FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 245 



in some districts a striking one — of the karst is its red ea-rth (Urra rosso), de- 

 cayed limestone colored with oxide of iron. It is very fertile when well sup- 

 plied with moisture, and where forests are well rooted in it 'some of the 

 finest timber of th'e empire is to be found. 



Geologists attribute the existence of karst entirely to the ignorance, folly, 

 and greed of man. It is known that in antiquity all these coasts were covered 

 with forests, which fell before the demands of commerce, until not a tree was 

 left that by the means of conveyance in those ages could be brought to the 

 shore for shipment. The map of these countries shows at a glance that karst 

 is confined to the great basin in which the Adriatic lies ; that north of it are 

 the east ranges of the Austrian Alps ; and that the immense difference in the 

 temperature between the atmosphere of those snowclad mountains and that of 

 the named sea, open to the Mediterranean and the influence of the African 

 Sirocco, necessarily produces dry, cold winds of extr aordinary violence and 

 long continuance. 



The laws of nature are uniform in their action, and the history of the karst 

 may yet be repeated in our own vast territory unless its lessons be respected. 

 The soil, denuded of trees, parched, dried, and pulverized by the hot sun of 

 this climate, was swept away by the rains, which, being no longer retained in 

 the shades and decaying foliage, flowed off" in torrents. The surface of the 

 exposed limestone disintegrated under the combined effects of atmospheric 

 and aqueous action. Fissures in the strata became enlarged into "dolines," 

 which may be described as funnels opening below into subterranean channels, 

 and thus another cause of aridity was added. And so, in the lapse of long 

 centuries, the forest covered coasts of the Adriatic became the desolate karst 

 of to-day. Here and there deep valleys sheltered from the winds and well 

 watered are very pictures of fertility, when no long continued drought deprives 

 the springs of their sources; but with such exceptions, and in districts where 

 long continued cultivation — as in much of Istria — has effected a change, most 

 of the eastern coast lands of the Adriatic, in the provinces above named, are 

 such as described. 



The existence in the last century of a few fine forests under favorable and 

 exceptional circumstances, proves that nature is not at fault for the widespread 

 karst. 



During the long possession of these coasts by Venice, the republic, which 

 plundered the forests of Dalmatia without mercy, sought vainly, by its ordi- 

 nances, to protect and enlarge those of Istria, Trieste, and Gorizia. The 

 Austrian government has also, for three hundred and fifty years, endeavored 

 by its forest laws, with heavy penalties for disobedience, to at least give the 

 opportunity for forests to grow; but with little effect. 



By the best calculation it is in my power to make, about one-third of the 

 area included in the provinces of Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, Carinthia, Dalmatia, 

 Croatia, Herzegowina, Bosnia, and the islands of the Eastern Adriatic, is 

 karst. 



