element is in the majority in the greater part of Dalmatia,
and even in the country parts of Istria. There are also many French,
Hungarians, Bosniaks, Herzegovinians, Germans, Swiss, and gypsies, the
Slav majority increasing towards the south.

In Istria the present inhabitants may be divided into Italians,
Roumanians, and Slavs: to the last division belong the Morlacchi, the
Tschitsches, Slovens, and Croats. The Italians are the most intelligent
portion of the population, and are craftsmen, large occupiers of land,
merchants, and sailors. They are the descendants of those who were
subjects of Venice from the fourteenth century till the fall of the
Republic. The Slovens were in Istria as early as the eighth century, and
Paulus Diaconus mentions them as being near Cividale. Records exist of
Croats raids in the tenth century, whilst further south there were two
great immigrations--the first, in the seventh century, by the
"Belocroats," called by Porphyrogenitus, Croats, from the banks of the
Elbe, descendants of whom may to-day be found in the islands; and the
second, in the fourteenth century, by the people of Rascia, who now
inhabit much of the interior and are known as "Morlacchi," a name
derived from the Slav "Mauro vlach," the black Wallachs.

According to Lucio, who refers to William of Tyre, all Dalmatians used
the Roman language until 1200. After the Croats came down, the name of
"Dalmatian," strictly speaking, belonged only to the cities of Zara,
Trau, Spalato, and Ragusa, to the western islands of Dalmatia, and to
Lissa and Lagosta--Eastern Dalmatia was a Servian province; Western, a
Croatian. It is known that Slavs came in 1463 to Salvore, in 1526 to the
district of Rovigno, in 1549 to the district of Cittanova, Montona,
Parenzo, and Pola, in 1595 to Fontane, in 1624 and 1634 (the plague
years) to Fillipano, 1647 to near Pola, and 1650 to Peroi, near Fasano.
Those now there came from the Bocche and Montenegro, settled in
1658-1659 by Doge Giovanni Pesaro, after the great plague. The women
still wear the ancient costume. The Slavs are most numerous between
Dragogna and Trieste. Procopius gives an interesting description of them
worth quoting: "The two nations of the Autars and the Slavs know no
monarchical government; but from ancient times live freely in common
fashion. They take all questions of great importance or difficulty to a
common national council. The customs of the two nations are alike in
everythin