HAVING left Vienna, we proceeded through the duchies of Stiria, Carinthia, and Carniola, to Venice. Notwithstanding the mountainous nature of those countries, the roads are remarkably good. They were formed originally at a vast expense of labour to the inhabitants, but in such a durable manner, that it requires no great trouble to keep them in repair, to which all necessary attention seems to be paid. Some of the mountains are covered with wood, but more generally they are quite bare. Among them are many fields and valleys, fit for pasturage and the cultivation of grain; a few of these valleys are remarkably fertile, particularly in the duchy of Carniola. The bowels of the earth abound in lead, copper, and iron. Stirian steel is reckoned excellent and the little town of Idra, in Carniola, is famous for the quicksilver mines in its neighbourhood.
It has been a matter of controversy among the learned, (for the learned dispute about many things which the ignorant think of little importance), by what road the original inhabitants came,, who first peopled Italy? And it has been decided by some, that they must have entered by this very country of Carniola. These gentlemen lay it down as an axiom, that the first inhabitants of every