CORSICA OF TO-DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1966, 29 October 1891, Page 40

CORSICA OF TO-DAY.

Our ideas of Corsica are, it is to be fearsd, somewhat biassed by the dramatist and the novelist. We think of it as it is represented to us in the adventures of the brothers De Franchi, or through the medium of other works of fiction, more picturesque than accurate; therefore we associate the wild Mediterranean island with vendettas, savage passions, and more savage loves. It is not without regret that the traveller of to-day kas to relinquish certain preconceived ideas, and to renounce his faith in the legendary Corsican vendetta. He blushes when he finds the natives smiling somewhat ironically at any allusions to their hereditary and sanguinary family feuds. Indeed, if the truth must be told in all its unromantic baldness, he finds that the conflicts which most engross the inhabitants are the establishment of a " battle of flowers," after the Nice and Monte Carlo style, while their jealous emulation is centred on a pacific exhibition, where, besides the rural and agricultural products o£ the island, are to be seen specimens of rough or manufactured marble, granite and porphyry, old pieaes of furniture, carved woods, curious gourds, and richly chased weapons. The climate of Corsica 13 simply perfect ; the soft air is laden with spicy, aromatic odours, and made vivifying by the iodine exhalations of a rich marine flora ; the long stretches of sandy beach are steeped in warm sunshine ; the background of mountains has the luminous green tints of the Greek hillsides. Existence in those seagirt latitudes sinks to a blissful indolence; strife, bloodshed, fiery passions, and wild revenge are absolutely incompatible with this dreamy languor, and the chief interest of the lazy hours becomes the recurrence of meals. The epicure revels in the varied and dainty fish, the most delicate ever cooked, pink like the rocks and blue like the skies. The game is no less exquisite, notably the famous Corsican blackbirds so highly praised by Oambaceres, and which are only at their best during the short span between the Ist and 30th of January ; while the broccio, the national white chee3e, of a sweet peculiar flavour ; huge limes, preserved ia sugar, and a variety of excellent wines constitute a bill of fare to satisfy the most fastidious gourmet. • One cannot fail to be struck by the fact that the influence, we might almost say the presence, of the Bonaparte family is everywhere apparent in the "Green Island." At Ajaccio, on the market place, the women surtsey before the statue of the First Consul; on another square he tours amid his brothers in the garb of # Roman emperor. Behind the citadel in the cathedral they show the basin that held the water for his baptism, and in the old house the hard eofa on which he was born, and the trap door leading to the subterranean passage by which he escaped to the harbour one night when he discovered that he was tracked by spies. As long as the traveller lingers in the cities— Ajaccio, the capital; Bastia, the chief seaport; Vizzavone and Cortc — he finds a vague resemblance with all Italian towns, and a flavour of a comparatively modern and general civilisation, with nearly the same customs and forms of commerce and life ; but it is when he penetrates into the heart of the country that he becomes haunted by the memories of old traditions— i the legends of the evil eye, of the devil, and supernatural phantoms which seem to have ! left their impression on the rugged, distorted trees, the misshapen rocks, the tortuous, rushing streams, and the &ombre mountain defiles. Every civilisation has marked with its passage this curious little island; its soil has been trodden successively by the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Lombards, the Saracens, and the Genoese; and not the least singular characteristic of the small nation is that it has gradually assimilated its conquerors without losing the distinctive traits of its race ; not satisfied with having given birth to Napoleon, it claims as its child Christopher Colutnbus.