Page 70 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 70
stone narratives
about Slovene lands for foreign travellers (Brown, 1685; Stanonik, 1992). Brown describes
his journey and observations about the places he had visited. He accurately describes the
landscape and its landforms, such as Lake Cerknica, its features, wildlife and fisheries. This
is how he described the lake:
…famous strange Lake of Zirchnitz… I took Boat and spent some time upon the lake… This Lake
is about two German miles long, and one broad, encompassed with Hills at some distance, an
upon the South-side lies a Forest part of Birnbaumer Forest, which extends a great way, where-
in are many Dear, wild Boars, Foxes, Wolves and Bard. Every year in some part of the Month
of June, the water of this Lake descends under-ground through many great holes at the bot-
toms; and in the Months of September returns again by the same holes; and with a speedy as-
cent, springing and mounting up to the heighth of a Pike, and soon covering that tract of ground
again. When the water is under-ground, the Earth makes a speedy production of Grass yielding
food for Cattel in the Winter, and at the same time, Hares, Deer and Boars resort to this place
out of the Country, and the fore-mentioned Forest, and are often taken by the people.«
While staying in Cerknica he was hosted by the town Richter or judge, Andreas Wiser
(Brown, 1669, p. 80). He also showed an interest in the habits and customs of the local pop-
ulation. When mentioning the Slavic names for the valleys surrounding the territory, he
also notes that the language of the local population, sclavonian, sounds peculiar to him.
He describes different dialects of the visited territories: »The Carniolinas speak a Dialect of
the Sclavonian, but in this parts [the territory of what he calls the »Country of Goritia«, n.
P.K.] they have a Language called Lingua Fullana, or Friulana; he that speaketh Italian may
understand much thereof« (Brown, 1669, pp. 81–83).
At this point we should mention Janez Vajkard Valvasor, although not a foreign trav-
eller, but an important researcher and reporter writing about the Carniola, who in his work
entitled The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Die Ehre des Hertzoghtums Crain, Slava Vo-
jvodine Kranjske) (1689) describes the Karst region and its natural features in great detail.
In his work he describes about 70 caves, among which, in his opinion, the Postojna Cave
was the largest, longest, and the most terrifying (Savnik, 1958, p. 138). Besides Kircher, Val-
vasor was the one who also described the Škocjan Caves and included with his description
»the drawing of the two great dolinas«. Although Shaw maintains that his drawings are
not very accurate, his work is still important as he showed »all four places where the wa-
ter appeared and disappeared« (Shaw, 1998, p. 237). In Panjek’s (2005, p. 154) opinion, Val-
vasor wished to promote the described area through the valorisation of its cultural and nat-
ural heritage. His approach to describing and exploring the landscape was quite innovative
and modern for the late 17th century. Panjek (ibid.) believes that Valvasor tried to dissemi-
nate knowledge through this kind of promotion. Naturally this interpretation is based on
a present-day perspective; but we can nevertheless identify in Valvasor’s work an intent of
spreading the knowledge about the described territory and an accurate ethnographic work.
His book was kept in several inns and hotels where foreign travellers would usually stay
when travelling through Slovene lands. Valvasor’s Glory was commonly used as a source of
information about the visited territory. In journals which were published later (e.g. Poco-
cke, Davy, Tobin and Spenser), Valvasor’s influence was clearly present, with other authors
68
about Slovene lands for foreign travellers (Brown, 1685; Stanonik, 1992). Brown describes
his journey and observations about the places he had visited. He accurately describes the
landscape and its landforms, such as Lake Cerknica, its features, wildlife and fisheries. This
is how he described the lake:
…famous strange Lake of Zirchnitz… I took Boat and spent some time upon the lake… This Lake
is about two German miles long, and one broad, encompassed with Hills at some distance, an
upon the South-side lies a Forest part of Birnbaumer Forest, which extends a great way, where-
in are many Dear, wild Boars, Foxes, Wolves and Bard. Every year in some part of the Month
of June, the water of this Lake descends under-ground through many great holes at the bot-
toms; and in the Months of September returns again by the same holes; and with a speedy as-
cent, springing and mounting up to the heighth of a Pike, and soon covering that tract of ground
again. When the water is under-ground, the Earth makes a speedy production of Grass yielding
food for Cattel in the Winter, and at the same time, Hares, Deer and Boars resort to this place
out of the Country, and the fore-mentioned Forest, and are often taken by the people.«
While staying in Cerknica he was hosted by the town Richter or judge, Andreas Wiser
(Brown, 1669, p. 80). He also showed an interest in the habits and customs of the local pop-
ulation. When mentioning the Slavic names for the valleys surrounding the territory, he
also notes that the language of the local population, sclavonian, sounds peculiar to him.
He describes different dialects of the visited territories: »The Carniolinas speak a Dialect of
the Sclavonian, but in this parts [the territory of what he calls the »Country of Goritia«, n.
P.K.] they have a Language called Lingua Fullana, or Friulana; he that speaketh Italian may
understand much thereof« (Brown, 1669, pp. 81–83).
At this point we should mention Janez Vajkard Valvasor, although not a foreign trav-
eller, but an important researcher and reporter writing about the Carniola, who in his work
entitled The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Die Ehre des Hertzoghtums Crain, Slava Vo-
jvodine Kranjske) (1689) describes the Karst region and its natural features in great detail.
In his work he describes about 70 caves, among which, in his opinion, the Postojna Cave
was the largest, longest, and the most terrifying (Savnik, 1958, p. 138). Besides Kircher, Val-
vasor was the one who also described the Škocjan Caves and included with his description
»the drawing of the two great dolinas«. Although Shaw maintains that his drawings are
not very accurate, his work is still important as he showed »all four places where the wa-
ter appeared and disappeared« (Shaw, 1998, p. 237). In Panjek’s (2005, p. 154) opinion, Val-
vasor wished to promote the described area through the valorisation of its cultural and nat-
ural heritage. His approach to describing and exploring the landscape was quite innovative
and modern for the late 17th century. Panjek (ibid.) believes that Valvasor tried to dissemi-
nate knowledge through this kind of promotion. Naturally this interpretation is based on
a present-day perspective; but we can nevertheless identify in Valvasor’s work an intent of
spreading the knowledge about the described territory and an accurate ethnographic work.
His book was kept in several inns and hotels where foreign travellers would usually stay
when travelling through Slovene lands. Valvasor’s Glory was commonly used as a source of
information about the visited territory. In journals which were published later (e.g. Poco-
cke, Davy, Tobin and Spenser), Valvasor’s influence was clearly present, with other authors
68
