Montenegro; Its People and Their History

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1877 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III. CLIMATE PRODUCTION EXPORTS AND IMPORTS ROADS. The soil of most part of Montenegro is of so porous a character that after a few hours no trace remains of the heaviest rains, and the hay-crops are often xburnt up during the prolonged drought of summer. Some small streams, after a short course, are altogether absorbed, and disappear underground.* The plain around Cetinje, the capital, girdled by high crags, and resembling the huge crater of an extinct volcano, is almost wholly composed of sand, as though it had once been the bed of the sea. Were it not that the excessive dryness of the climate is in part corrected by the dense fogs of the Adriatic, which * 'Quelquesunes rentrent tout a coup dans les entrailles du sol, comme si elles s'ennuyaient de leur voyage dans notre monde trop truyant, comme si la nostalgie les ramenait sous le dome de leur silencieux empire.'--Marmier. , bring with them torrents of rain, this territory would be utterly sterile, and the few rivers which flow through it would be soon dried up. Delarue thus describes one of these fogs and its attendant fall of rain:-- * 'Some days after my arrival in Montenegro I witnessed one of those storms which are so welcome during the intense heat of summer. About seven o'clock in the evening a dense fog covered the whole plain. The darkness was so great that the nearest objects were invisible. The rain fell in sheets of water; the lightnings played along the heights which rise around the basin of Cetinje, and crowned them with circles of fire. All night long and until the next day the thunder crashed without intermission. When morning came the plain around the capital wore the appearance of a swamp, and broad pools covered the whole of the ground. The corn was...