stopping only at Pola. It was just before Easter, and many sailors from
the fleet were going home for a holiday. The quay was crowded with
passengers, and a queerly shaped engine, belching forth thick smoke,
with train attached, was drawn up behind them. This we thought a fair
subject for a snap-shot, but the production of the camera attracted the
attention of a policeman who would not be satisfied until it was put
away, though the arsenal was behind us. The sailors swarmed on board and
filled the whole fore part of the boat--fine-looking fellows for the
most part, and very good-humoured. Their kits were done up in
handkerchiefs with the map of Europe printed on them in red, blue, or
buff. They were full of jokes, and were, in fact, just like a lot of big
schoolboys. Some of them gathered in a ring and sang in parts for some
time; the music sounded better a little way off than near. There were
also Montenegrins on board who had been working on some railway in
course of construction. One of them had two pairs of corduroy trousers
on, the upper whitish, the under the usual brown-green.
[Illustration: LUSSIN GRANDE
_To face page 181_]
Lussin Piccolo lies at the head of a deep bay, and climbs the ridge
along which the road runs to Lussin Grande, a place which is now much
smaller than its neighbour, but more picturesque and pleasant. The
bigger hotels are at Lussin Piccolo, where the larger harbour allows the
steamers to call. It has become a winter residence for Russians and
Austrians; and the keeper of the largest café told us that many of the
former came, instancing an officer of the guards who stayed six months,
and told him he was better off there than in St. Petersburg, or indeed
Manchuria, where he expected to be sent if he returned! The harbour is
called Val d'Augusto, because the fleet of the Emperor Augustus is said
to have remained at anchor there for a whole winter. It may be true, for
at the battle of Actium his fleet was principally manned by Dalmatians.
From above the town the view looking towards Ossero is rather fine, the
summits of the hills along the spine of the island rising one beyond the
other, culminating in Monte Ossero, paling and getting bluer with
greater distance. The sea, of a blue quite different in its quality,
runs into the land in many little inlets, while beyond are Veglia and
the mainland mountains often capped with clouds.
The road to Lussin Grande runs along the slope of the hills, rounding
tree-clad spurs and diving into hollows, with frequent peeps down into
little coves where boats are drawn up. In one of these a little fellow
was paddling himself about in a tub. On seeing us looking at him, he
raised the usual boatman's cry, "Barca, barca, Signori, per Lussin
Grande," and burst into a peal of laughter, in which we joined. The port
is delightfully picturesque; at the entrance is a church approached by a
flight of steps, with a terrace and cypresses, towards which nuns were
wending their way for "benediction"; the sun glowed upon white walls,
dark trees, and tiled roofs; while the harbour in shadow, full of boats
rich with the colour of nets and sails, and the reflections of the blue
sky upon its rippled surface, afforded an attractive contrast. One round
tower of the walls remains, built of stone, with machicolations and
Ghibelline battlements added in brick and plastered; a modern slab over
the door gives the date 1455. A kind of public garden called the Piazza
del Pozzo, from an old rope-worn well within it, contains many different
kinds of flowering and shady trees with seats beneath them, and aloes
grow on the rocks above the entrance to the harbour on both sides. The
town contains several fine houses, and in the churches are a few
interesting pictures, though architecturally they are not very
noticeable. One of them has a curious tiled ogee-shaped dome over the
sanctuary. The pictures are: in S. Nicolò, a Byzantine Madonna and Child
with S. Joseph; in S. Maria degli Angeli, a Bartolommeo Vivarini--God
the Father above, surrounded by angels; below, an enthroned Madonna with
SS. Augustine, Catherine, and Cicely on one side; on the other, SS.
Agnes, Jerome, and Lucy: the picture is dated 1475. There are also a
Pietro della Vacchia called a Titian, and a few others.
The women wear a curious head-dress something like a turban with a long
end hanging down the back; they generally have a loose sleeveless jacket
over a white full-sleeved blouse and a skirt in many pleats and often of
many colours, and an apron; sometimes a handkerchief is thrown over the
head instead of the head-dress. They also wear elaborate earrings, a
number of rings fastened together with a drop below, all of metal.
