is widely known for its mineral springs. One mile W. of the city is a state fish hatchery, and there are fine trout streams in the neighbourhood. Among the city’s manufactures are steel, engines, locomotives, radiators, shovels, bricks, flour, furniture and leather. Corry was settled in 1860, and was incorporated as a borough in 1863 and as a city in 1866.
CORSAIR (through the Fr. from the Med. Lat. cursarius, a
pirate; cursus, or cursa, from currere, to run, being Late Latin
for a plundering foray), the name given by the Mediterranean
peoples to the privateers of the Barbary coast who plundered
the shipping of Christian nations; they were not strictly
pirates, as they were commissioned by their respective governments,
but the word came to be synonymous, in English,
with “pirate.” The French word corsaire is still used for
“privateer,” and guerre de course is applied to the use in naval warfare of “commerce-destroyers.” (See Pirate, Barbary Pirates and Privateer.)
CORSICA (Fr. Corse), a large island of the Mediterranean,
forming a department of France. It is situated immediately
to the north of Sardinia (from which it is separated by the narrow
strait of Bonifacio), between 41° 21′ and 43° N. and 8° 30′ and
9° 30′ E. Area, 3367 sq.m. Pop. (1906) 291,160. Corsica lies
within 54 m. W. of the coast of Tuscany, 98 m. S. of Genoa and
106 m. S.E. of the French coast at Nice. The extreme length
of the island is 114 m. and its breadth 52 m. The greater part
of the surface of Corsica is occupied by forest-clad mountains,
whose central ridge describes a curve from N.W. to S.W., presenting
its convexity towards the E. Secondary chains diverge
in all directions from this main range, enclosing small basins
both geographically and socially isolated; on the west and south
of the island they either terminate abruptly on the shore or
run out to a great distance into the sea, forming picturesque
bays and gulfs, some of which afford excellent harbours. The
highest peaks are the Monts Cinto (8881 ft.), Rotondo (8612),
Paglia Orba (8284), Padro (7851) and d’Oro (7845). On the
eastern side of the island, between Bastia and Porto Vecchio,
there intervenes between the mountains and the sea a considerable
tract of low and unhealthy, but fertile country, and the coast is
fringed in places by lagoons.
Geology.—Corsica may be divided into two parts, which are geologically distinct, by a line drawn from Belgodere through Corte to the east coast near Favone. West of this line the island is composed chiefly of granite, with a large mass of granophyres, quartz porphyries and similar rocks forming the high mountains around Mt. Cinto; but between the Gulfs of Porto and Galeria, schists, limestones and anthracite, containing fossils of Upper Carboniferous age, occur. The famous orbicular diorite of Corsica is found near Sta. Lucia-di-Tallano in the arrondissement of Sartène. In the eastern part of the island the predominant rocks are schists of unknown age, with intrusive masses of serpentine and euphotide. Folded amongst the schists are strips of Upper Carboniferous beds similar to those of the west coast. Overlying these more ancient rocks are limestones with Rhaetic and Liassic fossils, occurring in small patches at Oletta, Morosaglia, &c. Nummulitic limestone of Eocene age is found near St Florent, and occupies several large basins near the boundary between the granite and the schist. Miocene molasse with Clypeaster, &c., forms the plain of Aleria on the east coast, and occurs also at St Florent in the north and Bonifacio in the south. A small patch of Pliocene has been found near Aleria. The caves of Corsica, especially in the neighbourhood of Bastia, contain numerous mammalian remains, the commonest of which belong to Lagomys corsicanus, Cuv.
See Hollande, “Géologie de la Corse,” Ann. sci. géol., vol. ix. (1877); Nentien, “Études sur les gîtes minéraux de la Corse,” Ann. Mines Paris, ser. 9, vol. xii. pp. 231–296, pi. v. (1897).
