ISLAND OF MANY WARS

Evening Star, Issue 23700, 7 October 1940, Page 6

ISLAND OF MANY WARS

MAJORCA AGAIN IN PICTURE FAMOUS “ SLINGERS ’’ OF HISTORY [By 5.8., in tho Melbourne 4 Age.’] While the German pressure in tho Pyrenees brings repeated reports of the possible entry of Spain into the war tho staffs of Mediterranean Powers turn to tho Balearic Isles. Once again Majorca is a factor in,world strategy, as it has been for 3,000 years. To me, Majorca is linked with the war, for 1 entered Palma Harbour in the Orama, which was sunk off Norway recently, and we Jay alongside the Arandora Star, which was torpedoed while carrying internees to Canada. All through the Spanish Civil War Italian forces occupied Majorca, making the island an air base for raids on Barcelona and a submarine base for the destruction of Republican shipping. To historians, war office staffs, and a few tourists Majorca is a delight. Early Majorcans specialised in one weapon, the sling, with such skill that the islands became known as the Balearics, or the place where the fine slingers lived. Children were not allowed to eat bread until they had knocked it from a post with their slings These slingers wore prized by classic generals. Livy tells ns that in the second Punic War they were employed by the Carthaginians. Hannibal recruited 1,370 slingers for his Italian campaigns, and they are praised in Livy’s account of tlie Battle of Cannae. Hannibal sent his relative Mago back to Majorca to recruit more slingers, but the islanders hated the Carthaginians with such fury that they stoned Mago’s ships from the shore and he had to sail away. PIRATES OF OLD. In the second century b.c. the Majorcans were known as the pirates of the Western Mediterranean, preying upon all ships making the passage through the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar). Rome could not tolerate this for long, and in 123 b.o. the Consul Metullus landed with a strong force and conquered the island. He was a triumph and given the name 44 Balearicus.” He founded the two great cities of Palma and Pollensa (the latter has vanished), and brought 3,000 Spanish settlers from the mainland. Henceforward Balearic slingers achieved fame with the legions, taking a prominent part iu the invasion of Britain in 55 b.o. At the same time the island of Majorca was used as a place of exile by Rome, though it was known as one of the loveliest spots in the ancient world. Upon the Vandal invasions of the empire Marjorca fell, and Pollensa was so devastated that even its site is a mystery to-day. In 534 the famousCount Belisarius conquered it for the Eastern Roman Empire, and Arian Christian missionaries converted the people. However, the Arab invasion swept over the islands, and for centuries the history of Majorca is veiled in mystery. In 1115 Raymond, Count of Barcelona, sailed with his Crusade fleet into Palma Harbour and defeated the Arabs, who made a rear attack upon Barcelona and forced him to return home, leaving : Genoese mercenaries iu charge. The | Arabs bribed the Genoese to sail awmy. j Then the Arabs turned to piracy, and petty pirate monarchs ruled the island. Their depredations were such that Peter Martel, a Spanish ship master, implored King Jamie at a dinner at Tarragona to burn the nest. Jamie attacked in 1229, and defeated Abu Yahya in battle a few miles from Palma—a cross marks the battlefield. He used slings to fire 400 heads of slain Arabs into the city during tho siege. Then a Majorcan dynasty was founded which lasted for three generations, until revolts placed the island under the rule of Aragon. To-day Palma is one of the loveliest harbours. The city stretches along the shores of an immense amphitheatre formed by the hills, and the bay sweeps away on either side. The catnedral is famous. It was built on the site of the Arab citadel by the conquering Jamie, and its Mirador doorway has been described as “ one of the most beautiful productions of the Gothic genius.,” The columns in the nave are 71ft high—those in Westminster Abbey are only 3Sft. The body of Jamie 11. of Majorca used to rest there, embalmed in an open coffin for tourists, but it was moved a few years ago into the chapel and buried. Its Chapel of St. Ana in the Royal Palace contains the remains of tlie saint, who was so revered that when the remains arrived the Guild of Skinners constructed a leather awning two miles long to cover the procession route from Porto Ri. The Lonja, or exchange, is another building well known to architects. The city walls are quite modem, however, having been built during the Napoleonic occupation. CHOPIN’S INSPIRATION. In modern times the most _ celebrated chapter of Majorcal history is the year in which George Sand and the composer, Chopin, enjoyed their famous “ honeymoon ” there. They lived in a house called “Son Vent,” or the House of the Winds, on the Palma road, some miles from the city. Lemon trees and blooming myrtle made the holiday an _ idyll. Chopin wrote, 44 Hero 1 am in the midst of palms and cedars and cactuses and olives and lemons and aloes and figs and pomegranates. The sky is a turquoise blue, tlie sea is azure, the mountains are emerald green, the air is like the air of paradise.” But the rainy season in December made them resort to charcoal heaters, which gave George Sand a cough. The proprietor believed the authoress was iu consumption, and made them leave, so they took refuge in an exile’s apartment in the suppressed Carthusian monastery of Valldemosa, an eyrie

