IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 57 



monks of its convent having kept it planted with 

 magnificent pines. By the way, this sea-pine pro- 

 duces an edible nut, which, although it seemed 

 to me rather turpentiny to the taste, is much us 3d 

 in Dalmatia to flavour sweets. The bark has also 

 a commercial value, as it yields a dark brown dye, 

 principally used for fishing-nets. Although the 

 island could not support eight people, it has eight 

 hundred inhabitants. These live partly by the 

 sponge fishery — we were shown a specimen of 

 perfect sponge three feet in diameter — but princi- 

 pally by cultivating the adjacent mainland. They 

 are not, like their neighbours the Zlarin islanders, 

 engaged in the coral fishery. Considering there 

 is not a drop of water in the island, and that 

 when the rain-water runs short the inhabitants 

 have to go to a spring above Sebenico Yecchio, 

 this struck me as an extraordinary survival of 

 habits acquired by their ancestors in the days 

 when the Turk was an ever-present terror. 



Neither is there any water at Zablace, but 

 Cavaliere Fontana kindly allowed us to avail our- 

 selves of his ample supply of rain-water. The 

 peasantry use a well, the supply in which is the 

 resultant of the infiltration of the sea, from which 

 it is a considerable way off. I tasted the water, 

 and found it distinctly salt, but it is said to quench 

 the thirst, and also to be wholesome. 



The Cavaliere has made several attempts, with 



