their numbers must
+have been considerable. The Sardes believe them to be
+veritable tombs of giants; and that there may be legends
+of their existence in the island is undeniable, as a similar
+belief is found in almost all countries.&rdquo; Mr. Tyndale, in
+speaking of the supposed connexion between the <i>Nuraghe</i>
+and the <i>Sepolture</i>, observes that, &ldquo;if a Canaanitish race<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span>
+migrated here, nothing is more probable than that the
+tradition and worship of the giants would be also imported;
+and that it is even possible that some of the
+actual gigantic races of the Rephaim, Anakim, and others
+mentioned in Scripture, might have actually arrived in
+Sardinia.&rdquo; Father Bresciani goes further: he fixes the
+era of this migration, points out the event which caused
+it<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>, and traces its route by the Isthmus of Suez, through
+Egypt, and along the coast of Africa, which they are also
+said to have colonised; and whence he considers they could
+easily navigate to Sardinia and other islands in that part
+of the Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<p>This immigration, however, of the Canaanitish giants
+rests upon very slender evidence; and it may be questioned
+whether the oldest Sardinian monuments do not belong to
+an age far anterior to that of any Ph&#339;nician or Canaanitish
+colonisation of the island whatever. That such there was,
+undoubted proofs have already been gathered; but the
+statuettes of Ph&#339;nician idols, forming part of those proofs,
+with the arts and skill required for the maritime enterprise
+it required, betray the civilisation of a period more advanced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>
+than that to which we should be disposed to attribute
+such rude structures as the Nuraghe and the
+Sepolture. In this uncertainty, it may be worth an
+inquiry, whether these ancient monuments did not exist
+before the colonists landed on the shores of Sardinia,&mdash;in
+short, whether they were not the works of an aboriginal
+race. The question is raised by M. Tyndale: &ldquo;We may
+reduce the inquiry,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;to the simple question,
+Were the Nuraghe built by the autochthones of the island,
+of whom we have no knowledge, or by the earliest colonists,
+of whom we have but little information?&rdquo; On the former
+alternative the author is silent; nor is the question even
+raised by any other writer on Sardinian antiquities within
+our knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Yet surely, independently of its bearing on the origin
+of the Nuraghe and the early population of Sardinia, the
+subject of indigenous races is interesting in a general point
+of view. And it is worthy of notice, that the accounts
+handed down to us of the earliest colonists of the ancient
+world, speak of an aboriginal population existing in the
+countries to which they migrated, just as the European
+adventurers and circumnavigators of the last three centuries
+found indigenous races on the continents and islands
+they discovered, except on some few islands of the Pacific
+Ocean, recently emerged from the state of coral reefs.
+The parallel may be carried further. The ancient, as well
+as the modern, colonists carried the arts of a superior
+civilisation in their train; but the indigenous races of the
+New World were destined to gradual decay and extinction,
+leaving some ancient monuments as the records of their
+existence, just as the primitive children of the soil in the
+West of Europe, whose relics we endeavour to decipher,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>
+disappeared and were lost; so uniform is the order of events
+in the designs of Providence.</p>
+
+<p>Poetical legends, generally founded on, and blended
+with, traditionary facts, help us to form some idea of the
+character and habits of the aboriginal races; but history,
+and even tradition, seldom carry us further back in the
+review of past ages than the arrival of colonists, generally
+of Eastern origin, to form settlements on the shores and
+the islands washed by the Mediterranean. Did they find
+these shores and islands uninhabited? To say nothing of
+countries more remote and less accessible, many considerations
+would induce us to imagine that these fair regions
+were not all deserts; that, even at this early period, they
+were already peopled.</p>
+
+<p>In Sardinia, where, as already observed, the manners,
+the superstitions, and the traditions of the earliest ages,
+are more faithfully preserved than in any other European
+country, we find, among the most ancient existing structures,
+some which, to this day, are pointed out by the
+natives as &ldquo;the Tombs of the Giants.&rdquo; And who were
+the &ldquo;giants,&rdquo; of whom we read much, both in sacred and
+profane history? The very term is significant. It is
+formed from two Greek words&mdash;&#947;&#8134; and &#947;&#941;&#957;&#969;, and signifies
+earth-born, sons of the earth.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> The word &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#972;&#967;&#952;&#957;&#959;&#957;&#949;&#962; (autochthones)
+has a cognate meaning; Liddell and Scott
+render it, &ldquo;of the land itself; Latin, <i>terrigen&aelig;, aborigines,
+indigen&aelig;</i>, of the original race, <i>not settlers</i>.&rdquo; The mythical
+account of the origin of the &ldquo;giants&rdquo; concurs with this
+etymology. It paints them as the sons of C&#339;lus and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span>
+Terra&mdash;Heaven and Earth. In the poetry of Hesiod, they
+spring from the earth imbued with the blood of the gods.
+Traces and traditions of this aboriginal race are found in
+all parts of the world, and in sacred as well as profane
+history. We are told that there were giants in the days
+before the flood<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a>; and Josephus considers them the offspring
+of the union, mysteriously described by the sacred
+writer, of &ldquo;the sons of God with the daughters of men;&rdquo;
+for, as might be supposed, there were females also of the
+race of the earth-born. So the poets sang. Such was
+Cybele, daughter of Heaven and Earth, pictured as
+crowned with a diadem of towers, as the patroness of
+builders. We read of the giants, in the Old Testament,
+under the names of Rephaim, Emim, Zamzummim, and
+Anakim. In the time of Abraham, these tribes dwelt in
+the country beyond Jordan, in about Astaroth-Karnaim<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>,
+and it is now the received opinion of biblical arch&aelig;ologists,
+that they were the most ancient, or aboriginal, inhabitants
+of Palestine; prior to the Canaanites, by whom they were
+gradually dispossessed of the region west of the Jordan,
+and driven beyond that river. Some of the race, however,
+remained in Palestine Proper so late as the invasion of the
+land by the Hebrews, and are repeatedly mentioned as
+&ldquo;the sons of Anak,&rdquo; and &ldquo;the remnant of the Rephaim;&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>
+and a few families existed as late as the time of David.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the most ancient legends we find the giant race<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>
+located in all parts of the then known world. In Thessaly,
+under the name of Titans, poetic fiction records their deeds
+of prowess in piling mountain on mountain, and hurling
+immense rocks in their battles with the gods. Writers of
+credit have transmitted to us accounts of the discovery of
+their remains on the coast of Africa, from Bona to Tangier,
+in Sicily, and in Crete. The earliest navigators who
+touched on the shores and islands of the Mediterranean,
+brought back romantic tales, receiving their colouring
+from the terrors of the narrators, of the barbarity and the
+stature of the races they found on those then inhospitable
+shores. They were robbers, and even cannibals; enemies
+of the gods and men. Such tales are not without their
+parallels in the annals of modern maritime discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Before the fall of Troy, Sicily was peopled by a giant or
+aboriginal people, called Cyclopes; that insular race being
+said to be descended from Neptune and Amphitrite, just as
+the giant Ant&aelig;us, the founder of Tangier on the African
+coast, was called the son of Neptune and Terra. If we
+take Polyphemus, the chief of a tribe of the Cyclops, for a
+type of this cognate race, what do we find in his story,
+divested of the fiction with which it was clothed by
+tradition, transmuted into the poetry of the Odyssey and
+the &AElig;neid? The Grecian and Trojan heroes, successively
+land on the eastern coast of Sicily, near the base of
+Mount &AElig;tna, whose throes and thunders lend horror to
+the scene. There dwelt this Cyclop chief, in a cavern of
+the rocks. The race were Troglodytes, as were the aboriginal
+Sardes, Baleares, Maltese, Libyans, &amp;c. In Sardinia,
+their caverns are still to be seen in an island of the territory
+of Sulcis. Caves were probably the first habitations
+of primitive man, before emerging from a condition hardly
+superior to that of the savage beasts, his competitors for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>
+such rude shelter. Irrespective of climate, in these we
+find his home, whether among the Celts of the frozen
+regions of the North, or the Arabs of the stony wastes
+bordering on the Erythrean Sea, in the Libyan deserts,
+or in the sandstone rocks of Southern Africa. There
+one still sees the pygmy Bushmen, perhaps the last existing
+Troglodyte race, the very reverse of the Cyclops in
+stature, but, like them, their hand against every man's,
+unchanged by ages in the midst of African tribes of considerable
+civilisation, neither sowing nor pasturing, but
+living on roots, berries, and grubs, like other aboriginal
+races, which sprang into existence with the forests through
+which they roam, and the various brutes which shared
+with them the possession of the soil:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Cum prorepserunt primis animalia terris,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mutum et turpe pecus.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="smcap">Hor.</span> <i>Sat.</i> i. 3.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the traditions of Polypheme and his Cyclops represent
+them as advanced beyond this first rude stage of
+society, though they still adhered to their ancestral caves.
+They were robbers, no doubt; at least, they plundered
+and made captive unfortunate mariners thrown on their
+shores. Perhaps they feasted on their captives, as American
+Indians and South-Sea islanders are reported to have done.
+This may be doubted; but at least the cannibal feasts of
+the Sicilian aborigines were but <i>bonnes bouches</i> occasionally
+thrown in their way. They had better means of subsistence.
+Polypheme was a shepherd, and so were all his clan.
+Picture him, as described by Virgil<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>, descending from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>
+mountains, probably at eventide, leaning on his staff, with
+his shepherd's pipe hanging on his bosom, surrounded by
+his flocks, and leading them to the shelter of some cavern
+on the shore; and we have a pleasant scene of pastoral
+life. Such were all his tribe, a pretty numerous one,
+comprising one hundred males, with their families, each
+having a flock as large as their chiefs. They led a nomad
+life, &ldquo;<i>errantes</i>&rdquo; between the mountain pastures and the
+plains on the coast<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Now, if we may be allowed to separate these facts,
+which seem genuine, from the fictions with which they
+are blended, we find the aborigines of Sicily, though barbarous,
+in a somewhat advanced stage of social life beyond
+that when we are told they roamed in the woods and fed
+on acorns. Such we may justly presume, divested of
+poetical fiction, was the condition of the aborigines of the
+neighbouring island of Sardinia, the largest in the Mediterranean
+except Sicily, when the first foreign colonists
+landed on its coast. And such, after the lapse of more
+than thirty centuries, are the Sarde shepherds of the
+present day, generally lawless, sometimes robbers, making
+the caves of the rocks their shelter, and their flocks and
+herds providing them with food and clothing. Tenacious,
+above all other European races, of the traditions and customs
+of their forefathers, when they point to structures of
+the highest antiquity scattered on their native soil, and
+call them &ldquo;<i>Sepolture de is Gigantes</i>&rdquo;&mdash;as we now have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>
+some idea what these giants were,&mdash;may we not find
+reason to accept their tradition, and consider these monuments
+as the tombs of the chiefs and first founders of
+their aboriginal race.</p>
+
+<p>Still, it may be objected that the ancient legends relating
+to giants are too fabulous to admit of any sound theories
+being built on them; and some have even gone so far as
+to reject all the received accounts of families or tribes of
+men of gigantic stature, as worthy only of the belief of
+credulous ages. It may indeed be difficult to imagine
+whole districts and countries peopled with gigantic races
+so formidable that we can hardly conceive any other
+people subsisting in contact with them. But that individuals,
+and even families, of extraordinary stature and
+strength existed in the earliest ages cannot be denied,
+except by those who regard the narrative of Scripture as
+equally fabulous with the fictions of the poets; although
+the statements are literal and exact, occur in a variety of
+incidental notices, and are confirmed by discoveries related
+by authors of good repute.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p>
+
+<p>A solution of the difficulty may, perhaps, be found in the
+consideration, that, as even now we find families and races
+exceeding in stature and strength the average of mankind,
+there is still more reason to believe in the existence of
+such phenomena in the youth of the generations of man,
+when a simple mode of life, abundance of nutritious food,
+and a salubrious atmosphere, gave to all organic beings
+huge and sinewy forms. Such might be the special privilege
+of the Rephaim, and other tribes of which we read.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span>
+But while the rank and file, as we may call them, of the
+nation, though tall and robust, might not much exceed
+the average height of the human species, the chiefs and
+heroes who took their posts in the van of battle may have
+attained the extraordinary dimensions recorded of them;
+and, their numbers being magnified by terror and tradition,
+the attributes of the class were extended to the whole
+tribe. Thus the poets gave the name of Cyclops to all the
+aboriginal inhabitants of Sicily, though the Cyclops, properly
+so called, are represented by them as a single family,
+sons, as before mentioned, of Neptune and Amphitrite.</p>
+
+<p>That the <i>Sepolture de is Gigantes</i> may be considered the
+tombs of the chiefs or heroes of the aboriginal inhabitants
+of Sardinia seems to be generally allowed; and the opinion
+receives some confirmation from a passage in Aristotle's
+&ldquo;Physics,&rdquo; where, treating of the immutability of time,
+notwithstanding our perception or unconsciousness of what
+occurs, he incidentally illustrates his argument by the
+expression:&mdash;&ldquo;So with those who are fabulously said to
+sleep with the heroes in Sardinia, when they shall rise
+up.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p>
+
+<p>The best authorities being thus led to the conclusion
+that the Sarde aborigines were a giant race, the question
+remains whether the Nuraghe had the same origin as the
+Sepolture; and, passing by some trivial objections to this
+hypothesis, we are disposed to adopt Mr. Tyndale's conclusion,
+that&mdash;&ldquo;the coincidence of two such peculiar monuments
+in the same island, their non-existence elsewhere,
+and their being both indicative of some abstract principle
+of grandeur and power, practically carried out in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span>
+construction, are strong reasons for the presumption that
+they may have had some mutual reference to each other,&mdash;as
+burying places, temples, and altars, and consequently
+were works of the same times and the same people.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it may be objected, with some show of reason,
+that a people so rude and so primitive as the aborigines,
+could not have possessed the skill required for the construction
+of such buildings as the Nuraghe; so that they
+must be assigned to a later age. But we are informed in
+Genesis that, among some families of mankind, not only
+useful, but ornamental, arts were taught before Noah's
+flood!<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> and, without instituting an inquiry how soon the
+inventive and mechanical faculties of mankind were more
+or less developed in various countries, we may venture to
+assume that, before the historical period, before navigation
+had conveyed the higher arts of civilisation to distant
+shores, the aboriginal races, generally, were not incapable
+of erecting the massive structures attributed to them by
+universal tradition, and which, defying the ravages of time,
+still remain the sole monuments of lost races, on which
+the puzzled antiquary can hope to decipher the records of
+their existence and condition.</p>
+
+<p>To rear the lofty perpendicular monolith, to set up the
+tall stele as the headstone of a grave, to lift and poise the
+ponderous rocking-stone, to raise and fix the massive
+impost of the trilithon, or the slab covering a sepoltura, a
+cromlech, or a cistvaen; (for the remark applies to Celtic
+as well as Mediterranean antiquities), to heap up, not
+Pelion on Ossa, but untold loads of earth and stone to form
+the conical tumulus over the chambers of the dead, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>
+build &ldquo;Cyclopean&rdquo; walls, and construct the cone of rude
+but solid masonry, with its cavernous recesses,&mdash;all these
+are the works we should just expect from races of mankind
+when emerging from primitive barbarism, in the youth of
+the species, and possessed of enormous strength of limb.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a>
+Those who reared these works are supposed to have been
+in possession of some knowledge of the pulley, the lever,
+and the incline; but, after all, giant strength must have
+been the main fulcrum for such operations. Had there
+been ornament, sculpture, or inscriptions on these primeval
+monuments, our thoughts might have been carried forward
+to a later age, when colonisation from the East brought
+in its train the arts which there first undoubtedly flourished.</p>
+
+<p>That the Sardinian antiquities of the earliest age are
+unique, that this is the case in other parts of the world,
+every primitive people having, with certain resemblances,
+a peculiar style in its ancient monuments, that none such
+as these are found in the countries from whence the first
+colonists migrated, nor are described in their records, are
+facts strengthening the argument for their being of indigenous
+origin. That the forms of these structures scattered
+over the world are generally pyramidal, often rounded,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span>
+and sometimes spiral, tells nothing to the contrary. The
+cone, as Father Bresciani observes, was more graceful to
+the eye, more easy of construction, more durable, and,
+perhaps, connected with some mysterious ideas of Eternity,
+or the circling course of the heavenly bodies. Such was
+the form of the first great building on record, the Tower
+of Babel, as we have it represented; the type in many
+respects of the Sarde Nuraghe. Nor is it an unreasonable
+conjecture that the alien people, mysteriously alluded to
+in Genesis, as mixing with the children of God, having
+seduced the most froward of the chosen race, were the
+instigators and planners of the profane enterprise. &ldquo;Go
+to &mdash;&#8212;,&rdquo; said a man to his neighbour, as the marginal
+translation renders the passage,&mdash;&ldquo;let us make bricks,
+let us build a tower whose top may reach to heaven.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There were giants in those days,&rdquo;&mdash;men not only of
+gigantic forms, but imbued with grand ideas. The structures
+included among the number of their monuments are,
+as just observed, &ldquo;indicative of some abstract principle of
+grandeur and power, practically carried out in their construction.&rdquo;
+In the strength of their might, the Titanic
+race bade defiance to the deities of Olympus, with whom
+they are poetically represented as combating; but that
+does not preclude our supposing that, in common with
+all the generations of man, however barbarous, the giant
+races had their religious instincts, their altars, their rites.
