142 EEMINISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAN. 



attention has been paid to those injunctions, and these 

 cultivators of the soil are in that respect like the old 

 race of farmers in England, who were generally hostile to 

 all modern improvements in agriculture. A dwarf 

 mulberry-tree grows wild in abundance in every part of 

 Sardinia, and the wild olive is found on the more 

 elevated grounds. I was told that in the spring the 

 plains are covered with a mixture of flowers of peculiar 

 beauty. Amongst the most flourishing plants may be 

 observed the myrtle, juniper, arbutus, woodbine, jas- 

 mine, acanthus, &c. Tobacco is a royal monopoly ; 

 its culture and preparation were introduced by the 

 Austrians in 1714, and have been attended with much 

 success. 



One of the greatest blots in the character of the 

 Sards is their insatiable desire of revenge, and this, 

 frequently, for the most trifling injuries. As a proof of 

 this, when you travel in the interior you may see every 

 four or five hundred yards, by the side of the road, a 

 pile of stones, to denote that a murder had been there 

 committed, which the peasantry, on passing, cross them- 

 selves, and throw a stone on the heap. I was told on 

 good authority that in the feuds between villages and 

 families, enmity and bitterness are carried on for a 

 number of years, and that in the course of the last 

 twelvemonth before I visited the island, nearly 300 

 persons had been assassinated. Probably some of this 

 number fell victims to the banditti who infested the 

 mountainous parts and large forests, but generally 

 plunder was more their object, and unless resistance 

 was made, they did not proceed to extremities. In 

 many of the villages in these dreary wastes they were 

 sure to meet with an asylum, and be put on their guard 



