Descendants of Rheto-Romans settled in eastern Tyrol speak a language of Latin stock which, in common with other mountain languages, failed to blossom into literature mainly on account of the secluded life of its highland users. The dialect is closely allied to the Friulian. The two form together the western border of the Slovene linguistic area and attain Triest on the south. Lack of written masterpieces tends to weaken the life of the language and it is being replaced by Italian. Concurrently with the growth of the region’s foreign intercourse in modern times invasion of German words can also be detected, though not to the extent of impairing the fundamental Romanic strain. The Adriatic provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are peopled mainly by Italians and Slavs. German and Hungarian elements in the population consist of civil and military officials and of merchants. From an ethnological and linguistic standpoint the maritime district is Italian or Slav according to its elevation. The Romanic stock forms the piedmont populations while the dwellers of the hilly coast chains are of Slavic issue and speech. The western coast of the Istrian peninsula, however, is an area of Italian speech, which is generally confined to urban centers. The following figures for the population of the Dalmatian islands show the numerical inferiority of the Italians:[62] Population Inhabitants according to speaking Inhabitants census of Serbo-Croatian speaking LOCALITY 1910 dialects Italian Number Per cent Number Per cent Lissa, St. Andrea and Busi 10,041 9,939 98.98 92 0.92 Lesina, Spalmadori and Torcola 16,861 16,340 96.91 494 2.92 Curzola, Cazza, Lagosta and adjoining reefs 21,628 21,186 97.95 436 2.01 Stagno district, including Meleda island[63] 9,424 9,393 99.67 9 0.1 Zara, Spalato, Sebenico, Ragusa and Cattaro,[64] however, contain flourishing colonies of Italians whose commercial enterprise has helped their mother tongue to prevail if not predominate in their region. Outside of these cities, the Italian element, wherever present, is restricted to littoral strips. The Slavs invariably occupy the plateau and the slopes extending seaward. The Istrian region of predominant Italian speech consists of the western peninsular lowland extending south of Triest[65] to the tip of the promontory beyond Pola.[66] Istrians to whom Italian is vernacular number 147,420 individuals according to the census of 1910. The Slavs of the Karst and terraced sections constituting the rest of the population belong to the Roman faith, but have no other common bond with their Italian countrymen.