+Reverence, also, for the memories of their departed heroes,
+of their progenitors, was a common feeling, most powerful
+in the earliest times. In these two principles we trace the
+ideas to which the mysterious monuments of the ancient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>
+Sardes owe their origin, and thence we arrive at a reasonable
+conclusion respecting their object and uses.</p>
+
+<p>Researches the most extended and the most profound,
+have failed to penetrate the obscurity in which the mists
+of ages have enveloped the origin of the primeval monuments
+of all nations, and of the people who founded them.
+Something may have been contributed towards the solution
+of the difficulties surrounding the subject, if we have
+been able to connect existing monuments with a rude race
+of extraordinary strength, the supposed giant-builders of
+those ancient structures. Such buildings we discover in
+various parts of the world, varying in their details, but
+similar as respects their simple but massive and durable
+forms. Gigantic stature and strength of limb we consider
+to have been the essential requisites, in the infancy of art,
+for transporting and raising the ponderous materials; and
+these properties were characteristics of the races of which,
+and of their Herculean labours, we find everywhere corresponding
+traditions.</p>
+
+<p>In the absence of a satisfactory reply to the inquiry,
+whence, when, or how the giant race reached Sardinia, we
+are willing to accept the alternative, as regards the
+founders of the Nuraghe and its other ancient monuments,
+that these structures were the work of the autocthonoi,
+the aboriginal inhabitants. But we embrace the theory in
+a different sense from that in which it is proposed; suggesting
+that the so-called giants themselves may have been
+the autocthonoi, and not immigrants; and the remark is
+generally applicable. The etymology of the words used
+by the Greeks and Romans, to designate the aboriginal
+races, supports the conjecture of their identity; for, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>
+already shown<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>, the term &ldquo;giant&rdquo; (&#947;&#943;&#947;&#945;&#962;) is not descriptive
+of extraordinary strength, but, equally with the phrases
+<i>autocthonoi</i>, <i>terrigen&aelig;</i>, and <i>aborigines</i>, signifies &ldquo;the earth-born,&rdquo;
+the natives of the soil.</p>
+
+<p>Further than this we cannot here pursue the inquiry.
+In a work of this description, it would be idle to speculate
+on the means by which aboriginal races, as well as a
+peculiar fauna and flora, were planted in distant lands,
+whether islands or remote continents, on which they have
+been found established by colonists and navigators, from
+the earliest to the latest times. Ethnologists have laboured
+to solve the difficulties surrounding the subject; with what
+success, those who have studied their works must decide
+for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The Sardinian Nuraghe are probably among the oldest
+structures in the world, and may therefore be reasonably
+considered the works of an aboriginal race; but their
+origin, and that of the founders, are equally involved in
+impenetrable mystery. Their rude, but massive and
+shapely, cones have survived the ruin of the sumptuous
+edifices of Babylon and Nineveh, of Ecbatana and Susa,
+of Tyre and the Egyptian Thebes. Like the pyramids of
+Egypt, they have witnessed, from their hoary tops, the
+current of untold centuries rolling onwards, wave after
+wave, in its turbid course. They have marked the rise and
+the fall of empires, the vicissitudes of fortune, the illusory
+hopes, the vain fears, and the insatiable desires of successive
+generations of men, whose brief span of existence has
+been that of a moment compared with the centuries that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span>
+have looked down from their summits. But unlike the
+Pyramids, whose mysteries are partially unveiled, they
+give no note by which their age or their history may be
+discovered. Mute on their solitary mounds, they give no
+answer to the inquiries of the traveller or the learned,
+when questioned,&mdash;what people of Herculean strength and
+undaunted will reared their massive walls, wrought the
+dark cells under the cover of their domes, and raised the
+ponderous slab which crowns the cone? No image of
+man, no form of beast, neither symbol nor inscription, are
+sculptured or graven on the solid blocks, within or without,
+to tell their tale. Well, then, may the thoughtful
+traveller, contemplating with silent wonder these mysterious
+cones, soliloquise in some such sort as this:&mdash;&ldquo;Surely
+these structures must have been raised before men
+had learned the arts of writing and engraving, for how
+many thousands of the Nuraghe were built, in successive
+periods, without their founders having acquired the faculty
+of inscribing on them the name of a god or a hero, for a
+memorial to future generations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXVI" id="CHAP_XXXVI"></a>CHAP. XXXVI.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Oristano.&mdash;Orange-groves of Milis.&mdash;Cagliari.&mdash;Description
+of.&mdash;The Cathedral and Churches.&mdash;Religious Laxity.&mdash;Ecclesiastical
+Statistics.&mdash;Vegetable and Fruit Market.&mdash;Royal
+Museum.&mdash;Antiquities.&mdash;Coins found in Sardinia.&mdash;Ph&#339;nician
+Remains.&mdash;The Sarde Idols.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>The high road between Sassari and Cagliari, called the
+<i>Strada Reale</i>, runs through the great level of the Campidano
+for a distance of 140 miles, and as there is a daily
+communication between the two cities by the well-appointed
+<i>diligences</i> already mentioned, the journey, unlike others
+in Sardinia, is performed with comfort and rapidity. But,
+whatever he may gain by the exchange, the traveller will
+hardly bid adieu to the mountains and forest-paths of the
+Gallura and Barbagia without regret.</p>
+
+<p>About half way, stands Oristano, an old city, of some
+6000 inhabitants, with some of the Spanish character of
+Alghero. Though fallen from its former importance, the
+place is still wealthy, and, in some degree, commercial. It
+is, however, deserted in the summer and autumn, when the
+atmosphere becomes so pestilential from the inhalations of
+the neighbouring stagna and lagunes as to justify the proverb:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A Oristano che ghe v&ugrave;,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In Oristano ghe resta!<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>The most striking object in the place is the belfry of the
+cathedral, a detached octangular tower, roofed with a pear-shaped
+dome, of coloured tiles, and commanding from the
+summit a fine view of the plains from the sea to the distant
+mountains. The orange groves of Milis, a village
+lying a little out of the high road to Oristano, are worth a
+visit. The trees are considered the finest in Europe. I
+have never seen orange trees that will bear comparison with
+them in any part of the world, except on some of the Dutch
+farms in the Cape colony, where they are still more magnificent;
+vying in size with the European oaks, planted,
+probably at the same time, by the German settlers from
+the Black Forest, the disbanded soldiers of the States of
+Holland, to whom many of the African Boers owe their
+origin. Such orange groves, when loaded with blossoms
+and fruit, glowing in the shade of their dense masses of
+glossy deep-green foliage, are perhaps the most charming
+of vegetable productions. No idea of their richness and
+beauty can be formed from the dwarf, round-topped trees,
+one sees in most orange districts. Here, as in South Africa,
+they owe their luxuriance to abundant irrigation. Some
+of the trees at Milis are from thirty-five to forty feet
+high, and there are said to be 300,000 of them of full
+growth. The annual produce is estimated at from fifty to
+sixty millions of fruit, and, being in great repute for their
+quality, they are conveyed to Sassari and Cagliari, and all
+parts of the island, the price varying from 1-1/2<i>d.</i> to 4-3/4<i>d.</i>
+per dozen, according to circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, a city containing upwards
+of 35,000 inhabitants, is seen to most advantage
+when approached from the sea, the campagna in the
+vicinity being neither fertile nor picturesque. Standing at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>
+the head of a noble bay or gulf, twenty-four miles in depth
+and twelve across, with good anchorage everywhere, its
+advantageous position pointed out Cagliari as a seat of
+commerce from the earliest times. The Ph&#339;nicians, the
+Greeks, and Carthaginians were attracted by the fine harbour,
+and the inducements offered by the neighbouring
+heights for the construction of a fortified town. The
+Romans made it the chief seat of their rule in the island.
+The port, called the Darsena, is capable of containing
+more than all the shipping at present frequenting it, with
+such a depth of water that, while I was at Cagliari, one of
+the largest steamships in the royal Sardinian navy lay
+alongside the quay.</p>
+
+<p>In the view from the gulf, the eye first rests on the
+upper town, surrounded with walls and towers, and
+crowning the summit of a hill upwards of 400 feet above
+the level of the sea. At the base of the heights lie
+the suburbs of the Marina, Stampace, and Villanova, the
+former occupying the space between the Castello, or Casteddu,
+as the whole circuit of the fortified town is called,
+and the port; and, with the two other suburbs, on the
+east and west of the Marina, forming one long continuous
+line of irregular buildings. In our <i>tableau</i>, the Casteddu
+towers proudly over the lower town, which has grown
+up beneath it since the Middle Ages. It still retains
+its original importance, containing all the principal public
+buildings, and being the residence of the government
+officials, and, in short, the aristocratic quarter. The best
+houses in the Marina are occupied by the foreign consuls
+and persons engaged in commerce, so that there is a
+marked distinction between the upper and lower parts of
+the city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Besides a strong citadel, there are, in the circuit of the
+fortifications three massive towers, called the Elephant,
+the Lion, and the Eagle, built by the Pisans; and the
+Castello is entered by four arched and embattled gateways.
+One of these was in the act of being demolished
+during my recent visit to Cagliari, in order to afford freer
+communication between the upper town and the Marina.
+Its removal seemed emblematic of an improving state of
+society, tending to level the barriers of caste, and engage
+the rising generation of the privileged orders in pursuits
+calculated as much for their own benefit as the development
+of the resources with which Sardinia abounds.</p>
+
+<p>Easy access to the Casteddu is gained by a circuitous
+avenue cut on the sloping side of the hill and under the
+escarped heights. Being planted with trees, it forms a
+pleasant walk, commanding extensive views of the Campidano,
+the distant mountains, and the Gulf of Cagliari.
+The direct ascent from the Marina is steep and toilsome,
+it being gained by a series of narrow avenues and flights
+of steps, landing in streets running parallel with that side
+of the Castello. These also are narrow as well as lofty,
+like those of most fortified places in the south of Europe.
+Here we find the best shops; and the thoroughfares have
+a busy appearance, except in the heat of the day, when
+most of the inhabitants indulge in the <i>siesta</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The cathedral, standing in the heart of the Castello, was
+built by the Pisans with part of the remains of a basilica
+founded by Constantine. It is on a grand scale, having
+three naves, and a presbytery ascended by several ranges of
+steps. The church is embellished with fine marbles, and
+the ornaments being rich, with some good pictures and
+grand monuments, the effect, on the whole, is striking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span>
+A crypt hewn out of the solid rock, under the presbytery, is
+regarded with great reverence by the Sardes, as containing
+the supposed remains of two hundred martyrs removed
+there from the church of St. Saturninus, in 1617.</p>
+
+<p>Among the fifty-two churches in the Castello and the
+suburbs, I will only mention that of St. Augustine, attached
+to which is the oratory built by himself during a short
+visit to the island. A story is told of one of the beams for
+the roof proving too short; upon which the saint, quoting
+to the workmen the text declaring that to those who have
+faith all things are possible, ordered them to pull at one
+end while he took the other, when, scarcely touching it, the
+beam stretched to the required length. St. Augustine's
+remains were transported here in 505, from Hippo-Regius,
+where he died, by the Catholic bishops exiled from Africa
+by Thrasamond, king of the Vandals.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> The Chronicles
+inform us that these bishops, two hundred and twenty in
+number, were sustained by the benevolence of Pope Symmachus,
+a native of Sardinia, who sent them every year
+money and clothes. St. Augustine's relics remained at
+Cagliari till 722, when Luitprand, king of the Lombards,
+in consequence of the danger to which they were constantly
+exposed by the invasions of the Saracens, obtained them
+from the Cagliarese, and carrying them to Pavia deposited
+them in the duomo of that city, where they rested, till in
+1842, these were restored to Hippo by the French.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p>
+
+<p>The church of the Jesuits, at Cagliari, is described as
+distinguished among the others for the sumptuousness of
+its style, and its decorations of coloured marbles and
+columns. It was closed, with the adjoining college, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span>
+the time of my visit. The Jesuits formerly possessed
+large estates, and had colleges in several of the principal
+towns of the island. The whole were suppressed long ago;
+but in 1823, the late king, Carlo Felice, partially restored
+and re-endowed the order, some of the monks being re-established
+in the college of Cagliari. Of late years, there
+seems to have been a considerable reaction in the temper
+of the Sardes as regards religion, at least, in the towns.
+No people were more bigoted, more priest-ridden, more
+credulous of the absurdest superstitions. But in a conversation
+I recently had on the subject with a very intelligent
+and well-informed friend in the island, he assured me that
+the utmost laxity now prevails in the religious sentiments
+of the people. They have lost all respect for the clergy,
+calling them <i>bott&eacute;gaie</i>, shopkeepers, as mindful only of
+the gains of their trade; and the churches <i>bott&eacute;ge</i>, shops.
+There is no vitality in the religion of the people, the services
+are a mere mummery, and the system is held together
+principally by the attractions of the popular <i>festas</i>,
+such as those described in a former chapter as scenes of
+bacchanalian revelry tricked out in the paraphernalia of
+religion. As for the Jesuits, the most obnoxious of the
+ecclesiastics, my friend stated, that the populace of Cagliari
+&ldquo;burnt them out,&rdquo; intending, I apprehend, to convey that
+they were violently expelled.</p>
+
+<p>In earlier visits to the Continent, and reflecting on the
+subject at home, the question had often occurred whether,
+with advancing intelligence, and growing aspirations for
+civil and religious liberty, the people of Catholic countries
+might not be drawn, in the course of events, to a
+movement similar to that of our own Reformation of the
+Church in the 16th century; the ruling powers, as then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span>
+taking the lead, and emancipating their States from the
+papal yoke. Thus, while abuses and gross doctrinal errors
+were reformed, the exterior frame of the establishment, its
+hierarchy, ceremonial, privileges and property would remain
+intact; the whole system being so arranged as to be
+brought into harmony with the action of government,
+and to meet the demands of an enlightened age. Why
+should there not be more reformed national and independent
+churches?</p>
+
+<p>In this view, when conversing with foreigners of intelligence,
+I have often pointed out the distinction between
+the Anglican Church and the &ldquo;Evangelical&rdquo; and other
+Protestant communities abroad. Such a reform would
+seem to be well suited to answer the wants of the kingdom
+of Sardinia in the present state of her relations with the
+Court of Rome. It would consolidate the fabric of the
+constitutional government; and we may conceive that the
+cabinet of Turin, and perhaps the king, are enlightened
+enough to be sensible of its advantages.</p>
+
+<p>But it may well be doubted whether the masses of the
+population, in either that or any other Catholic country,
+are ripe for such a revolution. In this age of reason, the
+dogmas which formed the war-cries of Luther and Calvin
+have lost their influence on the minds of men, and, except
+in some sections of the various religious communities, a
+general apathy on doctrinal subjects has succeeded the excitement
+with which the Reformation was ushered in.
