The herald., 1922-03-23

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington. d. c.
Capri, once the beautiful island
lies like an hour-glass on it's side in
the blue waters of the Bay Of Naples.
The glamOr of It's old associations still
persists, but its appeal to the many
tourists who now swarm to its shores
Is the same, no doubt, as that which
drew great Romans to Tits delight
full climate, neither stimulating nor
enervating, and its wonderful scenery
of land and sea and sky.
Capri itself is overlooking with
strange interest and beauty-crags,
terraced hills, The blue sea ruffled
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 a 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 as more like a miracle than an
accident Of nature, while another has
complained that the scenery is too
much like theater curtains come to
life" Nevertheless, every person who
arrives at Naples under fair skies and
beholds this littoral for the first time
must be affected by its loneliness.
Capri is an esthetic wonder Of the
world. It's area Is but six square
miles; but surely nowhere else In the
world are so much loneliness and so
many interesting things packed in so
little space. Artists have always
fiocked to Capri. each year bringing a
fresh brood, confident in it's 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 Is not a unique case
In this respect.
The fame Of the Blue Grotto has
made Capri a show-place, and for up
ward Of a hundred years, day after
day, the tide of seasick tourists has
flowed and ebbed. In spite Of these
daily caravans. however-in spite Of
the Anacapri road, the Funicular
road, the Strada Krupp. much taste
less villa-building, and-before the
war-the vast hordes Of Germans,
Capri is still essentially unspoiled.
II Is 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 a gain In
convenience and comfort Of living for
both Capresi and foreigners. even at a
loss Of picturesqueness, and the COM
forting fact remains that Capri's
beauty is rugged and perennial, not to
be destroyed by man.
Acquired by Augustus.
Capri was the first point in Cam
pania where the Greeks obtained a
foothold. and Augustus possibly did
far-sighted thing by securing 1t for
the empire In b. c. 20, 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 a pest of the Medi-
terranean. At the time of Pompey's |
celebrated campaign against the Medi-
terranean pirates, 81 b. c.. they were
well organized and intrenched; they
had naval stations and beacon towers
In various places. Centuries later the
English actually did seize Capri, in
1906 and called 1t the Little Gibral-
tar" They might have held 1t. per-
haps, to this day but for the IN luck
and incompetence Of Col. Hudson
Lowe. later Napoleon's jailer at st.
Helena.
Inc ruin Of the Capri Pharos. the
ancient lighthouse, so close to the
largest OF the ruined palaces on Capri
Is paramount point in the arcbaeol.
ogy Of the island. The selection NJ
Capri by Augustus was most likely
biased to considerable degree by the
fact that 1t was ideally situated for
the Pharos. This was one OF the most
important lighthouses of antiquity.