The Corsican Bandit

Corsica and her twin sister, Sardinia, are called continental islands, connected with the mainland of Italy by a ridge covered by only fifty fathoms of water. Elba is also on this ridge, and, with Sardinia, belongs to Italy. But Corsica, a little continent in itself, 116 miles long by 52 miles in breadth, has played its independent part in the history of the Mediterranean Nations since the fifth century B. C.; and it still plays its independent part, for neither time nor surrounding civilization has subdued the native Corsican. This peculiar race of people still shows marked characteristics of barbarous days; they are idle, haughty, fiery, quarrelsome, fond of gypsy life, and revengeful, even through generations of family feuds. The French have done much for the island during this century by improving its harbors and building roads; but it is still centuries behind other provinces of France. The nature of the country offers serious obstacles to its colonization and cultivation; and then the land has always been free, and the mountain shepherds still demand their ancient right of driving their flocks to the lowlands during the winter, so that agriculture is almost impossible. There are but few towns along the seacoast, owing to the general lawlessness and family feuds which have driven the Corsicans into mountain villages for greater security. The mountain sides in the interior have been stripped of their forests, and are covered for miles and miles with a thick tangled underwood consisting of arbutus, myrtle, thorn, laurel, broom, and other native flowering shrubs, all constituting "the macchi" of Corsica. The aromatic fragrance of "the macchi," which grows man-high, can be scented far out at sea. Napoleon referred to this on his death-bed at St. Helena, and, longing for his native island, said he would know it by the smell of its soil, if they carried him there blindfolded. This dense tangle of evergreen, stretching up the steep mountain sides and across valleys, is the safe refuge of lawless banditti. In fact the Corsican system of brigandage is the chief difficulty with which the French Government has to contend. It is very different from the Spanish, Italian, or Sicilian, in that it has nothing to do with highway robbery or thieving. The Corsican bandit takes to a free life in "the macchi," not for support by lawless depredation, but because he has put himself under a moral and social ban by murdering some one, either in accordance with the code of honor in his country, or by some newly-made enemy. In either case, if he has notified his victim of his intention to kill him or her, he is considered to have fulfilled a duty rather than to have committed a crime; and the country-folk and shepherds consider it their duty to relieve the necessities of the bandit, and to protect him from "the bloodhounds of justice," as they call the officers of the government. At one time there was scarcely a respectable family in Corsica who had not one or more of its members "alla campagna" (gone to the country), and scarcely a man but was watching for his neighbor's life or seeking to save his own. In 1853 the French took severe measures and had the banditti hunted out of "the macchi," killing form 200 to 300 of them and burning the underwood for miles; also the selling of the Corsican stiletto was forbidden. But still the avenger of a wrong pursues his victim, and "the macchi" is still infested with banditti.