+The tendency of the present age is in the direction of more
+sweeping reforms, and when the time comes, as no
+thoughtful man can doubt it will with growing intelligence,
+for the people of Europe to cast off the shackles of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>
+superstition and bigotry, it may be feared that things of
+more serious account than ecclesiastical systems and institutions
+may be swept away by the overwhelming tide so
+long pent up.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, there appears little probability of any great
+change. The territorial distinctions between Catholic and
+Protestant States remain much the same as when they
+were shaped out in the time of the Reformation, and the
+wars succeeding it. Each party holds its own; and there
+is little probability of a national secession from the
+Church of Rome, even in the Sardinian dominions, where
+many circumstances concur to point out its expediency,
+and even its possibility. Among others, it will not be
+forgotten, that the standard of Protestantism was raised in
+the valleys of Savoy, ages before it floated triumphantly
+in the north of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>In 1841 there were 91 monasteries in Sardinia, containing
+1093 regular monks, besides lay brothers, &amp;c., and
+16 convents with 260 nuns; the whole number of persons
+attached to these institutions being calculated at 8000.
+There are about the same number of secular clergy, including
+the bishops, dignitaries, and cathedral chapters,
+with the parochial clergy, the island being divided into
+393 parishes. The population of Sardinia, by the last
+returns I was able to procure<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a>, was 541,907 in 1850; so
+that one-ninth were ecclesiastics of one description or
+another. It should be stated, however, that most, if not
+all, the monasteries and convents have been lately suppressed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>
+and the religious pensioned off, so that the system
+is dying out.</p>
+
+<p>The revenues of the bishops' sees, and the cathedral
+and parochial clergy, were calculated in 1841 at about
+66,000<i>l.</i>, arising from church lands, besides the tithes,
+estimated at 1,500,000 lire nove, or 60,000<i>l.</i>, supposed to
+be a low estimate, the tithes being worth one million of
+lire more. These revenues are exclusive of voluntary
+contributions, alms, offerings, and collections. The church
+lands contributed upwards of 3000<i>l.</i> annually as state
+subsidies, for the national debt, the maintaining roads and
+bridges, and the conveyance of the post. Mr. Tyndale estimates
+&ldquo;the revenue of the see of Cagliari at from 60,000
+to 80,000 scudi,&mdash;from 11,520<i>l.</i> to 15,360<i>l.</i> per annum;
+while that of the priests is about 1000 scudi, or 192<i>l.</i>&rdquo; This
+gives some idea of the incomes of the Sardinian clergy. I
+imagine that the government has not interfered with any
+part of the ecclesiastical revenues, except those attached
+to the monasteries.</p>
+
+<p>The fruit and vegetable markets of large foreign towns
+must always be attractive to a traveller, especially in the
+South and East, where the fruit, in great varieties, is so
+abundant, and he meets with vegetables unknown in the
+gardens and cookery of his own country. Not only so, but
+the dresses, and even the gestures and manners, of the
+country people, to say nothing of the dealings of the buyers,
+form a never-failing source of interest and amusement;
+while an additional zest is lent in a warm climate, by the
+freshness of the early hour at which the visit must be paid
+to be really enjoyed. The market at Cagliari is held in the
+suburb of Stampace, and approached by one of those avenues<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span>
+shaded with exotic trees, which make such agreeable promenades
+in the neighbourhood of the city. The principal
+supply comes from Pula, Arabus, and other villages at considerable
+distances from Cagliari; the soil in the vicinity being
+too arid to be productive. The supply appeared abundant,
+and of excellent quality. Among the fruits,&mdash;it was in
+the early part of September,&mdash;I noted grapes, figs, pears,
+oranges, lemons, citrons, peaches, melons, and prickly
+pears. Among the vegetables, the heaps of tomatas, chilis,
+and other condiments were surprising, and there were
+gigantic &ldquo;<i>torzi</i>,&rdquo; a kind of turnip-cabbage, and other
+varieties, whose names have escaped my memory.</p>
+
+<p>My visit to the Royal Museum was also paid at an early
+hour, through the kindness of Signor Cara, the Curator,
+who was so obliging as to show me also his cabinet of antiques
+at his private residence,&mdash;rich in cameos, intaglios,
+and scarabei of rare beauty. The Royal Museum occupies
+a suite of small apartments in the University. The collection
+owes great part of its objects of interest, and their
+good order and arrangement, to the indefatigable zeal
+and disinterested devotion of Signor Cara, whose appointments,
+and the allowance for purchasing objects, are not
+unworthy of a liberal government.</p>
+
+<p>The collection of Roman antiquities occupying the entrance-wall
+is very meagre, considering the many stations
+established in the island during the republic and empire.
+Besides two colossal consular statues, having an air of
+dignity, and with the toga well chiselled, there was little to
+observe but some Roman milestones, sarcophagi, and
+fragments of various kinds.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/417.jpg" width="250" height="125" alt="SARDO-ROMAN COIN."
+title="SARDO-ROMAN COIN." />
+<p class="caption">SARDO-ROMAN COIN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The coins of the Roman period are numerous, but most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>
+of them of little value. One here figured is, however,
+unique; being, I
+imagine, the only
+coin known to have
+been struck in the
+island. Atius Balbus,
+whose name and bust
+appear on the face<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a>,
+was grandfather of
+the Emperor Augustus, and prefect of Sardinia about sixty
+years before Christ. The reverse represents a head wearing
+a singular cap, crowned by an ostrich plume; with a
+sceptre, and the words &ldquo;Sardus Pater,&rdquo; who is supposed
+to be the founder of Nora, the first town built in Sardinia,
+and of Libyan and Ph&#339;nician origin.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/418a.jpg" width="250" height="117" alt="CARTHAGINIAN COIN."
+title="CARTHAGINIAN COIN." />
+<p class="caption">CARTHAGINIAN COIN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The cabinet also contains about 100 coins of the Carthaginian
+period. Many such are found in the island,
+but, as may be supposed, not in numbers equal to those
+which attest the long duration of the Roman power.
+While Captain Smyth was engaged in his survey of the
+coast, a farmer in the island of St. Pietro, successively a
+Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman station, passed his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span>
+ploughshare over an amphora of Carthaginian brass coins,
+of which Captain Smyth purchased about 250. &ldquo;They
+were,&rdquo; he states, &ldquo;with two exceptions, of the usual type:
+obverse, the head of Ceres; and reverse, a horse or palm-tree,
+or both.&rdquo; Some presented to
+me by Carlo Rugiu, one of
+which is here figured, have a
+horse's head on one face, and
+the palm-tree with fruit, probably
+dates, on the other.</p>
+
+<p>There are specimens in the British Museum, but not so
+good as those given me by Signor Rugiu. The coins in
+the possession of Captain Smyth appear to have represented
+the horse in full detail, as he mentions the peculiarity
+of their having a Punic character between the
+horse's legs, differing in every one. It need hardly be
+observed how appropriate, on an African coin, were such
+devices as the date-palm of the desert, and the horse, emblematic
+of its fiery cavalry.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/418b.jpg" width="250" height="130" alt="SARACEN COIN."
+title="SARACEN COIN." />
+<p class="caption">SARACEN COIN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some Saracenic coins are also found in the island, with
+Arabic characters both on the obverse and reverse. The
+one here represented was also
+given me by Carlo Rugiu,
+with some Roman coins, both
+silver and brass. We do not
+find that the Saracens ever
+effected any permanent settlement
+in Sardinia; which accounts
+for the comparatively
+small number of these coins discovered. The Saracen
+pirates who infested the coast from the time that St. Augustine's
+relics were rescued, in 722, to so late a period as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>
+1815, were more likely to pillage the money of the inhabitants
+than to leave any of their own behind them.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Terracotta collection in the Royal Museum exhibits
+about one thousand specimens of vases, &amp;c. of Sardo-Ph&#339;nician,
+Carthaginian, Egyptian, and Roman fabric,
+similar to those preserved in the British Museum. In the
+natural-history department, the ornithological class is most
+complete, containing upwards of a thousand specimens of
+native and foreign birds, collected and prepared by Signor
+Cara, who has paid much attention to this branch of the
+science. Among the native objects of interest was the
+flamingo, frequenting, with other aquatic birds, in vast
+flocks, the lagunes in the neighbourhood of Cagliari,
+whither they resort during the autumn and winter, from
+the coast of Africa. The largest of these lakes, called the
+Scaffa, is six or seven miles long by three or four broad.
+Vast quantities of salt are procured from the salterns in
+the same neighbourhood and other parts of Sardinia, and
+it forms an important article of export, and of revenue.
+In conchology and mineralogy, the cabinet is rich both in
+foreign and native specimens; the minerals having been
+in great part collected by La Marmora, and arranged by
+him in 1835.</p>
+
+<p>The Ph&#339;nician remains are, in some respects, the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span>
+interesting part of the collection. Among them we find
+a block of sandstone, with a Ph&#339;nician inscription, discovered
+in 1774 at Pula, the ancient Nora, now a pleasant
+village embowered in orange groves and orchards, and
+crowned with palms, on the coast of the Gulf, about sixteen
+miles from Cagliari. Nora, it may be remembered, is
+stated by Greek writers to have been the first town founded
+by colonists in the island of Sardinia; and though the
+inscription on the stone has not been satisfactorily deciphered,
+it seems to be agreed that it records the arrival
+of &ldquo;Sardus,&rdquo; called &ldquo;Pater,&rdquo; at &ldquo;Nora,&rdquo; from &ldquo;Tarshish,&rdquo;
+in Libya.</p>
+
+<p>But the Sarde idols, already mentioned, form the unique
+feature in this collection. La Marmora enumerates 180
+of these bronzes, the greater part of which are preserved
+in the museum at Cagliari, consisting principally of small
+images, varying from four to seventeen inches high, of
+irregular and often grotesque forms, and betraying a rude
+state of art.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> They are considered miniatures of the
+large and original idols adored by the Canaanites and
+Syro-Ph&#339;nicians; and from their diminutive size may
+have been household gods. Mr. Tyndale conjectures that
+the &ldquo;Teraphim&rdquo; of Scripture were of the same class.
+There appears, however, no doubt that these bronzes, as
+well as the objects in Terracotta already mentioned, are of
+native manufacture. Thus, while the images appear to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span>
+be the symbols of a religion peculiar to the inhabitants
+of Sardinia at a very early period, they bear a certain
+affinity to similar objects of worship in other countries,
+especially in Syria and Egypt; so that in Signor Cara's
+nomenclature these remains are denominated Sardo-Ph&#339;nician
+and Sardo-Egyptian. It is remarkable, however,
+that no corresponding relics have been found in those
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>There is a small collection of Sardinian antiquities in
+the British Museum, recently supplied by Signor Cara;
+but it does not contain, as might have been wished, any
+specimens of these singular images. They are accurately
+figured and described by La Marmora, and Mr. Tyndale
+has fully investigated their history and relations in his
+very valuable work. It would be out of place further to
+pursue the subject here, especially as we have already
+devoted a chapter to traces among the Sardes of the rites of
+Moloch and Adonis, in which two of these images are described.
+The subject is interesting both as connected with
+the Ph&#339;nician migrations, and as bringing to light symbols
+of that Canaanitish idolatry so frequently and emphatically
+denounced in the Sacred Writings.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to modern times, I do not find that I have
+anything of importance to add to my notices of the present
+state of Cagliari, except the introduction of the Electric
+Telegraph connecting it with the continents of Europe and
+Africa. Prom its having been the medium of communication
+between England and India during the recent
+crisis, Cagliari has acquired a notoriety to which it had
+previously few pretensions. Some account of the establishment
+of this Telegraph will be given in our concluding
+chapters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXVII" id="CHAP_XXXVII"></a>CHAP. XXXVII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Porto-Torres.&mdash;Another Italian Refugee.&mdash;Embark for
+Genoa.&mdash;West Coast of Corsica.&mdash;Turin.&mdash;The Sardinian
+Electric Telegraph.&mdash;The Wires laid to Cagliari</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>The preceding notices of Cagliari were gathered during a
+visit to Sardinia in the autumn of 1867; the &ldquo;Rambles&rdquo;
+in this island, detailed in preceding chapters, having been
+rather abruptly terminated, under circumstances already
+adverted to, without our being able to reach the capital.
+On that occasion we embarked for the continent at Porto-Torres,
+the origin and decay of which place is before incidentally
+mentioned. The neighbourhood abounds in
+remains of Roman antiquities; and at a short distance is
+the cathedral of St. Gavino, one of the oldest structures in
+Sardinia, having been founded in the eleventh century.
+The roof is covered with lead, and supported by antique
+columns dug up in the adjacent ruins. There also were
+found two marble sarcophagi, preserved in the church, on
+which figures of Apollo surrounded by the Muses are represented
+in high relief.</p>
+
+<p>Having to embark at an early hour, we were obliged to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span>
+pass a night at Porto-Torres, notwithstanding its notoriety
+for a most pestiferous atmosphere, occasioned, as usual,
+by the exhalations from the marshy lowlands adjoining
+the coast. The impression was confirmed by the miserable
+aspect of the place, one long wide vacant street, in which,
+as we drove down it, the effects of the intemperie were
+stamped on the sickly faces of the few stragglers we met.
+We found, however, a roomy and decent hotel, and, after
+rambling about the neighbourhood, sat down to our usual
+evening tasks of writing and drawing. We were in light
+costume, and had thrown open the casements, for though
+the apartment was both lofty and spacious, the air felt
+insufferably close and stifling. Shortly afterwards, on the
+waiter coming in to lay the supper table, he stood aghast
+at our exposure to the night air, and precipitately dosed
+the casements, exclaiming, &ldquo;Signore, it would have been
+death for you to have slept here in August or September;
+and, even now, the risk you are running is not
+slight.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This man was another of the Italian refugees, a
+Lombard; but of a very superior cast of character and
+intelligence to our <i>ma&icirc;tre de cuisine</i> at Sassari. These
+qualities first opened out on his begging permission to
+examine my friend's drawings and some ancient coins
+which lay on the table; on both which he made remarks,
+showing that he was a person of education and taste. He
+had been an <i>avocat</i> at Milan, and, compromised by the
+insurrection, &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;what I have been
+driven to,&rdquo; throwing a napkin, over his shoulder with
+somewhat of a theatrical air. &ldquo;But a good time is coming;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span>
+meanwhile, not having much to do here, I employ my time
+as well as I can. You shall see my little library;&rdquo;&mdash;and
+he brought in some volumes, mostly classical, the
+Odyssey, Euripides, Sophocles, &AElig;schylus, and Cornelius
+Nepos. After awhile he pulled out of his bosom,
+with some mystery, for he was still professedly a
+catholic, a small copy of Diodati's Italian version of the
+New Testament. &ldquo;This,&rdquo; he said, with emphasis, &ldquo;is my
+greatest consolation; I retire into the fields, and there I
+read it.&rdquo; It was impossible not to commiserate the fate
+of Ignazio Mugio, the Lombard refugee. A very different
+character was old Pietro, the steam-boat agent. Groping
+our way with some difficulty up a gloomy staircase, in the
+dusk of the evening, we found him, spectacles on nose,
+poring over a gazette by a feeble oil lamp. The old man
+was so eager for news that it was difficult to fix him to
+the object of our inquiries; and then he expatiated on the
+attractions of the neighbourhood, and the &ldquo;chasse magnifique
+de gr&egrave;ves,&rdquo; as he called thrush-shooting, in the
+country round, if we came to Porto-Torres in the month
+of December. We laughed at the idea of such sport; but
+I think it is said that the thrushes, fattening on the olive
+berries, are very delicious.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable commerce, considerable for a Sardinian
+port, gives some life to this desolate place; facilitated by
+Porto-Torres being the northern terminus of the great
+national road running through Sassari, only nine miles
+distant. The principal exports are oil and wine. The
+little haven is defended by a strong tower, erected in
+1549. We found moored in the port several Greek
+brigs, polaccas, and feluccas, with their long yards and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span>
+pointed lateen sails; and the fine steam-boat which was to
+carry us to Genoa.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/425.jpg" width="500" height="308" alt="PORTO-TORRES."
