Central Europe . e stubborn intractability of the Karst to vegetationis due less to the absence of soft soil—for sometimes,when it is not swept away by storms, the hollows of thesurface will be filled by red earth {terra rosso), a clayey-residuum from the chemical decomposition of the rock—but rather to the more general, and far more serious, lack ofwater. Rich as are the rainfalls of the whole Karst district,the water quickly disappears into the clefts and holes of thefretted rock, and transfers its circulation, and a part of itsgeological action to the dark heart of the mountains. ILLYRIAN C
Central Europe . e stubborn intractability of the Karst to vegetationis due less to the absence of soft soil—for sometimes,when it is not swept away by storms, the hollows of thesurface will be filled by red earth {terra rosso), a clayey-residuum from the chemical decomposition of the rock—but rather to the more general, and far more serious, lack ofwater. Rich as are the rainfalls of the whole Karst district,the water quickly disappears into the clefts and holes of thefretted rock, and transfers its circulation, and a part of itsgeological action to the dark heart of the mountains. ILLYRIAN CHAINS, THE BALKAN, ETC. 59 The whole mass of the Karst is not indeed filled likea sponge with a network of hollows, but it is literally truethat the interiors of the great mountains are pierced bylarge branching passages, which in one place will draw inand become narrow pipes, and in another will widen outinto spacious halls. These are formed by the chemicaland mechanical erosion of the water, which coming in. Zasxxl above isoofeet sK-owrx. thus Qbove 300oy~eel IHlls G3> Fig. 14.—The Hydrography of the Karst. from the surface, collects in great reservoirs, and makeslakes and rivers that, after flowing long in darkness,emerge as considerable streams. Thus a great part ofthe water system, which in general divides and mouldsthe face of the country, flows in the Karst district under-ground. There are large areas with no series of open,descending valleys ; ill-developed, fragmentary valleys runin a deep furrow for a few miles, only to be stopped 6o CENTRAL EUROPE short by a wall of rock ; their streams disappear into itscaverns, and only come to light again at a consider-able distance, under other names. Like Greece, whichwas the home of the belief in the transmigration ofsouls, the Karst country, from the Adelsberg grottoto the valley of the Zeta bisecting Montenegro, isfull of rivers which disappear through the gates ofthe nether world to find a speedy resurrection, someo
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