ith a large domed
church (an unfinished shell with gaping window-openings) crowning the
eminence, whilst many houses, of the same date as those at Perasto, and
with fine angle balconies, are scattered about the road along the shore,
from which there are delightful views. A late Renaissance church has a
rather pretty rose-window with radiating shafts recalling the
Romanesque.

Nearer to Cattaro is Mula, and on the other side Dobrota; along both
roads are red and white oleanders, orange and lemon trees, ancient figs
and chestnuts, locust beans (carob), olives, pomegranates, and main'
flowers, among which may be specially named beautiful pale mauve irises.
The torrent Skurda, or Fiumara, separates the mountains Pestingrad and
Mrajanik from the lofty Lovcen, which towers above Cattaro to the height
of 5,770 ft. It is the holy mountain of Montenegro; on it the great
Wladika Pietro, the singer of the Servian redemption, chose to be
buried, as if from that height his spirit might watch and protect the
land to which he devoted his life. Every year a pilgrimage climbs to the
white-walled little chapel which sparkles on the dark mountain side. The
Servian dream is for the waters of Cattaro to be covered with ships
under the eagle of the Nemagna, for the country folk know well the
story of Uros, the great Stephan Nemagna, and the epic of the wars
against the Turks.

[Illustration: DOBROTA, BOCCHE DI CATTARO

_To face page 378_]

In the city of Cattaro, the ancient Ascrivium or Acrivium, some small
remains of the Roman period are to be seen encrusted in the walls of the
clock-tower, an altar and a memorial to a girl and her teacher. At the
beginning of the ninth century it boasted several fine buildings, to
which a rich man named Andreaccio Saracenis, mentioned as "Certo
zitadino nobile zintilhomo si de generazion come di richeza,"
contributed. Towards the end of the eighth century S. Maria Infunara was
built by him in the rope-makers' district, and here he also founded a
convent to enable his second daughter Theodora to lead the life of
contemplation. He also paid for the first cathedral of S. Trifone, which
Porphyrogenitus says was circular. The body of this martyr of the third
century was being brought to Venice from Asia Minor by certain
merchants, when a storm obliged them to shelter in the Bocche. The
magnates of the city and Andreaccio treated with the pilot for its
purchase, and paid 200 Roman solidi for the shrine, an