THE ADRIATIC PEOVINCES. 



41 



Carso, though j)oor in individuals, is extremely rich in species. On the coast 

 vast tracts are sometimes covered by plants of the same species. On the Carso, on 

 the other hand, fifty or sixty species are frequently met with upon an area of a 

 few square yards. It is here the floras of Germany, Italy, and Croatia mingle. 



Nearly all the forests have disappeared since the beginning of the century, and 

 the ravages committed by sheep and goats have prevented nature from recovering. 

 Several attempts at replanting resulted in failure, sometimes because the vegetable 

 soil had been carried away by the wind, more frequently through the improvidence 



Fig. 24.— The Sinks of Tola. 

 Scale 1 : 36,000. 



hi F of Fnlls 



hflÂ 



/'*' - 



WS ffi^hft 



/ 



ïr^V ^ 



1 Mile. 



of the villagers to whom the work had been intrusted. Others, however, have 

 succeeded. A beautiful plantation of pines may be seen close to the village of 

 Bassovizza, right above Trieste, on one of the most arid tracts of the Carso. In 

 fact, wherever the plateau is protected against sheep and goats, shrubs spring up, 

 and in the end the oak, too, will reappear. 



But not only is it possible to replant the Carso with trees, it is also possible to 

 cultivate some of its least promising tracts. Fields have been cleared of stones, 

 and Cyclopean walls constructed to protect them against the wind ; and in course 



