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LIST OF VOLUMES IN THE
PEEPS AT MANY LANDS
SERIES
EACH CONTAINING 12 FULL-PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BELGIUM
BURMA
CANADA
CHINA
CORSICA
EGYPT
ENGLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
GREECE
HOLLAND
HOLY LAND
ICELAND
INDIA
IRELAND
ITALY
JAPAN
KOREA
MOROCCO
NEW ZEALAND
NORWAY
SCOTLAND
SIAM
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH SEAS
SWITZERLAND
TURKEY
WALES
WEST INDIES
A LARGER VOLUME IN THE SAME STYLE
THE WORLD
Containing 37 full-page illustrations in colour
PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
AGENTS
AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
AUSTRALASIA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE
CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
27 RICHMOND STREET WEST, TORONTO
INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
[Illustration:
GENERAL VIEW OF AJACCIO _Page 33._ _Frontispiece._
]
[Illustration]
PEEPS AT MANY LANDS
CORSICA
BY
ERNEST YOUNG, B.SC.
HEAD MASTER, LOWER SCHOOL OF JOHN LYON, HARROW
AUTHOR OF
“A PEEP AT SIAM,” “THE KINGDOM OF THE YELLOW
ROBE,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
E. A. NORBURY, R.C.A.
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1909
TO
MY FRIEND AND FELLOW TRAVELLER
A. E. DYSON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A PEEP AT THE ISLAND 1
II. A PEEP AT CORSICAN HISTORY 4
III. ALERIA AND THEODORE 10
IV. BONIFACIO 15
V. CALVI 22
VI. BASTIA 28
VII. AJACCIO AND NAPOLEON 33
VIII. CORTÉ 39
IX. PAOLI 44
X. IN BUSH AND FOREST 50
XI. THE VENDETTA 56
XII. WHEN THE END COMES 62
XIII. THE KING OF THE BANDITS 67
XIV. BY THE ROAD-SIDE 73
XV. ANIMALS 78
XVI. CHARACTER 82
XVII. SOME STORIES AND LEGENDS 86
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BY E. A. NORBURY, R.C.A.
GENERAL VIEW OF AJACCIO _frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
VIEW ON THE EAST COAST viii
BAKING OVEN, ALERIA 9
THE HARBOUR, BONIFACIO 16
CALVI 25
OLD HOUSES, BASTIA 32
CORTÉ: THE CITADEL 41
HOUSES, AJACCIO 48
MULES DRAWING TIMBER 57
ROADSIDE CROSS 64
A DILIGENCE 73
WOMEN WASHING LINEN 80
_Sketch-Map of Corsica on p. vii_
[Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF CORSICA.]
[Illustration: VIEW ON EAST COAST. _Page 2._]
CORSICA
CHAPTER I
A PEEP AT THE ISLAND
Corsica is so small that from its highest point one can see almost all
over the island. It is only about three times the size of Yorkshire.
As the island is approached by steamer, it appears from every point of
view something like an ocean of granite, a mass of rock-waves. High
up on the crests of some of the granite billows small villages can be
seen, themselves resembling a heap of rocks more than anything else.
An examination of the map at the front of this book will show that
there is one principal mountain-chain bending round from the north-west
to the south-west, and rather nearer the west coast than the east, so
that it divides the island into two unequal parts. From the central
chain numerous small ranges run more or less directly to the sea. On
the west, north, and south these chains end in capes, but in the east
they form a series of terraces. Between the watersheds are hundreds of
little streams and rivers. To get from the basin of one stream to that
of another is so difficult, except along the coast, that each basin
forms, as it were, a little world in itself.
Most of the soil is uncultivated, and in many parts the great rocks
of red granite come up above the surface, and lie bare to the eye,
unadorned with either tree, grass, or flower.
On the east coast there is a long stretch of low-lying land between the
mountains and the sea. This is the most unhealthy part of the island,
a mixture of swamps and lagoons, where deadly fevers have their home.
It is only in winter and spring that life is possible on the eastern
plain. In the spring the plain is exceedingly beautiful, decked with
flowers and bright with verdure. On one side rolls the bluest of seas,
crested with the whitest of foam. As you stand by the shore, and
watch the great waves dashing themselves to pieces on the breakers or
rippling caressingly over the tawny sands, it is almost impossible to
believe that this smiling region is, during the hot weather, one of
the unhealthiest places in Europe. About July or August the peasants
lock up their houses, pack their carts with poultry, provisions, and
children, and go up 3,000 feet into the mountains, to escape the fevers
that come with the hot weather. Houses are shuttered and barred, fields
and vineyards are left untended, and the peasants simply run away as
fast as they can from a land where merely to sleep means death. The
French Government is doing its best to improve the condition of things
by planting groves of eucalyptus-trees in the most unhealthy places.
The eastern plain is broken here and there by a number of lagoons or
shallow lakes, separated from the sea by long narrow sand-banks. These
lagoons swarm with fish and cockles. One of them is known as the Lake
of Diana. It is a great sheet of salt water, with one narrow opening to
the sea. It contains a small island, 460 yards in circumference, which
is made up entirely of oyster-shells, covered, however, with grass,
shrubs, and trees. The island is built in the shallowest part of the
lagoon, and dates from the time when Aleria used to send large supplies
of salted oysters to the people of Rome.
The sharp piece projecting from the north of Corsica is called the Cap.
It is only from eight to ten miles wide. Through it runs a range of
mountains between 3,000 and 4,000 feet high, which lies nearer the west
coast than the east, and has short narrow valleys running down to the
eastern coast. The people of this part of Corsica are noted for being
more peaceful and law-abiding than those in the other parts of the
island.
The climate of Corsica is a very delightful one. More than half the
days in the year are sunny ones, and of the dull, dreary kind that so
often trouble our own island there are perhaps not more than fifty in
a year. Mist and fog are seldom seen, and the rains, though heavy, do
not last for long together. At times the islanders suffer from two
objectionable winds, the mistral and the sirocco. The mistral comes
over the sea from France. It is violent and cold, and arises in the
highlands of Central France. It rushes down the Valley of the Rhone
like “a blast from a giant’s bellows,” making those people who have
gone to Southern France for warmth wish that they had stayed at home.
Then it sweeps across the blue waters of the Mediterranean, and by
the time it arrives at Corsica it has lost a little of its sting. Yet
it still remains cold enough to be unpleasant. The sirocco is a hot
wind from the south. It blows from the fiery desert of Sahara, and as
its hot, sand-laden breath passes over the northern shores of Africa,
the people find it nearly impossible to work, or even to move. In its
journey across the Mediterranean it is slightly cooled, but it is never
welcomed by the Corsicans, for not only is it still hot, but it has
also become moist by contact with the water, and therefore produces
great discomfort.