Chapter XVII: Part 17

The Æolian or Liparic Islands, though separated from Sicily by a strait more than 300 fathoms in depth, may nevertheless be looked upon as a dependency of the larger island. Some of these volcanic islands, “born in the shadow of Mount Etna,” lie on a line connecting that volcano with Mount Vesuvius, and they originated probably during the same convulsion of nature. They all consist of lavas, cinders, or pumice, ejected from volcanoes. Two amongst them, Vulcano and Stromboli, are still active volcanoes, and the flames and undulating columns of smoke rising from them enable mariners and fishermen to foretell changes of temperature or wind. It is probable that this intelligent interpretation of volcanic phenomena was the reason why these islands were dedicated to Æolus, the god of the winds, who there revealed himself to mariners.

Lipari, the largest and most central of these islands, is at the same time the most populous. A considerable town, commanded by an ancient castle, rises like an amphitheatre on its northern shore. A well-cultivated plain, abounding in olive-trees, orange-trees, and vines, surrounds the town, and the slopes of the hills are cultivated almost to their very summits. The population, as in Sicily, has been recruited from the most diverse elements since the time that Greek colonists from Rhodes, Cnidus, and Selinus entered into an alliance with the aboriginal inhabitants. This intermixture of races is proceeding now as much as ever, for commerce continually introduces fresh blood, and many Calabrian brigands have been conveyed to the island, where they have become peaceable citizens. The population is now permitted to multiply in peace, for the volcanoes of Lipari have been quiescent for centuries. The Lipariotes have a legend according to which St. Calogero chased the devils from the islands, and shut them up in the furnaces of Vulcano, and we may infer from this that the last volcanic eruption took place soon after the introduction of Christianity; that is to say, about the sixth century. The existence of subterranean forces manifests itself now only in thermal springs and {332} steam jets, which have been visited from the most ancient times for the cure of diseases. Earthquakes, however, are of frequent occurrence, and that of 1780 so much frightened the inhabitants that with one accord they dedicated themselves to the Virgin Mary. Dolomieu, who visited Lipari in the year following, found them wearing a small chain on the arm, by means of which they desired to show that they had become the slaves of the “Liberating Virgin.”

Lipari is a land of promise to the geologist, on account of the great variety of its lavas. Monte della Castagna is wholly composed of obsidian. Another hill, Monte Bianco, consists of pumice, and, when seen from a distance, has the appearance of being covered with snow. The streams of pumice which fill every ravine extend down to the sea, and the water is covered with this buoyant stone, which drifts sometimes as far as Corsica. Lipari supplies nearly the whole of Europe with pumice.[113]

Vulcano, to the south of Lipari, from which it is separated by a strait less than a mile across, contrasts strangely with its smiling neighbour. Vulcano, with the exception of a few olives and vines growing on the southern slopes, consists wholly of naked scoriæ, and this circumstance probably led to its being dedicated to Vulcan. Most of its rocks are black or of a reddish hue like iron, but there are {333} others which are scarlet, yellow, or white. At the northern extremity of the island rises the Vulcanello, a small cone which appeared above the surface of the sea nobody knows when, and which an isthmus of reddish cinders united about the middle of the thirteenth century to the principal volcano of the island. This central mountain of the island has a crater about 1,800 yards in circumference, from which steam continually escapes. The atmosphere is charged with sulphurous vapours difficult to breathe. From hundreds of small orifices jets of steam make their escape with a throbbing and hissing noise. Some of these fumaroles have a temperature of 610° F. Jets of a lower temperature are met with in other parts of the island, and even at the bottom of the bay. Violent eruptions are rare, and in the eighteenth century only three occurred. The last eruption took place in 1873, after a repose of a hundred years. Until recently the only inhabitants of Vulcano were a few convicts, who collected sulphur and boracic acid, and manufactured a little alum. But an enterprising Scotchman has now taken possession of this grand chemical laboratory. He has built a large manufactory near the port, and a few trees planted around his Moorish residence have somewhat improved the repulsive aspect of the country.

Stromboli, though smaller than either Lipari or Vulcano, is nevertheless more celebrated, on account of its frequent eruptions. For ages back scarcely any mariners have passed this island without seeing its summit in a state of illumination. At intervals of five minutes, or less, the seething lava filling its caldron bubbles up, explosions occur, and steam and stones are ejected. These rhythmical eruptions form a most agreeable sight, for there is no danger about them, and the olive groves of the Stromboliotes have never been injured by a stream of lava. The volcano, however, has its moments of exasperation, and its ashes have frequently been carried to the coast of Calabria, which is more than thirty miles off.

Panaria and the surrounding group of islands between Stromboli and Lipari have undergone many changes, if Dolomieu and Spallanzani are correct in saying that they originally formed only a single island, which was blown into fragments by an eruption having its centre near the present island of Dattilo. A hot spring and an occasional bubbling up of the sea-water prove that the volcanic forces are not yet quite extinct.

As regards the small eastern islands of the archipelago, Salina, Felicudi, and Alicudi, the last of which resembles a tent pitched upon the surface of the water, history furnishes no records of their ever having been in any other than a quiescent state. The island of Ustica, about thirty miles to the north of Palermo, is likewise of volcanic origin, but is not known ever to have had an eruption. It is one of the most dreaded places of exile in Italy. Near it is the uninhabited island of Medico, the ancient Osteodes, where the mercenaries deserted by the Carthaginians were left to die of starvation. {334}

THE ÆGADIAN ISLANDS.

