The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-01-22

and saw away to the right n above
where 1 knew the monastery lay, lines
Of blue smoke in feathery penoilingaf
against the dark green Of the massed
frs.
''Those are the oarbonari. They never
leave the mountains, save on FEAST
days" said q kindly carretijo. ssWhen
theycome to Tosi for wine and oil, they
are so black and dreadful, u children
run and hide. But they do not HARM
So with vigorous impulse Of adventure,
l turned aside from the paved mountain
way, and, with the oartman's son for q
skirted the mountain, coming in
a two hours tramp through dense for.
ests of beech, chestnut and pine. with
here and there a blaokened opening
where trees had already been burned,
or sunny space, whore sportsmen and
snare the mountain birds, ]
to a charcoal burners camp, and
was Hospitality received for the night.
These carbonari form a distinct class
among the mountains of Italy. They
generally live in the villages, the wife
and daughters engaging in the vine.
yards, gathering olives or chestnuts,
and often as shepherdesses with small.
flocks. The fathers and sons go from
one forest to another as the
owners desire charcoal made. The
landlords secure the telling and
cutting Of the trees and the carbonaro
attends to building and firing
the pyres and watching day and night
their smouldering progress. In this la,
Dor the sons share, and regular watches
are taken. The logs are stood on end
in round piles of perhaps 10 feet in dia-
meter, covered and chinked with messy
earth and then fred in a central hollow
which has been filled with chips OF
dry timber, fir cones, chips from the
logs and dead leaves and grass. Once
we'll ablaze this flaming funnel is COW
cred with moss and earth, and the pile
is then left to shoulder for five or six
days. When reduced to carbone or
charcoal. the carbonaro delivers it to
the owner, packed in sacks, two sacks
comprising a donkey load for
which he receives about 10
cents, or about 50 for each
burning, yielding 40 sacks. Az
score or more carbonari were at work,
and, as the burning was to be for IN exc
tended period, some six or eight of the
CdlDOllbl1 udu Uul1U CCLup Ol d. HubS dIlu
had removed their entire families to
the forest.
This gave life and picturesquesness
to the scene, especially at night. A
few iron cressets had been fastened I'd
the tree-trunks, and the crackle and
Earrings of cones and knots lent weird
colorings to the motley groups Of
women with dazzling teeth and eyes,
and men grimY and swarth beyond all
description. l could not repress the
feeling that was at my old wander
ings with my Gypsy friends again;
and as the night gathered close its sable
wing ove the majeetic forest trees
above, and, n by n some strange in-
strument of music was produced from
the shadowy huts, while melody and
dancing added their fascination to the
wild, strange scene, a thousand recol-
lections of days with the Rommany
swept back IN Pratomagno's darkened
heights. Deeper still grew this feeling
as l was shown to a couch of fir branches
for sleep. 1t came not for hours; for in
the gentle soughing of the frs, the calls
of the watchers to each other, and here
and there through the camp, suppressed
tones OF melody, as those who watched
grouped together and reassuringly sang
low and soft the stornelli of Italy, I
was with my loved vagabond friends by
their witching camp fires in my own
loved land.
When the morning came, after a
breakfast of pan unto, bread fried in
olive oil. and many a kindly "addio!",
and ~''vale!" from my grimy hosts, I
found my W way back to Tosi. On
such a June morning as that in which T
journeyed. the songs OF birds, the
Eolian music of the forest breezes, so
bewitch n all the way from Tosi, that
suddenly and without warning you ara
at the enchanting mountain eerie Of
Vallombrosa. The spotitself comprises
but a few acres Of level meadow,
through which run a long avenue of
stately trees. At the end of this ave.
u stand the lichened and gray old
buildings. On n side of the sunny
opening miles on miles of frs rise in
serried ranks to the very top of Prato.
magno: on the other. thousands of chest
nut trees glow in their golden foliage.
Behind and above, hosts Of sturdy
beeches climb the mountain. There are
still standing 40. 600, planted by the busy
priors' OWE hands. The monastery it.
self is a huge ~quadrangular structure,
with spacious inner courts. The ancient
church, completely robbed of it's former
treasures of paintings-save an Assump-
ton by Franceschini, and the cupola
%frescoes, by Fabrini-stands in the zen.
ter of the courts. Its massive square
tower rises grim and lone above the
half-deserted buildings. Perhaps .
score of folk, professors, students, sig
nal bureau agents and government for
esters who act as q sort OF noun
tain police about the sequestered
property, abide here, surly, inhos-
pitable, and as if .doggedly con-
scious of the sacrilege in their
preJence of scholastic life. The old
monastery bell still sounds the hours,
but it speaks only to silence and decay.
The great water basins which held the
monks trout preserves are filled with
dead leaves. The wondrous old kitchen,
a mighty truncated cone, where, swing
ing from a huge turnspit, the oxen once
were roasted, is cobwebbed, cold and
hreless. The Mettata, where an hum
dred cows were kept, is untenanted.
Paradisino, the ancient hermitage on
the cliff above the monastery, with its
celle, tower and church are stripped,
and transformed into a hay loft. The
half ruined mil, underneath which
PUSHES the Vicano, is deserted and still.
Marvellous indeed is it. that the Italy 81
today has left one hint of the old life
here. But there is just one. In the
church there is an deliberately carved
silver reliquary. 1t contains the relics
OF San Giovanni. How the one brown
bone which has m~iraculously escaped
decay must haunt the grave professors
of the Geologic ~Forestale," as Vallom-
brosa now is called!
One thousand feet higher than where
ancient Vallombrosa stands in its nest
like valley, 5000 feet above the sea,
rises the fr-crowned summit of
Pratomagno. From this point the
most ravishingly beautiful view in
all Italy is presented. What won
drous associations are conjured in con-
temptation of the fair, far Casentino
valley with its boundary beyond, formed
by the lofty Apenines. where are born
historic Tiber and enhancing Arno!
Tuscany, home of the demonstrating
vine and fairest women, stretches sun
nily to the westward. The majestic
49,