+title="PORTO-TORRES." />
+<p class="caption">PORTO-TORRES.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The mountainous and nearly desert island of Asinara
+forms a fine object in running out of the gulf to which it
+gives its name, forming the north-western point; and the
+high lands of Corsica soon came once more in view. Our
+course lay along its western coast, the weather being
+favourable; but with a foul wind it is considered unsafe,
+and vessels run through the Straits of Bonifacio and coast
+the eastern side of the island. In the afternoon we were
+off the entrance of the Gulf of Ajaccio, and gazed from
+seaward on the Isles Sanguinaires, with the tower of the
+lighthouse, behind which the sun set on the pleasant
+evening when we took our view from the Chapel of the
+Greeks. Now, towards sunset, we were rapidly gliding
+along the shore of Isola Rossa, and the slanting rays
+glowing directly on the porphyritic cliffs gave a rich but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>
+mellow intensity to the ruddy hue whence they derive
+their name. Some of the boats stop at the town, a new
+erection by Pascal Paoli, and the seat of an increasing
+trade. Leaving it behind, we ran along the coast of
+Corsica with a fair wind, exultingly bounding homewards
+as, the breeze freshening, our boat sprung from wave to
+wave, dashing the spray from her bows. Farewell to
+Corsica! Her grey peaks and shaggy hill-sides are fast
+fading from our sight, in the growing obscurity. We pass
+Calvi, famous in Medi&aelig;val and Nelsonian annals, San
+Fiorenzo, on which we had looked down in our rambles on
+the chestnut-clad ridges of the Nebbio; and the mountain
+masses of the Capo-Corso, now loom like dark clouds on
+the eastern horizon. All beyond is a blank. Again we
+cross the Tuscan Sea in the depth of the night. We are
+on deck when rosy morning opens to our view the glories
+of the Bay of Genoa. At six we are moored in the harbour,
+and have to wait for the visit of the officer of health. At
+last we land, breakfast, and take the rail to Turin.</p>
+
+<p>At Turin we passed some hours very pleasantly at the
+British Minister's. We are indebted to Sir James Hudson
+for facilitating our excursion in Sardinia with more than
+official zeal and interest in its success. He knows the
+island well, having braved the inconveniences of rough
+travelling in its wildest districts. At his hotel we chanced
+to meet Mr. I. W. Brett, the promoter of a line of electric
+telegraph intended to connect the islands of Corsica and
+Sardinia with the European and African continents. A
+company had been formed to carry out this project, consisting
+principally of Italian shareholders, part of whose
+outlay was to be recouped, on the completion of the
+undertaking, by the Governments interested in its success&mdash;the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>
+French in regard to Corsica and Algeria, and the
+Piedmontese as far as concerns Sardinia.</p>
+
+<p>Starting from a point in the Gulf of Spezzia, the wires
+were to be carried by a submarine cable to the northern
+extremity of Capo-Corso; where landing they would be
+conveyed, through the island, partly by submarine channels,
+with a branch to Ajaccio, to its southern point near
+Bonifacio. Thence, submerged in a cable crossing the
+Straits, they would again touch the land at Capo Falcone,
+mentioned in these rambles as the nearest point in Sardinia;
+the distance being only about ten nautical miles.
+The wires were then to be conducted on posts, through the
+island of Sardinia, in a line, varying but slightly from our
+route, by Tempio and Sassari to Cagliari. From Cape
+Spartivento, or some point on the southern shore of Sardinia,
+a submarine cable was to be laid, the most arduous
+part of the whole undertaking, to the African coast;
+landing somewhere near Bona, a town on the western
+frontier of the French possessions in Algeria.</p>
+
+<p>Up to the point of the landing in Sardinia all was
+evidently plain sailing; but when we met Mr. Brett at
+Turin, on our return from Sardinia, in November, 1853,
+he was under some anxiety about the land line through
+the island; the mountainous character of the northern
+province of Gallura presenting obstacles to the operation
+of carrying the wires through it, and the lawless
+character of the inhabitants threatening their safety. On
+both these points we were able to reassure him; we had
+seen and heard enough of the brave mountaineers to feel
+convinced that there was no cause for apprehension of
+outrages connected with the undertaking. And my fellow-traveller,
+who belonged to the scientific branch of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span>
+army, had not passed through the country without making
+such observations as enabled him to satisfy Mr. Brett's
+inquiries respecting the line to be selected and its natural
+facilities.</p>
+
+<p>In the end, the wires were successfully stretched throughout
+the island from Capo Falcone to Cagliari, after surmounting,
+however, serious obstacles, though not of the
+sort previously apprehended. For the success of this operation
+the company are greatly indebted to the exertions
+of Mr. William S. Craig, H.B.M.'s Consul-General in Sardinia.
+Having neither any personal interest in the concern,
+nor official connection with a Company entirely foreign in
+its object and supporters, he devoted his time gratuitously
+to the furtherance of this branch of its operations, actuated
+only by a desire to promote an important public undertaking.
+The whole practical management of the work (I do
+not speak of engineering, little of which could be required)
+devolved on Mr. Craig; and with much self-sacrifice, he
+threw into it all that zeal and intelligence which, with
+universal goodwill, have acquired for him the high estimation
+in which he is generally held.</p>
+
+<p>I have before had occasion to mention the respect entertained
+for him by the mountaineers of Gallura, resulting
+from a former connection beneficial to parts of that district;
+and I feel convinced that his name and sanction better
+obviated any prejudices, and offered a broader shield for the
+protection of the wires from injury, than all the power of
+the Piedmontese officials, backed by squadrons of carabineers,
+could have done. Not only so, but Mr. Craig
+had less difficulty in making arrangements with the proprietors
+of the lands in the northern province than in the
+more civilised districts of the south, where, in some instances,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>
+the privileges required were reluctantly conceded
+as a mark of personal respect.</p>
+
+<p>It was on descending to the plains that the worst difficulties
+were encountered. Mr. Warre Tyndale states that
+during the construction of the great central road from
+Cagliari to Porto-Torres, which it took seven years to complete,
+more than half the engineers employed in the work
+died of the intemperie, or were obliged to retire from the
+effects of that fatal malady. This scourge swept off with
+no less virulence the workmen employed on the line of
+telegraph, and as the season advanced, cartloads after cartloads
+were carried to the hospitals, so that the works were
+stopped. Mr. Craig had to provide for all emergencies,
+the whole expenditure was managed by him, and this
+calamity added to his cares and responsibilities. But he
+persevered, and brought the operations to a successful end.
+Such valuable services merited a more liberal treatment
+than they received at the hands of those who gratuitously
+secured them. A body of English directors and shareholders
+would not have failed to mark their sense of the
+obligation conferred by some honorary acknowledgment.
+I have not heard of any such act of generosity on the part
+of the Sardo-French Company. It was a foreigner who
+remarked to me the <i>petitesses</i> which pervaded the dealings
+of his countrymen. I imagine that the phrase would
+be found particularly applicable to the dealings of this
+company, if all its history were known.</p>
+
+<p>But we are anticipating occurrences. On our return
+from Sardinia, the operations of the Sardo-French Telegraph
+Company connected with the island were yet in
+embryo. The travellers who discussed the probabilities
+of success at Turin little thought that one of them would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>
+two years afterwards, towards the close of the Crimean
+war, be the Chief of the Staff employed in the organisation
+and superintendence of the military telegraph service in
+the East, having to inspect the laying down many hundred
+miles of submarine cable and wires in the Black Sea; or
+that it would be the fortune of the other to witness the final
+accomplishment of the long-delayed and frustrated hopes
+of the Sardo-French Company, by being present at the
+laying down of the submarine Mediterranean cable between
+Cagliari and Bona on the coast of Algeria. But so
+it turned out; and the completion of this undertaking
+being an event in Sardinian history, considered by no less
+an authority than General Della Marmora to have an
+important bearing on the commercial prospects of the
+island,&mdash;and the operation of successfully submerging telegraph
+cables in very deep water, in oceans or seas, being
+both new and possessing considerable interest,&mdash;a short
+account by an eyewitness of the occurrences attending the
+laying down the African cable may prove both amusing
+and instructive. It will form an appropriate episode to
+the Sardinian Rambles, and in that view an additional
+chapter will be devoted to it.</p>
+
+<p>For the rest, it only remains briefly to close the
+&ldquo;Rambles&rdquo; of 1853. Our visit at Turin reopened
+Sardinian interests; but after that, the best thing to be
+done was to hasten homewards before the inclemency of
+the season should retard our progress. Still, the snow fell
+heavily as we walked over the summit of the pass of the
+Mont-Cenis, preceding the diligence in which we had
+travelled all night. The railway had not then been extended
+from Turin to Suza on one side of the Alps, nor,
+on the other, beyond Ch&acirc;lons sur Sa&ocirc;ne, between Lyons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>
+and Paris; so that, travelling by diligence, we were three
+nights and two days on the road to Paris. Both the French
+and Italian lines of railway have been much advanced
+since the period of our journey. To complete the line, it
+remains only that the gigantic undertaking of tunnelling
+the chain of the Alps be successfully executed. Allowing
+ourselves the refreshment of spending a day in Paris, we
+reached London in the evening of the 17th of November.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAP_XXXVIII" id="CHAP_XXXVIII"></a>CHAP. XXXVIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="blockquot"><i>Sardinian Electric Telegraph.&mdash;The Land Line completed.&mdash;Failures
+in Attempts to lay a Submarine Cable to Algeria.&mdash;The
+Work resumed.&mdash;A Trip to Bona on the African
+Coast.&mdash;The Cable laid.&mdash;Cagliari an Important Telegraph
+Station.&mdash;Its Commerce.&mdash;The return Voyage.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Conclusion.</span></i></p>
+
+
+<p>After completing the land line of telegraph, as already
+mentioned, the Sardinian Company<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> failed in three attempts
+at laying a submarine cable to connect the wires
+from Cagliari with the coast of Algeria. We will not here
+enter into an inquiry as to the causes of these disasters,
+instructive as it might be if we had space, and this were
+a fitting opportunity. Suffice it to say that the first
+experiment failed soon after leaving Cape Spartivento; on
+the second, the line was laid for about two-thirds of the
+course, but with such a profuse expenditure of the submarine
+cable that it was run out, and the enterprise
+abruptly terminated. A third attempt to renew the operation
+proved equally unsuccessful.</p>
+
+<p>The project received a severe check from these repeated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>
+failures. The company had established their line, by sea
+and land, as far as Cagliari. So far, well: the communications
+of the respective Governments with their islands of
+Corsica and Sardinia were complete. Incidentally, also,
+England derived some advantage from the stations at
+Cagliari during the most anxious period of the crisis in Indian
+affairs. It was one step in advance towards telegraphic
+communications with India, though a short one. But the
+main object of the French Government in promoting the
+enterprise was to link its connection with Algeria by the
+electric wires; and till that was accomplished, the Company
+had no claim to be reimbursed for that portion of their
+expenditure guaranteed in the event of success.</p>
+
+<p>One may imagine the dismay of the shareholders, mostly
+Italians, in this state of affairs. Their capital must have
+been greatly, if not altogether, exhausted by the expenditure
+on previous works and the abortive attempts at laying
+the African cable. It was now only, in all probability,
+that they became seriously alive to the difficulties of the
+undertaking, and the immense risks that must be incurred
+in laying submarine cables in great depths of water. For
+it was now known that the depth of the Mediterranean
+in many parts crossed by the track of submarine cables, is
+no less than that through which the Transatlantic cable
+has to be laid.</p>
+
+<p>The prosecution of the scheme was suspended; but meanwhile
+time was running on, and the period fixed for completing
+the line had nearly expired. In this event, the
+government guarantee being forfeited, the concern would
+become a ruinous affair, as the telegraph traffic of two small
+islands could not be remunerative for the capital expended
+in connecting them with the continent. A short extension<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span>
+of the term for completing the undertaking had been
+obtained; but that was nearly run out before matters were
+put in a better train.</p>
+
+<p>In this emergency, Mr. Brett, the <i>g&eacute;rant</i> of the foreign
+company, who had contracted for and personally superintended
+the previous attempts to lay the African cable,
+entered into negotiations for its being undertaken by
+Messrs. Newall and Co. They had an established reputation,
+not only as having long been manufacturers
+of submarine electric cables, the quality of which had
+been tested by continuous service, but as having, under
+contracts with the English Government, laid down between
+five and six hundred miles of cable in the Black
+Sea during the Crimean war, without a single mishap.
+They were, therefore, not mere theorists; having acquired
+by long experience a practical knowledge of submarine
+telegraphy which had not fallen to the lot of any others
+who had turned their attention to that branch of the
+science.</p>
+
+<p>The overtures made on the part of the Sardo-French
+Company having been favourably received in the course, I
+believe, of the summer of 1857, Messrs. Newall and Co.,
+nothing daunted by the previous failures, though doubtless
+fully aware of the difficulties they had to encounter, agreed
+to lay the African cable for a given sum, taking all risks
+on themselves. When it is understood that, about the
+same time, they also contracted with the &ldquo;Mediterranean
+Extension Company,&rdquo; on like terms as to responsibility,
+to lay down submarine cables between Cagliari and Malta,
+and from Malta to Corfu, extending over 795 nautical
+miles, and making, with the African cable, a total of
+920 miles, some idea may be formed of the magnitude of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span>
+the operations undertaken by a single firm. The mileage
+is more than one third of the distance embraced in the
+scheme of the great Transatlantic Company; and, as we
+find that the Mediterranean has its deep hollows as well
+as the Atlantic, the difficulties were proportionate.</p>
+
+<p>Having entered into these engagements, Messrs. Newall
+and Co., after completing their contract for one half, 1250
+miles, of the Transatlantic cable, lost no time in proceeding
+with the manufacture of the Mediterranean cables at their
+works in Birkenhead. Towards the end of August, the
+African cable, with some portion of the Malta cable, was
+shipped in the Mersey aboard their steamship Elba,
+the vessel before employed in laying down the cable between
+Varna and Constantinople. It should be mentioned
+that the African cable contained four wires, so that it was
+more ponderous and less flexible than the Atlantic cable,
+which has only one.</p>
+
+<p>About this time, the writer happened to hear what was
+going on. Being then engaged in preparing these Sardinian
+&ldquo;Rambles&rdquo; for the press, he was desirous to
+make another trip to the island before their publication;
+and, besides the connection of the Cagliari line of telegraphs
+with the objects of his work, other circumstances
+had made him generally interested in the subject of submarine
+telegraphy. He therefore requested Mr. R.S.
+Newall's permission for his joining the expedition, which
+was kindly granted.</p>
+
+<p>With this preliminary statement, we proceed at once to
+the scene of action. At the last moment it had been
+decided, for reasons with which I am unacquainted, but,
+I believe, on the suggestion of the foreign Governments
+interested in the project, to start from the African coast,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span>
+instead of from Cagliari; Cape de Garde, a few miles eastward
+of Bona, a town on the Tunisian frontier of the
+French possessions in Algeria, being selected as the point
+at or near which the submarine cable was to be submerged.