Off the western extremity of Sicily lie shallows, sand-banks, and calcareous islands of the same composition as the adjoining mainland. These are the Ægades, or Goat Islands, named after the animals which climb their steep escarpments. Favignana, near which the Romans won the naval victory which terminated the first Punic war, is the largest of these islands. Its steep cliffs abound in caverns, in which heaps of shells, gnawed bones, and stone implements have been found, dating back to the contemporaries of the mammoth and the antediluvian bear. Conflicts between contrary winds are frequent in this labyrinth of rocks and shoals, and the power of the waves is much dreaded. The tides are most irregular, and give rise to dangerous eddies. The sudden ebb, locally known as _marubia_, or “tipsy sea” (_mare ubbriaco?_), has been the cause of many shipwrecks.

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PANTELLARIA.

Pantellaria rises in the very centre of the strait which unites the Western Mediterranean with the Eastern. The island is of volcanic origin, abounds in thermal springs, and, above all, in steam jets. Placed on a great line of navigation, Pantellaria might have become of importance if it had possessed a good harbour like Malta. To judge from certain ruins, the population was more considerable {335} formerly than it is now. There exist about a thousand odd edifices, called _sesi_ by the inhabitants, which are supposed to be ancient dwellings. Like the _nuraghi_ of Sardinia, they have the shape of hives, and are built of huge blocks of rock without mortar. Some of them are twenty-five feet high and forty-five feet wide; and Rossi, the archæologist, thinks that they date back to the stone age, for pieces of worked obsidian have been found in them.

From the top of Pantellaria we are able to distinguish the promontories on the Tunisian coast, but, though it is nearer to Africa than to Europe, the island nevertheless belongs to the latter continent, as is proved by the configuration of the sea-bottom. This cannot be said of Linosa, an island with four volcanic peaks to the west of Malta, and still less of the Pelagian Islands. The latter, consisting of Lampedusa and a satellite rock called Lampion, owe their name (Lamp-bearer and Lamp) to the light which, legend tells us, was kept burning by a hermit or angel for the benefit of mariners. In our own days this legendary lamp has been superseded by a small lighthouse marking the entrance to the port of Lampedusa, where vessels of three or four hundred tons find a safe shelter.

About the close of the eighteenth century the Russians proposed to establish a military station on Lampedusa to rival that of Malta, but this project was never carried out, and has not been taken up by the Italian Government. The population consists of soldiers, political exiles, criminals, and a few settlers, who speak Maltese.[114]

MALTA AND GOZZO.

Malta, though a political dependency of Great Britain, belongs geographically to Italy, for it rises from the same submarine plateau as Sicily. About fifty miles to the east of the island the depth of the sea exceeds 1,500 fathoms, but in the north, in the direction of Sicily, it hardly amounts to eighty, and there can be no doubt that an isthmus formerly united Malta to continental Europe. Geologists are agreed that the land of which Malta and Gozzo are now the only remains must formerly have been of great extent, for amongst the fossils of its most recent limestone rocks have been found the bones of elephants and other animals which only inhabit continents. Even now the island is slowly wasting away, and its steep cliffs, pierced by numerous grottoes, locally known as _ghar_, are gradually crumbling into dust.

Placed in the very centre of the Mediterranean, and possessed of an excellent port, Malta has at all times been a commercial station of much importance. It has been occupied by all the nations who succeeded each other in the possession of the Mediterranean—Phœnicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Greeks. But long before that time the island must have been inhabited, for we meet with grottoes excavated in the rocks, and with curious edifices resembling the _nuraghi_ of Sardinia, and it is just possible that the descendants of these aborigines still {336} constitute the principal element of the existing population, which, at all events, is very mixed, and during the domination of the Saracens almost became Arab. The language spoken is a very corrupt Italian, containing many Arabic words.

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The great military part played by Malta began when the Knights of St. John, after their expulsion from Rhodes in 1522, installed themselves upon the island, and converted it into the bulwark of the Christian world. In the beginning of this century Malta passed into the possession of the English, who may survey thence, as from a watch-tower, the whole of the Mediterranean, from Gibraltar to Smyrna {337} and Port Said. The excellent port of La Valetta singularly facilitates the military and commercial part which Malta is called upon to play in the world of the Mediterranean. It is sufficiently spacious to shelter two entire fleets, and its approaches are defended by fortifications rendered impregnable by the successive work of three centuries. There are, besides, all the facilities required by merchantmen, including a careening dock larger than any other in the world. The commerce of the island is rapidly increasing; it is one of the great centres of steamboat navigation, and submarine telegraphs connect it with all parts of the world.[115]

The city of La Valetta has retained all its ancient picturesqueness, in spite of its straight streets and the walls which surround it. Its high white houses, ornamented with balconies and conservatories, rise amphitheatre-like on the slope of a hill; stairs lead from landing-place to landing-place to the summit of this hill; and from every street we behold the blue sea, with its large merchantmen and crowds of smaller vessels. Gondolas, having two huge eyes painted upon the prow, glide noiselessly over the waters, and curious vehicles roll heavily along the quays. Maltese, English soldiers, and sailors of every nation crowd the streets. Now and then a woman glides rapidly along the walls. Like all Christian women of the East, she wears the _faldetta_, a sort of black silk domino, which hides her sumptuous dress, and coquettishly conceals her features.