[Illustration: WEST DOOR OF THE COLLEGGIATA, OSSERO
_To face page 183_]
From Lussin Piccolo we drove in the opposite direction to Ossero, the
ancient Apsoros or Auxerrum, following a narrow road through
olive-yards, along the shore or some way up the hill among a bewildering
variety and luxuriance of vegetation. On the island, which is about
eighteen miles long, though nowhere more than two in breadth and seldom
more than one, there are three villages besides the two Lussins. They
are Neresine, Chiunschi, and S. Giacomo. At Neresine we were told that
there was an English-speaking landlady. So we looked her up at the
"Gasthaus Amicorum." We found that she and her husband had been in
America, and were told several strange stories of curious occurrences
which she had known of while there, especially with regard to the
drugging of drinks, which made one think she must find her life rather
lacking in excitement in this little out-of-the-way place where she was
apparently going to end her days. There is a Franciscan convent here
with a handsome campanile looking much more ancient than its date
(1590-1604), with double lights and a balustrade round the top. In the
church are pictures attributed to Girolamo da Santa Croce and the
younger Palma. The ascent of Monte Ossero may be made from here (1,900
ft.). The top is a bare, stony wilderness like the backbone of Veglia.
The weather was lovely, and we constantly came upon subjects which would
tempt the artist to stop and sketch--a monk seated under an olive-tree
in the shade; cattle and sheep tethered to the grey trunks, grouping
themselves as they clustered for company; a boat under sail seen through
the branches of the trees against a headland on the more distant hills
of Arbe and the mainland; and so on. The hillside was clothed with
bushes and plants in flower, among which we recognised the oleander,
white rose, juniper, laurustinus, fig-trees, ilex, cypress, strawberry
arbutus, a small-leaved myrtle, grape hyacinths thick on the ground,
giant and quite small spurges, a euphorbia with thorny trailing stems
and heart-shaped leaves, great ericas as high as a man, in some places
cyclamen in clumps by the wayside like daisies, a bush trifolium
something like cytisus but scentless, thyme, and a kind of sage, while
the bay-trees were so fully in bloom that they looked a pale yellowish
green instead of their usual colour. Just before we reached the bridge
connecting the islands of Ossero and Cherso, which has to be crossed
before the town of Ossero is reached, great banks of spurge made the
roadside as yellow as fields full of charlock in England.
In a wall at the entrance of the town the S. Mark's lion still watches,
though the two fortresses which report says were here are no longer
traceable. The cathedral is Lombardesque in style, built by Bishop
Antonio Palcic (1465-1474), and has a rather pretty doorway ascribed to
George of Sebenico, who was certainly employed by him upon other works,
and a massive campanile of 1675, which dominates the place. The nave is
five bays long, the arcade is round-arched with pretty caps and
ornamented archivolts, and the floor is paved with red and white marble
in chequers. The holy-water basins are simple, and the columns of the
ciborium rest on two red marble caps of the fourteenth century upside
down, one base of the same and one of the Lombardi period, showing the
use of older material. The church still retains a line monstrance, one
or two other pieces of silver-work, and some embroidered vestments,
though no longer the seat of a bishop, and over the high-altar is a
picture of the school of Titian. The monstrance is late Gothic, with a
foot added in the seventeenth century. It is decorated with many niches
and figures, and a fine cresting round the domical top. The curved
surfaces above and below the glass tube have scroll-work upon a blue
enamel ground, part of which has come away. In these places there is no
sign of pattern upon the silver, but only a general cross-patching
showing that the arabesques and other patterns were not soldered to the
ground beneath, but only arranged with the enamel flux before firing.
The architectural details are gilded, the rest is silver.
[Illustration: MONSTRANCE IN COLLEGGIATA, OSSERO
_To face page 184_]
There are some remains of Roman walls still traceable, between which and
the mediæval walls is the site of a large seven-aisled church, perhaps a
pair of twin basilicas. Upon the ruins of the seventh aisle the present
church of S. Maria was erected, and within it the ancient bishop's
throne, constructed of fragments of ninth-century carved slabs, was
still preserved till a few years ago. It was only after persistent
inquiries that we found it in a store-shed with other fragments of
ninth-century carving and some Roman antiquities thought of little
importance, though the inscriptions and other marble fragments and the
stone funerary urns are in their company. In the show museum are Roman
fragments, lamps, Pansiana pottery stamps, bronze vessels and utensils,
iron fragments, glass phials, &c. On the hill, not far off, prehistoric
tombs with interesting objects have been found; but the greater part of
the finds have been sent to more important museums.