+The Elba, with the cable on board, anchored off Bona
+on Saturday, the 5th of September. Three war-steamships,
+appointed by the foreign Governments to attend and assist
+in the operations, had arrived some days before, and lay at
+anchor in the haven of Cazerain. The little squadron consisted
+of the Brandon, a large frigate under the French
+flag, with the Monzambano and the Ichnusa, both belonging
+to the royal Sardinian navy; and on board were
+the Commissioners appointed by the respective Governments
+to watch the operations.</p>
+
+<p>It blew hard after the Elba's arrival, and the ships
+being detained in harbour, waiting for a favourable wind,
+opportunities offered of landing at Bona, and making some
+excursions into the surrounding country. The old Arab
+town rises from the sea in the form of an amphitheatre,
+and you see its high embattled walls running up the hill-side
+and embracing in its enceinte the citadel, or Casbah,
+crowning the heights; the whole backed by the towering
+summits and shaggy slopes of the chain of Mount Edough.
+Within is a labyrinth of narrow streets; that leading direct
+from the port crossing a steep ridge to the Place d'Armes,
+a square with a fountain in the centre, overhung with
+palms and other exotics, and where French architecture is
+singularly mixed with the Moorish style. On one side
+stands a mosque, with its tall minaret; on the other, range
+caf&eacute;s and restaurants, and magazins de mode, with their
+lofty fronts, arcades, and balconies. We linger for a
+moment on the spectacle offered by the various populations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span>
+which crowd the square from morn to eve, and most
+after nightfall; a motley crowd of Arabs, Moors, Zouaves,
+Chasseurs, Jews, and Maltese. In the picturesque contrast
+of costume it presents, the gayest French uniforms
+possess no attractions compared with the white and flowing
+bournous, with even the sheepskin mantle of the poor
+Arab of the desert, the bright braided caftan of the Moor,
+the turban, and the fez. But the limits assigned to this
+work being already exceeded, I may not allow myself to
+dwell on the numberless objects which attract the attention
+of a curious traveller, in scenes where the modes
+and forms of Oriental life are singularly blended with
+those that bear the freshest European stamp.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is this the place for more than noting an excursion
+to the picturesque ruins of Hippona, the old Roman city,
+the Hippo-Regius, where the great St. Augustine laboured
+in the African episcopate, and ended his days during the
+sufferings of Genseric's siege. They stand on a hillock
+facing the sea, now covered with thickets of wild olive
+trees and fragments of the buildings. What a plain is
+that you see from the summit, stretching away in all directions,
+a vast expanse of grassy meadows on the banks
+of the river Seybouse; parched indeed now by the torrid
+heat of an African summer, but of rich verdure after the
+rains! What prodigious ricks of hay we observe at the
+French cavalry barracks, as we ride along! What growth
+of vegetables in the irrigated gardens of the industrious,
+but turbulent, Maltese! Surely, but for the French inaptitude
+to colonisation, this part of Algeria, at least,
+might be turned to good account.</p>
+
+<p>Changing the scene for a moment from the sultry
+plains, we may just note another excursion, which led<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span>
+to the summit of the pass crossing the chain of Mount
+Edough. At the top we look westward over a sea of
+mountains, towards and beyond Constantine, the strongholds
+of the indomitable Kabyles. Turning homewards,
+we slowly descend the winding road, among slopes covered
+with a coarser <i>maquis</i>&mdash;still more fitted to endure the
+drought&mdash;than the evergreen thickets of Corsica and Sardinia;
+the dwarf palm, <i>cham&aelig;rops humilis</i>, most prevailing.
+Bona, with its walls and terraces and the Casbah
+and the minarets, rising above a grove of orchards and
+gardens, now makes a pleasing picture. Beyond, in the
+still water of the haven, our little fleet lies at anchor, with
+the French guardship; outside, the blue Mediterranean is
+now very gently rippled by the evening breeze.</p>
+
+<p>We are recalled to the ships, and hasten on board, for
+the wind having changed, with a promise of fair weather,
+it is decided to commence operations. The point selected
+for landing the shore-end of the cable was a sandy cove, a
+little to the eastward of Cape de Garde, or as it is otherwise
+called Cap Rouge, a literal translation of <i>Ras-el-Hamrah</i>,
+the name given it by the natives. There is an
+easy ascent from the cove to Fort G&eacute;nois, about half a
+mile distant. The fort, a white square building at the
+edge of the cliffs, said to have been built by the Genoese
+to protect their coral fisheries on this coast, was convenient
+for establishing a temporary telegraph station, wires being
+run up to it from the end of the submarine cable.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely morning, the sun bright in a cloudless
+sky and the blue Mediterranean calm as a lake, when
+the little squadron having got up steam, ran along the
+shore, and successively anchored in the cove. There floated,
+in happy union, the flags of the three allied Powers recently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span>
+engaged in very different operations: and the ships,
+with their boats passing and repassing, formed a lively
+scene contrasted with that desert shore, on the rocks of
+which a solitary Arab stood watching proceedings so
+strange to him.</p>
+
+<p>The Elba's stern having been brought round to the
+land, the ship was moored within cable's length of the
+sandy beach; but the operation of landing the submarine
+cable was delayed in consequence of the neglect of the
+Sardinian company's agents, whose duty it was to have
+the land-line of telegraph wires ready to communicate with
+Port G&eacute;nois. This occupied the whole day, and I took
+advantage of it, landing in one of the first boats, to make
+a long ramble, visiting, in the course of it, Fort G&eacute;nois,
+an encampment of Arabs at some distance in the interior,
+and climbing to the lighthouse on Cape de Garde, commanding,
+as may be imagined, magnificent views. It was
+a toilsome march, over rocks and sands, and through
+prickly thickets, in the full blaze of an African sun at
+noontide; but the excursion was full of interest, and not
+without its trifling adventures.</p>
+
+<p>The shore works were not completed till sunset, when,
+all the boats being recalled to the ships, they got under
+weigh, the Monzambano towing the Elba, with the
+Ichnusa ahead, and the Brandon on her larboard bow.
+The engineers began paying out the cable at eight o'clock,
+proceeding at first slowly, as the night was dark, and being
+desirous to try cautiously the working of the machinery.
+As the water deepened, the cable ran out fast, and the
+speed was increased, so that by midnight we had run
+about seventeen miles, with a loss in slack, it was reckoned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span>
+up to that time, of under twenty per cent, of cable, compared
+with the distance run.</p>
+
+<p>Few, I imagine, aboard the Elba got much sleep that
+night. The very idea of sleep was precluded by the incessant
+roar of the cable, rushing, like a mighty cataract,
+through the iron channels confining its course over the
+deck, while the measured strokes of the steam-engine beat
+time to the roar. Having laid down for two hours, I gave
+up my cabin to one of our numerous guests; for the French
+and Italian commissioners being now on board the Elba,
+besides Mr. Werner Siemens and his staff of German telegraphists,
+her accommodations were fully tried; and as for
+languages, she was a floating Babel. Coming on deck at
+twelve o'clock, the lighthouse on Cape de Garde was still
+visible. The attendant ships carried bright lanterns at
+their mastheads, sometimes throwing up signal rockets;
+and so the convoy swept steadily on through the darkness,
+the Elba still following in the wake of the Monzambano.
+Mr. Newall and Mr. C. Liddell, who directed the whole
+operations, never quitted their post at the break. The
+telegraphists, from their station amidship, tested the insulation
+from time to time, speaking to the station at Port
+G&eacute;nois. Looking down into the mainhold, which was
+well lighted up, you saw the men cutting the lashings to
+release the cable, as, gradually unfolding its serpentine
+coils from the cone in the centre, it was dragged rapidly
+upwards by the strain of its vast weight, and rushed
+through the rings to the vessel's stern. There the speed
+was moderated, before it plunged from the taffrail into
+the depths beneath, by the slow revolutions of a large
+wheel, round which the cable took several turns.</p>
+
+<p>As day broke and the sun rose magnificently over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span>
+Mediterranean, Galita Island came in sight, distant from
+thirty to forty miles to the eastward; the high lands of
+Africa being still visible. With the sea perfectly calm,
+all augured well for the success of the enterprise, except
+that serious apprehensions were entertained lest the cable,
+paying out so fast in the great depth of water we were
+now crossing,&mdash;1500 fathoms,&mdash;might not hold out to reach
+the land. Thus we ran on all the morning, the vessel's
+speed being increased to between five and six knots per
+hour, and the strain on the cable to five tons per mile; the
+depth ranging from 1500 to 1700 fathoms.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the afternoon the land of Sardinia was in sight
+between fifty and sixty miles ahead, our course being
+steered towards Cape Teulada, the extreme southern point
+of the island. By sunset we had reached within twelve
+miles of the shore, and angles having been carefully taken
+to fix our exact position, we anchored in eighty fathoms
+water. Soon afterwards the attendant ships closed in, and
+anchored near us for the night. The little squadron, well
+lighted, formed a cheerful group, the sea was smooth as
+a mill-pond, and the mountains of Sardinia, after reflecting
+the last rays of the setting sun, loomed heavily in the
+growing twilight. All hands on board the Elba were
+glad of rest after thirty-six hours of incessant toil.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, as we had run out the whole of our
+cable proper, a piece of the Malta cable was spliced on,
+with some smaller coils also on board. Meanwhile, the
+Ichnusa had gone ahead at daybreak to take soundings,
+and when all was ready we began paying out the cable,
+being then, as already stated, about twelve miles from the
+land. All went on smoothly, and there was scarcely any
+loss of cable by slack. The eye turned naturally, again<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span>
+and again, from anxiously counting the lessening coils in
+the hold to measure our decreasing distance from the
+shore, as its hold features and indentations became hourly
+more distinct. Cape Teulada stood right ahead, a bold
+headland, with peaked summits 900 feet high. It forms
+the eastern point of the Gulf of Palmas, and has a long face
+of precipitous cliffs towards the sea. To the west of this
+deep inlet appeared the rocky islands of San Antioco and
+San Pietro, with cliffs of volcanic formation; and the Toro
+rock stood out a bold insulated object, 500 or 600 feet
+high, marking the entrance of the Gulf of Palmas, a spacious
+bay offering excellent anchorage.</p>
+
+<p>We had run ten miles towards a beach under the cliffs, a
+little to the eastward of Cape Teulada, when the small cable,
+now in course of being paid out, suddenly parted. The
+mishap occurred about a mile and a half from the shore,
+in forty fathoms water, with a sandy bottom. It was
+provoking enough to have our expectations baulked, when
+holding on for another half hour we should have succeeded
+in bringing the cable to land; but, for our comfort, the
+main difficulties of the enterprise were overcome. The
+African cable had been securely laid in the greatest depths
+of the Mediterranean, and the shore-end of the line could
+be easily recovered in the shallow water. The only question
+was, whether it should be immediately effected; but for
+this the weather had become very unfavourable. The wind
+had been blowing strong from the south-east all the morning;
+and a gust of it caught the Elba's stern, and canted it
+suddenly round, when the small cable snapped like a packthread.
+Rather a heavy sea was now running, and, on the
+whole, it was thought advisable to defer the concluding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span>
+operations until an entirely new end to the cable could be
+procured from England.</p>
+
+<p>For this purpose, and at the same time to bring out the
+Malta cable, the Elba was despatched homeward a few
+hours after the accident happened. Fresh angles having
+been carefully secured, nothing remained but to take leave
+of our friends before the squadron parted,&mdash;the Brandon
+for the Levant, and the Sardinian frigates for ports in the
+island. While all belonging to the Elba considered that
+the submersion of a cable between Algeria and the coast of
+Sardinia was virtually a <i>fait accompli</i>, it was almost painful
+to witness the dismay of the Italians, at the mishap which
+had occurred to cloud their anticipations. It was evident
+that they entirely distrusted all assurances of the contractors'
+ability to recover the end of the cable, and perfect
+the line. Their fears were groundless; within a few weeks
+the new coil was brought from England, and the end of
+the submerged cable having been grappled at the first
+haul, the work was completed without any difficulty.
+Messrs. Newall and Liddell immediately proceeded to lay
+down the Cagliari and Malta, and the Malta and Corfu
+cable, 375 and 420 miles respectively; both which they
+effected with entire success in the months of November
+and December following, with a very small average waste
+of cable over the distance, and in depths equally great
+with those in which the African line was laid.</p>
+
+<p>My own object now being to reach Cagliari, the commander
+of the Monzambano was kind enough to give
+me a passage in his fine frigate. I got on board just as
+the officers and their guests were sitting down to dinner
+under an awning on the deck. Among them was the old
+General Della Marmora, whose love of science and devotion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span>
+to the interests of Sardinia had induced him, though suffering
+from bad health, to make the voyage for the purpose
+of witnessing the important experiment. I found
+that he did not share in the apprehensions of the Italian
+shareholders on board as to the loss of the cable. The
+General had long cherished the idea that the ports of Sardinia,
+and especially Cagliari, are destined to partake
+largely of the commercial advantages resulting from a
+variety of recent events. In a little work, already referred
+to, which he was kind enough to give me<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a>, he points
+out the fine position of Cagliari, its spacious gulf, with
+good anchorage, open to the south, and in the highway
+of all ships navigating the Mediterranean between the
+Straits of Gibraltar, the Levant, and the Black Sea. A
+glance at the map, he truly observes, will show no other
+port, either on the coast of northern Africa, in Sicily, or the
+south of Italy, which can be its rival. Malta alone competes
+with it both in position and as a harbour; but he
+justly asks,&mdash;&ldquo;Can a barren rock like Malta be compared,
+in a commercial point of view, with an island of such
+extent, and possessing so many natural resources, as
+Sardinia?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The General also points out the advantages offered by
+the electric telegraph station at Cagliari to masters of
+ships bound to the Mediterranean, the Levant, and the
+Black Sea, from the ports of Northern Europe, or, <i>vice
+vers&acirc;</i>, to those coming from the eastward, to induce them
+to touch at Cagliari. After, perhaps, long and wearisome
+voyages, they will find, he observes, in their very track, in
+the heart of the Mediterranean, the means of correspondence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span>
+in a few hours, with their families and their owners,
+receiving news and instructions from home. These facilities
+he considers of inestimable value; and it strikes
+us that the area included in the General's observations
+will be much extended when the electric wires are carried
+across the Atlantic, and that American ships are more
+likely to avail themselves of the advantages offered than
+those of any other nation.</p>
+
+<p>Without sharing the sanguine anticipations of the excellent
+General La Marmora as to the speedy regeneration of
+Sardinia, and the development of her natural resources,
+undoubtedly great as they are, the remark may be allowed,
+that it would be a singular and happy event if this island,
+which appears to have been one of the first, if not the
+first, station of the earliest maritime people, in their
+advance towards Western Europe, should, now that the
+tide of civilisation, so long flowing from the East, has
+evidently taken a reflex course, become again that centre
+of commercial intercourse for which its geographical position
+so well fits it.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening, the Monzambano was running along
+the iron-bound coast terminating with Cape Spartivento,
+the western headland of the Gulf of Cagliari. I know not
+whether it was from the position of the ruins, or the hazy
+state of the atmosphere, night coming on, that I failed to
+make out some Cyclopean vestiges mentioned by Captain
+Smyth&mdash;Mr. Tyndale says they are a large Nuraghe&mdash;as
+standing on one of the most remarkable summits, at an
+elevation of upwards of 1000 feet, and called by the peasants,
+&ldquo;The Giants' Tower.&rdquo; &ldquo;This structure,&rdquo; observes Captain
+Smyth, &ldquo;situated amongst bare cliffs, wild ravines, and
+desolate grounds, appeared a ruin of art amidst a ruin of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span>
+nature, and imparted to the scene inexpressible grandeur.&rdquo;
+During our passage we had a stormy sky and a strong
+head-wind, the sun setting gorgeously among masses of
+purple and orange clouds. There was nothing to relieve
+the barren aspect of this desert coast but the grey watch-towers
+from point to point, similar to those we saw on the
+coasts of Corsica; and, having paced for an hour the
+frigate's long flush deck, I was glad to turn-in early, and
+enjoy the comforts of a state cabin after the fatigues and
+watches of the two preceding days and nights.</p>
+
+<p>The contrary wind retarded our progress, and it was
+not till after daylight that, approaching the harbour of
+Cagliari, I enjoyed the fine view, described in a former
+chapter, of the city, stretching a long line of suburbs at
+the base of the heights crowned by the Casteddu, with its
+towers and domes. The frigate entering the port was
+moored alongside the government wharf; from which may
+be inferred the depth of water, and the class of vessels the
+port is capable of receiving. It now contained only about
+twenty ships, one only of which, a brig, was under the
+English flag. The rest were of small burthen, and mostly
+Genoese and French. General La Marmora states, in the
+Memoir before quoted, that &ldquo;since the crosses of Savoy
+and of Genoa have been united in the same flag,&rdquo; the
+Genoese have turned much attention to the trade of Sardinia;
+and that a company was forming for the improvement
+of the port of Cagliari, in order to draw to it some
+part of the corn trade of the Black Sea. Thus the ancient
+granary of Rome might become the emporium of the trade
+in corn for Italy and Southern France, and even for
+Africa; the General observing, with what reason there
+may be some doubt, that, while only two voyages can be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span>
+made between the ports of those countries and the Black
+Sea, three, or even four such, could be accomplished from
+Cagliari.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be regretted that I did not obtain the latest statistics
+of the commerce of Sardinia, and the port of Cagliari
+in particular, from our very intelligent Consul, Mr. Craig;
+recollecting only his having mentioned that coal is the
+principal import from England;&mdash;France and Genoa, I
+conclude, supplying manufactured articles and colonial
+produce. Salt, he said, was the chief export, great part of
+it being shipped to Newfoundland and Labrador.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot mention Mr. Craig, for the last time in these
+pages, without an acknowledgment of the many kind
+offices for which I am indebted to him during the present
+and preceding visits to Sardinia, nor can I easily forget
+the pleasure enjoyed in his amiable family circle. Hours
+so spent in a foreign country have a double charm; for in
+such agreeable society the traveller breathes the atmosphere,
+and is restored to the habits, of his cherished home.
