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trepanning or making a hole in a man’s head for the purpose 
of curing a disease by “ letting out the evil spirit,” is not 
unknown. They have the Yule custom of burning a log 
as we have, but they practise it on a much larger scale, using 
a whole tree, which is devastating many of the forests. 
We begin our tour through Dalmatia at Zara, one of the 
principal towns of the country. Its walls, strong and at one 
time impregnable, are most interesting. At the time of 
the Crusades the Venetians were particularly anxious to 
possess this town, and this desire led to their making a bargain 
with the English and French Crusaders who were applying 
to the Venetians for ships to take them to the Holy Land. 
The Crusaders had not sufficient money to pay their passage 
and the Venetians therefore suggested that the Crusaders 
should, as the price for their passage, capture for the Venetians 
the city of Zara. In spite of their vows to use their arms 
only against the infidels, the Crusaders had no other alter- 
native but to stay and attack the town, which they took and 
handed over. 
We now pass on to Spalato, an ancient city the nucleus 
of which is the palace of Diocletian, built by him for when 
he retired after having resigned his position as Roman Em- 
peror in the year 304 A.D. Parts of his Palace are still to 
be seen, including its gates of gold, brass, iron and silver. 
It was of enormous size and in some of the rooms many 
houses have since been built. He built himself a tomb which 
is now used at a Cathedral, and one is reminded of the- vanity 
of human wishes when one sees that here, in the tomb of 
Diocletian, who was going to stamp Christianity off the 
face of the earth, the priest now says Mass every day to a 
congregation of Christians. It is here one remembers that 
the ‘ Dalmatic ’ worn by every clergyman of the Church of 
England, first came from Dalmatia where it was the ordinary 
costume of the people. 
Near Spalato is Saloma, very important in early Roman 
days. So much so, that when a Roman Emperor conquered it 
he named his son after it. There were 88 towers at the 
corners of the walls, but they are now rased to the ground 
by process of time. We still see there the remains of a very 
early Christian Church. A woman of Saloma, faithful to 
the Church, used to beg the bodies of the early Christian 
Martyrs, whom the Romans put to death but never buried, 
and bringing the bodies to Saloma interred them behind 
her house. The Christians afterwards built a church on the 
site. It is one of the earliest and most interesting churches 
in existence, the pillars and tombs being seen on every side. 
