48 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, 



impresses by its massiveness, but narrow arms of the sea, bounded by steep 

 precipices, penetrate far inland. The Valle Quieto and the Canale di Leme pierce 

 it on the west, while the Canale di Arsa and the Bay of Fianona are equally 

 remarkable inlets on the east. 



But far more fantastical than Istria is the outline of Dalmatia, with its 

 peninsulas, and its fringe of islands, islets, and sunken rocks. Its islands and deep 

 bays remind us of the sK-aeren and the fiords of Norway, but this analogy is 

 merely superficial ; for whilst the fiords of Scandinavia are submarine valleys of 

 great depth, which intersect the coast range in all directions, and ramify into a 

 multitude of arms, the canale and bays of Dalmatia are simple channels of 



Fig. 29. — The Sixk of Pago. 

 Scale 1 : 1,135,000. 



15° ICE of Cr 



DEPTH IN FATHOMS 



■11 Over 11 



_^__^_— 5 JVIileb. 



erosion, less than 160 feet in depth, and extending in the same direction as the 

 ridges of the Carso and the Dinaric Alps — that is, from the north-west to the 

 south-east. The peninsulas and islands of Illyria have none of the chaotic dis- 

 order peculiar to the torn rocks of the Scandinavian coast. The direction of their 

 hill ranges and valleys is the same as that of the mountains and valleys of the 

 mainland. Geologically they belong to the same formation as the mainland, the only 

 exceptions being the eruptive rocks of Lissa and of a few islets far out in the 

 Adriatic. There can be no doubt that all these islands were formerly joined to the 

 mainland, the work of erosion which cut them asunder having been favoured by 



