CORTÉ: THE CITADEL 41 HOUSES, AJACCIO 48 MULES DRAWING TIMBER 57 ROADSIDE CROSS 64 A DILIGENCE 73 WOMEN WASHING LINEN 80 _Sketch-Map of Corsica on p. vii_ [Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF CORSICA.] [Illustration: VIEW ON EAST COAST. _Page 2._] CORSICA CHAPTER I A PEEP AT THE ISLAND Corsica is so small that from its highest point one can see almost all over the island. It is only about three times the size of Yorkshire. As the island is approached by steamer, it appears from every point of view something like an ocean of granite, a mass of rock-waves. High up on the crests of some of the granite billows small villages can be seen, themselves resembling a heap of rocks more than anything else. An examination of the map at the front of this book will show that there is one principal mountain-chain bending round from the north-west to the south-west, and rather nearer the west coast than the east, so that it divides the island into two unequal parts. From the central chain numerous small ranges run more or less directly to the sea. On the west, north, and south these chains end in capes, but in the east they form a series of terraces. Between the watersheds are hundreds of little streams and rivers. To get from the basin of one stream to that of another is so difficult, except along the coast, that each basin forms, as it were, a little world in itself. Most of the soil is uncultivated, and in many parts the great rocks of red granite come up above the surface, and lie bare to the eye, unadorned with either tree, grass, or flower.