right in the heart of Majorca’s five thousand feet mountain range. This asphodelled abode enchanted the lovers. Its effect is in Chopin’s music. Ho composed his includes there. Liszt says, “ All the long scattered rays of happiness were collected within this phase of the life of Chopin.” But George Sand left a very bitter and erroneous account of the Majorcans, whom she accused of every sin in the calendar. The only famous Majorcan was Raymond Lully, or Ramon Lull, who was a very bright ornament of the Majorcan Imperial Court in the 13th century until ho heard a service at the Feast of St. Francis. Then he abandoned his light verses and joy, and at the age of SO became a recluse In a cave near the monastery at Randa. Here he studied Arabic in preparation for his famous missionary work. Ho has never been canonised by (Rome, but in the island hagiology he is supreme. LAND OF NO WORRY, The Majorcans are very unlike their George Sand reputation. No more religious people exist in the Mediterranean. Majorcan women are mantillaed to this day, and their life is on the old Spanish style. There are many traces of the Romans, the Visigoths, and the Phoenicians in their faces and Arabic words stud their dialect. Their farming is primitive, threshing being done with the classical roller on a hard floor, and their ploughs are iron-tipped sticks. Superstitious to a degree, they will not cut hair on Fridays, and they like to drink from an abandoned glass of wine in the belief that the former drinker’s most secret thoughts will be revealed to them. They are the most politically unconscious folk imaginable. The only Government they like is the one which leaves them alone. They care nothing for politics. If the Germans landed, the islanders would react according to the German treatment. For they call themselves Majorcans, not Spaniards. A good idea of their outlook on life is to bo had from a visit to one of the innumerable street cafes—you can sit there all day free of charge, for a waiter will not approach you until you clap your hands. To arclneologists the island is fascinating because it contains the remains of an imaginary civilisation. All over the island are three forms of mysterious remains—tayalots, round, squat towers of massive stones containing a single chamber and generally built on a hill, some being elliptical or pyramidal; taulas, which are T-shaped monuments, consisting qf two stones each, about 7ft long and forming a unique decoration to the landscape; and bans, or mounds about 42i't long and 12ft high, containing a large chamber and an ante-chamber. There are also many caves showing signs of habitations. All these relics are a mystery, as they are like no other remains on earth, and no utensils or weapons have been found in or near them. To explain their presence, scientists have invented a mythical prehistoric people of whom nothing is known other than that they are supposed to have built these mounds and monuments. To-day, the Majorcans must watch the progress of Spanish war policy with at least some interest, little as they care about anything beyond their personal affairs. From the Punic wars to the Napoleonic wars, Majorca has been at the mercy of the belligerent Powers. Whether Hitler may recruit Majorcan troops, as Hannibal recruited Balearic slingers, depends upon Franco.