t 216 1
know not what part o f the mountains. In fome o f thefe are confined
and petrified the ihells o f Fermiculi, and branches o f Madrepora
; others are a compofition o f Pellinites and Anomitce.,
deeply ftriated, like thofe which are frequently found petrified
in the Veronefe hills. * A piece o f this flatey marble, which I
brought away, being polilhed, became variegated, fcattered with
white ftars on a dark ground, which are nothing elfe but the
horizontal fedtions of Imall columner angular Afieria■ -f- On
one fide of this marble in its natural ftate the foffil ili ells appear
pròne, and on the other only their concave imprefiions are feen.
"Below the hamlet, there is a plain o f a moderate extent, which
I crofled over to go-to read an infcription dug up a few months
before.
The moil: remarkable thing which I faw there, were fome large
malíes ó fbreccia, ftained with violet and other beautiful colours.
Magnificent columns and mbnùmènts might be made o f this
itone, i f the place were not fo far from the fea, and the intermediate
roads were not io impracticable. An ancient breccia,
much refembling this, is feen at Rome in fome of the nobleft
works ; and it is known among the artifts by the name o f breccia
corallata. Who knows,, i f in pail ages, a country fo much inhabited
by Roman colonies, and frequented by their armies, had
not commodious roads, o f which We have now loft not only the
veftiges, but even the memory ?
Our
( * HclminthoUthus anoint deperita tuiicM/iriata, Linn. Syft. Nat, iii. p. 163.
t Helminth. Iftdis Aflerie. Linn.
JJitria columna angulU oltttjis. Scheuchz.
I ?m J
Our guides conduced us over the two VB.Wies.-Ghifdovaz‘ and
Prugovo, to put us in the road .of Clifla, The figure o f thefe
vallies is circular,- and they,are quite furrounded by mountains.
It lhould therefore feem, that they ought to have a, deep and
rich fo il} but it is far otherwife., They are plainj y e t the earth
is fafhallow and fo full o f fharp rocks, that they,look like the
fummits o f ancient and bare hills funk for want o f foundation,
Vallies o f this kind are not uncommon in cavernous regions,
under which-are running rivers; and the waters collected together
from a vaft fuperfieies lofe themfelves. The large, valley o f Prugovo
becomes often a deep lake, in time o f winter, and dries Up
by degrees towards the end o f fpring.. The river o f Salona, which
ifiues full formed, from the bottom o f the mountain, and that pf
the mills o f Trau, probably owe their original and increafe to
the waters, that fall underground, from this, and other fimilar
vallies.
O f the Ruins o f E p e t ium , and o f the Pojfils found in that
Neighbourhood.
Six or feven miles to the eaftward o f SpaJatro> and three miles
from Salona, lie’ the ruins o f the ancient 'Epetium, a colony o f
the Iffei. The place2is now called^S/oifra. ' Near the road ¡thither
by land from Salona, are' feveral arches o f Dioclefiatf s aqueduct,
vulgarly called f onte f e c c o and above it is an infulated mafs called
Kamen, i.e . the ifone, by way o f excellence, where in former
times, a frnall fort has ftood* as-may-be; deduced from the veftiges
of the walls that ftilb remain.
The fituation of Epetium was very, beautiful. T h e city ftood
cm the fea fide, but on a plain much aboye*the level o f the wa-
F f [ ter.