Fig. 133.—SUBMARINE PLATEAU BETWEEN CORSICA AND TUSCANY.

Scale 1 : 1,850,000.

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SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

The western coast of the island is indented by numerous gulfs and bays, which resemble ancient fiords partly filled up by alluvial sediment. On the eastern coast, {365} which faces Italy, the slopes are more gentle; the rivers are larger and more tranquil, though not one of them is navigable; and the ground is more level. This portion of the island is known as Banda di Dentro, or “inner zone,” in distinction from the Banda di Fuori, or “exterior (western) zone.” The eastern coast appears to have been upheaved during a comparatively recent epoch, and ancient gulfs of the sea have been converted into lagoons and swamps, quite as dangerous from their miasmatic exhalations as those of the sister island. If we add that the mountains in the west obstruct the passage of the vivifying mistral, that the heat in summer is great, and droughts frequent, we have said enough to account for the insalubrity of the climate.[130] The maritime basin between Corsica and Italy is almost shut in by mountains, and purifying breezes are rare there. Between Bastia and Porto-Vecchio not a single town or village is met with on the coast, and in the beginning of July the peasantry retire to the hills in order to escape the fever. Only a few guards and the unfortunate convicts shut up in the penitentiary of Casabianca remain behind. Nothing more melancholy can be imagined than these fertile fields deserted by their inhabitants. Plantations of eucalyptus have been made recently with a view to the amelioration of the climate.

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Fig. 134.—PROFILE OF THE ROAD FROM AJACCIO TO BASTIA.