APRIL 77 



on our way to the enchanted Bocche de Cattaro, 

 whence the ascent is made to the Land of the Black 

 Mountain. 



The ascent is worth making for its own sake ; for 

 although the horizontal distance between the Porta 

 Gordicchio of Austrian Cattaro and the Montenegrin 

 frontier is only a few hundred yards, vertically it 

 exceeds 3000 feet. To accomplish the transit you 

 must traverse thirteen kilometres, about eight miles of 

 beautiful road looped across the sheer flank of Lovcen 

 in seventy-three zigzags, without a stiff gradient in its 

 whole extent. 1 To realise the intrepidity and skill of 

 the engineer who designed and wrought this master- 

 piece, well named La Scala, one has to imagine the 

 appearance presented by this mighty cliff before a 

 pick was struck in it. To prepare an easy way for 

 wheeled traffic over a precipice of 3000 feet was surely 

 a task only to be undertaken in order to gain access to 

 a rich domain. Yet what is the prospect before the 

 traveller on arriving at the windy summit ? Turning 

 his back upon the enchanting panorama of the triple 

 labyrinth of the Bocche winding among well-clad 

 mountains, he beholds towards the east a turmoil of 

 naked rocks, bleached almost white in some places, in 

 others weathered to dark grey and russet. Far as the 

 eye can reach there seems hardly growth to nourish a 

 goat, save where, high above the road, the oak wood 

 bristles brown among the steep snows of Lovcen. A 

 drearier landscape there could scarcely be ; yet upon 



1 Since this was written a motor car service has been established 

 between Cattaro and Cettinje. 