The sea-passage, which is crossed by a swing bridge, is called the
"Cavanella di Ossero"; through it a strong current runs. The island of
Cherso, the ancient Apsirtide, is a miniature of Monte Maggiore, with
some fine mountain scenery in it, and a curious fresh-water lake, the
surface of which is only 50 ft. above sea-level, though it is 225 ft.
deep in some parts. The finest mountain scenery is near Smergo, where
the rock rises sheer from the water to the height of 1,000 ft. Here is
the "Dirupo di Smergo," a cave with a domed top. At one time the sea
broke into it, laying bare the interior, which is like a giant
amphitheatre with ribbed roof and sides. The fragments then detached lie
at the foot of the rock, making a wall between the sea and the cave. The
city of Cherso is best reached from Pola or Fiume. It lies at the head
of a winding inlet, protected by a round tower at the point, a relic of
the fortifications of an earlier period. It belonged to Venice from 1126
or 1130 till 1358, becoming finally Venetian in 1409, and was granted in
feud to various patrician families, so that all the objects of art in
the city show distinct traces of Venetian influence. The piazza by the
harbour is triangular in shape, the narrow streets, with many
picturesque houses in them, climb the hillside from the water, and the
ancient walls remain on the land side. The loggia is a simple
seventeenth-century building supported on six stone piers; in the back
wall are encrusted two inscriptions--one Roman, one mediæval. The
cathedral was burnt in 1827, but the west door still remains, very
closely resembling that of Ossero. A picture by Alvise Vivarini is
preserved in the priest's house--a Madonna with SS. Sebastian and
Catherine, and SS. Christopher and Cosmas.
In the chapel of the Mother of God is a Byzantine Madonna and Child on a
gold ground. The carnations are brownish; there is a cross on the breast
and on both sides of the head, with the Greek monogram [Greek: MÊ ThY]. There are
also some fine stalls in the church of the Franciscan monastery; but
there is not very much of interest in the town except the numerous
Venetian houses.
[Illustration: SMERGO FISHERMEN
_To face page 186_]
XVI
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMATIA
The history of Dalmatia is obscure and confused for a great part of its
course. That there were Greek and Phoenician colonies along the coast and
on the islands is certain; the earliest of the former was that founded
by the Syracusans in Issa (Lissa) in 390 B.C. A Cyclopean building, the
so-called Gradina Gate at Gelsa, is attributable either to this colony
or to that of 385 B.C. in the ancient Pharia (Lesina). Tragurium (Traù)
and Epetium (Stobrec) were daughter colonies of Issa. The largest number
of inscriptions and coins have been found on Lesina and Lissa. Celts
were in the country from about the same period. The Roman conquest was
brought about by the appeal of the people of Issa for help against the
powerful native queen Teuta. Illyria, south of the Narenta, became a
Roman province in 168 B.C., though war with the inland tribes continued
till 34 B.C., when Augustus took the ships of the pirates of Curzola and
Meleda and the Liburnians, and conquered the inland tribes at
Promona--eight long and disastrous campaigns in all. There was, however,
another revolt in 6 A.D., when the danger to Rome was so great (800,000
men being in rebellion) that Augustus sent seven legions under such
generals as Tiberius, Germanicus, and Postumius, who took several years
to overcome their resistance, so that it was not till 12 A.D. that
Tiberius enjoyed his triumph. Some of the cities were made _municipia_,
and some colonies, and from this time Dalmatia was loyal to Rome. The
Antonines erected important buildings in Jadera and Burnum, and they
also fortified Salona.
