Page:Notes ecclesiological and picturesque.djvu/134

Rh Selve is our first Dalmatian land. It forms the most important deanery in the diocese of Zara. It itself is Latin, but most of its dependent parishes are Glagolita; the old rite hangs about the islands longer than in the mainland. The church consists of square chancel, nave, aisles to the latter; Venetian tower, south of nave. Choir, modernised; nave, of seven bays; pointed arches, octagonal piers, circular bases, octagonal caps. The font, a hexagonal cylinder. West door, of five arches, rather elaborate Flamboyant. But they are getting the anchor up. Now, men, pull;—I know it is hot; but you shall be paid well! We leap on board as the paddles begin to turn.

And now then, what glorious beauty in this archipelago, rising from the deep purple sea! That white rounded rock, apparently quite bare of vegetation, is Pusgnac: this peaked crag, nearest of all to us, is Tovaria; the larger island, where you can just make out a white village between two pine groves, is Milada; to be distinguished carefully from the more famous Meleda, of which I shall have more to say by-and-by. And now to our left, the sunny Croatian mountains take a sudden sweep to the east, separating that province from Dalmatia; while the Dalmatian coast, as far as we see it, is flat and grey, hardly rising above the sea-line. Next, the eastern horizon is bounded by the Isola Grossa or Lunga; between it and ourselves, the island Uglian rises precipitously from the water; the strait contracts; and you see the spires of Zara, as the crown of the promontory which juts from the mainland, a mile ahead of us. But Zara requires another chapter.