Through this line the transfer of the command of the passes to Italy would become an accomplished fact. It would mean that the entrance to the Vintschgau, the valley of the Upper Adige and of the gorge of the Eisack at Klausen with the issue of the Brenner and Pustherthal railways would be controlled by Italy. Moreover the frontier has the merit of being identical with the old bishopric boundary maintained from 1106 A.D. to the Reformation. The flaw, if any, in such an eventual settlement might be found in the fact that the Botzen district, although economically Italian, is Teutonic in speech and feeling. The rest of the population in the Trentino favors annexation to Italy. The Austrian offer to Italy diverges from the Italian project at Illmenspitze[276] and strikes south, carefully avoiding abandonment of territory of German speech to Italy. In doing this, however, it leaves some of the Italian-speaking northeastern districts of the Noce valley in Austrian territory. All the mountain outlets which open into the Adige valley are retained by Austria. This from the Italian standpoint is inadmissible, as it would leave the southern country exposed to aggression from the north. On the basis of the Austrian census for 1910 the changes in population consequent upon such a boundary revision are as follows: Italians and Ladins Germans In territory offered by Austria 366,837 13,892 In territory retained by Austria 18,863 511,222 In case the Italian claim is granted the following changes will result: Italians and Ladins Germans In new Italian territory 371,477 74,000 In territory retained by Austria 14,229 440,805 A margin of coastland along the eastern Adriatic is mainly Serbian in nationality though Italian in culture. It was once the nest of pirates who terrorized the Adriatic and Mediterranean. We catch historical glimpses of their retreats to the admirable shelters teeming along the coastland which skirts the Dalmatian mountains. The fringe of long islands deployed like a protecting screen enabled their vessels to evade capture. This feature of the region still exercises its influence, for a strong naval power in control of such a base might easily dominate the Mediterranean lane of traffic between east and west. The political fate of the eastern shores of the Adriatic cannot therefore be sundered from their geographical aspect.