Roman Dalmatia included the whole coast from Istria to the Drina, part
of Albania, all Montenegro, Herzegovina, Croatia, Servia, almost all
Bosnia, and some of the islands of the Quarnero. The legions for the
most part remained near the coast, which gradually increased in
commercial prosperity and civilisation; broad and safe roads were made
to the interior uniting the Save and the Danube on one side, and the
Drina on the other. From Burnum a road by way of Petrovac reached the
basin of the Save; from Salona a fan of carriage-roads spread out--one
across the Dinaric Alps by Æquum and the hill of Prolog to the Danube,
another by the same hill to Livno and Kupres, a third between Delminum
and Serajevo. From Narona (Vid) the great Roman Road of the Narenta
started, and in Albania was the Via Ignatia from Durazzo and Vallona to
Salonica. The great coast-road from Zara went past Scardona and Salona
to Narona and Scodra; the inner land route commenced at Tarsatico
(Fiume) and went by Zengg over the Velebits to Clambeta (near Obrovazzo)
and Zara, then by Nadinum, Asseria (Podgradje), Burnum, Promona,
Municipium Magnum, and Andetrium to Salona.
Illyricum was divided into Liburnia, from Istria to the river Kerka, the
people belonging to the juridical Convent of Scardona, which settled the
business of eighty-nine cities; from the Kerka to the Narenta they sent
their representatives to Salona; and Illyris Græca, from the Narenta to
Drilone in Epirus, which belonged to the juridical Convent of Narona.
With the successive Eastern invasions and the consequent race
differentiations, maritime and inland Dalmatia were separated, and the
Turkish conquest made the Dinaric Alps into a bulwark not to be crossed.
The Illyrians furnished the Romans with many distinguished soldiers, of
whom Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Septimius, Probus, and Carus of Narona
were soldier emperors. Diocletian was the most celebrated. More than
sixty Roman settlements are known. For about seventy years the country
was ruled by the Goths. After the recovery of Italy by Belisarius and
Narses it belonged to Byzantium from 537, and was ruled from Ravenna by
a _catapan_ at Salona. The war with Chosroes in 600-614 strained the
Byzantine resources and thus denuded the coast of soldiers, so that the
Avar and Slav inroads met with little resistance under Heraclius
(610-640), who had called in the latter to drive out the Avars; Narona,
Salona, Epidaurus, Burnum, and Rhizinium were destroyed. In 641 Pope
John IV., a Dalmatian by birth, sent Abbot John to Istria and Dalmatia
to ransom prisoners and collect relics.
The Croats and Serbs exterminated the Avars in the middle of the seventh
century and delivered the province, the Croats occupying the west to the
river Cetina, the Serbs the east from the Cetina to Albania. Under the
Serbs the southern portion was divided into four _zupanje_, of which the
only name which has survived is Trebinia, which reached from Cattaro to
Ragusa and included the mountain regions. The Croat dukes recognised the
sovereignty of the Carlovingians, as is proved by the oldest inscription
extant, that of Tripimir (852), being dated by the rule of the Emperor
Lothair. The title of king was assumed by Muncimir in 914. Two or three
of the kings resided at Nona in the eleventh century--Stepan ([symbol:
dagger] 1052), Peter Cresimir and Svinimir ([symbol: dagger] 1089). The
widow of the last invited her brother Ladislas of Hungary to take the
kingdom. In 1097 Coloman I. of Hungary married the daughter of Roger of
Sicily. Under Coloman II. (1102-1113) the coast towns from Zara to
Spalato were Hungarian, while Ragusa and Cattaro remained under the
protection of Byzantium.
The government of the Dalmatian cities was democratic to a considerable
extent, the oligarchy embracing a large proportion of the inhabitants,
and the monasteries were expected to contribute to the common needs and
share in the defence of the town. The supreme official was called prior;
judges and tribunes also are mentioned in contemporary documents. A
certain dependence upon the Greek Empire was recognised, for in Zara the
_strategos_, the _catapan_, and the proconsul of Dalmatia appear even
after the time of the Croatian kings. The Venetian doge had the title of
King of Dalmatia given him by the Emperor of Constantinople about the
end of the eleventh century in return for the help given by the fleet
against the Normans.
