Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/375

 10 s. VIL APRIL 20, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the holes, the money staked by the player is lost ; if it go into a corner hole, he gets back his stake ; but he who is skilful or fortunate enough to lodge the ball in the centre hole takes all the money, and the game begins again. The centre hole is called tl tutti, because it wins all. Should the ball fall into the middle hole of either of the sides, the money remains. When all the players have bowled, and 110 one has lodged the ball in the central hole, every one puts in another piece of money, and they begin again ; thus the game is continued till one of them wins the whole stake." P. 31.

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

A LINGUISTIC CURIOSITY. Under this heading the following paragraph, com- municated by the Roman correspondent of The Morning Post, appeared in the issue of that journal for 30 Oct., 1906 :

"A curious example of the mixture of races in Italy has just been brought to light at the Catalan Congress of Barcelona. During the long period of the Spanish domination over Sardinia, which only terminated in the eighteenth century, when the island was ceded to Piedmont, a Catalan colony from Barcelona settled at Alghero, a small town on the north-west coast, which was rebaptised ' Barcellonetta.' The Catalan language is still .spoken at Alghero, and two natives of that place took part in the Catalan Congress, one of them the .author of a Catalan grammar for the use of the people of Alghero. It is a remarkable fact that this Catalan - speaking community should have lingered on in the midst of a Sardinian population which uses no Catalan words; but a similar phenomenon meets one in Corsica, where the little town of Cargese is entirely Greek, inhabited by the Mainotes, who fled there from the Turks. Hence arose the story that Bonaparte was a Greek, which was so sedulously spread by his agents in the East when he contemplated an attack on Turkey."

The statement that Cargese is entirely Greek is not correct, as there is now a considerable native population in the little town, and for many years past the two communities have freely intermarried. The colony was founded by a body of Greeks from the Gulf of 'Colokythia, in the Morea, who, wearied of Turkish tyranny, begged the Genoese to
 * give them an asylum. The Genoese Senate

agreed to do so, and granted them the territories of Paomia, Ruvida, and Salogna, in Corsica, engaging at the same time to assist them in establishing themselves on the island, and to respect their religion and municipal institutions. In March, 1676, 730 Greeks arrived at Genoa, and by May had settled down in their new abode. Their fidelity to the Genoese during the troublous times that followed did not please the Corsicans ; their villages were burnt, and they were compelled to take refuge in Ajaccio, and it was not until the French were in undisputed possession of the island that they were enabled to live at peace. The

French governor, De Marbeuf, allowed them to build the village of Cargese, and to erect a church in 1774. At that time the colony consisted of 110 families, who spoke only Greek, and who preserved their national dress and religion. By degrees the Corsicans began to settle in Cargese, and the fusion of the two races commenced. At the present time the inhabitants of Cargese either speak French or the Corsican dialect, and the Greek language is very rarely heard. They have, however, adhered to their religion, and the Greek church, which was rebuilt in 1868, stands on a low hill which faces another slight elevation, on which a Catholic church has been built. The Greek " pope " has relinquished his Eastern costume, and is garbed like his Romanist confrere, while his services are generally conducted in French. The fact that Greek is taught in the communal school prevents any educa- tional difficulty arising. The women of Cargese still preserve the Greek type of beauty, and, unlike the Corsicans of the western coast, the population is a clean, hard-working race of peasants, who enjoy great material prosperity.

W. F. PRIDEAUX. ST. KILDA COLDS.

" This evening he disputed the truth of what is said as to the people of St. Kilda catching cold whenever strangers come." Boswell, 'Life of Samuel Johnson (in 10 vols., 1844), vol. iv. p. 311.

" We were thoughtful enough to bring with us from Fiji a fine assortment of influenza germs, and these ran riot among the native population. A few days after our arrival two-thirds of the people were down with it. and dismal objects they looked." Mrs. Edgworth David, ' Funafuti ; or, Three Months on a Coral Island,' 1899, p. 52.

The second of the above quotations suggests to one that possibly the " truth of what is said " may have more foundation in fact than Dr. Johnson was prepared to allow.

HORACE W. MONCKTON. [A note from MR. W. G. BLACK on St. Kilda colds was printed at 9 S. i. 85.]

THOMAS DYCHE, SCHOOLMASTER. The advertising schoolmaster s.v, ' The French of Stratford-at-Bow ' (10 S. vi. 326 ; vii. 267) is presumably the Thomas Dyche given below :

' A New General English Dictionary ; Peculiarly calculated for the Use and Improvement of such as

are unacquainted with the Learned Languages

Originally begun by the late Reverend Mr. Thomas Dyche, School-Master at Stratford le Bow, Author of the ' Guide to the English Tongue,' the ' Spell- ing Dictionary,' &c. And now finish'd by William Pardon, Gent., tenth ed., Dublin, 1758." ' See ' D.N.B.' ROBERT PIERPOINT.