Malta beyond the walls of the town is but a dreary place of abode. The country rises gently towards the south, in the direction of Città Vecchia and the hills of Ben Gemma. Grey rocks abound, a fine dust covers the vegetation, and the white walls of the village glisten in the sun. There are no trees, except in a few solitary gardens, where the famous mandarin oranges grow. Nor are there any rivers. The soil is scorched, and it is matter for astonishment that it should yield such abundant harvests of cereals, and clover (_sulla_) growing to the height of a man. Carnation tints delight the eye during the season of flowers. The Maltese peasants, small, wiry, and muscular, are wonderfully industrious. They have brought the whole island under cultivation, the cliffs alone excepted, and, where vegetable soil is wanting, they produce it artificially by triturating the rocks. In former times vessels coming from Sicily were bound to bring a certain quantity of soil as ballast. But in spite of their careful cultivation, the inhabitants of Malta, Gozzo, and Comino (thus named from cumin, which, with cotton, is the principal crop of the island), the produce hardly suffices for six months’ consumption, and the islanders are largely dependent upon Sicily for their food. Navigation and the fisheries contribute likewise towards the means of subsistence, but the Maltese would nevertheless perish on their island if the surplus population did not emigrate to all the coast lands of the Mediterranean, and especially to Algeria, where the Maltese, as everywhere else, are distinguished for thrift and industry. {338}

In winter this exodus is in some measure compensated for by the arrival of many English families, who visit the island for the sake of its dry and mild climate. February is the finest month, and the island is then resplendent with verdure, but the scorching heat of summer soon dries up the vegetation.

A governor appointed by the Crown exercises executive functions, and enjoys the privilege of mercy. He is assisted by a Council of seven members, by whom all laws are discussed and voted. The lord-lieutenant of each district is chosen amongst the Maltese nobles, and deputies appointed by the governor manage the affairs of the villages. Italian is the language used in the courts, with the exception of the Supreme Court, into which English was introduced in 1823.

The revenues of the island, about £170,000 annually, are not sufficient to cover the military expenses, and the deficiency is made up by the imperial treasury.

Most of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics. The bishop is appointed by the Pope, and enjoys an income of £4,000.[116]

VIII.—SARDINIA.

It is a curious fact that an island so fertile as Sardinia, so rich in metals, and so favourably situated in the centre of the Tyrrhenian Sea, should have lagged behind in the race of progress as it has. When the Carthaginians held that island its population was certainly more numerous than it is now, and the fearful massacres placed on record by the historians of Rome testify to this fact. Its decadence was sudden and thorough. In part it may be accounted for by the configuration of the island, which presents steep cliffs towards Italy, whence emigrants might have arrived, whilst its western coast is bounded by marshes and insalubrious swamps. But the principal cause of this torpor, which endured for centuries, is traceable to the actions of man. The conquerors who succeeded the Romans and Byzantines in the possession of the island, whether Saracens, Pisans, Genoese, or Aragonese, monopolized its produce solely with a view to their own profit, and further mischief was wrought by the pirates of Barbary, who frequently descended upon its coasts. As recently as 1815 the Tunisians landed upon Sant’ Antioco, massacring the inhabitants, or carrying them into slavery. The coast districts became depopulated, and the inhabitants retired to the interior, where, oppressed by their feudal lords, they led a life of isolation from the rest of Europe. It is hardly a generation since Sardinia began to participate in the general progress made throughout Italy.

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Sardinia is nearly as large as Sicily, but has only a fourth of its population.[117] Geographically it is more independent of Italy than the southern island, and a profound sea, more than 1,000 fathoms in depth, divides it from the African continent. Sardinia with Corsica forms a group of twin islands, which is separated from the Tuscan archipelago by a narrow strait only 170 fathoms in depth. {339} The geological structure of the two islands is identical, and there can be no doubt that the islands and rocks in the Strait of Bonifacio are the remains of an isthmus destroyed by the sea. On the other hand, we learn from a study of the geology of Sardinia that at a period not very remote that island must have consisted of several separate islands. The principal island formed a southerly continuation {340} of the mountains of Corsica, whilst the smaller ones lay to the west. Alluvial deposits, volcanic eruptions, and perhaps, also, an upheaval of the soil, have converted the shallow straits which separated them into dry land.

The mountains of Sardinia may be said to begin with the islands of Maddalena and Caprera, in the Strait of Bonifacio, and in the mountain mass of the Gallura they attain already a considerable height. A depression separates these from the southern portion of the great back-bone of the island, which stretches along the whole of the eastern coast, and terminates abruptly at Cape Carbonaro. These mountains, like those of Corsica, consist of crystalline rocks and schists; but whilst the slope on the latter island is steepest towards the west, the reverse is the case on Sardinia, and that island may almost be said to turn its back upon Italy. The general slope of the island is towards the west, and its occupation by Spain could therefore be justified by purely geographical arguments.

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The highest summits of the island are found in the central portion of this crystalline chain, where the Gennargentu, or “silver mountain,” rises to a height of 6,116 feet. A little snow remains in the crevices of this mountain throughout the summer. The inhabitants of Northern Sardinia formerly imagined that their own Gigantinu, or “giant,” in the mountains of Limbarra, constituted the culminating point of the island, but careful measurements have shown that that superb peak only attains an elevation of 4,297 feet.

