56 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



other part o£ Austria.* There are, however, a few localities which are noted 

 for their insalubrit3^ Such are the swampy lowlands of the Narenta, now 

 being drained. A local disease — scherlicvo — has been observed near Fiume, and 

 is ascribed to misery, dirt, and promiscuousness. 



A few foreign colonies exist on the Adriatic slopes of Austria. Peroi is a 

 Montenegrin village near Pola, whilst Rumanians have settled on the river 

 Arsa, which flows into the Gulf of Quarnero.f 



The cultivation of the soil leaves much to be desired. Irrespectively of the 

 vicinity of Gorizia, Trieste, a few places in Istria, and near some of the towns 

 of Dalmatia, agriculture is in a most backward state. The earth yields harvests 

 in spite of man. The wine, which might be amongst the best produced in 

 Europe, is fit only for drunkards ; the fruits are small and without flavour. The 

 land no longer belongs to families collectively, as in the valley of the Save, 

 nor has it become the absolute property of individuals, a sort of tenure most 

 unfavourable to its cultivation. The peasants retain the habits of wandering 

 herdsmen, and think nothing of pasturing their shcej) upon a neighbour's fields. 



Fortunately the inhabitants of the coast are not solely dependent upon agri- 

 culture. The Istriotes participate in the commerce of which Trieste is the centre. 

 The Dalmatians are excellent seamen, and more than one-half the crews of the 

 sea-going vessels of Austria are furnished by Ragusa and Cattaro. Ship-building, 

 sail and rope making, and the salting of provisions occupy many of the inha- 

 bitants in the coast towns. Commerce is almost exclusively in the hands of 

 Italians and Jews, and the fisheries appear to have been abandoned to Chioggians, 

 whose sloops are seen in every creek. 



Dalmatia, in spite of its natural wealth and favourable geographical position, 

 does not enjoy the importance which is clearly its due. Illyria was a far more 

 populous country in the da^^s of the Romans than it is now, and far better culti- 

 vated. It enjoyed a second period of prosperity during the Middle Ages, when 

 Ragusa (the Dubrovnik of the Slavs) was one of the great commercial emporiums 

 of the Mediterranean, rivalling even Venice, and forming a focus of civilisation 

 to the Slavs of the interior. The city never recovered from the disasters which 

 repeatedly overtook it since Charles V. " borrowed " three hundred of its vessels. 

 The fate of the other towns of Dalmatia has been that of Ragusa. 



Far removed from the capital of the empire, it has had the fate of a distant 

 colony, not possessing sufficient resources of its own to insure its prosperity. 

 Its fine harbours were deserted, for within a few miles from them a boundary 

 watched by officers of customs separated the country from those inland districts 

 which might have fed its commerce. The definite incorporation of Bosnia into 

 the Austrian Empire may possibly revive the fallen fortunes of Dalmatia ; but 

 for the present that country only exhibits a picture of decay. 



* Death rate, 23 to 26 per 1,000 inhabitants, 

 t Nationality of the Adriatic provinces (1875) : — 

 Slavs. Italians. 



Gorizia . . . 150,000 72,000 



Trieste and Istria . 181,000 219,000 



Dalmatia . . 408,000 0-',000 



