As for the Drei Zinnen, they surpass in boldness and weirdness all the Dolomites of the Ampezzo. Seen through an opening between two wooded hills, they rise abruptly from behind the intervening plateau of Monte Piana, as if thrust up from the centre of the earth, like a pair of tusks. No mere description can convey, to even the most apprehensive reader, any correct impression of their outline, their look of intense energy, of upwardness, of bristling irresistible force. Two barren isolated obelisks of pale sulphurous orange-streaked limestone, all shivered into keen scimitar-blades and shark-like teeth toward the summit, they almost defy the pencil and quite defy the pen. [Illustration: THE DREI ZINNEN, FROM THE HIGHEST RIDGE] Those who have spent an exhilarating holiday among these enchanting hills will know the freshness of the pure air, the stillness of the vast solitudes--home of the eagle and chamois--also the comfort of the rude huts provided by the Alpine Club, where one may shelter and find warmth and food, paying as he deems right; they will remember days spent on the glittering glaciers with their treacherous slopes, in view of the ever-changing ever-new outlines of the tempestuous peaks in their grotesque formations. No place on earth will ever draw them back as does the Dolomites, no other can evoke quite the same sensations as when they gaze on those startling contours or catch their breath to see the fiery glow rising over a foreground of blue-black firs. One of the most important of the later improvements is the Dolomitenstrasse of which the last part was opened in 1909. It leads through beautiful mountain scenery and over three passes from Botzen to Cortina, and thence from Cortina to Falzarego. From Botzen it follows the Brenner road to Kardaun, and then turns into the magnificent gorge of the Eggental which separates the Latemar group from the Rosengarten group. This is now one of the most frequented parts of the Dolomites, with the beautiful blue-green lake of Karer, over which the Latemar towers with its slender peaks. The road ascends over the green Alps of the Karer Pass. There are large hotels in all these places now, and the Tyrolean red wine, at about twopence for a half-pint, is served in them, also home-brewed beer as well as the familiar Munich or Pilsener. CHAPTER XV THE ILLYRIAN STATE