The secondary mountain groups in the western portion of the island are separated from the main chain by recent geological formations. The granitic {341} region of La Nurra, to the west of Sassari, almost uninhabited in spite of its fertile valleys, and the island of Asinara adjoining it, which abounds in turtles, are amongst these insulated mountain regions. Another, intersected by the beautiful valley of Domus Novas, occupies the south-western extremity of the island. Geologists look upon it as the most ancient portion of the island, and the plain of Campidano, which now occupies the site of an ancient arm of the sea, is of quaternary formation. The transversal range of Marghine occupies the centre of the island, and there, too, we meet with vast limestone plateaux pierced by volcanic rocks. The ancient craters, however, no longer emit lava, nor even gases, and the villagers have tranquilly built their huts within them. Thermal springs alone indicate the existence of subterranean forces. Volcanic cones of recent age are met with in the north-western portion of the island, as well as in the valley of the Orosei, on the east coast. The trachytic rocks of the islands of San Pietro and Sant’ Antioco are of greater age. They sometimes present the appearance of architectural piles, especially at the Cape of Columns, which is, however, rapidly disappearing, as the stone is being quarried to be converted into pavement. On Sant’ Antioco, which a bridge joins to the mainland, there are deep caverns, the haunts of thousands of pigeons, which are caught by spreading a net before their entrance.

In addition to the changes wrought by volcanic agencies, Sardinia exhibits traces of a slow upheaval or subsidence due to the expansion or contraction of the upper strata of the earth. Raised beaches have been discovered by La Marmora near Cagliari, at an elevation of 243 and 322 feet above the sea-level, where shells of living species are found together with potsherds and other articles, proving that when this upheaval took place the island was already inhabited. Elsewhere there exist traces of a subsidence, and the old Phœnician cities of Nora, to the south-west of Cagliari, and Tharros, on the northern peninsula of the Gulf of Oristano, have become partly submerged.

Amongst the rivers of the island there is only one which deserves that name. This is the Tirso, or Fiume d’Oristano, which is fed by the snows of the Gennargentu and the rains which descend on the western mountain slopes. Other rivers of equal length are hardly more than torrents, which at one time invade the fields adjoining them, and at another shrink to a thin thread of water meandering between thickets of laurel-trees. Most of the river beds are dry during eight months of the year, and even after rain the water does not find its way into the sea, but is absorbed by the littoral swamps.

All these swamps have brackish water. The largest amongst them communicate freely with the sea, at least during the rainy season, but others are separated from it by a strip of sand. But these, too, are brackish, for the sea-water percolates through the soil, and keeps them at the same level. The water of the inland swamps is likewise saturated with saline substances derived from the surrounding soil. They generally dry up in summer, but the coating of salt which then appears is hardly dry enough to repay the labour of collection and refinement. The only salt marshes actually exploited are those of Cagliari and of Carlo-Forte, on San {342} Pietro. They have been leased to a French company, and yield annually nearly 120,000 tons of salt.

Swamps and marshes envelop nearly the whole of the island in a zone of miasmata, which are carried by the wind into the interior, producing fever even in the more elevated mountain districts. There are localities on the island the air of which no stranger can breathe with impunity. The coast districts of Sardinia, with their stagnant waters, are, in truth, the most unhealthy in Italy, and quite one-fourth of the area of the island is exposed to the scourge of malaria, which sufficiently accounts for the small population of the island and the little progress made.

Even when Sardinia was at the height of its prosperity, and supplied Rome with an abundance of corn, cheese, pork, lead, copper, iron, and textile fabrics, it was noted for its unhealthiness, and the emperors exiled to it those whom they desired to get rid of. Then, as now, the landed proprietors, about the middle of June, retired to the towns, the walls of which offered some protection against the poisonous air. The Italian Government officials are sent to the island as a punishment, and for the most part look upon themselves as condemned to death. Even the native villagers are bound to observe the greatest precautions, and wear garments of skin or leather which are impenetrable to rain, mist, and dew. They are dressed most warmly during the hottest part of the year as a protection against the climate, and in their long _mastrucas_ of sheepskin they almost look like Wallachian herdsmen.

Ancient geographers, as well as the Sardinians themselves, ascribe the unhealthiness of the climate to the rarity of north-easterly winds. The mountains of Limbarra, in the north of the island, are popularly supposed to act as a sort of screen, which diverts this health-bringing wind, to the great detriment of Lower Sardinia; and there appears to be much truth in this popular notion. South-westerly winds, or _libeccios_, are almost equally rare, and when they blow they do so with tempestuous violence.

The regular winds of Sardinia blow from the north-west or south-east. The former is known as the _maestrale_, the latter as the _levante_ or _sirocco_, called _maledetto levante_ by the inhabitants of Southern Sardinia. It becomes charged with moisture during its passage across the Mediterranean, and its temperature is in reality much less than might be supposed from the lassitude produced by it. The maestrale, on the other hand, is hailed with joy, for it is an invigorating wind. On reaching the coast it generally parts with its moisture, and when it arrives at Cagliari it is perfectly dry. The capital of Sardinia is indebted to this wind and to sea breezes for its low temperature (62·4° F.), which is far lower than that of Genoa.

Hurricanes are comparatively rare, and hailstorms, which work such damage elsewhere, are hardly known. Most of the rain falls in autumn; it ceases in December, when the pleasantest season sets in. These are the “halcyon days” of ancient poets, when the sea calms down in order that the sacred bird may build his nest. But these pleasant days are succeeded by a wretched spring. February, the “double-faced month” of Sardinian mariners, brings capricious frosts, to which {343} succeed, in March and April, abrupt changes of temperature, winds, and rain. Vegetation in consequence is far more backward than might be supposed from the latitude.