+I have no reason to think that Mr. Craig's long and
+valuable services are not duly appreciated by his Government;
+but it might be wished that, in any re-arrangement
+of the consular service, they be taken into consideration.
+It is a sort of honourable exile for a man to spend sixteen
+years of his life on a foreign service, with a family growing
+up, who enjoy very rare opportunities of conversing with
+any of their own countrymen, and still less of their countrywomen,
+in their mother tongue. I take some liberty
+in venturing to offer these wholly unauthorized remarks on
+a subject of some delicacy; and only wish I could flatter
+myself they have any chance of reaching influential quarters,
+and not being forgotten. Mr. Craig's position, respected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span>
+and esteemed as he long has been, is eligible in
+many respects; but it might perhaps be improved.</p>
+
+<p>At the Consul-General's I again met some of the officers
+of the Ichnusa, to whom, as well as to Boyl commanding
+the Monzambano, I wish to offer my acknowledgments
+for many civilities. Lieutenant Baudini, of the Ichnusa
+and other Sardinian officers who understand English,
+may chance to peruse this page, and will interpret my
+sentiments to their brother officers. Commandant Boyl
+was kind enough to give me a passage to Genoa, being
+under orders for that port. We had a pleasant run, the
+style of living on board the Monzambano being excellent,
+the society agreeable, and enjoying magnificent
+weather. I have before observed that the officers of the
+Sardinian navy are intelligent and gentlemanly, and appear
+to be well up to their profession. The crews are smart,
+and every thing aboard the ship was in the highest order
+and conducted with perfect discipline.</p>
+
+<p>Steaming close in-shore along the eastern coast of Sardinia,
+remarkable principally for its bold and sterile
+character, there was a striking contrast in the appearance
+of the same coast of Corsica, which came in sight after
+crossing the mouth of the Straits of Bonifacio. This was
+comparatively verdant, not only as regards the fertile
+plains of the <i>littorale</i>, described in an early chapter, but,
+even where the mountain ranges approached the Mediterranean
+south of these extensive plains, the sterile aspect of
+their towering summits and precipitous cliffs was often
+relieved by immense forests encircling their bases, while
+every hillside and slope to the valleys appeared densely
+clothed with the evergreen <i>macchia</i>, for which Corsica is so
+remarkable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Part of this coast was already well known to the homeward
+bound traveller: again he caught sight of the bold
+outlines of Elba and Monte Cristo, rising out of the Tuscan
+sea; again, as on the first evening of these rambles, the
+white terraces of Bastia reflected the rays of the setting
+sun. Soon afterwards the mountain ranges of Capo-Corso
+were veiled in darkness, and, as we ran along the shore
+nothing was visible but the twinkling lights of the fishermen's
+huts in the little <i>marinas</i>, to bring to mind those
+features which had so fascinated us on our first approach
+to the island.</p>
+
+<p>Again, farewell to Corsica! Farewell to the twin islands
+which, like emeralds set in an enamelled vase, deck the
+centre of the great Mediterranean bason, embraced by the
+coasts of Italy, France, and Spain,&mdash;radiant points midway
+to Africa, in the great highway to the East, and partaking
+the varied character of all these climes. It had been my
+fortune not only to ramble through these islands from
+north to south, but, in different voyages, to sail round the
+entire coasts of both, except some part of the west of Sardinia.
+I can only wish that these pages more adequately
+represented the impressions made under the opportunities
+thus enjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>It was again my fortune to approach the lovely bay of
+Genoa with the earliest morning light; and, taking leave
+of my good friends on board the Monzambano, I landed
+before breakfast. To vary the route homeward, instead
+of crossing the Mont-Cenis, as had been done in frost
+and snow at a late season of the year in the former tour,
+I enjoyed the enviable contrast of journeying along the
+<i>Riviera di Ponente</i> from Genoa to Nice,&mdash;that exquisite
+strip of country between the Apennines and the Mediterranean,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span>
+studded with orchards, orange groves, vineyards,
+and gardens; with towns, towers, churches, and
+convents, nestled in the groves, washed by the sea, or
+perched high on rocky pinnacles; and all this encircling
+the lovely Bay of Genoa, the road being carried <i>en corniche</i>
+along its winding shores and round its jutting points. Of
+this exquisite scenery no description of mine could convey
+any adequate idea to those who have not seen it, and those
+who have will need little memento to bring its varied
+features to their recollection.</p>
+
+<p>Farewell, a long farewell to, perhaps, the loveliest
+strip of country in the bright South! The Neapolitan
+proverb may be applied with equal justice to the Ligurian,
+as to the fair Campanian, coast,&mdash;<i>vedere e p&oacute;i morire</i>,&mdash;a
+fitting motto wherewith to conclude the tale of an old
+man's wanderings.</p>
+
+<p>Pursuing the journey from Nice to Marseilles, in heat
+and in dust, the express train, by Lyons and Paris, conveyed
+the Rambler to Calais in about thirty hours, and six
+more landed him in London.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="visibility: hidden;" />
+
+<h3>THE END</h3>
+
+<hr style="visibility: hidden;" />
+
+<p class="center"><small>LONDON:<br />
+PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.<br />
+NEW-STREET SQUARE.</small>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Dei Costumi dell'Isola di Sardegna, comparate cogli antichissimi
+Popoli Orientali, par Antonio Bresciani. D.C.D.G. Napoli, 1850.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> &#928;&#959;&#955;&#955;&#8182;&#957; &#948;' &#7936;&#957;&#952;&#961;&#959;&#960;&#8182;&#957; &#7986;&#948;&#949;&#957; &#7938;&#963;&#949;&#945;&mdash;&#954;&#945;&#8054; &#957;&#8048;&#959;&#957; &#7952;&#947;&#957;&#8182;. Od. i. 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Lamartine</i>. See <span class="smcap">The Island Empire</span>, dedicated to Lord Holland.
+Bosworth, 1855.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> In the same way, Ordericus Vitalis represents William the Conqueror
+to have said in his last moments, when reviewing his life, that he fought
+against Harold (meaning what English historians call the Battle of
+Hastings&mdash;a name never given to that battle by the Normans) <i>in Epitumo</i>
+(query <i>Epithymo?</i>), a word only found in the work of Ordericus; referring,
+probably, as his editor remarks, &ldquo;to the odoriferous plants found on
+heaths.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Forester's Ordericus Vitalis</i>, Bohn's Edition, vol. ii. p. 412.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Benson's Corsica</i>, p. 81.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The following biographical sketch is compiled from the works of
+Boswell and Benson, and the compendious <i>Histoire de la Corse</i>, by M.
+Camille Friess.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> This appears from the Report of a Committee on the Public Safety
+made to the Council General of the Department of Corsica in 1851. It
+says: &ldquo;La soci&eacute;t&eacute; et l'innocence doivent trouver dans la loi une &eacute;gale
+protection; mais l'avantage ne doit pas rester au crime.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Les acquittements multipli&eacute;s, et souvent scandaleux, n'ont que trop
+d&eacute;montr&eacute; que notre l&eacute;gislation actuelle renferme trop de chances pour
+l'impunit&eacute;, et ne pr&eacute;sente pas toutes les garanties que la soci&eacute;t&eacute; est en
+droit de reclamer pour la r&eacute;pression des crimes.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Elle a pens&eacute; qu'en ce qui touche les proportions de la majorit&eacute;, <i>l'institution
+du jury devrait &ecirc;tre modifi&eacute;e</i>.&rdquo;
+</p><p>
+The proposition was rejected, on the principle which operated when
+the difficulty of obtaining convictions in Ireland raised a similar question;
+namely, that such an exceptional measure was inexpedient.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;En ce qui touche l'organisation du jury, le Conseil a pens&eacute; que cette
+proposition ne pouvait &ecirc;tre faite que dans un int&eacute;r&ecirc;t g&eacute;n&eacute;ral pour la
+France, et qu'en lui donnant un caract&egrave;re sp&eacute;cial pour la Corse, elle
+resemblerait trop &agrave; une mesure d'exception que le Conseil repousse.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> &ldquo;With all the outrages,&rdquo; continues Mr. Benson, &ldquo;of which Galluchio
+and his followers are guilty, he is by no means void of moral feeling, and
+is quite a polished character when he enters private society, as I learnt
+from a French gentleman who had met him at breakfast at the house of a
+mutual acquaintance. My friend, when he found himself in such company,
+naturally betrayed a little alarm, but Galluchio reassured him, saying,
+&#8216;You and yours have nothing to fear at my hands.&#8217;
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;I am really afraid to extract from my notes many of the wild adventures
+of this Corsican Rob Roy. Not long since, a shepherd, personating
+him, violated a female peasant. The chieftain soon obtained information
+of the gross outrage that had been committed on his character; and finding
+the shepherd, took him before the mayor of Bagniola, and this at a
+time when Galluchio had six sentences of death hanging over him. At the
+chieftain's instigation, the shepherd was compelled to espouse the poor
+girl. Galluchio, after the marriage had been solemnised, said to the
+shepherd, &#8216;Remember that you make a good husband. I shall keep a
+watchful eye over your conduct; and should I hear that your wife receives
+any maltreatment from you, yourself and your family shall pay with their
+lives for your misconduct.&#8217; The man little attended to Galluchio's warning.
+The chieftain adhered to his threat, and the shepherd, with his
+father and several other members of the same family, fell victims.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Benson's
+Sketches in Corsica</i>, pp. 23-25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Corsica, by F. Gregorovius.</i> Chap. x. p. 149. of the translation published
+by Longman &amp; Co.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Novelle Storiche Corse, di F.O. Renucci.</i> Bastia, 1838.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Novella VIII. L'Amore e la Religion.</i> Renucci, p. 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Marmocchi. <i>G&eacute;ographie Politique de l'Ile de Corse</i>, p. 117.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> In this sanguinary battle, fought in 1768, the Corsicans, under
+Pasquale and Clemente Paoli, Murati, and their other chiefs, thrice repulsed
+the French army of 15,000 men under Chauvelin, and forced them
+to retreat in disorder to Bastia. The garrison of Borgo, a force of 700
+men, laid down their arms, and surrendered to the Corsicans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>G&eacute;ographie Physique</i>, p. 57.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Norway in 1848-1849</i>, pp. 188, 189. (8vo. Ed., Longman &amp; Co.)
+Professor Forbes arrives at nearly the same result from the observations
+of Von Buch and others. <i>Norway and its Glaciers</i>, pp. 207, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Professor Forbes (<i>Travels in the Alps</i>) states the average height of
+the snow-line at 8500 feet.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See an Essay by Professor Forbes on Isothermal Lines and Climatology,
+in <i>Johnstone's Physical Atlas</i>, p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> &ldquo;Un Arr&ecirc;t du Conseil du 22 Juin, 1771, avait d&eacute;fendu de planter des
+ch&acirc;taigniers dans aucun terrain de l'&icirc;le susceptible d'&ecirc;tre ensemenc&eacute; de
+bl&eacute;s ou autres grains, ou d'&ecirc;tre converti en prairies naturelles ou artificielles,
+ou plant&eacute;s de vignes, d'oliviers, ou de m&ucirc;riers. Deux ans apr&egrave;s cet arr&ecirc;t
+fut revoqu&eacute; par un autre, o&ugrave; l'on reconnaissait que les ch&acirc;taigniers &eacute;taient
+pour les habitants de certains cantons un moyen d'existence n&eacute;cessaire
+dans les temps de disette, et dans tous les temps un objet de commerce
+avantageux. Ce dernier arr&ecirc;t fut rendu sur le rapport du c&eacute;l&egrave;bre &eacute;conomiste
+Turgot.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Robiquet</i>, quoted by <i>Marmocchi</i>, p. 225.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Clarke and M<sup>c</sup>Arthur's Life of Nelson</i>, vol. i. pp. 156, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Benson's <i>Sketches of Corsica</i>, p. 97.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Lyell's <i>Elements</i>, vol. ii. c. xxxi.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Recherches sur les Ossements fossiles</i>, t. iv. p. 198.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Vol. ii. c. xxxi.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Chap. <a href="#CHAP_XIII">XIII</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> See Chap. <a href="#CHAP_XI">XI</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The article of the Constitutional Act, vesting the sovereignty of Corsica
+in the king of Great Britain, runs as follows:&mdash;
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Il Monarca, e R&egrave; della Corsica, &egrave; sua Maest&agrave; Giorgio III., R&egrave; della
+Gran-Bretagna, e li de lui Successori, secondo l'ordine della successione
+al trono della Gran-Bretagna.&rdquo;
+</p><p>
+The oath sworn by the king on accepting the crown and constitution of
+Corsica was to the following effect:&mdash;
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Io sotto scritto Cavaliere Baronetto, &amp;c., &amp;c., Plenipotenziario di
+S. Maest&agrave; Britannica, essendo specialmente autorizzato a quest'effetto,
+accetto in nome di sua Maest&agrave; <span class="smcap">Giorgio III., R&egrave; Della Gran-Bretagna</span>,
+la corona e la sovranit&agrave; della Corsica secondo la Costituzione, &amp;c., questo
+giorno dicianove Giugno (1704). E giuro in nome di <span class="smcap">Sua Maest&agrave;</span> di
+mantenere la libert&agrave; del popolo Corso, secondo la Costituzione e la
+Legge.
+</p><p style="margin-left:40%">
+&ldquo;(Sottoscritto)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="smcap">Elliot</span>.&rdquo;<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+The oath of the president and deputies:&mdash;
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Io giuro per me, ed in nome del popolo Corso che rappresento, di
+riconoscere per mio Sovrano e R&egrave; sua Maest&agrave; <span class="smcap">Giorgio III., R&egrave; Della
+Gran-Bretagna</span>, di prestargli fede ed omaggio, secondo la Costituzione,&rdquo;
+&amp;c.
