The Karstlands of Western Yugoslavia. 407 



on the other hand, who lias exhaustively explored many of the 

 lUyrian caverns, maintains that the existence of such a water-table 

 is at variance with many facts ascertained by speleological research, 

 and holds that the present forms are the result of true subterranean 

 rivers flowing beneath the surface of the karst. It seems clear from 

 his researches that much greater importance must be attached to the 

 mechanical action of water containing solid matter in suspension, 

 flowing along fissures and cavities in the limestone, and conversely 

 less importance to the effects of interstitial j^ercolation than has 

 hitherto been attributed to it by Grimd and others. 



One of the most extensive and remarkable dolinas in Western 

 Yugoslavia is that of Kocevlje (or Gottschee), 40 miles south of 

 Ljubljana. Here on the limestone plateau occurs a funnel-shaped 

 depression, whose superficial area is about half a square mile, and 

 whose upper portion is filled with Upper Tertiary freshwater lime- 

 stones and marls, in which are interbedded six seam.s of lignitic 

 coal ; the latter totalling in all a thickness of over 100 feet. Two of 

 the principal seams, which consist of almost pure woody coal up to 

 40 feet in thickness, have been extensively worked, both by open- 

 cast and subterranean mining. These Upper Tertiary lignitiferous 

 beds dip slightly towards the centre of the dolina, and through the 

 centre of theni passes an irregular circular plug of tufaceous lime- 

 stone. This has been met with in the deepest workings, which have 

 so far been carried to a depth of 210 feet. In this remarkable instance 

 we have preserved intact the later geological history of this area ; 

 the beds, if, indeed, ever occurring continuouvsly there, having been 

 completely renioved from the neighbouring karstlands. 



Present-day Conditions. 

 In the preceding pages it has been showii that karst conditions 

 have been developing ever since the Miocene uplift of this region ; 

 it is clear, however, that present-day climatic conditions have a 

 powerful effect on the landscape, while other factors have contributed 

 towards its accentuation within historic times. Judging from 

 historical records, much of Illyria, which constituted the flourishing 

 province of Liburnia in the Roman era, was comparatively thickly 

 wooded with beech and conifers, and this condition would assist in 

 the gradual accumulation of a thin veneer of '" terra-rossa ". Smce 

 that period the wood has been gradually removed, both by the 

 Venetians to supply the innumerable piles on which their city is 

 built, and also by them and the Ragusans to bu.ild their extensive 

 fleets. This, coupled with the indiscriminate cutting of timber for 

 every conceivable purpose, and the destruction of young shoots 

 by the countless herds of goats reared in this region, have left much 

 of it unprotected, so that in the hot, dry summer, the '" terra-rossa " 

 covering is carried away to produce the extensive sand-dunes seen 

 to the north-east of Gospits, to the south of Koprivnitsa and else- 

 where. In Montenegro the wood has been indiscriminately removed, 



