The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-04
THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA.
CAL7GIARi, THE 0UEEREST or
 CIPITALS,
A nd the Greatest Surprise to the stran

Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier)
 Sassari, Sardinia, March 30.-This big
 island, the largest in the Mediterrane-
 an next to Sicily-s about the size of
 Porto Rico, or of Vermont and New
 Hampshire put together. No doubt Sar-
 dinia and Corsica were one in ages past,
 until rent in twain by some convulson
 of nature, when the sea rushed into the
 narrow gap now known as the Strait of
 Bonifazio To-day the twin islands are
 as unlike in climate, inhabitants and physical features as if oceans rolled be-
 tween them.
 Nothing more delightful can be imag-
 ined than yachting around Sardinia.
 The month of March, with it's gales and
 rains, is not to be recommended for a cruise in many waters; but to the Med
 iterranean it brings perfection of wealth f CT. We made the whole circuit of the
 island Ca fortnight's voyage, including
 stops), on seas as tranquil as a mill
 pond under skies of cloudless blue
 Sometimes, for days together, we were winding in and out of narrow channels,
 between picturesque islands, then skirting miles of precipitous cliffs, against whose ramparts pillows dash with ceaseless roar; and anon penetra- ting far inland on sheltered bays bor-
 dered with vineyards. Sometimes we compared the scenery to that of the "in-
 land passage to Alaska; and some times to Norwegian fiords; and oftenest to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in the neighborhood of Cape Horn. But neither comparison is correct. although there are points of similarity. By the way, can anybody tell why no two bod les of water, even in the same latitude, are alike-why the St. Lawrence and the Columbia, the Hudson and the Mis- Z sissippi, the Amizon and the Orinoco, the Rhine and the Guadalquivir, are as different to one another in color as light is from darkness; why the Mediterra- mean and the Caribbean, both deeply QdThly, uGSpEIdsGly Uluct are IiO H1OlG the same blue than Lake Superior is the color of the China sea? Sardinia's northern coast very much resembles the Corsican side of the strait, from which it was broken, with promontories, in- lets and long stretches of lagoon which might easily dove-tail together again should another earthquake close the gap From a huge, far-reaching promontory on the northweset corner of the island extends the historic capes Falconi, Grasso and Argentierra; and between them the reader of classical literature will recognize Ptolemy's Cor ditanaum Promontorium, and Hercules Isola dell Asinara. The western side of the island presents magnificent sea- front of wild mountains, two thousand feet high unbroken for hundred and fifty miles, except where the cliff-wall curves inward to inclosa some beautiful bay. And always the bay is edged by a belt of glittering sand, close behind which yine-clad hills rise by gentle slope to darken mountains. Here and there a clff towering head and shoulders above the sierried ranks of it's fellows, is topped by solitary tower
  pose has been long forgotten.
 The eastern shore is less picturesque, being made up of rocky heights and | low, peobly beaches, alternating in mo- notonous succession.
 The only important headland is Mon to Santo, nearly three thousand feet | high, which suddenly slopes to seaward, | where 1t terminates In stupendous lime | stone cliffs. Then comes the region of miasmas and levers which has given | Sardinia such an unenviable reputation | fifty miles or more of saline marshes, | extending away around to the Gulf of | Cagliari which deeply indents the southern end of the island. This great | crescent shaped gulf forms one of the finest harbors in Europe. From Cape Carbonario, the eastern horn of its crescent to Cape Teulada on the vest the latter long range of cliffs, nearly a thousand feet high, towering straight up as a wall of masonry and jutting far out into the sea, where it forms natu- ral break water-the distance is about \ thirty-five miles, as the crow flies. During the middle ages vessels of largest size used to sail from the gulf into the salt-marshes of the eastern coast It is recorded that in the year 1926, when Santa Gilla was under siege, the royal galleys went into the lagoons and remained there in safety for a month Now the nearest of these swamps, called Stagno di Caglari, is hardly accessible by row-boats. The strip of land which separates it from the sea is cut full of canals, to admit salt water and the fish. EXten- sive evaporating pools have been es- stablished, and large quantities of ex- cellent salt are produced. Though the one time so numerous as Lo have bestowed their name upon the sland--have almost disappeared, to- gether with the anchovy and the pearl oyster the fisheries hereabouts yield an , ncome averaging one hundred and fif- , " thousand livres a year. Eels, bream . md grey millets are the usual catch, |, md form an important article of com , nerce, as well as of island consump- , ion. Rounding the tall cliffs of Cape : reluda, we came upon a fleet of boats, , wo or three hundred strong, manned ,y Genoese and Neapolitan fishermen ', n their picturesque costumes, fishing ' or pink coral and the silky byssus-a , -aluable shell-fish, from twenty to thir- :, V inches across. r c1;or; Enlf aytapdS Spfpp Tlttaap 1