Lesina

“On the rocky fastnesses above the little town of Lesina, two proud castles rise against the sky […]; so grey are these old forts, so grey the mountains, that they seem part of one another; but if you climb up to them in spring-time you find the apparent barren waste becomes on near approach a garden of wild flowers. Yellow and white marguerites are here in masses, together with flaunting scarlet poppies; wild thyme scents the air, bushes with wild-rose-like flowers grow in the crevices of the rocks (p. 204).

It bears the impress of Venice still to-day in its Venetian arsenal, the ancient loggia of Sanmichele (restored, alas! by thise who knew not what they did); its streets, like those of Curzola and Ragusa, are narrow passage-ways, so narrow that when you meet the heavily-burdened donkeys, whose loads of wood project each side, you have to step into a doorway to let them pass. Wheeled vehicles on the island there are none, but the country-folk often ride their patient steeds when the latter have no other load, and it looks very quiant to see them carefully ascending and descending the steps (p. 206). A new hotel somewhat overshadows San Micheles Loggia, and strikes a note of rather incongruous medernity in the little town, where everything else is of th past, from the roofless palaces with their Venetian Gothic windows, to the ancient arsenal (p. 210).

The people of Lesina have had a shipping trade from earliest times, and export olive oil, wine, and oil of rosemary, which is largely grown on the island. The tender green of the vines, mingling with the grey of the olives, is a marked feature of the landscape in early summer; though wine-making, they say, is less profitable than of yore. The sardine fisheries employ a large number of the population, and the fishing-boats used at night, with overhanging lanterns to attract the fish, add a quiant touch to the harbour. In climbing the hills or rambling by the shore, you see many women employed as goatherds, knitting while they watch their flocks (pp. 209-210)”.