Romantic Corsica, wanderings in Napoleon's isle; . to offerpleasant, if not difficult scrambling to the von Cube and party—whose exhaustive pioneerwork in the district I would here like to acknowledge—had ascended the highest and most northerly one fromthe east. On the south side of the valley a castellatedpeak of dazzling whiteness, called Punta Licciola,glistened and glinted in the sun. On obtaining a fragment of this rock, I found itcrystalline and igneous in character, and I understandthat it is white porphyry. Outcrops of this rock occuramongst the prevailing red granite or p
Romantic Corsica, wanderings in Napoleon's isle; . to offerpleasant, if not difficult scrambling to the von Cube and party—whose exhaustive pioneerwork in the district I would here like to acknowledge—had ascended the highest and most northerly one fromthe east. On the south side of the valley a castellatedpeak of dazzling whiteness, called Punta Licciola,glistened and glinted in the sun. On obtaining a fragment of this rock, I found itcrystalline and igneous in character, and I understandthat it is white porphyry. Outcrops of this rock occuramongst the prevailing red granite or porphyry of theneighbouring mountains, but this seemed to be the onlypeak entirely composed of the formation. Across the valley to the west the mighty tooth ofPaglia Orba towered into the sky over 4,000 feet aboveus, easily dominating the whole scene. In about two and a half hours from Calasima wefound ourselves opposite the mouth of a curious caveformed by gigantic boulders, which Sabiati informedus was the Grotto. des Anges. The name struck. THE GROTTO DES ANGES. T»fKe|>.3] CLIMBING IN CORSICA 311 our fancy, if it flattered the cave. A brief survey,however, showed that it was hardly possible to flatterthe beauty of its environment, or the suitability ofthe spot for a camp, or as a centre for mountainexpeditions. Water was close at hand, for the stream ofthe Viro, loo feet below, tumbling down between grandboulders, formed cool bathing pools in the ample shadeof huge lariccio pines. So the grotto, about 30 by 15 feetin area, formed our delightfully cool sitting, dining, andstorage room for the following eleven days ; but we sleptin the tents which, however, we could almost have dis-pensed with under the circumstances. We were at anelevation of over 4,000 feet, and the cool nights were arefreshing and stimulating change from the blazing sun-shine of the days. Paglia Orba (8,410 feet), the noblest peak in Corsica,rising as it did right above our camp, naturally de-manded
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