68 A RECENT VISIT TO THE DALMATIAN COAST. 
due to a continued manifestation of those mountain-building 
forces which, farther to the east, have culminated in the upheaval 
of the Dinaric Alps. The scenery which opens out as we 
penetrate further into this land-locked inlet is beautiful in the 
extreme, and has been so well described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson 
that I cannot do better than give you his own words. 
At Castel Nuovo “ begins that grand scenery which has made 
the Gulf of Cattaro so celebrated. The forms of the mountains 
are bold and rugged; the sides are clothed with trees, studded 
with houses ; and here and there are a church steeple perched on 
a height, and a village below seeming to rise from the edge of the 
water in which it is reflected. As you proceed onwards, a 
succession of different views present themselves ; and the moun- 
tains, rising on either side with a majestic sweep from the water, 
sometimes scarcely leaving room for a village on the shore, give 
this winding gulf the appearance of an inland lake. At one time 
you are in a bay half a mile across, which expands to a breadth of 
three miles ; you then pass through narrow channels to a succes- 
sion of land-locked bays, and so great is the area of water that the 
fleets of all Europe would occupy but a small portion of this 
splendid harbour, whose depth would allow them to anchor close 
to the shore.” 
The last mouth of the gulf is the Catene, so called from its 
having been closed by chains drawn across when King Lewis of 
Hungary defended Cattaro against the Venetians in 1380. Asone 
approaches the Catene it is difficult to believe that there is any 
passage through the mountain, which seems completely to block 
the way, but gradually the narrow strait opens out until it appears 
again to be terminated by the little town of Perasto. At this 
point, instead of turning sharply to the east and heading for 
Cattaro, we turned westward for a short time, past two rocky 
little islets opposite Perasto, into the Gulf of Risano, a cud de sac 
terminating in a steep valley which leads to the district of 
Krivoscie. Where the land valley comes down to the water lies 
the little town of Risano, the ancient Rhizon, which gave its name 
to the whole gulf, Rhzzonicus sinus. Our yacht now doubled back 
¥ 
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