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The National Geographic Magazine 



and prosperous state. The great walls 

 still inclose the town and are practically 

 intact. They form a striking contrast to 

 the architectural delicacy of the public 

 buildings and palaces which rise on the 

 steeply terraced streets, for the town is 

 built on a narrow peninsula between the 

 mountains and the sea. On Sundays, 

 when the peasants from Canalle come in 

 for church and the smart Austrian officers 

 promenade about, the gay little city pre- 

 sents an almost opera bouffe aspect, with 

 the medieval setting and the brilliant 

 crowds flashing with color and military 

 pomp. 



The environs are most lovely, the 

 wealth of figs, aloes, cypresses, and every 

 sort of semi-tropical and rock-blooming 

 plant making the surrounding country a 

 veritable garden in spring and early 

 summer. Lacroma and the other neigh- 

 boring islands seem fairy isles, too ex- 

 quisite for human habitation, but about 

 the former hang sad memories of Prince 

 Rudolph and Emperor Maximillian 

 and legendary ones of Richard Coeur 

 de Lion, for the old monastery was 

 once a favorite resort of royalty, but has 

 since been restored to its former uses. 



The morlaks or peasants are a sturdy, 

 independent race, mostly of Slav extrac- 

 tion, and distinctly well to do, especially 

 about Spalato and Ragusa, where the soil 

 is fertile and the crops large. 



QUAINT COSTUMES IN DAEMATIA 



The tiny Dalmatian cap of scarlet cloth, 

 half embroidered in black with a black 

 tassel, is worn by the men the entire 

 length of the coast, while no inhabitant 

 of the Peninsula is seen without the use- 

 ful bag slung over one shoulder, of woven 

 carpet material, embroidered linen, or 

 leather studded with nails. It serves all 

 purposes — a cradle for the baby, a ward- 

 robe for the family clothes, a larder for 

 the provisions, as well as a convenient re- 

 ceptacle for little pigs going to market! 

 Except for these common features the 

 costumes vary in every district. At Zara 

 may be seen the striking sleeveless scarlet 

 vest ornamented with silver buttons, while 



about Sebenico the men affect a curious 

 waistcoat and jacket of brown homespun, 

 piped and trimmed with woolen fringe of 

 bright magenta color. 



In the country the women wear a heavy 

 apron of carpet material heavily fringed 

 and are seldom seen without a distaff in 

 their hands as they ride or walk to 

 market. Those from Canalle are noted 

 for their charming costumes of embroid- 

 ered linen, and they with their men folk 

 were the only people we saw in the Balk- 

 ans with adequate head covering, the 

 wide, stiff fluted handkerchiefs of the 

 women and the straw hats of the men 

 protecting them from the sun. In sum- 

 mer the heat and glare in these shadeless 

 lands is intense, but a handkerchief or a 

 stiff brimless cap seems the fashion, 

 while for dress occasions both sexes will 

 pile one homespun garment over another, 

 for in the Near East the more you wear 

 the finer you are ! 



AN UNCONQUERED RACE 



But if the people and the scenery of 

 Dalmatia are interesting, those of Monte- 

 negro are infinitely more so. A land of 

 mountains, apparently without valleys, 

 and almost destitute of vegetation, Mon- 

 tenegro seems to have emerged out of a 

 chaos of the gods to be primeval rib 

 of the world. And, in keeping with the 

 country, is the proud and independent 

 character of this race, who have retreated 

 step by step before the Turk from the fat 

 lands they once held, preferring freedom 

 in their rocky fastnesses to soft living 

 under the yoke of Islam. And it must be 

 remembered to their everlasting credit 

 that they not only remained free when the 

 other Slav peoples as well as the Greek, 

 Albanian, and Bulgar fell before the 

 power of the Turk, but that they main- 

 tained their independence when all 

 Europe, to the gates of Vienna, trembled 

 before the hosts of the Crescent. 



Disembarking at Cattaro (lying baking 

 in the August sun) after a wonderful 

 sail through the tortuous Bocche di 

 Cattaro or "mouths of Cattaro," we took 

 the waiting carriage and started on the 