The vegetation of Sardinia resembles that of the other islands of the Mediterranean. The forest in the highland valleys of the interior and on the trackless mountain slopes consists of pines, oaks, and holm-oaks, mixed here and there with yoke-elms and maples. The villages are surrounded by chestnut-trees and groves of magnificent walnut-trees. The hill-tops, robbed of their forests, are covered with odoriferous plants and thickets of myrtles, strawberry-trees, and heather. It is there the bees collect the bitter honey so much despised by Horace. Vast tracts of uncultivated land near the seashore are covered with wild olive-trees, which only need grafting to yield excellent fruit. All the fruit trees and useful plants of the Mediterranean flourish in Sardinia. Almond and orange trees, introduced by the Moors at the close of the eleventh century, flourish vigorously. The orange groves of Millis, which are protected by the extinct volcano of Monte Ferru, are, perhaps, the most productive on the shores of the Mediterranean, and in good seasons yield 60,000,000 oranges. The gardens of Domus Novas, Ozieri, and Sassari are of surprising fertility. In the southern part of the island, wherever the cultivated fields gain upon the lands covered with rock-roses, fennel, and lilies, they are fenced in with fig-trees. The fan-shaped foliage of the date-palm is seen near every town, and more especially in the environs of Cagliari. By a curious contrast the dwarf palm is not met with in the southern lowlands of the island, though their climate is almost African, but forms dense thickets in the solitudes of Alghero, in the north of the islands. The inhabitants eat the roots of this tree, as do also the Moors.

Although all the plants of neighbouring countries become easily acclimatized in Sardinia, that island is naturally poorer in species than are continental regions lying under the same latitude. There is nothing special about its flora, for the island is probably only a remnant of a larger tract of land which formerly joined Europe to Africa. As to the famous plant mentioned by ancient writers, which, eaten by mistake, produced fits of “sardonic laughter,” or even death, it does not appear to be peculiar to the island. Mimaut thinks, from the descriptions of Pliny and Pausanias, that the large-leafed water-parsley (_Sium latifolium_) is referred to.

The number of species of animals, like that of plants, is smaller in Sardinia than on the neighbouring continent. There are neither bears, badgers, polecats, nor moles. Vipers or venomous serpents of any description do not exist, and the only animal to be dreaded is the tarentula (_arza_, or _argia_), a sting from which can be cured only by dancing until completely exhausted, or by immersion in dung. The ordinary frog, though common in Corsica, does not exist, but European butterflies are numerous. The _moufflon_, which is, perhaps, the ancestor of our domestic sheep, and has been exterminated in nearly all the islands of the Mediterranean, still lives in the mountains of Corsica and Sardinia. Wild horses roamed over Sant’ Antioco as recently as the beginning of this century; myriads {344} of rabbits burrow in the small islands lining the coast; and wild goats with long horns and yellow teeth inhabit the limestone island of Tavolara, in the Gulf of Terranova. These goats are descended from domestic animals abandoned at some former period. Caprera, the residence of Garibaldi, is named after the goats which formerly inhabited it, and animals of that kind recently introduced there quickly returned to a state of nature.

Naturalists have observed that the mammals of Sardinia are smaller than the same species living on the continent. The goat is the only exception to the rule. The stag, deer, wild boar, fox, wild cat, hare, rabbit, marten, and weasel are all of them smaller than the continental varieties. The same rule applies to domesticated animals, with the exception of the pig, which grows to a great size, especially where it is allowed to roam through oak forests. There is a variety of this animal whose hoofs are not cloven, and which ought, therefore, to be classed amongst solipeds. The horses and asses of Sardinia are dwarfs. But the horse is distinguished by great sobriety, sureness of foot, vigour, and endurance. If in addition to these advantages it possessed a more attractive exterior, it would rank among the most highly appreciated horses of Europe. As to the donkeys, though hardly larger than a mastiff, they are brave little animals, and frequently share with their masters the only room of their abode. The old-fashioned mills, resembling in every respect the Roman bas-reliefs which may be seen in the Vatican, are propelled by these donkeys, which thus materially contribute towards the support of their proprietors.

Sardinia abounds more than any other country of Western Europe in prehistoric remains. There are megaliths, known as “giants’ stones,” “altars,” or “long-stones,” as in Brittany, scarcely any of them showing traces of the chisel. Dolmens, however, are rare, and the genuineness of all is doubted. Amongst these monuments there are, perhaps, some which were connected with the worship of some Eastern deity, for Phœnicians and Carthaginians stayed for a considerable time upon the island, where they founded Caralis, Nora, Tharros, and other towns; and even during the time of the Romans it was customary to place Punic inscriptions upon the tombstones. The ruins of Tharros have yielded golden idols and other articles in large numbers, most of them being of Egyptian origin. But the principal witnesses to the civilisation of the ancient Sards are the curious structures known as _nuraghi_. They generally occupy the hill-tops, and, seen from a distance, resemble pyramids. The limestone plateau of Giara, near the centre of the island, is surrounded by masonry structures of this description, which abound also in other portions of the island, the number still existing being nearly 4,000. They are most numerous in the basaltic region to the south of Macomer, and are met with for the most part in fertile districts, far away from the arid steppes.