Corsica is well watered by rivers and torrents, which, though short in their course, bring down large volumes of water from the mountains. The longest is the Golo, which rises in the pastoral region of Niolo, isolated among the mountains to the west of Corte and inhabited by a distinct population of obscure origin. It enters the sea on the east coast to the south of the salt-water lake of Biguglia; farther south, on the same side of the island, is the Tavignano, while on the west there are the Liamone, the Gravone and the Taravo. The other streams are all comparatively small. Owing to the rugged and indented outline of the western coast there are an unusual number of bays and harbours. Of the bays the most important are Porto, Sagone, Ajaccio and Valinco; of the ports, St Florent (San Fiorenzo), Ile Rousse (Isola Rossa), Calvi, Ajaccio and Propriano. On the eastern side, which is much less rugged and broken, the only harbours worth mentioning are those of Bastia and Porto Vecchio (the Portus Syracusanus of the ancients), and the only gulfs those of Porto Vecchio and Santa Manza. At the extreme south are the harbour and town of Bonifacio, giving name to the strait which separates Corsica from Sardinia.
The climate of the island ranges from warmth in the lowlands to extreme rigour in the mountains. The intermediate region is the most temperate and healthy. The mean annual temperature at Ajaccio is 63° F. The dominant winds are those from the south-west and south-east.
There are mines of anthracite, antimony and copper; the island produces granite, building stone, marble, and amianthus, and there are salt marshes. Among other places Guagno, Pardina Guitera, and Orezza have mineral springs.
The agriculture of Corsica suffers from scarcity of labour, due partly to the apathy of the inhabitants, and from scarcity of capital. The cultivation of cereals, despite the fertility of the soil, is neglected; wheat is grown to some extent, but in this respect, the population is dependent to a large degree on outside supplies. The culture of fruit, especially of the vine, cedrates, citrons and olives (for which the Balagne region, in the north-west, is noted), of vegetables and of tobacco, and sheep and goat rearing are the main rural industries, to which may be added the rearing of silk-worms. The exploitation of the fine forests, which contain the well-known Corsican pine, beeches, oaks and chestnuts, is also an important resource, but tends to proceed too rapidly. Chestnuts are exported, and, ground into flour, are used as food by the mountaineers. Most of the inhabitants are proprietors of land, but often the properties are so split up that many hours, or even a whole day, are spent in going from the vineyard or olive plantation to the arable land in the plain or the chestnut-wood in the mountain. A great part of the agricultural labour is performed by labourers from Tuscany and Lucca, who periodically visit the island for that purpose. Sheep of a peculiar breed, resembling chamois and known as mouflons, inhabit the more inaccessible parts of the mountains. The uncultivated districts are generally overgrown with a thick tangled underwood, consisting of arbutus, myrtle, thorn, laurel broom and other fragrant shrubs, and known as the maquis, the fragrance of which can be distinguished even from the sea.
Fishing and shooting are allowed almost everywhere to the possessor of a government licence; special permission, where it is necessary, is easily obtained. Wild boars, stags, in the eastern districts, and hares as well as the mouflon are found, while partridges, quail, woodcock, wild duck and water-fowl are abundant. Trout and eels are the chief fish. The flesh of the Corsican blackbird is considered a delicacy. The fisheries of tunny, pilchard and anchovy are extensively prosecuted for the supply of the Italian markets; but comparatively few of the natives are engaged in this industry.
The Corsican is simple and sober but unenterprising; dignified and proud, he is possessed of a native courtesy, manifested in his hospitality to strangers, the refusal of which is much resented. He is, however, implacable towards his own countrymen when his enmity is once aroused, and the practice of the blood-feud or vendetta has not died out. Each individual is attached to some powerful family, and the influence of this usage is specially marked in politics, the individual voting with his clan on pain of arousing the vindictiveness of his fellow-members. Another dominant factor in social life in Corsica is the almost universal ambition on the part of the natives towards an official career, a tendency from which commerce and agriculture inevitably suffer.
The manufactures of the island are of small importance. They include the extraction of gallic acid from chestnut-bark, the preparation of preserved citrons and other delicacies, and of macaroni and similar foods and the manufacture of fancy goods and cigars.
The chief ports are Bastia, Ajaccio and Ile Rousse. A railway
