tree, which lived till the
middle of the nineteenth century when a great storm destroyed it. The
picture and the church which contains it are the object of an annual
pilgrimage on the Feast of the Assumption; people from all around
accompany a sacred picture from Grado to visit it. On this day the
lagoon is alive with numberless craft, the priests' boat leading, with
banners and tapers and fully vested ecclesiastics; and the air resounds
with simple church melodies. At Barbana the Virgin's picture waits on
the pier to greet that from Grado; and report says that it has been
observed to nod at the moment the sister picture reached the shore!

V

GRADO TO TRIESTE

There is a small steamer which plies from Grado to Trieste, going one
day and returning the next, but fine weather is very necessary for that
mode of travel, as the sea can be very rough between Venice and Trieste.
We did not hit the day of its sailing, so retraced our steps to Villa
Vicentina and went _via_ Monfalcone and Nabresina. Between these two
places the railway rises steadily, giving fine views over the sea and
plain. Looking forward and back the pale-grey line of the viaducts winds
round and about the slopes like some gigantic snake, or like the
aqueducts of the Campagna of Rome. Here the grey limestone breaks
through the vegetation more and more, for the line is approaching the
lofty stony plateau of the Karst, and enormous heaps of debris
accentuate the position of the numerous quarries. They are very
extensive, going far into the rock, which is also pierced by many great
hollows, like entrances to an unknown under-world. All over Istria these
memorials of sunken river channels occur--a maze of holes and paths, in
which the water is still sinking deeper through the porous stone as
through a sieve. Curious funnel-shaped depressions often occur amid
uniform slopes, several hundred feet across and sometimes 200 ft. deep,
as if worn by ancient whirlpools, and many of the rivers become
subterranean, sometimes coming to the surface again many miles away.
The river Rjeka, for instance, enters into the grottoes of S. Canzian,
near Divaca--a succession of narrow abysses, hollows, pits, waterfalls,
and stalactite grottoes, with pools in them; and other examples will be
noted farther down the coast.

The Castle of Duino has been called "The pearl of the Coastlands." It
stands finely upon its rock, just where the diluvial plain meets the
lime or sand