ontal beds of a kind of
limestone: below these are lignites and chalky limestone, in which
shells are found belonging to a later formation. The oldest formations
are the volcanic mountains near Knin and on Lissa. Next follow the trias
strata, as under the Velebits and westwards from Sinj, then the
sandstone beds, the different eocene beds and alluvial strata, as in the
plain of Dernis, north of the Vrana Lake, by Nona and Imoski. The
principal characteristic of the Karst district (to which Dalmatia
belongs geologically) is the way the water flows, sometimes above,
sometimes under ground. Where the woods were cut down to supply the
Romans and Venetians with material for constructing their fleets, and
where natural afforestation has been stopped by the feeding of sheep and
goats, the red earth has either been washed away by the rains or blown
away by the winds, so that it is only in the hollows that cultivation
can be carried on.

The bitter north wind, the Bora, is the curse of the district. In the
island of Arbe it sometimes blows even in June and July, stripping the
vineyards as if hundreds of men had been at work, and carrying the salt
spray all over the island, to the great detriment of vegetation. It is
sometimes strong enough to upset pedestrians, and it is said that if it
were not for it, there would be neither winter nor cold in the Dalmatian
littoral. On the heights winter begins in November and lasts till April,
with heavy snowfalls; but on the coast spring begins in February, and
winter only at the beginning of December. The summer, which commences in
May, is usually rainless, with the heat tempered by sea-breezes, though
at the end of August heavy rains commence, and in autumn the frequent
changes of temperature are dangerous. The flora consists of nearly 2,500
species, described by Visiani in his "Flora Dalmatica." The aquatic
flora contains nearly 700 varieties, many of the seaweeds being
exclusively Dalmatian. Views on the coast of Ragusa, or at Castelnuovo,
in the Bocche, resemble those of Sardinia and Sicily. On one side may be
seen green meadows, fruit trees, flowing water, cornfields, beechwoods,
&c.; on the other, olive groves, thickets of arbutus, hedge plants the
height of a tree, myrtles, and bay; on the naked rock aloes grow and the
_opuntia_; in gardens, dwarf and date-palms, unprotected _cycas
revoluta_, and orange and lemon trees; and wide valleys are filled with
lofty carob trees--so close are