The Republican journal., 1912-04-11
IN AJACClO.
vi.

vi.
Chestnuts are the wheat OF Corsica. If
you ask a Corsican pea amt how he lives,
he will proudly reply, "Pane di legno,
vino di PETRA "On bread of wood,
and wine of the stones, which means
on chestnut -four and spring water! Yet
the soil of his native land is one of the
most fertile in the world, and could be
made. with due care and cultivation, to
profitably yield large revenues. even as
it did in the old Roman days. The Corsi-
can. however, cares not for the strenu-
GUS life; provided he has enough for his
wants he is satisfied. which after all is
the true philosophy. There are the
goats and sheep in the mountain home, a
bit of corn in the field, few vegetables
in the garden, an abundance Of game for
an ever-ready rifle, and the mettlesome.
sturdy, little pony standing at the door.
What more could anyone desire? They
live ssnear to Nature, and to Natures
God"
The enormous chestnut trees form
veritable forests. Those at Basic lica,
the birthplace of the valiant Sampiero,
the Corsican hero, are especially re-
nowned. They say chestnut only
yields its fruit after thirty years of
growth, but they require no cultivation
and produce an abundant harvest. Some
of the immense twisted boles are curious
to look upon. In the hot summers the
shade of the spreading branches is CRATE
full indeed.
In every village there are several
built ovens, by the wayside, or in
the shadow of the belfry, and here the
women knead and bake the huge loaves
of chestnut flour. 1t is rather sour to
the taste, but nourishing and satisfying
to ones hunger. 1t is picturesque
enough sight, the women walking easily
along the village path. heavily weighted
though they are with huge piles of brush
wood on their heads, which will present
ly serve for the heating of the bake
ovens.
These brave and simple mountaineers,
whose lives are like an open book, follow
the traditions and customs of the tragic
unwritten law of Corsica.
Only this morning in my daily walk,
stumbled upon plain granite cross, on
the road to the Campo del Orc. 1t re-
calls that on that spot, died, by an acct
dental death, one Innocent Peretti.
Then followed an injunction to pray for
the repose of his soul. As the peasants
pass this simple cross they each throw a
stone at the foot. In time quite mon
ument is thus erected in memory of the
murdered one. My mind instantly OWNED
that here, perhaps, was an example of the
vendetta, the victim of which, shot or
stabbed in the back, was generally
buried where he fell. The body was pre-
viously carried home and laid upon the
tola, or funeral table, black ribbon
binding up his chin in token he had died
around were the paid mourners of the
dead, the shrieking voceratrice, who
chanted their invocations and exhorta-
tons to vengeance, in a weird and fero-
cious manner. ''An eye for an eye, a
tooth for a TOOTH" murder for murder,
was the old Corsican vendetta law.
Mothers often dipped their fingers in the
blood of the slain husband and father,
and smearing it over the face Of the in
FAINT son demanded him to avenge. All
his youth he was continually reminded OF
the duty before him. No wonder the
country was infested with lawless de.
termined men, each with a vendetta or
his hands, to satisfy which he must pay
the price of honor and savagely kill his
enemy.
Settled laws in operation by the
French government, an excellent police
force, and youth passed on the cont
nent in study, have all combined to inn
part more civilized ideas, and enhance
the security of things in general, so that
the old vendetta spirit is gradually but
surely passing away. Well it were so
1t was but barbarous institution al
best, and not at all in keeping with the
laws of Holy Mother Church, though
without doubt aided and abetted by the
ignorant local clergy of those days.
1t is believed the vendetta originated
with Sampiero, himself.
The houses in Ajaccio are nearly al
built on the Genoese plan, tall and square
and gaunt. They are five and six stories
high, divided into apartments which are
rented, and even sold separately, SO that
one house may have as many as ten OF
fifteen diff rent owners!
A second visit to the Casa Napoleon
proved even more interesting than the
first. We were shown through this time
by black-eyed vivacious Corsican wo.
man, who was filled with a sense OF
Napoleon's Importance and the historical
value of his birthplace to the world al
large. Banteringly said to her: "But
Paoli was the greater man of the two?''
Her bright, beady eyes snapped,