"And there was a young fellow here," he went on, "who thought he could
profit by pretending to be Musolino.
So one day he challenged a
proprietor with his gun, and took all his money. When it came to
Musolino's ears, he was furious - furious! He lay in wait for him, caught
him, and said: 'How dare you touch fathers of children? Where's that
money you took from Don Antonio?' Then the boy began to cry and tremble
for his life. 'Bring it,' said Musolino, 'every penny, at midday next
Monday, to such and such a spot, or else - - ' Of course he brought it.
Then he marched him straight into the proprietor's house. 'Here's this
wretched boy, who robbed you in my name. And here's the money: please
count it. Now, what shall we do with him?' So Don Antonio counted the
money. 'It's all there,' he said; 'let him off this time.' Then Musolino
turned to the lad: 'You have behaved like a mannerless puppy,' he said,
'without shame or knowledge of the world. Be reasonable in future, and
understand clearly: I will have no brigandage in these mountains. Leave
that to the syndics and judges in the towns.'"
We did not traverse Musolino's natal village, Santo Stefano; indeed, we
passed through no villages at all. But after issuing from the labyrinth,
we saw a few of them, perched in improbable situations - Roccaforte and
Roghudi on our right; on the other side, Africo and Casalnuovo. Salis
Marschlins says that the inhabitants of these regions are so wild and
innocent that money is unknown; everything is done by barter. That comes
of copying without discrimination. For this statement he utilized the
report of a Government official, a certain Leoni, who was sent hither
after the earthquake of 1783, and found the use of money not unknown,
but forgotten, in consequence of this terrible catastrophe.
These vales of Aspromonte are one of the last refuges of living
Byzantinism. Greek is still spoken in some places, such as Rocca-forte
and Roghudi. Earlier travellers confused the natives with the Albanians;
Niehbuhr, who had an obsession on the subject of Hellenism, imagined
they were relics of old Dorian and Achaean colonies. Scholars are
apparently not yet quite decided upon certain smaller matters. So
Lenormant (Vol. II, p. 433) thinks they came hither after the Turkish
conquest, as did the Albanians; Batiffol argues that they were chased
into Calabria from Sicily by the Arabs after the second half of the
seventh century; Morosi, who treats mostly of their Apulian settlements,
says that they came from the East between the sixth and tenth centuries.
Many students, such as Morelli and Comparetti, have garnered their
songs, language, customs and lore, and whoever wants a convenient resume
of these earlier researches will find it in Pellegrini's book which was
written in 1873 (printed 1880). He gives the number of Greek inhabitants
of these places - Roghudi, for example, had 535 in his day; he has also
noted down these villages, like Africo and Casalnuovo, in which the
Byzantine speech has lately been lost.
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