refrefhing; and the whey is their favourite common drink, nor
k it at all unpkafnit to, a flranger’s tafte. When a gueft arrives
une¥pe<iedly, their readied and belt djih, is new cheefe fried
with butter. They are not much,accu/lomed to bread, backed
after pur .mW r, but they make cakes o f millet, barley,, Indian
corn, and fometimes o f wheat, which they bake, or toaft on
the hearth every day, fpr prefen t ufe; but wheaten bread is
hardly ever fcen in the cottages o f the poor. They make a large
proviiion o f our,cabbage^ like thofe, uied in Germany; and
roots, and all kinds o f tifeulent herbs,- which they find in the
woods, or in the fields, ferve them .for a cheap and falutary
diet.^ Hut garlick, and; {halms are the food molt univerfally
pleafing. to that peopl^ . BCStdo roaft meat, which is their molt
luxurious dilh, I remember to have read fomewhere, that Stiipo,
being reproved for going to the temple o f Ceres, after having
eaten garlick, which wasTorhid,: anfwered; « give me fome-
« thing better, and; I will leave it Pffi'W'But the Morlacchi
would-not acoept 'evasi-oCthat soandiriei};; and i f they did fo, it
is. more than probable' they-would-repent i t : for it is reafoni-
ab'le to think, that,the coo (Tint ufe-of tliele plants, corrects ’ in
-pant, the bad’ -quality, o f their Water, and contributes to keep
them: long. healthy, a„d rolmrt., uNofhfeg. is more common
in that country/ then to: T e e . very «Id men,, ilrong, aftive '-and
lively to an extraordinary degree ; and I am inclined to think
that this--is-partly owing to. the '^arMck, and thdir regular
vegetable. 4?et,„t3,Y ^ , notwi^hftanding, the large ¡quantity o f
garlick, ¡and lhalots; which- the Mariac.ehi confeme,
it wonderful to obfemp.that.in. their own vaft, and rich
fields, not one o f thefe qrticlgs f thps they £nd
themfelves obliged, year after m ary to, give away no, incpnfider-
lum t0 the PaPle o f Ancopa, and Rimini, Which might fo
eafily be faved. It would certainly'be'a falutary violence, or
rather
rather an a£t o f paternal charity, to force them to cultivate thofe
produits, without which they cannot live, and which require fo
fmall a degree o f induitry. It would perhaps bè looked upon
with derifion, i f on this occaiÎon, premiums were offered them to
ferve themfelves; and yet, that is doubtlefs the belt, and eafiefl
way of improving agriculture.
A late governor-general o f Dalmatia introduced and encouraged
the cultivation o f hemp in Morlacchia, and it fucceeded well ;
but the publick encouragement not continuing, induitry alfo decayed,
and now only a fmall voluntary - cultivation goes- on,
which neverthelefs fomewhat diminiihes the fum required
to purchafe foreign linen,, ¡and maintains a few looms in the
country.
Many a MacroBius is to be found in Morlachia, eipecially on
the brows of hills, where the purity o f the air joined to frugality,
and a laborious life, lengthens out old age without infirmity.
Y e t I did not find, nor indeed enquire after'aDandon ; * though
I thought i faw more than one. old man who might be compared
to the old Engliih Parr ; but the Morlacchi are io care-
lefsly ignorant, that they can give no account o f their own age,
long before they come to that period o f their exiûcnce. .
O f the Utenfils, Cottages, Ckaths;, and Arms o f the M o r l a c c h i ,
A Morlack in eafy circumftances has no other bed than a
coarlfe blanket made o f goats hair, and o f Turkifh manufacture;
very few of the richeil people iri the country have fuch
a piece o f luxurious furniture as a bed after our fafhion ; and
there are not many who. have fo much ms a bedftead ; which
however, when they happen to get made in their rough manner,
* Alex. Cornelius mcmorat Daiuîonern Ilîyricum D. annos vixiilc Plin. 1. 7. c. 4.8.