The origin and uses of these nuraghi have been a subject of much discussion, but archæologists now almost universally adopt the views of Signor Spano, the indefatigable explorer of Sardinian antiquities. According to him these nuraghi were dwellings, and their Phœnician name simply means “round house.” The rudest {345} among them, dating back probably for forty centuries, contain but a single chamber. They were erected during the age of stone, when man first gave up his cavern dwellings. The more recent constructions date back to the age of bronze, and even of iron. More skill is exhibited in their structure, though no mortar has been used, and they contain two or more chambers, forming as many floors, and accessible by means of stone stairs. The ground floor of some is large enough for the accommodation of forty or fifty persons, and is furnished with antechambers and small semicircular recesses. The nuraghi of Su Domu or S’Orcu, near Domus Novas, which has recently been demolished, contained ten chambers and four courtyards; it was a fortress as well as a dwelling-place, capable of accommodating a hundred persons and standing a siege. The dwellings of the modern Albanians and of the Swaneti in the Caucasus still resemble these ancient abodes.

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The rubbish which accumulated in these nuraghi has yielded a multitude of objects which throw light upon the daily life of the inhabitants, and bear witness to their relative civilisation. The lower strata only contain hand-made utensils, stone arms, and pottery, but in the upper and more recent layers many articles of bronze have been found. Other monuments of cyclopean structure stand near these ancient dwellings. They are popularly known as “giants’ tombs,” and Signor {346} Sapi, who has examined a large number of them, has discovered in every instance the ashes of human beings.

Though very superstitious, the Sardinians have no legends respecting these dwellings of the aborigines, and at most attribute them to the devil. This absence of traditions is no doubt traceable to the almost total annihilation of the inhabitants by successive conquerors. The Carthaginians showed no mercy to the aborigines, and during the first centuries of Roman rule massacres and forcible emigration were the order of the day, and the gaps thus created were filled up by Italian colonists and exiles.

The ancient Sards were most likely Iberians. They are of low stature, and the climate, which has stunted the growth of wild and domesticated animals, appears to have influenced man likewise; but they are well proportioned and muscular, have an abundance of black hair and strong beards, and scarcely ever grow bald. There are minor differences in the Sards of the two provinces. Those of the north have generally oval features and an aquiline nose, whilst those near Cagliari, who are probably more mixed, have irregular features and prominent cheek-bones.

The inhabitants of the interior of the island are, perhaps, of purer race than any other Europeans. Their ancestors, no doubt, were of the most diverse origin, but most invasions which took place after the Roman era stopped short at the coast. The Vandals paid a visit to Sardinia, but all the other Germanic tribes, who ravaged nearly every other country of Western Europe, spared that island, and its inhabitants were thus able to preserve their manners and language. The Moors, Pisans, Genoese, Catalonians, and Spaniards, who successively invaded the island, never penetrated beyond the coast. There is only one exception to this rule, viz. that of the Barbaricini, who inhabit the mountain district of Barbagia, in the very centre of the island, and who are supposed to be the descendants of Berbers expelled from Africa by the Vandals. When they came to the island they were still pagans, and they intermarried with their neighbours, the Ilienses, an aboriginal tribe, pagans like themselves. They were converted to Christianity in the seventh century, and the sombre dress worn by their women reminds us of Barbary.

Of all the idioms derived from the Latin, that spoken in Sardinia has most resemblance to the language of the ancient Romans. More than five hundred words are absolutely identical. There are likewise a few Greek words not met with in any other Latin idiom, as well as two or three words which have no affinity with any other European tongue, and which are, perhaps, derived from the language spoken by the aborigines. The two leading dialects, those of Logoduro, in the north, and of Cagliari, are directly derived from the Latin, and are, perhaps, most nearly related to Spanish. At Sassari, and in some of the neighbouring coast districts, an Italian dialect is spoken which is very much like that of Corsica or Genoa. At Alghero the descendants of the Catalonian immigrants who settled there about the middle of the fourteenth century still speak their old Provençal. The _Maurelli_, or _Maureddus_, in the environs of Iglesias, who are probably Berbers, {347} and can be recognised by their narrow skulls, make use of a few African words. Maltzan looks upon the inhabitants of the fertile district of Millis as the purest representatives of African immigrants, and it was they who introduced the cultivation of the orange into Sardinia.

The Sardinians of the interior not only retain their ancient language, but likewise many of their ancient customs. Their dances are still the same as in the time of Greece. In the north the steps are regulated by the human voice, the chanters occupying the centre of the ring. In the south a musical instrument, the _launedda_, is used, which is nothing but an ancient flute, made of two or three reeds. The customs observed at christenings, weddings, and funerals are likewise of remote date. Marriage, as amongst nearly all the ancient inhabitants of Europe, is preceded by a feigned abduction of the bride. The latter, after she has entered the house of her husband, must not stir from her place during that day, nor speak a single word. Mute as a statue, she is no longer a sentient being, but a “thing,” the property of her husband. She is not permitted to see her relatives during three days, and in the south many women partly conceal their features.

The mountaineers likewise observe the lugubrious ceremony of a wake, called _titio_ or _attito_. Women, who are either the friends of the deceased or are engaged for the purpose, penetrate the mortuary chamber, tear their hair, howl, and improvise hymns of mourning. These old pagan ceremonies become truly terrific when the deceased has been the victim of assassination, for in that case the mourners swear to take the life of the murderer. Up to the beginning of this century the practice of the vendetta annually cost the lives of hundreds of young men. At the present day it is confined to the most secluded parts of the island, and in the mountain districts of Nuoro and La Gallura it is customary at christenings to place a few bullets in the swaddling-clothes of the infants, these consecrated bullets being supposed never to miss their mark. Another custom still more barbarous has ceased to be observed since the beginning of the last century. Women, called “finishers” (_accabadure_), were employed to hasten the end of dying persons, a practice which often led to the most atrocious deeds.

