found on the furface o f the ground, in fumtno cefpite*. F lo ras
writes, that Vibius, who was fent by A u g u jiu s to fubdue the Dal-
fnatians, obliged that fierce people to work in the mines, and to
cleanfe th é 'gold. M a r tia l, likewife,'writing to Macer, calls
Dalmatia ¿erra au rifera, and it feems to have been his opinion,
that the county about Sàlonâ particularly deferved that appellation.
, Ib is liforeas, mdcer, fa lo n a s ;
F e l ix aurtferoe colons t er r ce.
~ ’ And it appears, by a verfe o f Statius-,- in his epithalamium of
Stella, that the gold o f Dalmatia was become a proverb:
Rdbora Dfilmatico lucent fa t ia tq métallo
a paifage that permits us not to doubt of* either the exiftence, or
abundance o f this precious metal. 'In the fame manner iome o f
our poets have called gold Peruvian metal, and their meaning is
perfeftly well underilood.
Concerning th e C om m o n R e p o r t s re la tiv e to D a l m a t i a n
Ml^ERAi-OGy. ,
Notwithftanding all -thefe teftimonies,' which have induced
feveral people to flatter themfelves with the hopes o f finding trea-
fures ; I cannot perfwade myfelf, that there are mines, either o f
gold, or filver, in the mountains along the coaft, properly called
Dalmatia -, there not appearing atle-aft, any o f the charaders o f
mineral
* Aurum qui quarunt ante omnia /egullum tolluni (ha mcatur iniicium.) Alveus
u h id e jl, arenaque lavantur, atque ex eo quod refedit conjedura capitur utinveniatur
ahquando in fumma tellure, penitus rara felicitate-, ut nuper in Dalmatia, princifatu
Neronis, fmgulis diebus etiam quinquagenas libras fundem ; cum jam inventum in femme
cefpite. Plin, Hid. Nat. Lib, xxxiii. cap, 4.
mineral mountains. Perhaps the inland mountain o f Promini,
where the city o f Promona flood/ may contain mines, as fome Dalmatian
writers affirm; but 1 have’not yet been able to examine it
with proper care and attention ; I am inclined, however, to fuf*
pedt, that the Dalmatians have fuffered themfelves to be impofed
upon, by the name o f the mountain itfelf, through the apparent
analogy it has to mines; though perhaps it may be originally
derived aprominendo. I was told, that the fmall river Hyader,
now called Salona, from the ruins o f the city which once bore
that name, carries from its fources, fome little gold duft in its
fand; and have heard it alfo afferted, that the poor inhabitants
of its banks fometimes colledted it, though in very frnalf quantities:
but on diligent enquiry, I found thefe reports without
the leaft foundation. I was alfo allured by feveral perfons,’ and
even found it written,, in the records of the province, which I
examined for that purpofe; that there is a rich mine o f quick-
filver, at a place called Suhidolaz, above Sebinico, but this L
found abfolutely falfe. And indeed all my endeavours hitherto
have given me but little light relative to this article. I am ftill
unacquainted with the topography o f this vaft country, having
vifited only a part o f it; but by all that I have been able to ob-
ferve, it feems probable that no valuable mines are to be found
in the calcarious mountains adjacent to the fea, nor in the valleys
watered by the Kerka, and Cettina. The ancient mines were
probably further up the country, and then the confines o f the-
province reached further inwards. I f it be true that gold dull:
is adtually found in the fand of the river Travrick in Boffina,
perhaps the rich mine, of which Pliny fpeaksf is to be looked'
for along the coiirfe of that river, and about its fources. I know
not if this be the fame river, from the bed of which there arifes a
brilk fountain o f fubacid water, which raifes itfelf confiderably
Q . above