principal families o f Segna aredefcended From the XJfcocchi, who
were aitually pirates, yet .they ftand much on the punctilio o f
nobility. An apothecary, who had the vanity to put the article
D e before his furname in a certain infcription, was acufed de
crimine fa lfi, and it coft him five hundred florins to defend him,
felf, befides the lofs o f the D e, his claim to nobility.
Among the cufloms o f the Segnans (which are a mixture o f
Morlacco, German, and Italian) one is fomewhat Angular, relative
to the dead. All the relations and friends o f the family
go to kifs the corpfe, by way o f taking leave, before
burial. Each o f them uncovers the face, over which a handkerchief
is fpread, more or lefs rich, according to the family -;
having kifsed the dead perfon, every one throws another handkerchief
over the face 5 all which remain to the heirs, and forne-
times there are twenty, thirty, and more at this ceremony. Some
throw all thele handkerchiefs into the grave with the corpfe; and
this, in former times, was the general cuftom; but then they
were rich. This feems to have been brought into ufe as a fub-
ftitute for the ancient vqfi lachrimatorii. There is weeping and
howling for the dead according to ancient cuftom; but i f the
heirs weep more than with us, the priefts have much more
caufe to laugh than ours. The burial o f a noble perfon ruins
the family. Notwithftanding the City is impoverihed, this
extravagance continues ; the burial o f a perfon o f any fafliion
cofts at leaft two hundred Ducats, which is a great deal fo ra
fmall poor town.
The Church of Segna is officiated partly in Glagolitic Illyrian,
and partly in Latin. In the 16th century there was a Glagolitic
printing
printing prefs at at Segna: but after that time the Venetians
burnt the place, put .the inhabitants to death, or made them fly
elfewhere, and every thing was loft. 1 could not find a Angle
book printed there; nor indeed did I meet with any perfon who
knew there ever had been a printing houfe.. There is a curious
original manufcript preferred at Segna concerning the leagues,
o f the Knezovi o f the mountain, or the Morlacchi Chiefs, or
Counts, with their neighbours the Segnans againft the Venetians,
The inhabitants o f the mountain now a-days are v e ry
different ffom what they were then. They call themfelves Buni-
evci, becaufe they came from the territory o f TSiiniar in Boffin a.
They are io oppreffed and'ill treated, that they are'often forced
to fly from home to get a living any where.. It has always
b?en the fate o f this Coaft to be fubjedfed' to a heavy yoke;
and the inhabitant's have frequently emigrated out o f delpair. In
the time of-Maximilian II. many, o f them removed into Hungary,.
where their, defeendants ftill live ; and many families, alfo went :
to fettle in Abbruzzo, about the mountain of MajelJa,. who ftill
maintain, themfelves there in a good condition. Thefe emigrations
opened to the Auft'rians - the conqueft- o f Lika not an
age ago. That Bugnevaz. reckons himfel'f happy, who has a
proviiion o f potatoes to-feed on,, and who does- not fee'his
own oxen fall down, through fatigue and want o f food, in
the publick fervice. But f fliall, in another letter, fpeak more
at large o f the condition o f this wretched country; and ihall
conclude this by afluring your Excellency, , that I faw, in the
ftreets o f Segna, a woman aiiually become fran tick through hunger,
having had no relief the whole day and‘ I underftood,
that thefe poor mountaineers are reduced, almoft every winter,,
to grind the. tops o f wild’ cardi, by them , called bumbreci, and