neighbouring places, a better method. It Is certain, that no
final 1 fum o f money goes out o f this;ftate yearly, to Comacchio,
for lalted and pickled eels; why do we not, therefore, rather
avail.ourfelves of the lakes and fens within the ftate ? One of
the principal obj ects o f my obfervations along the coafts o f Dalmatia,
was the fifiling ; for without doubt, whatever tends to
put this article on a better footing, or to introduce it, where it
is not fuitably exercifed, becomes a fource o f national oeconomy
and intereft. And as the lake o f Vfana is the largeft of all thofe
that are near the fea, it feems to merit the particular attention o f
our magiftrates, who. prefide over the, trade, cultivation, and
inereafe o f the products within our ftate.
T he inhabitants o f this country, and, indeed, the Morlacchi
in general, have a mortal averiion to frogs, and even in the
times o f famine (which are but too frequent, through the ill management
o f agriculture, and fome conftitutional defefts) a true
Morlack will rather die o f hunger, than eat a fro g : when I
aiked the Curate o f Vrana, why he did not rather eat frogs than
bad cheefe, he was much offended, and told fne, that'a rafcally
Morlack fometimescarried them to the market o f Zara, but had
not yet gone fo far as to eat them ; adding, that this fellow was
the reproach of the village.
On the P_etrefa£lions o f C e r a g n e , B encovaz, W P o d i u k .
I found in the woods, near Ceragne. large aggregates o f Turbi-
nites cemented in -the common Dalmatian marble, and not far
from them, the fame fpecies o f Ortoceratites that I had met with
before at Uglian. There are alfo lenticular ftones under the
fort o f Bencovaz| and again, at a hamlet near Podluk, in as perfect
fe£t prefervation as thofe o f Montevaile in the Vicentine territory,
and o f S. Giovanni Ilarione, which are remarkably fine.
Between the fort o f Bencovaz, and the wood o f Cucagl, there is
a fmall extent o f hills, moitly compofed o f a blueifh marine clay,
and in fome,parts o f a very white marly earth. In the apertures
made by the torrents,I colle&ed fome fcattered marine bodies,
fome of which were fpatous nuclei o f theTurbinites, o f a very
lucid yellow golden colour. In general, the ftone o f which the
hills o f that neighbourhood are compofed, refembles greatly the
foft fione o f our Italian hills. The large fields, and beautiful
valleys of this diftrift, are ill peopled, and worfe cultivated j and
in fome places, through want o f population, the ftreams that fall
from the mountains; being totally left to themftlves,. form fiag-
nant pools, and .greatly vitiate, the natural purity o f the air.. The
caftle o f Perujjich, belonging to the noble family o f the Counts
Poffedaria, is not however, expofed to this inconvenience o f bad
air, being fituated on a ftony hill. It alfo commands a great
trail of country, and fer.ves as a place o f refuge to the Morlacks,
in times, of danger..
iRuins o f A s s e r ia , now calledPo d g r a j e .
A ihort mile from the caftle, lies the poor hamlet o f Podgraje
j (a) which takes its name from the city, which in paft ages
flood, where t-hefe wretched cottages are now fcattered. Peu-
tinger’s Itinery places Afleria on this fpo t; it is the AJJifa o f
Ptolemy, and the Ajfefia, or After-ia o f Pliny. This laft author,
after having fpecified the Liburnian cities that were obliged to
attend the congrefs, or diet o f Scardoria, adds to the catalogue
the free Afferians,- immunefque AJferiates_; (b) and this.people, who
created