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In his opinion the physical change had resulted from the destruction of forests, which brought with it a diminution of the rainfall. "At Cotrone," he said, "we have practically no rain. A shower now and then, but never a wholesome downpour." He had no doubt that, in ancient times, all the hills of the coast were wooded, as Sila still is, and all the rivers abundantly supplied with water.

Six Albanian settlements lie on these northern slopes of the Sila San Giorgio, Vaccarizza, San Cosimo, Macchia, San Demetrio Corone, and Santa Sofia d' Epiro. San Demetrio is the largest of them, and thither, after an undisturbed night's rest at the house of my kind host the last, I fear, for many days to come I drove in the sunlit hours of next morning.

"'Bhishma said, "In this connection is cited the old narrative of a conversation between a Brahmana in the observance of the Sila and the Unccha vows, O Yudhishthira, and a Rishi crowned with ascetic success.

Turn westward, and you behold the long range which hides the Mediterranean so high and wild from this distance, that I could scarce believe I had driven over it. Sila locally the Black Mountain, because dark with climbing forests held my gaze through a long afternoon.

The basin, they tell me, will be some ten kilometres in length; the work will cost forty million francs, and will be completed in a couple of years; it will supply the Ionian lowlands with pure water and with power for electric and other industries. And more than that. The lake is to revolutionize the Sila; to convert these wildernesses into a fashionable watering-place.

When Sila saw this, he was terrified, and asked Ivashka what it meant; and Ivashka told him that these were the heads of heroes who had been suitors to Queen Truda. Sila shuddered on hearing this, and wished to return home without showing himself to the father of Truda; but Ivashka told him to fear nothing and go with him boldly; so Sila went on.

I remember, some years ago, that during the last week of August a lump of snow, which a goat-boy produced as his contribution to our luncheon, did not melt in the bright sunshine on the summit of Monte Nero. From whichever side one climbs out of the surrounding lowlands into the Sila plateau, the same succession of trees is encountered.

These gentlemen are for the most part invisible; they inhabit their palaces in the cities, and the very name of the Sila sends a cold shudder through their bones; their revenues are collected from the shepherds by agents who seem to do their work very conscientiously.

The two reeds are about twenty-five centimetres in length, and made of hollow cane; in my specimen, the left hand controls four, the other six holes; the Albanian name of the instrument is "fiscarol." These implements must be rare in the uplands of Calabria, as I have never come across them before, though they have been found, to my knowledge, at Savelli in the central Sila.

"I am from the kingdom of my father the Tsar Chotei," replied Sila; "my name is Sila Tsarevich, and I am come to sue for your daughter, the beautiful Queen Truda." King Salom was overjoyed that the son of such a renowned Tsar should be his son-in-law, and immediately ordered his daughter to prepare for the wedding.