PERASTO
173
of Kumbor into the gulf of Teodo. To the right the gulf opens away to a group of islands, of which the island of S. Marco (I Stradiotti, the soldiers’ isle) is the largest, but we do not penetrate this gulf; we pass on to the straits of Verige, or the Chains, by which we gain access to the bay of Risano on the left and the bay of Cattaro on the right. The straits get their name from the fact that they were so narrow that all passage could be barred by chains stretched from one shore to the other. As we clear the passage and emerge in the bay of Risano, Perasto village lies in front of us, with the little islets of S. George and of The Madonna of the Chisel, in the foreground, and behind it the great bare massif of Monte Cassone, nearly three thousand feet high. Both islets have churches, The Madonna being particularly interesting, with a campanile and a cupola over the presbytery, as at Savina; the islet is the merest reef, quite covered by its church, and is largely artificial, the sea-folk of Perasto having slowly and laboriously piled the stones on which the church is partly built. Perasto still shows a number of interesting houses, notably one with a loggia facing the water. Turning to the left we enter the bay of Risano, Sinus Rhizonicus, of ancient geographers, and