The morning call., 1891-01-11
TEE SHEPHERDS OF
SOUTHERN ITALY.
They Are Picturesque Enough, Despite
TaClOuS Ignorance.
On the Mountain Side the Life of the Shop
herd Family Is Changeless One the
Summer Long -The Field Lore,
Special to THE SUNDAY CALL.

gathered at the table of the chief citizen OF
Florence such men as Pulci, Filipino
Lippi. Botiicellj, Ghirlaudajo and Michael
Angelo. The host, whose wealth and match
less attachments made him known among
the potentates and savauts OF Southern
Europe as Lorenzo, the Magnificent" wrote
q pastoral poem of wOndrOuS sweetness and
power called La NeGcia da Barbarino." ]
was once in aposition (beng an editor, worse
luck y 10 have this little-known though sur
passing composition translated for the Il ST
time into English, in the original meter, by
no less a scholar and poet than Sir Edwin
Arnold. The poem, comprising 500 lines,
depicts in simple though glowing words aud
imagery the hopeless and consuming passion
Of the shepherd-lad, "Ravella," for Il dainty
peasant-grl, Nencia." One cannot read
this iowiy life heart-cry without the awak-
ening in his own soul of q thrilling and
commserative tenderness for the humble
lives it so plaiutiyely reveals; and it was
with this feeling that sought, perhaps over
much, for the poetic and romantic side of
the picture, 10 know the real every day live
OF those who tend the hocks and herds of
Italy.
My first wanderings were in Southern
Italy, the territory OF Ulden Apulia. Once
this was part of GIRcia Magma. lis great
elites were Arplnum, Lucerla, Arpi ana
Canusium. Partly on loot, partly by the
antique cabriolet Of
PROVINCIAL ITALY,
Partly by lettga, the lectia Of the ancient
Romans, and partly Oh the backs If tiny
dOukeys OF NondrcuS ShaggineSs and mar
yel0us power, ] made my way in zig-zag
course back and forth across the the in
frequently Travelled, little known, weird
ana lonely, yet always transcend
entity beautiful and fascinating peninsula.
Upwards Of 500 castles, modern, medieval
aud In ruins, stvikingly recalling the spleu-
dor and decay OF Ireland, were counted
The few remaining relics Of Canine, where
lle Romans met thelr crushing defeat of b.
Z. PIG. and where the historic city was
finally destroyed, in 1883, by Robert
GuiscQrd, one Of TassO's heroes. were
found. Barr, upon the Adriat.c, as
famous now for its fish as in the time
hey and church OF 5. NiccOlu, where
are found the paintings of one Of the ear
lest Italian masters, Nivarini and where in
lo9s, Pope Urban ii held the famous eoun-
ell which sought to reconcile the church of
Greece with that OF Rome, was visited.
climbed past Melh, with its glorious castle
OF the ola Norman sOYereigns, to the extinct
volcano, Monte FuliuTe, the ''Apulian Vul-
tuT' OF Horace, whose crater. uvergrown
with oaks and beeches, now contains two
Iakes,perched above one Of which is the most
eeTle monastery OF Europe, possibly except
ing MOnStrrat IN Spain, and from whose
towers the blue waters Of the Mediterranean
on tie west, and those of the Adriatic
on Tie east could be dlscerned. l tramped.
100, with hundreds OF returning pilgrims.
camping With them at night by the WaVside
sat with the carTetlajO as his cart and OK
waited by the fOunta ms; climbed to the
shrlneS with reverential pilgrims; waited
by the neutrality-suspicious. with roadside beg
gers; made countless and astounding eY-
cuses to get into the interior Of cabins for
draughtS Of acqua di latte and naufa, but
termIk and orange water which you
can get everywhere IN the country
for the value of half an American
cent; struggled from town to mountain
Win TIE pecOTe and his fiOcks: assisted
more than one shepherd in building q rude
hut OF stone after the manner Of the Pagan
'bee-hiye' cell upon Wihd-sWeut mo6rs.
and alter making my home Tor a brief sea-
son among the shepherds of the eastern
mountain range Of Otranto followed on foot
the classic Appian Way to the Shepherd
haunts OF the olive and yine-gIrt hills of
Tuscany: Shepherds, shepherds every
where, but nowhere was the dream of
shepherd life breathing from LA Nenca."
as the altar from the heart of q rose, full
4 ed.