+</p>
+<p style="margin-left: 10%">
+Compared with the original,
+</p>
+
+<table summary="oath">
+<tr>
+<td class="poem"><span class="smcap">Pasquale Di Paoli</span>, <i>Presidente</i>.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="poem"><span class="smcap">Carlo Andrea Pozzo-Di-Borgo</span>,</td><td class="double" rowspan="2">}</td><td class="seg" rowspan="2"><i>Segretarj.</i></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="poem"><span class="smcap">Gio. Andrea Muselli</span>,</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>
+The oath of allegiance was to be taken by all Corsicans in their respective
+communities.&mdash;<i>Benson's Sketches in Corsica</i>, pp. 193-195.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> See before, p. <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Hist. Plant.</i> lib. 1, cap. 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> See <i>Norway in 1848&mdash;1849</i>, 8vo., Longman &amp; Co., pp. 36, 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Lambert's <i>Genus Pinus</i>, vol. i. p. 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Walpole's <i>Turkey</i>, p. 236.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Lambert's <i>Genus Pinus</i>, vol. ii. p. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> &ldquo;FOR&Ecirc;T D'ASCO EN CORSE.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;La For&ecirc;t d'Asco est situ&eacute;e dans l'arrondissement de Corte. Elle est
+travers&eacute;e par une rivi&egrave;re au moyen de laquelle on pourrait l'exploiter avec
+de grands avantages. Cette for&ecirc;t, une des plus consid&eacute;rables, consid&eacute;r&eacute;e
+comme for&ecirc;t particuli&egrave;re, pourrait fournir deux cents cinquante mille m&egrave;tres
+cubes de bois. Elle renferme des arbres de toute dimension. Il y en
+est qu'on pouvait faire servir pour la marine comme mati&egrave;re de b&acirc;timents.
+Par sa nature grasse ou r&eacute;sineuse, le bois est employ&eacute; avec succ&egrave;s pour les
+chemins de fer, et pr&eacute;sente tous les conditions de solidit&eacute; et de dur&eacute;e.
+La plus grande partie de la for&ecirc;t renferme les Pins Larix; il y a aussi une
+grande quantit&eacute; de Pins Maritimes. La dimension des arbres maritimes
+est de 12 &agrave; 20 m&egrave;tres de hauteur; et celle des Pins Larix de 16 &agrave; 40 m&egrave;tres
+de hauteur, sur une circonf&eacute;rence moyenne de trois m&egrave;tres.&rdquo;
+</p><p>
+At the suggestion of one of our foreign ministers, who drew the attention
+of Government to the possibility of obtaining supplies of timber for
+naval purposes from the forests of Corsica in private hands, the author, on
+his return to England, had some communications with official persons
+respecting the forests of Signor F&mdash;&#8212;; but the matter dropped. Should
+it be thought a subject worth inquiry, with a view to commercial enterprise,
+the author will be happy to put any person applying to him, through his
+Publishers, in the way of procuring further information.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> There was no appeal to any personal attachment of the Corsicans to
+the Bonaparte family, as sprung from among themselves, or to their gratitude
+for benefits conferred on them, in the address with which, in 1851,
+the <i>Pr&eacute;fet</i> urged the Council-General to take part in the general movement
+in France for the abrogation of the article in the Constitution which
+precluded the advance of Louis Napoleon to supreme power. &ldquo;<i>Marchons</i>,&rdquo;
+he said, &ldquo;<i>avec la grande majorit&eacute; de la France vers ce grand jour qui doit
+rendre le calme aux esprits, la confiance aux int&eacute;r&ecirc;ts, et la libert&eacute; d'action &agrave;
+l'autorit&eacute;!</i>&rdquo;
+</p><p>
+The resolution, passed by a large majority after a warm debate, was
+thus prefaced:&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Consid&eacute;rant qu'il importe de donner &agrave; la France des
+institutions que ses besoins reclament, et que ses int&eacute;r&ecirc;ts moraux et mat&ecirc;riels
+exigent: Consid&eacute;rant que le commerce et l'industrie, ces sources indispensables
+de l'existence de toute soci&eacute;t&eacute; ne se rel&egrave;veront de leur affaissement, et
+ne reprenderont un nouvel essor, qu'autant que la constitution leur promettra
+un avenir plus assur&eacute;: Consid&eacute;rant, en outre, que la souverainet&eacute;
+nationale trouve dans l'article 45 de la Constitution un obstacle l&eacute;gal &agrave; la
+libre manifestation de sa volont&eacute; et de sa reconnaissance envers le Pr&eacute;sident
+actuel de la Republique, qui a rendu l'ordre et la s&eacute;curit&eacute; au pays par
+la sagesse et la fermet&eacute; de son gouvernement: renouvelle, &agrave; la majorit&eacute; de
+quarante-deux voix contre quatre, le v&#339;u que la Constitution de 1848 soit
+revis&eacute;e, et l'article 45 abrog&eacute;e.</i>&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> This family is one of the most ancient in Corsica. Count Pozzo di
+Borgo, the celebrated diplomatist, was born at Alata, a village near
+Ajaccio. He commenced his public career under the administration of
+Pascal Paoli, signed the Anglo-Corsican Constitutional Act as Secretary
+of State (see before, p. <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.), and was afterwards President of the Corsican
+Parliament. His subsequent career is matter of history.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> I find the name spelt indiscriminately Bonaparte and Buonaparte.
+Napoleon, when young, wrote it both ways. It is spelt Bonaparte in the
+entry of his baptism in the Register of Ajaccio, which was solemnised (by-the-bye)
+two years after his birth, the dates being 15 Aug. 1709; 21 July,
+1771. His father signed the entry as &ldquo;Carlo Buonaparte.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>An Account of Corsica and Journal of a Tour</i>, by James Boswell,
+p. 297.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Boswell figured in this costume at the Jubilee Shakespeare Festival
+held at Stratford-on-Avon under Garrick's auspices.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>An Account of Corsica and Journal of a Tour</i>, by James Boswell,
+p. 302.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> See before, p. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>. and <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Ridiculously trifling as the origin of this bloody quarrel may appear,
+the story is very probably founded on fact. Renucci relates another
+scarcely less absurd. Feuds, similar to those mentioned in the play, had
+long existed between the Vinconti and Grimaldi families, inhabitants of
+the village of Monte d'Olmo, in the <i>pieve</i> of Ampugnano. Like good
+Catholics, however, they met sometimes at mass. The church was sacred
+and neutral ground; there, at least, the <i>tr&ecirc;ve de Dieu</i> might be supposed
+to be in force. Thither, on some solemn feast, the villagers, indiscriminately,
+bent their steps. Some had already entered the church, and were
+engaged in their devotions, many loitered about the door, and the <i>piazza</i>
+was crowded. Talking about one thing and another, the conversation
+naturally turned to the ceremonies of the day, and a dispute arose whether
+the officiating clergy ought to wear the black hoods of the Confraternity
+in the processions which formed part of the service.
+</p><p>
+Orso Paolo, one of the Vincenti family, gave it as his opinion that they
+should wear their surplices, alleging that to be the ancient and fitting
+custom.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;No!&rdquo; cried Ruggero Grimaldi, &ldquo;they ought to wear the black
+hoods;&rdquo; giving reasons equally authoritative for his view of the question.
+</p><p>
+The strife waxed warm. The villagers took one side or the other;
+&ldquo;hoods,&rdquo; and &ldquo;surplices,&rdquo; became the party cries. From words they
+came to blows, and Orso Paolo, the only man of the Vincenti family present,
+being sore pressed in the struggle, rashly drew out a pistol, and
+mortally wounded Ruggero Grimaldi's eldest son.
+</p><p>
+So the story begins, and as it is one of the few in Renucci's &ldquo;<i>Novelle</i>&rdquo;
+that are worth translating, we will give the sequel.
+</p><p>
+The rage and fury of Grimaldi and his party were now worked up to
+the highest pitch. The mass was interrupted, the church deserted, and
+the whole village a scene of uproar. Orso Paolo fled as soon as he had
+fired the fatal shot, pursued by his enemies, who overtook and surrounded
+him. His fate had been sealed on the spot, but that, quick as lightning,
+he burst through the throng and darted into a house of which the door
+stood open. It was the house of Grimaldi, his deadly foe, but there was
+no other chance of escaping instant death. To close and bar the door,
+and stand on his defence, was the work of a moment. Corsican houses
+are strongholds; Orso Paolo was in possession of the enemy's fortress.
+He threatens death to the first assailant, and the boldest recoil. What
+was to be done? It was proposed to set fire to the house, but Ruggero's
+youngest son, a child of seven or eight years old, had been left asleep in
+the house when the family went to church. He would perish in the
+flames. At that thought Grimaldi became irresolute. Just at this moment
+the eldest son is brought from the church, bleeding to death from his
+mortal wound, amidst lamentations and women's shrieks. At that spectacle
+Ruggero can no longer contain himself. Frantic with grief, he runs
+to set fire to his own house. The voice of nature pleading for his remaining
+child is stifled by passion and resentment. The tears and expostulations
+of the wretched mother are of no avail; they have no influence over
+the mind of the infuriated father.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;What are you doing, cruel Ruggero?&rdquo; she cried, in the midst of sobs
+and groans; &ldquo;Is it for you to fill up our cup of misery? Will you destroy
+the dearest and sweetest of our hopes? One son is gasping his last breath
+before our eyes, the other, still in infancy, will perish from the transports
+of your rage. Who, then, will be the support of our miserable old age?
+Who will defend us from the insults of the powerful?&rdquo;
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;So that Orso Paolo perish, let the world be at an end!&rdquo; exclaimed
+Ruggero. Such is the terrible force of the passions in the human breast.
+</p><p>
+Ruggero's house is burning, the fire crackles, the flames burst forth,
+the sparkles fill the air. Vincenti, involved in smoke and flame, rushes
+from place to place, seeking a retreat to prolong his life for a few moments.
+All at once he is startled by the wailing cries of a child. He directs his
+steps towards it, and discovers, with amazement, the son of his cruel
+enemy. Struck with indignation at the father's barbarity, he suddenly
+raises his hand to take vengeance on the child of his relentless adversary.
+The boy utters a plaintive cry, and stretches its little hands towards him,
+trembling and frightened.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Take courage, my boy, take courage!&rdquo; said Vincenti, snatching him
+to his bosom; &ldquo;you see a man who is not deaf to the voice of pity. If
+Heaven will not protect your innocency, at least you shall die in the arms
+of a second father.&rdquo;
+</p><p>
+Meanwhile, the fire spreads through every part of the building; nothing
+can resist the fury of the devouring flames. Fanned by the wind, they
+surge in waves, ever greedy of new food. The roof quivers, the floors
+crack, the whole falls with a terrible crash. What chance was there for
+Vincenti's escape with life? He had abandoned all hopes.
+</p><p>
+Ruggero, satiated with vengeance, retires to the house of a relation, to
+which his wounded son had been removed. The spectacle of his sufferings,
+his imminent danger, and the sobs and lamentations of his inconsolable
+wife, awaken in his soul the affections of a father. A faint ray of reason
+penetrates his mind, and he perceives all the horrors of his proceeding.
+Trouble, remorse, repentance, succeed; his heart is wrung with anguish,
+and he attempts his own life. Friends interfere to restrain him.
+</p><p>
+At the news of the atrocity committed by the Grimaldi, in firing the
+house and leaving their enemy to perish in the ruins, the kinsmen of
+Orso Paolo assemble and rush to Monte d'Olmo, threatening vengeance
+on the perpetrators. The Grimaldi rally round Ruggero to shield him
+from his exasperated enemies. Just then, shouts are raised in the piazza,
+mingled with the name of Vincenti, and at intervals with gentler sounds
+which speak to the heart of the wife of Ruggero.
+</p><p>
+She flies to the window, and exclaiming, &ldquo;Oh heaven! Orso Paolo!
+My son! My son! My son!&rdquo; falls speechless and fainting on the floor.
+The spectacle which produced this vivid emotion was that of the noble
+Vincenti, who, scorched, and covered with ashes, and pressing the child
+firmly to his breast, was hastening on amid the acclamations and <i>evvivas</i> of
+the populace. He had taken refuge under an arch of the staircase, clasping
+the child firmly in his arms.
+</p><p>
+Ruggero's wife, recovering from her swoon, runs and throws herself
+into the arms of Vincenti, calling him the preserver and father of her
+beloved son. Ruggero, full of admiration and gratitude, salutes Vincenti,
+with a modest humility, invoking his pardon, and begging his friendship.
+Vincenti embraces him, pardons him, and swears eternal friendship for
+him. The wounded youth unexpectedly recovers, the two factions become
+friends, and the generous Vincenti, loaded with praises and benedictions,
+had the happiness to extinguish an inveterate feud between the two families,
+and thus restore peace to the community of Castel d'Acqua.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Clarke and M<sup>c</sup>Arthur's Life of Nelson</i>, vol. ii. p. 336.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The &ldquo;Ichneusa,&rdquo; so called from the ancient name of the island. On
+a subsequent visit to Sardinia I had the pleasure of making an agreeable
+acquaintance with the officers of the &ldquo;Ichneusa,&rdquo; the ship being one of a
+little squadron then employed in the service of assisting in the laying down
+the submarine telegraph cable between Cape Teulada and the coast of
+Algeria, of which I hope to be able to give some account in the sequel.
+The engineer of the &ldquo;Ichneusa&rdquo; was an Englishman, who was often ashore
+at our hotel while his ship lay in the harbour of La Madelena; an intelligent
+man, as I have always found the many of his class employed in the
+royal steam navy of the Sardinian government. I cannot believe that the
+engineers of the steam-ship &ldquo;Cagliari&rdquo; had any complicity with the Genoese
+conspirators. They worked the ship, no doubt, in compliance with orders
+enforced by the Italian desperadoes in possession of her with stilettoes at
+their throats; and it is to be regretted that peremptory measures were not
+taken by our Government for their release. We can only conclude that
+the unfortunate engineers were sacrificed to political expediency.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Sketch of the Present State of the Island of Sardinia</i>, pp. 187-191
+(1827). It is but fair to remark, that Captain (now Admiral) Smyth does
+not describe any excesses in the festivities he witnessed. We have reason,
+however, to believe that they have sadly deteriorated, as well as the
+religious instincts of the Sardes, in the thirty years since they came
+under Captain Smyth's observation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> The &ldquo;barancelli&rdquo; will be noticed hereafter.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Mr. Warre Tyndale's <i>Island of Sardinia</i>, vol. i. p. 313, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Cf. Isaiah, i. 8.: &ldquo;A lodge in a vineyard, and a cottage in a garden of
+cucumbers.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Gen. xxiv. 11, 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> I Sam. ix. 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Odyss. lib. x.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Asphodels were planted by the ancients near burying-places, in order
+to supply the manes of the dead with nourishment.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;By those happy souls that dwell<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In yellow meads of Asphodel.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Pope.</i></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>
+The plant <i>lilio asphodelus</i> belongs to the liliaceous tribe. It flourishes
+also in Italy, Sicily, Crete, and Africa, some varieties bearing white
+flowers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#8048;&#961; &#7952;&#960;&#949;&#8054; &#960;&#972;&#963;&#953;&#959;&#962; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#7952;&#948;&#951;&#964;&#973;&#959;&#962;, &amp;c. <span class="smcap">Homer</span>, <i>passim</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> See the sketch in the next page.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> &ldquo;That certain local causes have through all ages tainted the atmosphere
+of Sardinia, may be gathered from the remarks and sarcasms of a host of
+early authors. Martial, in mentioning the hour of death, celebrates salubrious
+Tibur at the expense of this pestilent isle:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&#8216;Nullo fata loco possis excludere: cum mors<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Venerit, in medio Tibure Sardinia est.&#8217;</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cicero, who hated Tigellius, the flattering musical buffoon so well
+described by Horace, thus lashes his country in a letter to Fabius Gallus:
+&#8216;Id ego in lucris pono non ferre hominem pestilentiorem putri&acirc; su&acirc;.&#8217;
+Again, writing to his brother: &#8216;Remember,&#8217; says he, &#8216;though in perfect
+health, you are in Sardinia.&#8217; And Pausanias, Cornelius Nepos, Strabo,
+Tacitus, Silius Italicus, and Claudian, severally bear testimony to the
+current opinion. In later times the terse Dante sings:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&#8216;Qual dolor fora, se degli spedali<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Di Valdichiana tra 'l luglio e 'l settembre<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">E di maremma, e di Sardinia i mali<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Fossero in una fossa tutte insembre,&#8217;&rdquo; &amp;c.<br /></span>
+<span class="i10"><i>Smyth's Sardinia</i>, p. 81.</span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> See before, pp. <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> The trade in snow is farmed by the Aritzese, it being, like that in
+salt and tobacco, a royal monopoly, leased for terms of years at a considerable
+rent. Upwards of 9000 cantars (about 375 tons) are brought
+down every year from the mountains of Fundada Cungiata and Genargentu,
+and carried on horseback to all parts of the island. The labour,
+fatigue, and difficulty attending the conveyance of the snow from those
+great altitudes are severe; as in the paths where there is no footing for
+a horse, the men are obliged to carry the burden on their shoulders;
+and the quantity they can bear is a matter of boast and rivalry among
+them.
