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.