One Of the most interesting facts regarding
the shepherds Of southern Italy is that they
are not only a distinct class, but through
holding themselves aloOf from all the other
peasant classes, are almost a distinct race.
In ancient times all this country was sub
lect 10 scOuIging depredatiOus by
THE sARACENs
To an extent requiring that people should
herd together in walled towns for protection
OF life ami property. Then nearly tn en-
tire population of old Apulia were shep-
herds. They drove their herds from tie
I "a mo lfnFf
safety at night. Tie descendants Of these,
IL direct lIEe for more than 1000 years, are
uOlng That Identical thing to-day, not for
safety, but from traditional custom. All
those who exist in southern Italy to-day
who are not shepherds, goatherds or
herdsmen form the population Of cities
aud towns and comprise the contadini
or 1eld-laboGers; and the ancestors of all
these may be said to have gradually
grown away from the shepherds life,
rather tran that the shepherds of our time
are product of new forms of rural economic
necessities. They rarely inter-marry with
other classes. When they do they instantly
depart from the fOcks, are absorbed IN lower
oIders OF the cities, or become the most des-
perdtely hopeless OF the human cattle that
labor IN tie fields. The pride in their own
descent IN the eXclusiyeness of their class.
IN the long line of shepherd ancestry they
can trace, amounts almost to passion. It
IS practically the one pride they possess.
ms isolation of blood and interest has pre-
served interesting traces in physiognOmy.
Ihey are wonderfully Saracenic in their
look: The tall, slender, supple figure, the
oval face and shining skin, the neck, tiny at
the throat spreading quickly and heavily IN
lTolubeTant muscles, like a broad butted
tree, to the shoulders, the yellow ish-b!ue
tlnge Of the white Of the eye, the distended
nnstrlls and the dazzling teeth, all pronounce
the Eastern origin and retained physiolOgi-
cal atfinities
In every part of Southern Italy you win
come upon broad, grass-grown highway.
IL IS called the "traturO." For twenty
centuries 1t has served the same purpose.
II can be nearly likeYed to our own vast
Western stOck-Jrails leading from grass
to grass" when herds are driven north
ward, fattening on their way TO the great
livestock markets. On this "traturo' oc-
ours tile yearly spring exodus from the
lower valleys and cOastwise moors aud
marshes TO the Apullan mountain summer
pastures. In the autumn hundreds of thou
sands return along these ancient ways.
During the winter the herdsmen and shep-
nerds live in tGwn-hovels, or in huts near
the towns and villages. The herds and
HofKS are then driven out to and returned
from daily grazing. But in the summer time
on the mountain-sides is the real outdoor
life OF the guardian Of the flocks and herds.
neither he be herdsman, gOatherd or
shepherd, he is usually given charge of q
flock or herd of from 50 to 100 animals.
Among the cattle, and herding in common
with them, are large numbers of a species of
buffalo, smaller and less hairy than the now
extinct American bison. In herd of 100
CATTLE,
Twenty will be provided with unmusical
bells. In flock of as many sheep twice as
many will have bells, some OF which are ex-
ceedingly melOdious ana the quality of his
bells are of more concern to the Apulian
shepherd than that of his sheep The latter
are odd little poddy creatures. Nearly all
are black. Their legs and hoofs are black
and Shiny as ebony drum-sticks. Their
eyes are exceedingly small and brilliant
yellow; while the little creatures are as
agile as chamois. Weird, strange groups
are these which follow the flocks and herds
to the mountains. Nearly every shepherd
of Southern Italy is married. He marries
young. He rears, or rather there grows,
seemingly all unconscious to himself, a
large family. The sons marry other shep-
herds daughters the daughters other shep-
herds sons. Himself perhaps born in the
grass by the side Of the "traturo." in a cleft
OF some rock in the edge of torrents gra-
VIVA, or in some low hut ON hill OF moor. he
i 4