+</p><p>
+It has been observed in a former chapter that none of the Sardinian
+mountains rise to what would be the level of perpetual frost. The snow
+trade must therefore be supplied from deep hollows in the mountains,
+serving as natural ice-houses, in which it is lodged during the summer.
+</p><p>
+We have an account of a forest in Scotland held of the Crown
+by the tenure of the delivery of a snow-ball on any day of the year on
+which it may be demanded; and it is said that there is no danger of
+forfeiture for default of the quit-rent, the chasms of Benewish holding
+snow, in the form of a glacier, throughout the year.&mdash;<i>Pennant's Tour in
+Scotland</i>, i. 185.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> &ldquo;There is among the Sardes a degree of adopted relationship called
+&#8216;compare&#8217; (<i>comparatico</i>), a stronger engagement than is known under the
+common acceptation of the term in other countries.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Smyth's Sardinia</i>,
+p. 193.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> &ldquo;The lionedda is a rustic musical instrument formed of reeds, similar
+to the Tyrrhenian and Lydian pipes we find depicted on the ancient
+Etruscan vases. It consists of three or four reeds of proportionate lengths
+to create two octaves, a <i>terce</i> and a <i>quint</i>, with a small mouthpiece at the
+end of each. Like a Roman tibicen, the performer takes them into his
+mouth, and inflates the whole at once with such an acquired skill that
+most of them can keep on for a couple of hours without a moment's intermission,
+appearing to breathe and play simultaneously. He, however,
+who can sound five reeds is esteemed the Coryph&aelig;us.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Ib.</i> p. 192.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Ezekiel, viii. 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Isaiah, i. 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Isaiah, lxvi. 15-17. <i>Mundos se putabant in hortis post januam.</i>&mdash;Vulgate.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Ezekiel, viii. 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Leviticus, xx. 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Jeremiah, xix. 4, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> &ldquo;They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils, and shed
+innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom
+they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Psalm</i> cvi. 26, 27.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body
+for the sin of my soul?&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Micah</i>, vi. 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> 2 Kings, xvi. 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Jeremiah, xxxii. 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Vol. ii. p. 264.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> See before, p. <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.&mdash;The pine does not flourish in Sardinia. Deal
+planks for house-building are imported from Corsica.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>Annual Statement of Trade and Navigation presented to Parliament</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> The vehicular statistics of Sardinia, ten years before, as summed up
+by Mr. Warre Tyndale, show three vehicles for hire at Porto Torres, seven
+at Sassari, four at Macomer, and about twenty at Cagliari. These and
+about ten private carriages made the total in this island: sufficient, he
+adds, for the unlocomotive propensities of the inhabitants and their almost
+roadless country. Things were not much improved at the period of our
+visit.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>Memorie Politico-Economiche intorno alla Sardegna nel 1852, di
+Vincenzo Sala, da Venezia. Seconda Edizione, riveduta dall'Autore.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> We do not include, in the enumeration of free states, the Swiss confederacy,
+nor flourishing Holland. Both date their liberties to much
+earlier times.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>Norway in 1848 and 1849.</i> Longman and Co.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> La sua positura nel Mediterraneo la rende intermediara fra l'Africa
+e l'Europa; fra il porto di Marsiglia da una parte, quelli di Genova
+e Livorno dall'altra, e per conseguenza potrebbe proccaciarsi un conspicuo
+reddito dal cabottagio. Se si considera che la francia scarreggia di marina
+mercantile, relativemente alla sua potenza ed a suoi besogni, non sembrer&agrave;
+per certo un sogno l'asserire che la Sardegna si troverebbe a miglior
+portata di concorrere a soddisfare le sue bisogne di transporte, principalmente
+per le coste d'Africa, dove la colonia francese va prendendo sempre
+maggiore sviluppo, e prenunzia un avvenire fecondo. Si la citt&agrave; di
+Cagliari e le altre terre littorale possedessero una marina mercantile,
+quante fonti di richezza non troverebbe la Sardegna lungo le coste d'Italia,
+di Francia, di Spagna e d'Africa! Non si credono queste visioni o travidementi
+d'immaginazione; che anzi non temiamo d'affirmare ch'essa
+potrebbe divenire, un giorno, <i>la piccola Inghilterra del Mediterraneo.&mdash;Memorie
+Politico-Economiche</i>, p. 134.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> A passage in Aristotle's work &ldquo;De Mirabilibus,&rdquo; (chap. 104.) has
+been supposed to refer to the Nuraghe. The words are these:&mdash;&ldquo;It is
+said that in the island of Sardinia are edifices of the ancients, erected after
+the Greek manner, and many other beautiful buildings and <i>tholi</i> (domes
+or cupolas) finished in excellent proportions.&rdquo; Again, Diodorus Siculus
+informs us (l. iv. c. 29, 30) that &ldquo;after Iolaus had settled his colony in
+Sardinia, he sent for D&aelig;dalus out of Sicily and employed him in building
+many and great works which remain to this day.&rdquo; And in another place
+(l. v. c. 51) he reckons among these works &ldquo;temples of the gods,&rdquo; of
+which, he repeats, &ldquo;the remains exist even in these times.&rdquo; These passages,
+however, afford but slight grounds for considering that the Nuraghe
+were built by the Greeks, or even were temples of the gods. The term
+&#920;&#959;&#955;&#959;&#973;&#962;, used by Aristotle, may indeed describe a round building roofed with
+a dome, but the Nuraghe cannot be considered as corresponding to the
+Grecian idea of buildings that are &ldquo;beautiful&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;finished in excellent
+proportions&rdquo;&mdash;or fitting temples for the gods. Pausanias denies that
+D&aelig;dalus was sent for out of Sicily by Iolaus, and makes it an anachronism.
+See <i>Tyndale's Sardinia</i>, vol. i. p. 116.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Micah, iv. 8; and see 2 Kings, x. 12, xvii. 9, xviii. 8; and 2 Chron.
+xxvi. 10, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> &ldquo;<i>Apenas se diferenciaba el</i> <span class="smcap">Ara</span> de la <span class="smcap">Tumba</span>.
+</p><p>
+&ldquo;<i>La graderia</i> (del monumento sepolcrale) <i>se hallaba practicada en el
+costade occidental per donde se subia para</i> <span class="smcap">orar</span>, <i>o para</i> <span class="smcap">sacrificar</span>.&rdquo;&mdash;Dupaix,
+vol. v. p. 243. 261.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> We borrow this description from Mr. Tyndale's work, as well as the
+illustrations, not finding a sketch of a Sepoltura in our own portfolio.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> The learned Jesuit disconnects this migration from the expulsion of
+the Canaanitish tribes by the Israelites under Joshua, considering it to
+have occurred from one to two centuries before, when the giant tribes east
+of Jordan were subdued by the Moabites and Amorites, who succeeded to
+their possessions. Moses relates that &ldquo;the Emims dwelt therein [that is,
+in Moab,] in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
+which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites
+call them Emims.&rdquo; Of Ammon, Moses says:&mdash;&ldquo;That also was accounted
+a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites
+call them Zamzummims; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
+but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded
+them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Deut.</i> ii. 10,
+11, 20, 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&#927;&#8019;&#962; &#954;&#945;&#955;&#941;&#959;&#965;&#963;&#953; &#915;&#943;&#947;&#945;&#957;&#964;&#945;&#962; &#7952;&#960;&#974;&#957;&#965;&#956;&#959;&#957; &#7952;&#957; &#956;&#945;&#954;&#940;&#961;&#959;&#953;&#963;&#953;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&#927;&#8021;&#957;&#949;&#954;&#945; &#947;&#8134;&#962; &#7952;&#947;&#949;&#957;&#972;&#957;&#964;&#959; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#945;&#7989;&#956;&#945;&#964;&#959;&#962; &#959;&#8016;&#961;&#945;&#957;&#943;&#959;&#953;&#959;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="smcap">Orpheus</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Gen. vi. 1-4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> These giant tribes were defeated by Chedorlaomer and the kings
+allied with him, in the same expedition in which the kings of Sodom
+and Gomorrah were put to the sword, and Lot, who dwelt in Sodom, was
+carried off, but afterwards rescued by Abraham. Numbers, xiv. 5. &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Numb. xiii. 33.; Deut. iii. 11., ix. 2.; Josh. xv. 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> 1 Sam. xvii. 4; 2 Sam. xxi. 16-22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">.&nbsp;&nbsp; .&nbsp;&nbsp; .&nbsp;&nbsp; .&nbsp;&nbsp; .&nbsp; &ldquo;Summo cum monte videmus<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ipsum, inter pecudes vast&acirc; se mole moventem,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Pastorem</i> Polyphemum, et littora nota petentem.<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; .<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Trunca manum pinus regit, et vestigia firmat.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Laniger&aelig; comitantur oves;&nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; .<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">. &nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp; . &nbsp;&nbsp;de collo fistula pendet.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>&AElig;n.</i> iii. 653, &amp;c.</span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Polypheme's clan are thus described;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Nam, qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lanigeras claudit pecudes, atque ubera pressat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Centum alii curva h&aelig;c habitant ad littora vulgo<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>&AElig;n.</i> iii. 641.</span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Father Bresciani has collected all the authorities for the existence of
+giant races, with great diligence, in the course of his remarks on the
+Sarde Sepolture. Vol. i. p. 89, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> De Physicis, iv. 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Gen. iv. 21, 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> A general idea seems to have prevailed in early times of the prodigious
+muscular strength possessed by the men of an age still earlier. Thus
+Turnus, the warlike chief of the Rutuli, is represented in the &AElig;neid as
+lifting and hurling at the Trojan an immense boundary stone which would
+defy the united efforts of <i>twelve such men as the earth produced in those
+days</i> to lift on their shoulders.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod forte jacebat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>&AElig;n.</i> xii. 897.</span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Gen. xi. 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> See before, p. <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> <i>Ordericus Vitalis</i>, vol. i. p. 113. (Bohn's Antiq. Library.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Ib. vol. i. pp. 130, 338; ii. 149.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> <i>Circonscrizione amministrativa delle provincie di Terra Ferma e della
+Sardegna</i>.&mdash;Torino, Stamperia Reale, 1850.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Atia, the daughter of M. Atius Balbus, by Julia, sister of Julius C&aelig;sar,
+was the mother of Octavius Augustus.&mdash;<i>Suetonius.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Cohen, in his <i>D&eacute;scription des M&eacute;dailles Consulaires</i> recently published
+(Paris, 1857), notices a bronze medal of the same type, of which he says:&mdash;&ldquo;Cette
+m&eacute;daille &eacute;tait frapp&eacute;e par les habitans de la Sardaigne, sous le
+r&egrave;gne d'Auguste, et pour gagner ses bonnes gr&acirc;ces ils y plac&egrave;rent le
+portrait de son a&iuml;eul en m&ecirc;me tems que celui du fondateur de leur patrie.&rdquo;
+The cabinet of the British Museum contains a specimen of this bronze
+medal, &ldquo;de fabrique tr&egrave;s-barbare,&rdquo; to use Cohen's description. He does
+not appear to be aware of the existence of the silver coin, which is of a
+far better style.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Captain Smyth states that in 1798 upwards of 2000 Moors suddenly
+disembarked on the beach of Malfatano from six Tunisian vessels; when
+the town was surrounded and taken. Brutality and pillage in all their
+hideous forms visited every house; and 850 men, women, and children
+were driven into slavery. The unhappy captives remained at Tunis; and,
+from the embarrassments of the Sardinian Government, were not ransomed
+until the year 1805. In 1815 the Tunisians, recollecting the rich booty
+they had before obtained, reappeared off the port, but finding the garrison
+well prepared to give them a warm reception, they sheered off.&mdash;<i>Sketch
+of Sardinia</i>, p. 300.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Among the other emblems of divinity we find the heads of dogs, cats,
+apes, and birds, and also rude figures of the boats of Isis, establishing
+a connection between the Egyptian and Ph&#339;nician mythologies. Some
+exhibit astronomical and astrological symbols. Other images appear to be
+carrying cakes, a part of the offering made to Astarte, to which Jeremiah
+alludes:&mdash;&ldquo;The women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of
+heaven.&rdquo;&mdash;Chap. vii. 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> The concern is incorporated under the name of &ldquo;The Mediterranean
+Telegraph Company,&rdquo; but the terms &ldquo;Sardinian&rdquo; or &ldquo;Sardo-French&rdquo;
+Company are adopted, as more distinctly indicating the nature of its origin
+and designs.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>L'Istmo di Suez, e la Stazione Telegrafico-Electrica di Cagliari;
+Ragiamento del T. G. Alberto Della Marmora. Torino, 1856.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2>RECENT VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="blockquot">Dr. BARTH'S TRAVELS and DISCOVERIES in NORTH and CENTRAL AFRICA.
+    Vols. I. to III, Illustrations, 63s.&mdash;Vols. IV. and V.,
+    completing the work, are nearly ready.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">IMPRESSIONS of WESTERN AFRICA, By T.J. HUTCHINSON, H.M. Consul
+    for the Bight of Biafra. Post 8vo. Price 8s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">ALGIERS in 1857; its ACCESSIBILITY, CLIMATE, and RESOURCES. By
+    the Rev. E.W.L. <span class="smcap">Davies</span>, M.A. Oxon., Rural Dean of Solby.
+    Post 8vo. with Illustrations. Price 6s.</p>
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+    10s. 6d.</p>
+
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+    ROSA. Post 8vo. with Views and Maps. 10s. 6d.</p>
+
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+    <span class="smcap">Berkeley</span>. Post 8vo. 10s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">QUATREFAGES' RAMBLES of a NATURALIST on the COASTS of FRANCE,
+    SPAIN, and SICILY. Translated by E.C. <span class="smcap">Ott&eacute;</span>. 2 vols. post
+    8vo. 16s.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">Mr. C.R. WELD'S VACATION TOUR in the UNITED STATES and CANADA.
+    Post 8vo. 10s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">Mr. C.R. WELD'S VACATIONS in IRELAND. Post 8vo. Price 10s. 6d.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><small>London: LONGMAN, BROWN, and CO., Paternoster Row.</small></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
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+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span></p>
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+
+<div class="tnote">
+<h2 class="trnote">Transcriber's Note:</h2>
+
+<p class="note">Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+Non-standard spelling, particularly in Italian names, has been
+retained where consistent throughout the book.</p>
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #28510 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28510)