Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 187, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1920 — HELGOLAND OF THE ADRIATIC [ARTICLE]

HELGOLAND OF THE ADRIATIC

Island of Cherso Ha* Become Point of Importance on the New Map es Europe. The Versailles conference set Americans searching the gazetteers for j Yap; the San Remo conference turns the spotlight to another obscure island ; —Cherso. “Practically unheard of on this side ; of the Atlantic, eluding most trav- j elers, even escaping many of the seek- i ers after the little-knoun places of Eu- ■ rope. Cherso - neither is inaccessible I nor unattractive,” says a bulletin from । the National Geographic society. “It j dangles like a pendant in the Gulf of • Quarnero, low. hung from the neck of j Flume. It Is the Long Island of that ■ port, its shore line rising 12 miles to । tlie south of D’Annunzio’s present ! stronghold: Its slender form extends to the southwest for 40 miles, It never exceeds seven miles in width, and its area is somewhat more than twice that of the District of Colombia, “Holding in mind this location, near the head of the Adriatic, in view of the tentative plans to make Fiume a 1 buffer state between'’ltaly ffmr Jugoslavia, the strategic possibilities of Cherso become apparent. Indeed, one may picture it as a potential Helgoland of the Adriatic. “Cherso Ues off the shores of the northern part of Dalmatia and the Croatian littoral, a region formerly known as Moria cchla. The Morlacchia channel preserves this name, originating with the Slavic invaders of Dalmatia, who ‘called the Latinized people they found there VTachs, or Mav-ro-Vlachs—black Vlachs.’ Thus the , Slavs of this region have come to be ( known, by a corruption of this title, • as Morlachs. “In rural districts Morlacchlan women retain their historic costume, which Includes a kerchief for the head, many । strands of beads, a waist band from , which hang amulets and various trin- | kets, and, over a blue cloth gown, an apron'of exquisite embroidered pattern. About her neck an unmarried girlg wears a string oF coins and rings which comprise her dowry. Formerly the men wore their hair in a plait, wplch their wives were expected to , comb, adorn with ribbons and charms, -t and anoint with fats.” j