Brazza is altogether mountainous and rocky, and, in the higfr-
eft parts o f it, there are large traits o f land quite ftoney, fcarce-
ly fit to bear juniper and Other plants that grow in barren places:
Jt cods great fatigúe to'’ reduce the ground to tillage, and yet
thole inhabitants go ©n from year to year, increafing their cultivated
land, and confequently their produdt o f wine, diminiih-
ing their woods and flocks. ’ The ftoney nature o f the foil, and
the fcarcityf o f fprings o f frefh water fubjeit the ifland to fatal
droughts..
The principal place of Brazza, is Nerefi, io called, by Greek
derivation, from the refervoirs o f water near it. This is the
place of refidence of the governor, and’ where the publick meetings
are held; the gentry of Brazza repair thither at fet times,
from the maritime places, where they have their habitations.
The fituation o f Nerefi is not pleafant, though the only good
lands in the ifland lie immediately before it.. The road to it,
from the fea ihore, is exceedingly rough and w ild ; the air continues
rigid after the fpring feafon; and the winter, they fay, is
intenfely
and on tire fide of a hill j nor did the brisk Salona ■ fafs through it, but a river of
that name paffed by the outer iide of it. 1 forbear to mention many other fmaller
blunders, corruption of names, and errors in poiitioii, which would make a long
catalogue. But I am furpFifed that not only in treating of Dalmatia, but alfo of
fome of the moil eonfiderable and befl knowircities in Italy, he ihould write ridiculous
extravagancies. One, among many others, is concerning Veni.ce (pi
29-) fecured againji famine by the fijhes-, which the inhabitants may. catch Jlanding at the
doors of their houfes', it is alfo a ihame not to know the value of our ducat, and
and to fix it at £. 7^ as it was in old times. Concerning Padua, Vicenza, Verona
and other cities of Lombardy, Mr. Bufching fpeaks with-the fame inadvertency,
placing, for example, a chain of mountains between Vicenza and Padua,
where the- fette Comuni inhabit, who cultivate the vines. How can we believe him
when he talks of the Terra Auftralis?
intenfely cold. The country enjoys fome beautiful points o f
view, but the. pleafure they can giye,pDfta-too dear. *. Nerefi has
been more confiderable in the times o f incurfions and piracies
and hence fit'ftilb jftefarves.aiikriidiof primacy,^: beeaufe the prin-*-
c'ipal iflandersi retired thither; .bat how, fince the, places fnear tha:
fea may be fafely inhabited;'it has loft- m u ch o fits population,
and defer-ted houfc s ..aye* fallings in to ruins on sail fides.. Bob is-, no
inconfiderable ^vynyrfthd- S.- Giqvanni, S. Pietro, and Pucifehie
are laro-e villages full o f ind-uftrious and trading people.- The
hills above Nerefi, which form as it were the back bone o f the
ifland, are quite fterile,. and produce nothing but fome juniper,-
and wild pine, of the-fplinters of which they make a little trade-
for the ufe of the nodturnal fithing. The ifland of Brazza-affords"
great variety of ftones. The moll- ordinary kinds are, whitifh
common marble, breccia, and marble containing orthoceratites
and knticulares. O f the firftfpecies, the ancient quarries are to
be feen from whence the materials were taken to-build the palace
efDioclefian. In the fame place, afcending-,a little towards the
hills, there is-a marble of a black fubftance, full of marine bodies,
changed into white faline fpar.- There is alfo a vein o f
white ftone, foft, when newly extracted from its native bed, but,,
after being expofed to the'air; it: becomes hard, and fucceeds
much better than the too foft- and farinaceous ftones o f Coftag-
eia and S.: Gottardo in the Vicentine. The O 5 fame kind o f ftoas:
is found at S. Giovanni; and- at Pucifehie; that is,' at the s. tw o ;
oppofite extremities o f the ifland. In other times there-was a ’
mine of Piflafphaltus, i f we may believe Tomeo-Marnavich;.
but I could not find any veftige of it, only my learned friend.
Guilo Bajamonti1 Ihewed me at Spalatro„ a> piece o f calcareous
gray ftone, emitting an offenfive fmell; full of diftinguiihable-
marine bodies, and different from, all-the other bituminous ftonesthat: