66 
CORSICA, THE. ISLE OF UNREST. 
(ILLUSTRATED BY THE LANTERN.) 
By Mr. CHARLES B. HOWDILL, A.RI.B.A. 
November 13th, 1906. 
The lecturer, for an hour and a half, chatted on his ex- 
periences and impressions during a three weeks’ tour in 
Corsica with his camera. He was alone and picked up en 
route his guides for the interior of the country. He went by 
way of Paris and Marseilles and Ajaccio. Of the last-named 
place he showed a large number of views of natural scenery, 
and places associated with the early life of Napoleon, whom 
he regarded as a typical Corsican. 
He had often been taken to task for calling Corsica the 
‘isle of unrest,” when so many people there were idle; but 
what struck him was the restlessness of the people, as illus- 
trated by a slide showing a crowd at half-past five o’clock in 
the morning pacing up and down like caged beasts, half a 
score of yards and back again, and talking vehemently the 
while to one another. The Place D’Armes in Ajaccio was 
a fine open square, but the buildings generally were on the 
flat system and utterly devoid of ornament. 
Corsica was no place to visit for museums and churches. 
The points of interest were the people themselves and the 
scenery of the country. The roads were well made and in 
good condition. Amongst other places he visited Proprano, 
Zucco, Bastia, Sarténe, Corté and Bonifacio. He mixed freely 
among the people and found them very willing to be photo- 
graphed. Numerous were his views of the primitive looking 
kitchens without the fire range ; the methods of baking were 
also primitive, but he invariably found the hotels, if not 
luxurious, at any rate clean. In the workshops the men were 
at work open to the public gaze, so that it was not likely the 
upholsterer would stuff the sofa with shavings. Among the 
curious customs he noticed that at burials the coffins were 
placed in vaults above the ground. It would be difficult to 