The peasant of Sardinia, though not the proprietor of the soil, is nevertheless permitted to enjoy the result of his labour. The feudal system existed up to 1840, and many traces of it still survive. The great barons, most of them of Spanish extraction, were almost the absolute masters of the country, and up to 1836 they administered the law, had their prisons, and erected gallows as a symbol of their power. The peasants, however, were not tied to the land, but could migrate at pleasure, and custom granted them a fair share of the produce of the soil. By virtue of an _ademprivio_ they were permitted to cut wood in the forests, to pasture their sheep on the hills, and to bring into cultivation the waste lands of the plains. Agriculture was carried on in the most primitive fashion, for the great lords of the land usually resided abroad, and the management of their estates was left to bailiffs. Government has now become the proprietor of most of the unenclosed {348} land, 80,000 acres of which have been ceded to the Anglo-Italian Company, which has undertaken to provide the island with a network of railways.

Scale 1 : 420,800.]

In the more densely populated districts the division of the land is exceedingly minute, and this subdivision is still progressing at a most disastrous rate. The nomad herdsmen, on the other hand, possess no land of their own, though, if inclined, they are at liberty to enclose a plot. But vague proprietary rights like these render the careful cultivation of the soil impossible. It has been seriously proposed to expropriate the whole of the land, and to sell it to a few enterprising capitalists, but this would simply amount to a restoration of the old feudal times, and poverty, which is great even now, would become greater. There are villages in the district of Ogliastra where the peasants eat bread made of the acorns of _Quercus ilex_, the dough being kneaded with water containing a fatty clay. This is, perhaps, the only instance of earth-eating in Europe. The Spaniards, too, eat acorn bread, but they use the fruit of _Quercus ballota_, which is really edible, and are careful not to mix its flour with earth.

The Sardinians, even when they are the owners of pasture-grounds or of fields, never live in the country. Like the Sicilians, they are concentrated in towns or large villages, and neither hamlets nor isolated farmhouses are met with. Even {349} the shepherds in the mountains build their huts in groups called _stazzi_, and combine for mutual protection into _cussorgie_. Members of these associations, when they lose their cattle from disease or any other cause, may claim one or more beasts from every one of their comrades living within the same district or canton. In other parts of the island—as, for instance, near Iglesias—the produce of the orchards is looked upon as common property. The mountaineers, though poor, practise the ancient virtue of hospitality, and though the dwellings are rude, they find means of making a stranger staying amongst them comfortable.

The products of Sardinia form but a small proportion of those of all Italy. Most of the peasants only work by fits and starts, and hardly more than a fourth of the area of the island has been brought under cultivation. It sometimes happens that the crops are destroyed by the scorching heat of the sun, or eaten up by locusts, which come in swarms from Africa. Except near Sassari no attempt is made to improve the produce. The olive-tree alone is cultivated with some care, for the grower of a certain number of these trees may claim political privileges, and even the title of “Count,” and thousands of proprietors have converted their sterile steppes into productive olive groves. The millions of oranges grown in the gardens of Millis and elsewhere are taken entirely for home consumption. Commercially these oranges are of less importance than the saline plants collected in the marshes of the coast districts, and the ashes of which are exported to Marseilles to be converted into soda.

The working of granite and marble quarries yields some profit, but the mines, which were of such importance in the time of the Romans, are hardly touched now. There is only one iron mine, that of San Leone, where work has been carried on seriously by a French company since 1822. It yields about 50,000 tons of ore annually, and the oldest railway of the island connects that mine with Cagliari. The district of Iglesias, where the Romans founded Plumbea and Metalla, and the Pisans searched for silver, has recently regained some of its ancient importance on account of its lead and zinc mines. The waste of the old mines is likewise being scientifically treated by French, English, and Italian companies, to whom mining claims have been ceded, and a curious stalactite cavern which traverses the hill near Domus Novas has been utilised in gaining access to the scoriæ. Iglesias is rapidly growing into a city of modern aspect, the village of Gonessa is already a respectable town, and the little harbour of Porto Scuso, until recently almost deserted, is now crowded with small craft employed in carrying annually 900,000 tons of lead and zinc ore to the roadstead of Carlo-Forte. Unfortunately the miners, especially those from abroad, frequently succumb to the climate.

The fisheries, being for the most part carried on in the bays exposed to the sea breezes, are not attended by the same dangers. Certain portions of the coast abound in fish, such as the Bay of Cagliari, and the narrow arms of the sea in the archipelago of the Maddalena, which the ancients searched for purple shells. Anchovies and “sardines” periodically visit the coasts, and as many as 50,000 tunny-fish are sometimes caught in a single season. The swamps or lagoons likewise yield fish, which are caught in nets spread at the openings of the channels {350} communicating with the sea. The swamp of Cagliari abounds in shad, that of Oristano in mullets and eels, and that of Alghero in pike and gold fish. The fisheries of Sardinia are consequently of much importance, but most of their profits are reaped by strangers. Corsicans fish near La Maddalena, Genoese around San Pietro, and Italians monopolize the coral fisheries. These latter, too, collect the _Pinna nobilis_, a shell, the silky byssus of which is converted into stuff for garments. Nor do the Sardinians take to the sea as sailors, and the commerce of the island is carried on almost exclusively in Genoese and other Italian vessels. Out of 2,400 proverbs collected by Spano, only three refer to the sea ! [118]

The inhabitants of the northern “Cape” of Sassari, or _di Sopra_, claim to be more intelligent and civilised than those of the southern “Cape” of Cagliari, or _di Sotto_. The former do not call themselves Sardinians at all, but apply that name, which to them is synonymous with barbarians, to the inhabitants of the {351} interior and of the south. In former times these two sections of the population hated each other, and the spirit of the vendetta, which set family against family, village against village, made its influence felt all over the island. This old animosity has not yet completely died out; but the people of Sassari can no longer claim to be the superiors of their southern neighbours. They certainly are better agriculturists and more industrious, but the southerners possess the richest mines, their portion of the island is most productive, and it is the seat of the capital.

