The Washington herald., 1915-02-07

annexed people are increasing faster than
their masters. The Italian-speaking pop
ulation is gaining on the German all the
| time.
The two peoples disdaiR to agree even
on the names of their towns. What is
BotZen to Germans always remains Boil
Merano. Sankt Michael is San Michele
| Trient is TrentO and Persen is Perglne
! Even a valley ceases to be n thai and
| becomes a val as it descends into the
! region of the Latin. and the principal
river changes its name from the Etsch
to the Adige. In an otaiian town the
! strasse becames a via, the platZ piazza.
the schloss a palaZZO, the bahnhof a sta
zione It is amusngly confusing to be
| corrected as to the names Of the towns
when one chances to employ the Italian
! nomenclature among Germans or the Ger
| man among Italians.
| In the DoIOmites.
| The celebrated Dolomitcs. named for
| their French explorer. DOlOmieu. who was
! one of NapolcOn's scientists on his Egyp-
! tian expedition. are the most fitting link
| i'm the chain of mountains that markSthe
! Austro-ltalian frontier l went to them
/ by way of Franzenfcste. where 4 valley
! from the east interSeCts the valley or
I the Adige and n massive fortress lies
| like a watchdog at their junction Fran
/ ZenfeSte is TeutoniC and fully under Aus
| trian influence as blind-deaf mute
might know from the delicious taste of
its excellent Vienna bread
Turning eastward in the intersecting
valley, l went on to ToblaCh. also thor
OuGhly TeutOnic. and thence into the Do
/ lomites. As I drove along l saw com
modioUs barracks and many soldiers
forbade photography. No doubt hidden
I forts were near at hand and even the
mountains may have been Ioopholed.
green striped poIes. I quickly discovered
that l had left the high Austrian soldier
| cap behind and come upon the trailing
cocks feathers of the bersaglieri. More
| over. the very valley had been trans
| formed from the AmpeZzo thai to the
; AmpeZZa val. and the broad. noble high
| way had become a strada. while the sill
very little mountain lakes were no longer
sees but lagos. In my further windings
amid the mountains. however, I crossed
and recrossed the frontier. and at night
was again In Austria.
But that little town OF Cortina was
| none the less italian for the Hapsburg
banner that hoated above II. All about
1t rise the strange Dolomite peaks, reared
| by the industry Of tiny, toiling denizens
\ Of a sea that receded in prehistoric times
( and left these coral reefs high and dry
| huge. ungainly, and yet fascinating.
threes, like irremovable boundary stones
| or impossible sentries. guarding the de-
marcation between Italy and Austria II
| was uncanny to see lurking about the
| feet of those giant guardians little uni
| formed men, with their rifles. ready to
pounce upon one another in the name
of King at Rome and an Emperor at
Vienna and add their puny and futile
strife to the crashings Of rocks and Ice
In natures own unending warfare.
Up the Adriatie.
I approached by sea the transatlantic
lands OF Italy unredeemed, my ship SAIL
| ing from Alexandria. which looks
strangely Italian In its architecture. In
deed, the Italians form the most numer-
Gus body of 1sident foreigners. after
the Greeks thefe being 5000 or 5000 OF
Italy has sprtad thus TO all the neigh
boring shores, and Italian shipping is
one of the leedlng factors in the COM
| IAdriatic.
: The ItalianD had gained a firm footing
in Tripoli lois before their army came
! TO conquer tie land from the Turks. They