476 



A R N I O L A, 



^ ring-work hjs likewise been established, a lace ma- 

 ' nufactory, and a manufactory of linen. The most 

 esteemed linen, procured from this quarter, is made 

 at Bischoflack, in the environs of Laybach, and at 

 I>obronina. There arc several bleaching-fields here. 

 The number of looms in the province is estimated at 

 800 ; and the value of all the cloth annually made in 

 it has been rated at 600,000 florins. 



The exports from this province are chiefly iron, 

 iteel, mercury, wines, olive-oil, olives, chesnuts, and 

 various other fruits, horses, cattle, linen, woollen 

 stuffs, cheese, leather, honey, ship-timber,, with all 

 sorts of little works in wood, such as boxes, dishes, 

 spoons, &c. One of the most material articles of 

 import is corn, of which the native soil does not in 

 ordinary years raise enough to answer to the con- 

 sumption of the inhabitants. This province is also 

 without the fossil salt or salt-springs, which, found 

 in other situations, are reckoned among the treasures 

 of Austria. Whatever salt therefore is required, in 

 addition to the quantity of sea-salt manufactured in 

 the province,* muiit be obtained 'from the sovereign's 

 magazines. 



Some idea of the relative importance of this duchy 

 may perhaps be formed, from a consideration of the 

 amount of its contributions at different periods for 

 the support of government. This province, accord- 

 ing to Busching, advanced for that purpose in 1770, 

 2,089,952 florins. In 1780, according to Schlzezer, 

 its contribution was 1,650,000 florins. It contribu- 

 ted in 1803, according to the manual of Frankfort, 

 1)300,000 florins ; according to Ockhart, 2,100,000. 

 That its mines, generally taken, are not of the most 

 considerable order, may reasonably be inferred from 

 the circumstance, that it is not rated as contributing 

 any thing to the montanisticum, or the revenue accru- 

 ing to the emperor from the produce of all the mines. 

 Its wealth in this department has, however, been of 

 not a little importance towards the enlargement of 

 the public revenues. The quicksilver mines of Id- 

 ria yield annually to the emperor nearly 1,000,000 of 

 florins. 



Carniola possesses a robust and hardy peasantry. 

 With the common people of this country, it is usual 

 to go barefooted in winter through the snow with 

 open breasts, and to sleep on a hard bench without 

 bed or bolster. The food of this order of people is 

 also very coarse and mean. In winter, when the 

 snow lies deep on the ground, the mountaineers, in 

 the manner of the Laplanders, bind either small bas- 

 kets, or long thin narrow boards, to their feet, on 

 which, with the help of a stout staff, they descend 

 with great velocity from the mountains. When the 

 snow is frozen, they make use of a sort of skaits for 

 the same purpose. 



In this duchy there occur numerous natural curi- 

 esities. The vast grottos with which Carniola so 

 much abounds, are such, that nothing similar to them 

 is found in Europe. The principal tract of the grot- 

 tos is in what is called the Pear-tree Wood, which is 

 ne of the most considerable forests in the empire, but 

 marked throughout by a face of the most inhospitable 



desolation. Some of these grottos, or subterraneous 

 caverns, are said to be upwards of four miles in length. 

 They rise also, in some instances, one tier above ano- 

 ther ; every several grotto extending in breadth and 

 height from 12, perhaps to 20 feet, and exhibiting 

 in the interior a great variety of stalactites of singu- 

 lar form and appearance. The most noted of these 

 grottos, are the Magdalen grotto near Adelsberg, 

 that of Lueg, that of St Servio near Trieste, the 

 grotto of Corgnale, and those of the lake of Zirk- 

 nitz. Amongst these, the grotto of Corgnale is par- 

 ticularly striking, both in respect of the magnificence 

 arid the variety of its. stalactites, and the length and 

 massiness of the columns on which the vaulted roof 

 seems to repose. Zirknitz is not mare remarkable 

 on account of the grottos in that quarter, than for 

 other natural phenomena of a very singular kind, by 

 which it is distinguished. This place has indeed 

 many attractions. The mountains, the rocks, the 

 woods, the smiling plains, the fertile fields, and the 

 villages scattered here and there, which, in various 

 directions, bound this fine sheet of water, or offer 

 themselves to the eye in striking contrast or connec- 

 tion with it, or with one another, form a scene highly 

 picturesque and agreeable. The prospect is farther 

 enriched and animated, by the beautiful ai>d well -cul- 

 tivated islands which rise from the bosom of the lake; 

 and by the restless activity of several rivulets, which, 

 in different quarters, hasten to convey to it the tri- 

 bute of their streams. The usual egress of the wa- 

 ters of this lake, is by two openings which nature has 

 formed for them through one of the adjoining rocks. 

 But besides these two cavities, by means of which the 

 lake is prevented from rising above a certain level, 

 there are several others in the bottom of it, (and this 

 is what has been most noted in these parts,) through 

 the effect of which it every now and then disappears 

 entirely. When this event is about to take place, the 

 waters crowd in succession about the different open- 

 ings, and in the vicinity of them respectively the 

 bottom is after a time laid bare, till after the lapse of 

 about 25 days no vestige of the lake any longer re- 

 mains. The period when the water is about to de- 

 part is that when fishing is permitted in the lake, and 

 at those seasons accordingly, there is procured an 

 abundant supply of harge fishes, chiefly pikes. After 

 the waters are gone, a field is presented, in the channel 

 that they had occupied, very proper for cultivation, 

 which it is immediately begun to labour and to sow. 

 An abundant vegetation soon covers the place. Three 

 months afterwards the peasants collect from it crops 

 of hay and millet, and game is pursued in situations 

 where so short a time before there had been no other 

 living creature but fishes. There is no precise time 

 for these departures of the lake. It ha.s been known 

 sometimes to disappear and to return thrice in the 

 course of a year, and some years it has not disap- 

 peared at all. Its return, however, uniformly takes 

 place after a space of not more than four months. 

 Then the water is seen for a short time rising with 

 vigour through the different openings, and, within 24 

 hours, the basin is completely filled as -before its de- 



* Carniola prepares of sea salt annually; from 30 } OQO to 40 3 000 metzen or minots of Vienna. 

 C'.'.IM^ inches. 



This is a measure of 3.10 



