Vol. XXX, No. 2 



WASHINGTON 



August, 1916 



LITTLE-KNOWN SARDINIA 



By Helen Dunstan Wright 



THOSE who have taken the Medi- 

 terranean route have at least had 

 a glimpse of Sardinia from their 

 steamer a day out from Naples. The 

 island is in sight for some hours, and, if 

 the steamer passes sufficiently close, a 

 bold rocky coast can be seen on which 

 Roman outlook towers remain similar to 

 those scattered along the south shores of 

 Spain. The tourist seldom includes a trip 

 to Sardinia in his travels, as neither of 

 his advisers, Thomas Cook nor Baedeker, 

 recommends it to him. It, however, is 

 one of the few foreign fields that has not 

 been overrun and overfed by the tourist, 

 and in many of the villages a traveler is 

 still regarded as a guest and not as prey 

 to be pounced upon. 



Some day, when tourists are tired of 

 taking the tours laid out for them by the 

 guide-books, perhaps they will break away 

 from the continent and set sail for Sar- 

 dinia, especially if they are not traveling 

 just to enjoy hotel comforts. One can 

 rent a good automobile at Cagliari, and a 

 week spent touring around the island 

 would probably leave the pleasantest of 

 recollections and an experience long to be 

 remembered. 



Sardinia can be reached by an eight 

 hours' night voyage from Civitavecchia, 

 the port of Rome, to the north end of the 

 island. The crossing on the mail steamer 

 is quite comfortable, but the knowledge 

 that one must get up at five the next 

 morning is rather appalling. The beauty 

 of the sunrise over the sheer cliff's and 



craggy isolated rocks of Golfo degli 

 Aranci compensates, however, for this in- 

 convenience and for the cup of bitter 

 black coffee which comprises the break- 

 fast. 



As soon as one lands, a refreshing 

 fragrance in the air is noticed — a per- 

 fume characteristic of Sardinia — not due, 

 certainly, to orange trees, as is suggested 

 by the name of the port, there being none 

 in this district, but to the many wild herbs 

 and shrubs all over the island. 



The first couple of hours' journey down 

 the island is over a rough, rolling country 

 made up of granite and resembling parts 

 of Arizona or Montana. This apparent 

 waste land is used for pasturing goats, 

 which feed on the shrubs. Here, as over 

 most of the island, one finds the white 

 flowering cystus, t bright yellow ginestra, 

 rosemary, a mass of blue when in blos- 

 som, and pink heather ; also arbutus with 

 bright yellow and red berries, thyme, 

 juniper, and other shrubs. 



THE SWITZERLAND OF SARDINIA 



Excepting the eucalyptus and pine 

 planted near the stations, there is a no- 

 ticeable lack of trees along the railway 

 routes. Among the mountains, however, 

 which occupy the eastern half of the 

 island and occur to some extent along the 

 western coast, there are important forests 

 of oak, ilex, cork, and wild olive ; also 

 areas reforested with pine and chestnut 

 trees. In the mountainous areas of the 

 island are many fertile valleys. 



