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Trau, with its splendid loggias and churches; Spalato, with the grandeur of Diocletian's palace, are denied to the traveller; Lesina, proudly calling itself the Nice of Austria; Curzola, whose mighty Venetian bastions stand out into the sea, and many another delightful little town and island, only show a twinkling light or two in the darkness as the steamer ploughs by.
The direct boats, on leaving Spalato, steer between Solta and Brazza, and round the point of Lesina, proceeding by the Canals of Curzola and Meleda towards Gravosa; and we cannot do better than visit the islands in much the same order. Solta is the ancient Olinthia, celebrated for its honey; Olinthian honey was held to be superior to all other, except that of Hymettus.
The Kaiser had not visited Dalmatia for very many years, and the populace was delighted. Dalmatia complained bitterly that money was poured into Bosnia and nothing done for her. Now things no doubt would look up. Then we touched at Lesina and learnt that the Kaiser was unwell and that his heir presumptive, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, would replace him.
Bishops of Risano are mentioned in 141 and 591. In 1033 the metropolitan of Salona called a council, and the bishop of Cattaro went with those of Dulcigno, Antivari, and Suacia. They were caught in a storm and wrecked at Bacile near Torcole, twelve miles from Lesina, and were all drowned. The sailors have never forgotten the catastrophe.
The story goes that Rosselli went to Ragusa to deliver some paintings commissioned from him, and on his way back fell ill, and was obliged to land at Lesina, where the Franciscans took care of him and nursed him back to health; in gratitude he painted this picture for them. The great cypress, which spreads almost like an oak, he may have sat under during his convalescence.
Of these the first four have been described at length, and the others are mentioned briefly in the chapter dealing with Zara and its surroundings. The southern group lies south of the harbour of Spalato, and includes Solta, Brazza, Lesina, Curzola, Meleda, the more distant Lissa, Busi, and Lagosta, and a few small islands which belonged to the Republic of Ragusa.
In another church, S. Maria, is a Birth of the Virgin, ascribed to Paolo Veronese. At Gelsa the church is also fortified, a memorial of the time when protection against Turkish raids was necessary. Curzola lies due south of Lesina, separated from the long peninsula of Sabbioncello on the mainland by quite a narrow channel.
Fortunately Palko Lesina arrived, and through his daily talk made it plain to his little comrade that Someone good and beautiful lives, and that this beautiful and good One also loved him, little forsaken Ondrejko de Gemer, whom even his father did not love, and He wanted to live with him always, that Ondrejko need not feel forsaken anymore.
Bacha promised Lesina that he himself would take Palko home when the lady got better, because he believed that the lady would get well, although the doctor gave no hope that she would not die or that she would not lose her mind. For this reason also, Lesina could not take Palko away, for it seemed that the sick lady knew him.
"What did you say, boy?" asked the doctor. Ondrejko began to explain that Lesina had a cottage at the very foot of the "Old Hag's Rock," where the path led to town, and that at the present it was empty. "Do you think, Palko," asked the doctor, "that your father would agree to lend us the cabin, if it would suit us?" "Why would he not agree?" said the boy with shining eyes.
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