IN DALMATIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 193, 15 August 1936, Page 1

IN DALMATIA.

THE ADRIATIC RIVIERA.

KING EDWARD'S CRUISE,

(By CECIL W. LUSTY.)

A narrow strip of coastal land, rich in colourful semi-tropical palms and vineyards and olive groves, set against a background of barren limestone mountains—sucli is Dalmatia, about -which the King is cruising in the yacht Nahlin. If a short part of the coast of Croatia in the north be included, the length of the Dalmatian coastline is-- about 270 miles down to Spie on the Albanian border. The greatest width from the coast of Split to Stramica, on the Bosnian border, is only 40 miles. Dalmatia, as it were, continues into the clear water, ever-changing in colours, of the Adriatic, for dotted round the coast are thousands of islands, great and small. Indeed, it is correct to say that Dalmatia extends into the sea, as many of these "Isles of the Blest" are the submerged crests and valleys of the parallel ranges of the coast—the lost Land of Lyonesse of some prehistoric period of this present Dalmatia. These islands once looked upon the sails of the Argonauts, who, according to legend, sailed thither by mythical rivers from the Black Sea; they have watched combats between the might of Greece and Rome and the republics of Venice [ and Ragusa (now Dtibrovnik); and they have afforded sanctuary to pirates. From the cliffs of the island of Lokrum, near Dubrovnik, were thrown, as from the Tarpeian Rock, those judged guilty of treachery or sacrilege. Some •say it was on Lokrum that Richard Lionheart was wrecked, and that he founded the church to be seen there today. But to almost all of the delightful isles attaches some legend.

Legend-Steeped Islands. Many Dalmatians like to believe that Meleda, or Mjlet, in the south is the island on which St. Paul -was wrecked while on his way to Home. Learned scholars will produce cold facts to disprove this belief —claiming Malta as the historic place—but why endeavour to destroy the illusion? On Mjlet it was, according to repute, that the exiled Roman poet, Oppianus, wrote a moving poem on hunting, fishing and bird snaring, which so impressed the Emperor Caligula that he removed the ban of exile.

The historical genesis of Dalmatia ia said to have been an Illyrian kingdom. With the fall of Venice the possessions of that Republic —bitter rival of the Republic of Ragusa- —fell into the hands of the French, as in 1808 did Ragusa. Then came the fall of Napoleon, and Venice, with Ragusa and the rest of Dalmatia, reverted to Austria and the Hapsburgs. Since 1918 Dalmatia, with the exception of the town of Zara and one or two of her islands which, by the Peace of Rapallo, came under the Italian flag, has been a province of Yugoslavia, kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Progressive Yugoslavia has made the most of Dalmatia, "the Riviera of the Adriatic," and the coastal ports and towns are fashionable holiday resorts. Sibenik and Dubrovnik are connected ■with Yugoslavia's railway system by narrow gauge lines, and communication between the two ports is maintained by service cars and by fussy little steamers. It was at Sibenik that King Edward, having journeyed there by way of Ljubliana, the Slovenian Salsburg, and Zagreb, capital of Croatia, boarded the Nahlin.

Sibenik is a Venetian-looking city, built on a beautiful harbour with a narrow tortuous entrance guarded by /uined forts. The stone cathedral is one of its glories, although modernity strikes a somewhat incongruous note, as the sixteenth century loggia has been converted into a cafe, with a club on the upper storey. The most important of the islands around Sibenik is Morter, with its - village, Stretto, connected to the mainland by a movable bridge. Another island, Zlarin, whose ruined Roman buildings afford a clue to its history, is famous for its sponge fishery. Sibenik has a fashionable bathing resort at Jadrija. Queen of the Adriatic. The foundation and historical development of Dubrovnik, "Queen of the Adriatic," were determined by its geographical position on thfc cross-roads between East and West, and the life of the once independent little State was influenced equally by the Balkans and Western Europe. Both influences are noticeable to-day in the culture, customs and dress of the people. The first Yugoslav literature (fifteenth century) was born in Dubrovnik, which was also the home of the first famous Yugoslav poets, astronomers, savants, philosophers and preachers of national ideals. Dubrovnik thus won the title of the "Slav Athens," and, as a cultural focus through dark centuries of Turkish rule, guarded the spark of culture and freedom of the Yugoslav people. The nearby island of Korc'ula is claimed as the 'birthplace of the ancestors of Marco Polo.

The principal port and commercial centre of Dalmatia is Split, which, like the other coastal resorts, is a fascinating blend of the old and the new. Split is noted for its Roman ruins, the palace and tomb of Emperor Diocletian, and the gigantic monument to Grgur Ninski Gregory, Bishop of Nona, who, in 1059, fought a great but unsuccessful battle for the retention of the Illyrian liturgy in the churches.

Other notable places are Solin, whose Roman excavations have created widespread interest, and Trogir, with its seven castles and medieval town. Dalmatia, like the rest of Yugoslavia, is rich in picturesque customs. George Bernard Shaw has thus described the country: "The people are everything you imagine yourselves to be and are not. They are hospitable, good-humoured and very good looking. Every town is a picture and every girl a movie star,"