St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-07-14
CAPRI AND cAPRIoTEs.
An Island in the Mediterranean Famed I'm


An Island IN the Mediterranean Eamed liz
Song and Story.
In order to see Capri to the best adj
vantage the traveller should make the
tour of the island in roWboat. This
takes about three hours, and the
rugged formation of the rocks, their
variegated colors, the deep blue or
light-greeniSh blue, of the water, and
the wonderfully beautiful grottoes,
with their mysterious sounds, make
these few hours seem like time spent
in fairyland. The Blue Grotto has be-
come celebrated the world over, and it
owes it's exceptional beauty to the fact
that through the present small en-
trance very little light can enter, but
the SUMS rays passing through the in
digo-blue water are refracted; the blue
water absorbs the red and yellow rays
and gives to the cave it's wonderful
blue aspect. The island of Capri is
composed of limestone. and these
caves are formed by the chemical ac-
ton of carboric acid in the atmos-
phere, carried in the water, upon the
carbonates of lime and magnesia. if
there be afssure in the strata through
which the acidiied water may make
its descent. In the course of time the
assure is worn larger, and the water
dlssolves and bears away with it the
stratum through which it passes. The
action of the seawater, through the
beating of the waves, assists the rain
water In enlarging the cave
The inhabitants of Capri retain
many of the peculiarities of their
Greek ancestors, as well as much of
their beauty. The women are cele-
brated for their clear-cut features,
healthy, olive compilations, their
dark, laughing eyes and their
fine straight forms, which the
carrying of burdens on the head
tends to increase. Most of the
men are away from the island nearly
the whole of the year at sea, either
coral fishing or employed in the coast
ing trade, and for this reason almost
all labor is done by women. The Cap
riote of to-day is as avaricious as his
celebrated ancestor of the Grecian isles,
and in making bargain with him it is
necessary to stipulate every thing be-
fore hand; even then he will find some
excuse to increase the sum agreed upon
when the time for payment comes.
Quite a number of Englishmen of
good families, among them Lord,
have married Capri girls, owing, no
doubt, to their beauty and winning
smiles, and have settled down to a
sdolce far niente'' existence on this lit
tie island in the tideless summer sea.
IL is pleasant to see the strong, healthy
looking, handsome girls toiling I'D the
rocky paths with burdens or their
heads, but laughing and chatting with
Infectious vivacity and casting be-
glance at the tourist, who |
has come from crowded cities, where
civilization makes its iron rule felt and |
cramps or develops our faculties and
as it chooses. We can not
help feeling that, after all, we, who |
are born to highly civilized life, have
not all the good things in this world
as we look back on the struggle for
gain or honor among the educated,
whose faces are marked with the lines
If care and thought, and compare the
picture Of selfish life in. the modern
Fain-gettirF countries with the happy
aras 49, I ~ |
lave eaten the lotos and dwell on this
bright gem of the sea. Karl Ka-
'oty. IN San Francisco Chronicle.