THE ADEIATIC PEOVINCES. 



53 



and laurel-trees flourish in the open air at the mouth of the Timavo, 2J° to the 

 north of Liguria. 



The mountains shelter the country towards the north and east, and it is 

 exposed to the afternoon sun. In the Dalmatian littoral valleys we meet with 

 locust-trees, orange-trees, and fig-trees. The almond- trees bear blossoms in 

 December, and peas and beans frequently ripen early in January. Palm-trees 

 are first met with at Trau. On the island of Bua they are numerous, and in 

 the gardens of E,agusa they sometimes bear ripe fruit. Exceptional frosts, how- 

 ever, have occasionally proved destructive to the olive plantations of Northern 

 Dalmatia and Istria, and those around Trieste have never recovered since the 

 terrible winter of 1787. In 1861 the channel of Zara became covered with ice, 

 and in April, 1864, it snowed there. Twice during ten centuries a considerable 

 portion of the Adriatic froze, viz. in 869 and in 1234.* 



iC)"} 



Fig. 34. — Sax Clémente. 

 Scale 1 : 115,000. 



"'"'^2 ^ I LESINA 



Port 'PifienienU ff ]/ tJ, ' 



\ I? SPALJLVDOiU ç*Ajd ^^ \i^ 



^ /- 



Depth 0-5 Fathoms 

 ,, 5-27 ,, 



J, 27-54 ,, 



2 Miles. 



In summer the skies of Dalmatia are usually serene, but in autumn torrential 

 rains are frequent, as also in the beginning of spring. The winter is generally 

 rainy, but the equinoctial rains are most abundant. It is the sirocco which 

 carries the rain-clouds to Dalmatia, for in its passage across the Mediterranean it 

 becomes charged with vapours, and to it the country is indebted both for its 

 beat and its moisture. The land and sea breezes, owing to the lay of the coast, 

 blow in the same direction as the general winds, and therefore either neutralise 

 them or add to their violence. The hova, blowing from mountains to the south of 

 Monte Re, is more especially dreaded in its encounters with the sirocco. Its violence, 



* Average temperature and rainfall in Istria and Dalmatia :— 



Gorizia (Gorz) ...... 55^ 6.3 inches. 



Trieste 57-9 43 „ 



Fiume '. 57-0 G2 „ 



Zara 58-5 30 „ 



Kauusa . . . . . ... 622 64 ,, 



