It is a beautiful drive; and nothing can well be more refreshing than to wind slowly up the steep road, as we did on a breathlessly hot day, out of the quivering heat of Ajaccio, into the vast open hill scenery and gradually freshening atmosphere. Gardens, full of shady groves and tall fan palms, line the way, occasionally marred by the defective proportions of a family tomb.
Every road round Ajaccio, and, indeed, round any considerable Corsican town, is full of these family tombs, placed in private grounds beside the highway; sometimes, but rarely, picturesque in architecture and embosomed in shade; but, more generally, square and hideous, bearing, but for the iron cross on the roof, a greater resemblance to a bathing-machine than to aught else.
There appear to be few churchyards in Corsica. Cemeteries there are, often beautifully placed among cypress groves upon the hill-side; but the greater proportion of the well-to-do inhabitants prefer to bury their dead in their own grounds.
A little tomb or chapel is erected over the remains, generally large enough to hold eight or ten people; and here, once a year, on the anniversary of the death, the family meet to hear Mass performed.
This road, called "la route de Salario," from a fountain further on, bearing that name, was particularly unfortunate in the style and position of its numerous tombs.
The least unsightly were the poorest. It was touching, here and there in a little wayside garden, to see, half hidden amongst overgrowing herbage or creeping flowers, a simple stone cross rising out of the ground to mark where lay the remains of the poor man or his child, whose days had been spent in the cottage close by, surrounded by that glorious amphitheatre of hills.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CHAPEL OF ST. ANTHONY.
There are not many excursions round Ajaccio; but the Chapelle de Saint Antoine, about seven miles off, is well worth a visit.
The road winds for five or six miles among green hills and through ilex avenues to the base of the slope, where you are obliged to dismount and continue the rest of the way on foot.
It is an exceedingly rutty and bad road, although tolerably flat, and we did well in providing ourselves with a little light open carriage, drawn by a pair of energetic ponies. In this vehicle we went jolting along, more often in the air than on the cushions, and getting decidedly more exercise than would be useful or agreeable to a winter invalid.