he air, and bathes the overhanging trees and reeds, keeping the
neighbouring rocks clothed with ferns.

After dinner we strolled along the quay to the south of Sebenico. There
was no moon, and the stars were not as brilliant as they sometimes are
in these southerly latitudes, making it rather difficult to pick one's
way among the mysterious darknesses, which meant obstacles of one kind
or another. As we rounded a corner a lamp or two flashed in our eyes
from the other side of a little cove, and sparkled in broken lights upon
the uneasy wavelets which splashed and tinkled against the sides of
several coasting-vessels moored near at hand. The semi-silence of the
night was broken by musical sounds, scarcely melody, but an uneven kind
of chant, commencing in unison, and dying away in a prolonged
melancholy, wailing chord, swelling and falling, almost like the notes
produced by an AEolian harp as the wind sweeps over its strings. The
glow of light which showed the door of a wine-shop across the water
marked where the singers were enjoying their melancholy music, which, in
its formlessness and dying cadences, was in strange harmony with the
shapeless undulating dark masses, which by day were rocky islands
sparsely clad with trees, now only relieved by the glimmer of the paler
water, whose lapping formed an undertone to the stronger notes of the
voices.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 2: Mgr. Fosco states that Giorgio submitted a plan of his
proposed work, with cupola, apses, and transepts, with the little
choirs--possibly a model, such as we know he prepared at the time the
contract for the sacristy was signed.]

XX

TRAU AND THE RIVIERA DEI SETTE CASTELLI

From Sebenico, Spalato can be reached either by boat or by rail. On our
first visit we chose the train, since it gave us greater choice of times
for making the journey. The railway stations are generally far away from
the piers; we had observed this at Pola and Parenzo, and the same thing
occurs at Sebenico. The hotel porters are not allowed to carry baggage
to and from the steamers or the station; we were told there was a law
against it, which a man sitting by said was just enough, for the odd-job
men must live! The retrospect from the railway is fine. The southern end
of the inlet is in the foreground, with a training-ship upon it; the
city on its hill lies to the right, crowned by Fort S. Anna, and higher
still the Fort S. Giovanni; while to the left is the other