Sebenico

"Signor Bajamonte had provided me with letters to all the places in the country that I wished to see, but he said the heat was so extraordinary, that he was not at all surprised at the man's [who has a monopoly of all the horses and carriages of Spalato] refusing to travel in it. Nor could he be persuaded even to take me in one day to Sabenico - a common nine hours' journey; he insisted on my sleeping at Traù, and leaving only six hours for the following day, which I promised should commence at six A.M. […]. I was rewarded for my fatigues and troubles by the splendour of the view, after we had mounted the new road from Traù for an hour and twenty minutes. It is, on the whole, the finest view in Dalmatia, without excepting that from over Gravosa. […]. We turned away at last, and entered into about the ugliest district I ever saw in my life - a dreary upland of treeless, herbless, villageless desolation. The five hours in the scorching heat we spent over it seemed to me intolerable, and I was very thankful when the carriage stopped at the gate of Sebenico. I have said before that no carriage can enter any of the Dalmatian cities.

Sebenico, in the days of the Venetian warfare with the Turks, was a place of the utmost importance. It was considered quite impregnable, and it has still a remarkably imposing appearance. Three fortresses or castles are mounted one above the other on the steep side of the mountain cliff, while the dome of the cathedral and plenty of church towers diversify the crowded houses. The city appears placed on the shore of a winding lake, but a narrow opening or channel directly opposite the town leads out into the open sea. This strait is deep and safe, but so narrow that the Austrian Lloyds' will not enter it but by daylight. […]. Sebenico itself is a curious collection of narrow streets, containing many small piazzas and some good houses. In the principal place there is a fine large Loggia, and the beautiful cathedral - far larger, more important, and grander than that of Traù, but not half as curious and interesting. […]. The diocese of Sabenico is the fourth in Dalmatia. It has, since 1830, included both those of Knin and Scardona in its own. There are here about 1,000 followers of the Greek rite.

As the miserable little Albergo in Sebenico was quite full, I was very thankful when the excellent Pretore, Signor Piperata, brought me an invitation to the house of Signor Vincenzo Rossetti, the richest gentleman in the city, and a most agreeable and kind friend. […]. My obliging host and the Pretore arranged an expedition for me on the following day to see the falls of the Kerka, and, in spite of a disagreeable maestral, we started, after lemonade and coffee (*The Dalmatian gentry begin the morning with large glasses of lemonade or orangeade; when they have been up about an hour or so, they take café au lait and sweet cakes.), in a close carriage, at 6 A.M. The road, which is very good, and newly made, lay over the same sort of dreary uplands as I had passed over on the previous day, and I could not help expressing my horror of its hideous barrenness, with a regret that efforts were not made to plant and reclaim it. The Pretore shook his head, and said it made him most unhappy to see the waste of what could be turned into good olive-groves and vineyards, but that such are the present laws of Dalmatia, that no one can touch it. The land belongs to the commune, and no individual can purchase, hire, or make use of it. In the last district wherein he had been governor, many people cut the natural woods, planted tha spaces, and inclosed bits of the waste lands for themselves. This is contrary to the laws, and is in fact stealing; but he always shut his eyes, and secretly helped them, and he hoped that the same thing would take place in his present district.

The government of Dalmatia is entirely a military one, and therefore not in the least adapted to the wants of the country. At this moment there is a just and upright man as governor; but it is a military appointment, given only to a good soldier, and neither the governor nor the military laws of the government have any comprehension of the needs of a country that can only devote itself to agriculture and commerce. The Pretore said his great object in the present state of things was to make roads and to encourage agriculture; but the district is so poor that he could not pay the road makers, and the poor creatures themselves can gain no profits on their agricultural labours. There are 6,000 souls in Sebenico, 25,000 in the district, and, he added, he was thankful to say, so small a garrison that eight or ten was the largest number of officers ever in the place. […].

The Pretore had commenced making a road direct to the falls of the Kerka, and had hoped to have had it nearly finished this summer; but, from the intense heat and the failure of water everywhere, the people could not raise even the most miserable crops, and were in consequence so poor that he could not expect them to do any public or unpaid work, and he looked forward with the utmost anxiety to the winter. He had last year made an esplanade for the good people of Sebenico, and improved the quays, and was doing his best to encourage the little society of the place to unite in efforts for their own improvement; but he sighed bitterly for Englishman or anyone to come and erect fabriques of any kind at Sebenico as at Fiume, and so to bring some moviment into the place. There is very good coal close to Sebenico, and quantities of iron in all the country round. The port is one of the best and largest in the world, but such is the want of all energy or capital here, that it was cheaper to import all their coal from England rather than cut or carry it to their own doors. I was glad to learn, however, that a company of six gentlemen had been formed to build a small theatre at the gate of the town. It is to cost 3,000l., and was to be commenced in a few days; and it is to be hoped that other works will follow this beginning of combined interests" (pp. 254-261).