add
strangers to make a quorum. Angelo Morosini, podesta of Capodistria in
1646, described it as "Goddess of desolation and refuge of solitude
itself." Parenzo was so severely smitten that only thirty persons
remained. At Pola in 1631 there were but 300 persons left, including the
garrison of foreigners, and of the citizens but three families. This was
the last visitation.

VII

MUGGIA TO PIRANO

From Trieste steamers, large and small, ply to most of the places on the
coast, and the islands down to Fiume. Though there is railway
communication with a few places, travelling by water is much pleasanter
in fine weather, and the towns are more easily accessible from the
seaside. The country people throng to market in the early hours of the
morning, and are ready to return by the time the average English tourist
has finished his breakfast and sets out sightseeing.

[Illustration: WEST END OF THE CHURCH, MUGGIA VECCHIA]

[Illustration: CHOIR-SCREEN AND AMBO, MUGGIA VECCHIA

_To face page 81_]

We went to Muggia about midday by one of the little steamboats which
round the Punta S. Andrea, and, passing the Lloyd-Arsenal, cross the
bay, the Vallone di Muggia. The boat was full of belated _contadini_,
for the most part rugged and picturesque, among whom was an old woman
with a few long candles, which she vainly offered for sale to every
person on the boat; a boy with nuts and sweets was more fortunate, and
lessened his stock considerably. The deck was lumbered up with baskets,
milk-cans, &c., which had been full in the early morning, and most of
the passengers had bundles and parcels containing their purchases. Some
thirty minutes were sufficient in the fine weather with which we were
favoured to take us across, and, passing the smoky iron-works which are
the principal industry of modern Muggia, we disembarked at the little
quay, and immediately became objects of interest to a small crowd of
impertinent boys. Our principal objective was the ancient church on the
hill where Muggia Vecchia once stood. We found on inquiry that it was
closed as being in a dangerous state. This entailed visits to the
_municipio_ and to the parish priest, under escort of a uniformed
official, who then conducted us by a steep and stony path up the hill
Monte Michele, towards the summit of which, higher than the church,
prehistoric graves have been found, consisting of stone slabs set
roughly together, making a kind of chest which opens o