The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-25
NAPoLsoN.s ISLAND.
scenes and Memories Of the Corsica of
To-day-The Short-Lived Bonapartes.
A..

LONDON Nay Our Ideas OF Corsica
are, am afraid. biased by the dramatiss
and the novelist We think Of it as it Is
represented to US in the adventures of the
brothers De Franchi. just now revived at
the Lyceum by Irving, or through the me-
dunn Of Merimee's picturesque Columbia.
therefore We associate the wild Mediter-
ranean island with vendettas, savage pas
sions and more savage loves. Less terrify-
ing but not less picturesque are the descrip.
tions given by Alphonse Daudet Ia the
"Lettres de mon Moulin" written after
spending several weeks in the lighthouse of
MezzO Mare with no other companion than
the agedscustodian OF the isolated building
and the seductive pictures of landscape and
verdure of Guy de Maupassant in "Une
Vie.n But it is well known that both
dramatist and novelist are gifted with glo-
rified vision which the ordinary tourist does
not possess, and the lack Of which possibly
accounts for the divergence of impressions:
the former are more vivid and poetical, the
latter perhaps the more to be depended
upon.
1t is not without regret that the traveller
of to day has to relinQuish certain precon.
ceived ideas and to renounce his faith in the
legendary Corsican vendetta; he bushes
when be finds the native smiling somewhat
ironically at any illusions to their heredi-
tary and sanguinary family feuds, and, If
the truth must be told in all its unromantic
badness, he finds that the conflicts which
most engross the Inhabitants is the estab-
lishment of a battle of flowers after the
Nice and Monte Carlo style, while their
Jealous emulation is centered on a pacific
exhibition where, besides the rural and ag-
ricultural products of the island, are to be
seen specimens of rough or manufactured
marble. granite, and porphyry, old pieces
of furniture, carved woods, curious gourds,
and richly chased weapons.
The climate of Corsica is simply perfect;
the soft air is laden with spicy, aromatic
doors and made vivifying by the iodine ex-
halations of a rich marine flora; the long
stretches of sandy beach are STEPPED in
warm sunshine; the background of noun
tains has the luminous green tints Of the
Greek hillSides. Existence in those seagirt
ATTITUDES sinks to q bliSSful Incidence: strife.
bloodshed, fiery passions, and wild revenge
are absolutely incompatible with this
dreamy lauguor, 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 Cambaceres, and which are only at their
best during the short span between Jan.
and Jan. 30, when they are gorged with the
luscious myrtle berries Honey brown in
color and retaining the slight bitterness
mentioned by Virgil, mingling with the de-
licious perfume of wild flowers, the broc-
clio, the national white cheese, of a sweet,
peculiar flavor; huge lines, preserved in
sugar, and variety of excellent wines con-
sttute a bill of fare to satisfy the most fas-
tldious gourmet. The brand of Santa
Luciu of Tallane was such favorite with
Nine. Letitia, mother of Napoleon l., that
she would drink no other wine, and had
some sent to her to Paris.
One cannot fail to be struck by the fact
that the influence, might almost say the
presence, of the Bonaparte family is every
where apparent in the "Green Island" AT
Ajaccio on the market place the women
curUsy before the statue of the First Consul |;
on another square he towers 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 sofa
on which be was born, and the trap door
leading to the subterranean passage by
which he escaped to the harbor one night
when he discovered that he was tracked by
spies. Where he himself Is not the members
of his family are. Their portraits are in
the museums, their works in the libraries,
His mother is buried in the Bonaparte
chapel with the simple epitaph, Mater
Regina. His father stands erect at the
Hotel de Vile in a red gold-laced coat.
There, also, are his brothers-Joseph in q
royal mantle. Louis in a gray uniform,
jerome on a ship, Lucien abstractedly
dreaming under tree. By tragical an
tithesis the bust of the King of Rome faces
the mask Of Napoleon dead, and the con-
trast between these silent witnesses of
distant past is painfully accented by the
busy, cheerful hum of the bright adjoining
thoroughfare.
AS long as the traveller fingers in the
cities-Ajaccio the capital; Bastia, the
chief seaport; Vizzavone and Corre-he
finds q vague resemblance with all Italian
towns, and a flavor of a comparatively
modern and general civilization, with
nearly the same customs and forms OF COM
merce aud life; but it is when he penetrates
into the heart of the country that he be-
comes haunted by the memories of old ira
ditions-the legends of the Evil Eye, Of the
Devil and supernatural phantoms which
seem to have left their impress on the rag
ged, distorted trees, the misshapen rocks,
the tortuous, rushing streams and the
10 nber mountain defles. The western
coast, jagged, serrated and wild, is the
most picturesque, and at the same time far
the healthiest Every village and hamlet has
history or link with dead past; Barde-
lica, with its statue OF Sampiero; Calvi, the
ancient Genoese city; Cargese, once Greek
colOny ana retaining the bastard dialect
and religious rites Of Greece; Aleria, de-
stroyed by Scipio, rebuilt by Soylla and re-
calling its Phocean origin. Every civiliza-
ton has marked with its passage this curl
Gus little island; its soil has been trodden
successfully by the Vandals. the Byzau-
tines, the Lombards, the Saracens and the
Genoese, and not the least singular charac-
teristic OF the small nation is that it has
gradually assimilated its conQuerers with
out losing the distinctive traits of its race !;
not satified with having given birth to
Napoleon, it claims as its child Christopher
Columbus.
How is it, then, that the Bonapartes born
and bred in this magnifcently salubrious
Island OF Corsica have all carried the germs
OF fatal and incurable disease? Why did
tney ole comparatively young, and all af-
iected by mysterious ailments3 Charles, the
iather OF the emperor, died at the age of So;
napoleon at 81; his three sisters were under
60, and one OF them much younger at the
time OF their death. The next generations
are not even 20 long livsd. The Due de
Helchstag disappeared at 81; the children of
Louis respectively er S. e and So; mono
reached hale old age. The specialists have
explained this by declaring that the Bona
parties had hereditary tendency to cancer,
consequence Of thsir Emphatic
temperament. and that il ia well known
that the dread evil takes It's full develop.
rnent about the fiftieth year. Napoleon,
VINO had long been troubled with scrofulous