IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 17 



The not unnatural result was that the Slavs took 

 to destroying every young growing tree they saw 

 — a course of action their descendants are bitterly 

 rueing to-day. This is the legend ; hut I, who 

 had plenty of opportunity of seeing the country, 

 am of opinion that it by no means accounts for 

 the barrenness of the land. The Venetians are 

 long since gone, but the young growing trees are 

 cut down all the same for the more prosaic pur- 

 pose of firewood, or, worse still, destroyed by the 

 animals pastured on the hills. I am convinced 

 that if the Government resorted to the Indian 

 plan of making " forest reserves," walled in 

 (and the material for this is not wanting), of 

 some millions of acres, and excluding every one 

 not provided with a pass, Dalmatia would bear a 

 very different aspect in a quarter of a century. 



My first act at Zara was to visit the Govern- 

 ment Offices, to which I had sent on my passport 

 three weeks before to have my shooting-licence 

 prepared. The responsible officer had not arrived, 

 so the rest of the morning was spent in making 

 our final purchases, and admiring the quaint 

 costumes of the Morlak peasantry. 



I returned to the Municipality at noon, and 

 was then sent to the Municipal Offices, but finally 

 received my permit about one. We were treated 

 with the greatest civility by all, and finally the 

 chief of the police gave me an "open order" to 



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