When the _Leonidas_ made fast, a
lieutenant leaped ashore and placed himself, holding a revolver, in
front of an American flag. The captain, according to some reports, had
his men standing to their guns, while others of the crew are said to
have been given hand-grenades; but whether by this method or another,
the turbulence on shore was calmed and the Italians seem to have invited
the captain to step off his boat. He preferred, however, to go to
another port; the populace came overland. One need not say that there
was jollification.... When the other American boats departed, a small
one remained at Korčula. One day a steamer came from Metković,
having on board a few men of the Yugoslav Legion. The people of
Korčula, not being allowed to take the men to their houses, came down
quietly to the harbour with coffee and bread, but the carabinieri drove
them away. These legionaries were emigrants to Australia and Canada, who
had come back to fight for the Entente, including Italy. The Italians
wanted to arrest them all on account of a small Croatian flag which one
of them was holding, but at the request of the American ship they
refrained. A certain Marko Šimunović, who had gone to Australia
from the Korčula village of Račišca, went over to speak to the
sailors on the American boat. Because of this the carabinieri took him
to the military headquarters. He was interned for several months in
Italy.
The long island of Hvar (Lesina) was not occupied until November 13. It
is interesting, by the by, to note how this island came to have its
names. In the time of the Greek colonists it was known as ὁ φἁρος,
which subsequently became Farra or Quarra, leading to the name
Hvar, by which it is known to the Slavs. They also, in the thirteenth
century, gave it an alternative name: Lesna, from the Slav word
signifying "wooded," for the Venetians had not yet despoiled the island
of many of its forests. Lesna was the popular and Hvar the literary
name; and the Italians, taking the former of these, coined the word
Lesina, the sound of which makes many of them and of other people think
that this is an Italian island.[10] The question of Slav and Italian
geographical names in Dalmatia has been carefully investigated by a
student at Split. Taking the zone which was made over to the Italians by
the Treaty of London, he found that with the exception of a reef called
Maon, alongside the island of Pago, every island, village, mountain and
river has a Slav name, whereas out of the total of 114 names there were
64 which have no names in Italian; and this is giving the Italians
credit for such words as Sebenico, Zemonico and so forth, which in the
opinion of philologists are merely modifications of the original
Šibenik, Zemunik, etc.
AND ON HVAR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account