The bit of sacred wood is not the only valuable relic that Corsicans claim to possess, for in the crypt of one of their churches in the north they have a little bit of the earth out of which Adam was made, a handful of almonds from the Garden of Eden, a handful of manna gathered by the Israelites in the wilderness, and the rod with which Moses divided the waters of the Red Sea so that the Jews could pass over. These precious relics have been in the country between five and six hundred years. They were saved from the wreck of a Spanish ship that was three times cast upon the shore.
There is no public water-supply for the houses in any Corsican town. Most of the water required for washing and cooking has to be carried from wells, streams, or springs. In that part of Bonifacio which is built on the summit of the rock there are one public and thirty-nine private cisterns, in which rain-water from the roofs is stored. Down by the sea there is one, and only one, spring of water fit to drink. The people who have no private cisterns are obliged to descend every day to the low town to get water for use in their houses. Some men get their living by carrying water to the high town in barrels on the backs of mules. They sell the water at a penny a barrel. Now people must eat, though they need not wash. Hence water is chiefly used for cooking. Washing is reserved as a special duty, to be performed only on high days and holidays. Such a thing as a good bath is unknown, and there is probably not a single bathroom in the whole place. This is the case, not merely in Bonifacio, but throughout the length and breadth of the island. The difficulty of getting water is so great that the people decline to waste it by pouring it over their bodies. When they wish to wash their clothes, they carry them to the nearest stream, and there, in full view of every passer-by, they cleanse the family linen. Floors are never scrubbed, window-panes are never cleaned. Both houses and people are nearly as dirty as if soap had never been invented.
Wherever you travel throughout the land you will see peasant-women and young girls carrying water in big pails. Some of these pails weigh, when full of water, from 50 to 60 pounds. They are balanced on the head. The women trip along merrily, never stumbling on the mountain-paths nor tripping over the holes in the streets. Except in Bonifacio, it is always the women who carry the water, never the men. They seldom hurry over their task. At the fountain or the spring they meet their neighbours and have a good gossip, and the Corsican woman is fond of gossip, even if she is not fond of carrying heavy pails of water.
There are few industries in Corsica, except those of tilling fields and tending vines and orchards, so that the existence of one in any place is worth mentioning. At Bonifacio there is a factory for the manufacture of corks. The cork-oak is a common tree in the island, and its bark is of great value. It is exported either in strips, or else as corks for bottles. The cork-factory at Bonifacio is the most important in the island, and one of the first four belonging to France. It makes as many as 24,000,000 corks in a year.
CHAPTER V
CALVI
Calvi was the second colony founded in Corsica by the Genoese. These “colonies” were not places like the English colonies of Canada, South Africa, and elsewhere, where people emigrate to trade and live and make a home for themselves and their families. They were rather strong fortresses, where soldiers were kept in readiness to subdue rebellious natives. As has already been pointed out in the case of Bonifacio, the colonists had special privileges, and in times of trouble could generally be relied upon to prove loyal to the power to which they belonged.
The Genoese were not the first to build a fort at Calvi, for one had been erected there in the thirteenth century by the leader of one of those many Corsican factions that were always fighting each other when there was no need to fight anybody else. Once, when the builder of the fort was absent, it was attacked and captured by another powerful island family. In course of time the dwellers within and without the walls rebelled against their lords, and drove them away. The place fell finally into the hands of the Genoese, who, in 1278, gave to their colonists the same privileges that they had granted to the settlers at Bonifacio. As usual in such cases, the rulers reaped the reward of their kindness and their foresight, for when, in 1553, a combined army of Turks and French tried to capture Calvi, the women mounted the walls by the side of their husbands, and fought bravely for their foreign overlords.
As English people we have a special interest in Calvi. In 1793 we were at war with the French Republic. It was decided by the English Government that, amongst other places in the Mediterranean that ought to belong to England, that might be useful to us, and which we therefore ought to possess, was Corsica. It must be remembered that by this time Corsica had passed completely from the possession of Genoa, and was now in the hands of France. The Corsicans had fought against the French, as they had fought against the Genoese. Their leader at this time was a man named Paoli. He asked the English to help him to drive out the French, and promised that in return for that help the island should be ceded to us. Amongst the sailors who were employed to help the Corsicans in the capture of the forts was Nelson. In 1794 he wrote home: “This island is to belong to England, to be governed by its own laws as Ireland, and a Viceroy placed here, with free ports. Italy and Spain are jealous of our obtaining possession; it will command the Mediterranean.”
When Bastia had been captured, an attack was made on Calvi. The work was very difficult. The guns had to be dragged at least a mile and a half, always over bad roads, and often up steep slopes. While Nelson was superintending the bombardment, a shell from the enemy fell almost at his feet. It burst among some sand-bags, and when Nelson rose from the ground, he complained that there was something in his right eye. The doctors examined the eye, but said they could only see a little sand in it. They did not regard the matter as serious, but the eye was so badly injured that Nelson eventually lost the use of it.