52 



AUSTRIA-HUNGAEY. 



plateau, is well cultivated, and produces excellent wine. Lésina is a tongue 

 of land extending towards tlie west. Sabbioncella is not an island, but a 

 peninsula, traversed by a range of high, mountains, 45 miles in length. The island 

 of Curzola is a westerly continuation of this range. At Melada (Mljet) the chain of 

 large Dalmatian islands terminates. Lissa, with its fine harbour, lies in the open 

 Adriatic. Near it the Austrians and Italians fought a naval battle in 1866. 

 Pelagosa lies nearer to Italy than to Dalmatia, but belongs politically to the 

 Austrians, who maintain its lighthouse. 



In one respect all these islands, and many others of inferior size, resemble 

 each other : they are all barren, the forests having long disappeared. Selve and 



Fig. 33. — Melada. 

 Scale 1 : 180,000. 



DEPTH IN BATHOMS 



11 — 27 



Over 27 



2 Miles. 



Lesina are no longer wooded, as their name implies, and Curzola has ceased to boast 

 of the forests which caused the epithet of " black " to be bestowed upon it. All of 

 them are distinguished by boldness of contour, and their cliffs contrast strikingly 

 with the gentle undulations presented by the Italian shores. Their rocks are 

 sterile, but some of the valleys and smaller islands, partly composed of impervious 

 sandstone, are of exceeding fertility. Thus, whilst Levrera, a limestone island 

 near Cherso, supports only rabbits, the neighbouring islet of Sansego has been 

 converted into a veritable garden by its thousand inhabitants. 



Climate, Flora, and Fauna. 



The climate of the valley of Isonzo, of Istria, and of Dalmatia resembles that of 

 Italy. The flora of the whole of the maritime region is Mediterranean. Myrtles 



