BASTIA.--Nice is too attractive to leave without regret at any time,
and we felt particularly sorry for ourselves one evening towards six
o'clock when we saw the disreputable little tub of a steamer that was
to take us over to Corsica; and as we penetrated the odourous mysteries
of the cabin we devoutly hoped that we might see Bastia in the morning
without foundering, for the berths were suspiciously like the long,
narrow coffin shelves in family vaults and had been built apparently
for children, so cribbed, cabined and confined were their proportions.
We said little as we put away our portmanteaux and cameras and took our
rugs from the strap, but our looks spoke volumes and we were careful to
sprinkle plenty of Keating's powder about the place.
A fine, drizzling rain soon began and we were compelled, much to our
disgust, to leave the comparatively unobjectionable deck where sturdy,
bare-legged sailor boys were shouting and singing and throwing ropes
and chains about to no apparent end. As soon as we had reached the
depths of the noisome little cabin, dinner was served, and oh, the
mockery of that dinner! Everything was scented with garlic, and when
the flavour of that questionable delicacy was absent it was replaced
by the taste of rancid oil. We did not sit the meal out, and although
it was barely nine o'clock, threw ourselves on our shelves to try
and forget the too perceptible motion as the little boat quitted the
sheltering harbour of Nice. Although the sea was calm enough, the small
size of the boat unconsciously suggested the idea of a rough sea.
Our sleep was more or less broken--generally more, and at six we were
awakened by a fiendish blast of the whistle which was near our berths,
to an overpowering sense of certain strange and gruesome odours. The
cabin had been hermetically closed on account of the rain, and on the
floor about the tables were stretched in various attitudes of _abandon_
several human forms, who proceeded to rise and shake themselves. It is
needless to say we had thrown ourselves down fully dressed, and we made
a sudden rush for the companion way, for if ever there was an odour
that could be cut it was the one in the tightly closed little cabin of
that dirty little steamer off Bastia in the rainy, chill darkness of
that December morning.
A hasty fee to the steward--and the next moment saw us on the quay at
Bastia, holding fast to our valises, threatened by a ragged mob of
urchins who would have had but little respect for the doctrine of meum
and tuum. We scrambled into a musty, damp hotel 'bus and, half asleep
still, were rattled over the badly-paved streets to our hotel. And what
a hotel! We were received in a mouldy courtyard by an antiquated porter
in undress uniform, with a farthing tallow dip, who gruffly informed
us that we could get no coffee for two hours and who then ushered us
upstairs to the grimy little room reserved for us. I don't know yet
how high the hotel was, but it seemed as if we were never to reach the
top as we struggled after that wavering candle. No wonder tourists who
think nothing of a run to Colombo or Aden or a trip to New Zealand
shudder at the thought of doing Corsica or Sardinia, for anything more
uncivilized than the ways of getting there I have never seen.
The time passed drearily on as we waited in the cold, stone-floored
room, but eight o'clock finally came and we hurried down eager for
coffee and eggs. The dining room was _sui generis_ and the cloth and
napkins were not above reproach, but we managed to make out a fair meal
with the exception of the bread, which was hard and sour; and then
sallied out to do the town.
Bastia is rather a decent town to the view and the architecture is
solid and not altogether in the flimsy stucco of Italy. There are no
handsome public buildings, except the theatre, which is built on the
lines of an old Greek temple. In the square on the water front, where
the raw recruits are drilled, is a huge statue of the first Napoleon
in the toga and laurel wreath of a Roman Consul. It is of heroic size
and dazzlingly white and seems to dominate everything in its immediate
neighbourhood. Of course the Corsicans are inordinately proud of
Napoleon, and one cannot converse for five minutes with an ordinary
inhabitant without his remarking nonchalantly that Corsica has produced
the greatest military genius of the world.
The islanders are a curious cross between the French and Italian types,
perhaps inclining more to the latter. The language is a _patois_
of French and Italian, with a few Spanish words, and is hard to
comprehend, but anyone understanding good Italian can easily manage.
It is really yet a question to what country Corsica should strictly
belong, for it has tasted the rule of many nations. It knew the yoke
of both the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and belonged in turn to the
Republics of Genoa and Pisa in the middle ages; when the short-lived
King Theodore raised the standard of revolt, too soon lowered. Then
the patriot, Pasquale Paoli, ruled the island from 1755 to 1769, when
the Genoese transferred their claim to the island to France, which has
since annexed it.
It is absurd to say that Vendetta has died out, for it is still popular
in the island to an almost incredible extent, and anyone refusing
to continue a blood feud when his plain duty would be to avenge his
ancestor would soon have the Rimbecco sung under his windows. A thirst
for blood seems ingrained in the Corsican nature, and few families
in either the upper or lower classes of the island are without their
hereditary feud. This custom is said to be worse now than under the
Second Empire, and is particularly prevalent round about Corte. It
originated when the Genoese ruled the island and male members were
obliged to take the honour of their family into their own keeping.
There are several strict laws in existence enacted against this
barbarous practice, but they have fallen into disuse and are unregarded.
I have several times been asked what the principal industry of Bastia
was. The only answer that occurs to me is to say stilettoes, for
really all the shops seem to have inexhaustible supplies of this keen,
murderous little blade. Not only are they sold in the guise of weapons,
but as charms, as brooches, as sleeve buttons, as scarf pins--in coral,
lava, gold, silver and brass. Even the pawnbrokers display second-hand
stilettoes in their windows, several of them covered with a rust that
has been blood. To a stranger, all this gives Bastia a savage air,
and when he thinks of the hotels and the food he is apt to start for
the station or the dock. But Vendetta is confined strictly to local
affairs, and it is very rare to find a case where strangers have been
brought into family feuds. The literature of Vendetta is rich. The
famous "Corsican Brothers," "Mr. Barnes of New York," Marie Corelli's
"Vendetta," and Prosper Merrimée's delightful "Colomba" all dwell on
the subject.
But besides Vendetta, which exists only in this island; Corsica shares
with Sardinia the honour of being the only place in Europe where the
moufflon is now found, and so attracts numbers of English sportsmen,
who, however, land usually at Ajaccio. Few tourists reach Bastia.
Ajaccio is a sort of health resort, modeled after the places on the
Riviera and is only a second-rate imitation at best; but Bastia is a
quiet, semi-commercial little town, on the sea, with huge mountains at
its back, and content to dream away its time in ignorant obscurity.
All traces of the old island costumes have disappeared and one does
not know whether to be amused or sad at the pathetic attempt to
imitate French fashions. The older streets in Bastia are curious.
They differ from those of most old Italian towns in being paved with
large, flat stones and are kept scrupulously clean, showing their
French origin. The old citadel, built in 1383, is worth a visit for
the sake of its curious walls. In poking about among the old curiosity
shops I unearthed a valuable souvenir. It was an old bronze medal,
bearing on one side "Louis Napoleon Bonaparte," with his portrait,
and on the other "Pour Valeur." It had evidently been given as a
reward of valor by Napoleon III. in the eventful two years when he
was Prince-President, before the _coup d'état_, and I have since
ascertained its rarity. A drive in the country about Bastia shows a
landscape rich in hills and pines, but in nothing else.
A diligent search among the grocers' shops finally unearthed a tin of
"picnic tongue," and we feasted on that and on some Albert biscuits to
save ourselves a return to the too odourous hotel dining room. We did
not regret sailing for Sardinia that night, as we hoped to find there
what we had missed in Corsica--clean beds and decent food.
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