The Raymer enterprise., 1922-04-27

RrspsssA ~ ths National osogrsphie %.
cisty. washington. D. CT
Capri, once the beautiful island
pleasure home Of Roman emperors.
lies like an hour-glass on It's side In
the blue waters Of the Bay Of Naples.
The glamor Of Its old associations still
persists, but its appeal to the many
tourists who now swarm to its shores
is the same, no doubt. az that which
drew great Romans to Tits delight
ful climate, neither stimulating nor
ensrvating. and its wonderful scenery
Of land and sea and sky.
Capri itself ID overhowing with
strange interest and beauty-crags.
terracsd hills. the blue. sea ruined
white among haif-covered rocks: In.
comparable sunsets; and among all Of
natures beauties the scattered works
Of man from the ruins Of ancient mar
Bile palaces to modern villas.
Only q few miles across the sap.
phire bay Naples and the Neapolitan
coast are spread out In all their be-
wildering features. One writer has
described Capri and the neighboring
coast a. more like q miracle than an
accident Of nature. while another has
complained that the scenery is "too
much like theater curtains come to
LIE" Nevertheless, every person who
arrives at Naples under fair skies and
beholds this littoral for the first time
must be affected BY it, loveliness.
Capri II an esthetic wonder Of the
world. Its area is but six square
miles; but surely nowhere else In the
world are 20 much Ioveliness and 80
many interesting things packed in SO
little space. Artists have always
hocked to Capri, each year bringing a
fresh brood, confident In Its ability
to paint the unpaintable cliffs and sea.
Some of these fingered on. some to
marry the handsome Capri girls, and
Howell's Englishman who came to the
island for three months and stayed
for thirty years ID not . unique case
in this respect.
The fame Of the Blue Grotto has
made Capri Z show-plaee. and for up.
ward Of Z hundred years. day after
day, the tide Of seasick tourists has
flowed and ebbed. In spite Of these
daily caravans, howeverzln spite Of
the Anacapri road, the Tunicular
road, the Strada Krupp, much taste
les villa-buildins, and-before the
war-the vast hordes Of Germana
Capri Il still essentially unspoiled.
It Il true that the Capri women gave
up wearing their costume thirty years
ago; that the old Greek forms have
dropped out Of the island speech: that
the old days have gone forever; but.
despite this, there has been q gain in
convenience and comfort Of living for
both Capresi and foreigners, even at d
loss Of picturesquenesa, and the COM
ferting fact remains that Capri's
beauty d rugged and perennial, not to
b. destroyed BY man.
Asquirsd BY Augustus.
Capri was the nrst point in Cam
pania where the Greeks obtained a
foothold. and Augustus possibly did q
far.sighted thing by securing 1t for
the empire In p. @. %. thus prevent
Ing its seizure BY enemies or by
pirates. There was certainly the mat
ter Of pirates to be considered. They
have always been q pest Of the Medi-
terranean. At the time Of Pompey's
celebrated campaign against the Msdi-
terranean pirates, 81 B. G., they were
well organised and intrenched; they
had naval stations and beacon towers
In various places. Centuries later the
English actually did seize Capri. In
1903, and called II the Little Gibral-
tar" They might have held 1t, per-
haps, to this day but for the III luck
and incompetence Of Col. Hudson
Lowe. later Napoleon's jailer at st.
Helena.
The ruin Of the Capri Pharos, the
ancient lighthouse, 70 close to the
largesf Of the ruined palaces On Capri,
b . paramount point In the archaeol.
ogy Of the island. The selection Of
Capri by Augustus was most likely
biased tca considerable degree By The
fact that Il was ideally situated fHl
the Pharos. This was one Of the mege
important lighthouses Of Antiquity. .
.---ss