The Cambria Freeman

The Island of Capri.—In the island of Capri theft is unknown; two murders are mentioned as having formerly taken place; but the peaceful and industrious habits of the people keep them from violent crimes. Each knows the other by name—life has no secrecy; a bad man would soon be discovered, unmasked, and obliged to leave the island. The greater number of the inhabitants have never been on the mainland.—Any one coming from Naples astonishes his simpler neighbors by description of carriages drawn by horses, there being neither cart nor vehicle of any kind in Capri; as the roads are nothing more than staircases, they would not admit of them. The popular ignorance is great; there is a school in each of the towns, but only one master, who divides his days between them; and at eight years of age the children are sent to assist at the fishing, or to gather mulberry leaves for the silk-worms, or grapes from the vines.

Any notice of Capri would be incomplete without a word about the Blue Grotto. The entrance from the sea is so narrow, that the person in the boat must lie down; but as soon as that is passed you enter into fairy-land. The water, clear to the bottom, is of an exquisite celestial blue, which is reflected from the calcareous rocks in their pure whiteness. It is a place of turquoise, built above a sapphire lake. The drops of water from the oars sparkle like pearls with a blue tinge. The effect upon the body is most singular; the part under water of a swimmer is silvery white, with blue shadows around the muscles; whilst the head and neck, which are out of the water, are of a bronze color, looking like an alabaster statue with a bronze head. It is certainly one of the most beautiful natural curiosities in the world. A fisherman was first to discover it in 1822, though there are some indications that it was known to the ancients. Much has been written as to the cause of so singular a phenomenon; perhaps the most plausible is, that owing to the peculiar form of the entrance, the sea is saturated with light, which is shut up within, and throws its rays to the farthest depths of the vault. In another part of the coast, there is a grotto the color is that of pale green; it is very similar to its neighbor, but not quite equal in beauty.