FIG. 48--Sketch map of Austria showing westernmost extension of Slavs and their languages in Europe. The German-Hungarian wedge between northern and southern Slavs is shown. The small cross-ruled patches are areas of Rumanian language.] Much has been made in interested quarters of the difference between Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb. Intrigues directed from Vienna and Budapest have sought to accentuate these differences and to foment hatred where Christian charity would speedily have produced concord and understanding. Even in Russia, there have been fears lest close political contact between Serb and Croat dilute the purity of Serb orthodoxy. In other quarters political ambition has made use of divergence of creed as a pretext for seeking to perpetuate political division between the two main branches of the southern Slav race. But a Serbian saying, which can be heard in Bosnia, Croatia or Montenegro, is the best refutation of the existence of any political differences between Serbs of different creeds. “Brat yay mio Koye vieray bio,” “A brother is always dear whatever his religion.” A simple phrase, but one with national significance. The Serbo-Croatian group made its appearance in the Balkan peninsula at the time of the general westerly advance of Slavs in the fifth and sixth centuries. A northwestern body of this people, wandering along the river valleys leading to the eastern Alpine foreland, settled in the regions now known as Croatia and Slavonia. Here the sea and inland watercourses provided natural communication with western Europe. Evolution of this northwestern body of Serbians into the Croatians of our day was facilitated by the infiltration of western ideas. But the great body of Serbians, occupying the mountainous area immediately to the south, had their foreign intercourse necessarily confined to eastern avenues of communication. They therefore became permeated with an eastern civilization in which Byzantine strains can be easily detected. In spite of these cultural divergences, the linguistic differentiation of the Croat from the Serbian element has been slight. The Serbian sound of “ay” is generally pronounced “yay” by Bosnians and “a” by Dalmatians. The Croatian “tcha” corresponds to the “chto” of the Serbian. As a rule variations are slight, and natives of the different districts not only understand each other, but can also detect respective home districts quite readily on hearing each other.