Scale 1 : 250,000.]

Cagliari, the ancient _Caralis_, has remained the great emporium of the island since the days of Carthage. Only a few idols, sepulchral chambers, the ruins of an aqueduct, and an amphitheatre excavated in the rock, recall the dominion of Carthaginians and Romans, but it could not be deprived of its excellent harbour and magnificent roadstead. The town was only a short time under the rule of the Moors, but its physiognomy is almost more oriental than that of any city in Europe, many of its houses being provided with cupolas and balconies overhanging the streets. Its position as a place of commerce is most favourable, for it lies on the ocean highway connecting Sicily with the Balearic Islands, and the coast of Africa is within a day’s sail. It is sure to prosper, especially if a serious effort is made to drain the marshes and to transform the plain of the Campidano into a fertile garden. The latter, an ancient arm of the sea, extends to the south-east towards Oristano, the “town of potters.” During the Middle Ages {352} the latter was the seat of the most powerful lords of the island, and it was thence Eleonora promulgated her famous _Carta de logu_, which became the public law of the whole island. Oristano has an excellent harbour, sheltered by the peninsula of Tharros, upon which the Phœnicians had founded one of their settlements; its fields are fertile, and, to bring about a return of its ancient prosperity, it is only necessary to drain the marshes which now hem it in. In former times fires were lighted upon the walls of the town during the season of malaria, to purify the atmosphere; but the vast forests from which the fuel for these fires was procured have disappeared, and this portion of Sardinia is no longer entitled to its ancient epithet of “Arborea.” It is said that in the marshes of Nurachi, to the north-east of Oristano, may be heard now and then a noise resembling the bellowing of a bull. This noise is probably produced by the passage of air through some subterranean cavern, and similar phenomena have been observed on the coast of Dalmatia.

Sassari the delightful, the rival of Cagliari, is embosomed amidst olive-trees, gardens, and country houses. It alone, of all the towns of the island, could boast of a republican government during the Middle Ages, and the public spirit of its present inhabitants is, perhaps, traceable to this circumstance. Its geographical position, however, is far less favourable than that of Cagliari, for a zone of swamps separates it from the sea. It might export its produce through the port of Alghero or the excellent harbour of Porto Conto, to the south of the mountains of La Nurra; but facility of access has dictated its choice of Porto Torres, a miserable village on the swampy shore of the Gulf of Asinara. Porto Torres occupies the site of a Roman city, and the arches of a huge aqueduct and the columns of a Temple of Fortune still rise above the reeds. This old port certainly offers great facility for the export of the olive oil of Sassari and the wines of Tempio, as respects France and Genoa; but the intricate navigation of the Strait of Bonifacio separates it from the nearest Italian coast. Italy has therefore determined to create an additional port on the east coast of the island, and the Bay of Terranova has been selected for that purpose. _Olbia_, which at the time of the Romans had no less than 150,000 inhabitants, occupied the site of the present town, which the Italians fondly imagine may become the great emporium of the island. Its port is certainly well sheltered, and the roadsteads of the archipelago of La Maddalena near it afford additional accommodation; but seriously to improve the condition of Sardinia it will be necessary, above all things, to drain its dreary swamps, and to “transform their poisonous exhalations into bread.”[119]

IX.—THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF ITALY.

No impartial spectator can deny that Italy, since it has again taken its place among the nations of Europe, promises great things for the future. Even its {353} political regeneration has brought to the surface men of the highest intellect, courage, zeal, and public spirit. There are some amongst them whom posterity will look upon as a credit to all mankind. Possibly this period of excitement and nervous activity may be succeeded by a sort of moral collapse, such as generally takes place after every great crisis in the life of a nation. But this need not render us anxious for the future, for generations exhausted by the efforts they have made will be succeeded by others eager to continue the work their predecessors have begun.

In sciences and arts the native country of Volta, Cialdi, Secchi, Rossini, Verdi, and Vela occupies even now a position of equality with the most advanced nations of Europe. The Italian of the present day is able to refer without shame to the two great centuries of the Renaissance, for he has entered upon a second period of regeneration, and the names of contemporaries can be mentioned by the side of the great names of the past. Italy has its skilful painters and sculptors, its celebrated architects and unrivalled musicians. The great works achieved by its engineers are deserving the study of foreigners. Amongst its physicists, geologists, astronomers, and mathematicians there are some of the brightest ornaments of the age, and the assiduity with which universities are frequented insures their having worthy successors. A geographical society only recently established has successfully taken up the work of exploration so gloriously carried on by the Genoese and Venetians. It is not just, therefore, to say ironically that “Italy has been made, but not Italians.” Individually the Italians are inferior to no other race of Europe, and the reorganization of the country would have been impossible had there been any deficiency in men of mark.