Of the internal resources of the island the most important consist of those vast forests that cover the summits of the hills, and which furnished timber for tho navies of antiquity. Partly, however, from the indolence of the inhabitants, and partly from the difficulties of land carriage, this source of wealth is comparatively neglected. The mountain pastures are made available for the rearing of cattle, horses, asses, and mules. Sheep of a peculiar black breed, called mufflons, inhabit the more inaccessible parts of the mountains, and goats and pigs abound in the island. The uncultivated districts are generally overgrown with a thick tangled underwood, consisting of arbutus, myrtle, thorn, laurel, broom, and other shrubs, and called by the natives maquis, which, however, is easily cleared off by burning. Throughout the island the growth of the cereal crops is generally abandoned for the easier cultivation of the olive and vine. Chestnuts constitute an important artie’e of food, but wheat, maize, and barley are also cultivated. The backward state of agriculture is caused principally by the minute subdivision of the land, a system which perpetuates the social evils of hereditary feuds and jealousies, by which Corsica has long been distracted. A large proportion of the exports of the island consists of honey and wax, which are procured from the forests. The former of these has a somewhat bitter flavour, from the yew and box trees on which the bees feed. Beyond the making of oil, wine, soap, bricks, and coarse glass, the Corsicans are entirely destitute of manufacturing industry, and their commerce consists for the most part of the spontaneous produce of the island. The fisheries of tunny, pilchard, and anchovy are extensively prosecuted for the supply of the Italian markets; but comparatively few of the native Corsicans are engaged in this department of industry. The Government have constructed 700 miles of excellent roads (Routes N ationales), round the entire island, and crossing it at various points, by which regular communication is maintained by means of diligences. Corsica, which forms a department of France, is divided into five arrondissements, subdivided and peopled as follows :— [table]

Of this number 130,406 were males and 128,101 females; and compared w ith the census of 1851, the total population has increased by 22,256 souls, or nearly 9 per cent, in twenty-one years.

The principal towns are Ajaccio (pop. 16,545), the capital and the seat of the bishop of the island (who is under the archbishop of Aix), the prefect, and the com mander of the forces; Bastia (pop. 17,850), Corte (5430), and Sartene (4166). Education is very backward among the islanders, about 40 per cent, being returned as unable to read or write. There are, however, several colleges, such as the lyceum of Bastia, the College Fesch of Ajaccio, the College de Calvi, and the Ecole Paoli de Corte. The people are sober in their habits, but not enterprizing and without much knowledge of sanitary laws. Their proneness to agrarian outrages has brought upon them an evil repute, but thanks to the strenuous efforts of the French Government this spirit of lawlessness has been greatly curbed. A great part of the agricultural labour is performed by labourers from Tuscany and Lucca, who periodically visit the island for that purpose.

History. — It is not known who the original inhabitants of Corsica were. The Phocaeans of Ionia were the first civilized people that established settlements in Corsica. About the year 560 b.c. they landed for the first time on the island, and founded the city of Aleria, which after a short occupation they were compelled to abandon. After an interval of a few years they again returned, rebuilt Aleria, which they fortified, and endeavoured to maintain their ground against the natives. After a struggle of some years they were again compelled to leave the island. The next foreign occupants of Corsica were the Tuscans, who founded the city of Nicaea, but they in their turn were compelled to give way before the growing maritime power of the Carthaginians, whose jurisdiction in the island was unquestioned till the beginning of the first Punic war. On that occasion the Romans sent out a fleet, drove the Carthaginians from the island, and exacted at least a nominal homage from the native population. They did not, however, fully establish their power here till about thirty years later, and even then rebellions and revolts were of constant occurrence. The first step made towards the real subjugation of the island was the establishment of the two colonies on its eastern coast—that of Aleria by Sulla, and that of Mariana by Marius. In the time of the emperors, the island had fallen into disrepute among the Romans, by whom it was used chiefly as a place of banishment for political offenders. One of the most distinguished of these sufferers was the younger Seneca, who spent in exile here the eight years ending 49 À d.

On the downfall of the Roman empire in the West, Corsica passed into the hands of the Vandals. These barbarians were driven out by Belisarius, but after the death of that illustrious general, 565 a.d, the resistless hordes of Attila once more gained possession of the island. Since that period it has successively owned the dominion of the Goths, the Saracens, the Pisans, and the Genoese. The impress of the last is to be found in the style of the church architecture and notably in the patois of the people; while the armorial crest of the island, a Moor’s head, is ascribable to the Saracen occupation. Corsica was ceded by the Genoese to the French in 1768; and for a few years after the French Revolution of 1793 it was placed under the protection of Great Britain. Since 1814 it has been in undisturbed possession of the French. Corsica is famous as the birthplace of Pascal Paoli and of Napoleon Bonaparte.