46
NONA
the Counts of Bribir, Croatian despots, it placed itself under the protection of Venice, which led to assaults and sieges by the Hungarians. It passed into final Venetian possession along with the rest of coastal Dalmatia in 1420, but the threat of Turkish invasion and the dread that the town might be seized and held by the Moslems as a stronghold on the Adriatic shore, induced the Senate of Venice to order its destruction in 1646. The Episcopal See was at one time proposed for Fra Paolo Sarpi, but he declined what he termed un jiore secco, a desiccated flower, a See without emoluments, and the site had already become so malarious that the bishop was permitted to reside in Zara.
   On leaving Zara the road rounds the end of the harbour and then turns due north over typical Dalmatian country; arid limestone downs, with a few scrubby trees and scanty flocks of skinny sheep. But the distant views are of extraordinary beauty: to the left, the dancing waters of the Zara channel, with Ugliano and S. Michele on the farther side; to the right, over a long stretch oi Campagna, the noble mass of Velebit above the lonely landlocked sea of Starigrad and Novigrad. The great mountain takes the most wonderful