During the whole of the twelfth century Venice and Hungary contested the
possession of Dalmatia, victory inclining to Venice, who, by policing
the Adriatic, made her protection valuable to the coast cities. The
pirate raids from which the coasts suffered were of varied
nationality--Saracen and Turk, Uscoc and bands of native pirates. Of
these latter the Narentans were the most powerful. They remained pagan
till near the end of the ninth century, and beat off an attack by Doge
Pietro Candiano in 887, killing him. He was buried in the atrium at
Grado. For one hundred and sixty-eight years they carried on the contest
with Venice, being most powerful during the tenth century, when Otho I.
sought their alliance. They had then become Christian, and assisted in
driving the Saracens from Monte Gargano. In 992 the confederate
Dalmatian cities asked for the protection of Venice, in response to
which the expedition under Orseolo II. was fitted out, and broke their
power. The population of the Narenta valley is now but 12,000, in spite
of the facts that Metkovic, near the mouth, is the terminus of the
railway from Serajevo and Mostar, and that the government has spent much
money in dredging and embankment works at the mouth of the river. The
boundary of Herzegovina is but a mile from Metkovic, for which it serves
as port. Vid, a few miles away, is the ancient Narona. A good many
inscriptions and antique fragments have been found there, and are now
encrusted in the wall of a house. For many years Vid was a bulwark of
Christianity against the Turks, and the minarets of a little Turkish
village, Liubuski, in which half the population, male and female, wear
Turkish costume may be seen not far away.
By the middle of the fourteenth century Lewis of Hungary had acquired
the whole of Dalmatia from Zara to Cattaro. In 1409-1420 Venice bought
the territory from Hungary, with the exception of Ragusa, which for some
fifty years remained under Hungarian protection, but after 1467 was
protected by Turkey. In the sixteenth century the Cross and the Crescent
were bitterly opposed; Austria became the Christian champion in place of
Venice towards the end of the seventeenth century, and at the fall of
the Republic Istria and Dalmatia were given to her in 1797 by the treaty
of Passerino. From 1806 till 1814 they were French; but the peace of
Vienna settled their destiny as forming part of the Austrian dominions,
in which they have remained till the present day.
XVII
ARBE
It was very early in the morning when we arrived at Arbe the first time;
so early, in fact, that the innkeeper was still in bed and had to be
interviewed from his chamber-window, and we had to deposit our
belongings at the door before commencing our explorations breakfastless.
On this occasion we were unfortunate. The skull of S. Christopher was
exposed on the altar, but the shrine was locked up, and the _parroco_
had gone into the country to visit a sick man, with the key in his
pocket, while the ciborium was swathed in festival draperies. We
therefore determined to satisfy ourselves with a cursory inspection, and
arranged to return the next year; for the steamboats are not like
suburban trains, missing one of which merely means a slight delay. Many
of the islands have but one or two services in the week; and staying for
the next boat may derange the plan of a whole tour.
The city looks most attractive from the sea as one approaches. It
occupies a long tongue of land midway along the western coast, and the
walls drop into the water both towards the harbour and the open sea.
They are nearly complete in their circuit, but have lost their
battlements and some portions of their substance. There is a good deal
of ruin within them, which makes the foregrounds uninteresting and
squalid. To the west is a public garden planted with fir-trees, and
with seats here and there. Aloes grow plentifully on the rocks to the
south-west.
[Illustration: THE LANDING-PLACE, ARBE
_To face page 193_]
In the early Middle Ages Arbe was prosperous owing to its trade and its
position on the high-road between Venice and the East. The plague of
1456 depopulated it, and all the richer people fled except the bishop,
Johannes Scaffa, and five canons. In 1463 Bosniaks flying from the Turks
came to increase the population and were well received, but the town
never recovered its prosperity. The empty streets and ruined houses and
churches near the cathedral testify to the desolation. The style of the
houses is Venetian for the most part, as might be expected, since it was
the port of call for those going to Greece or the Holy Land. Some of
them are very interesting and beautiful. The quay has several fronting
on to it, specially a lofty tower-like building of the fourteenth
century with later windows and balconies inserted. Many marble coats of
arms may be seen here and there, and the windows and door-jambs often
have charming carved ornaments. The Palazzo Nemira shows a pleasing
combination of late Gothic and Renaissance detail in pierced panels and
balustrading; and the _parroco_ lives in a house which has a good
doorway of the usual Venetian-Gothic type. The house in which Archbishop
De Dominis was born (for some time Dean of Windsor, and celebrated for
his scientific attainments), a palace of somewhat later date, is now a
kind of club and reading-room, in which the innkeeper apparently has the
right of serving his patrons with meals. The families of De Dominis and
De Hermolais gave many bishops to the see between the twelfth and
fifteenth centuries. The loggia is well preserved or has been well
restored. Overlooking it is a window from which a parrot screams
insulting remarks to passers-by.