Starting from the Adriatic Sea in the vicinity of Triest the boundary of Slovene territory, according to Niederle, extends to Duino, Montefalcone, Gradisca and Cormons. From the last locality it heads for Italian territory, within which it cuts off the districts east of Tarcento and Resia from the area of Italian speech. At Kanin the line is once more on Austrian soil. It now proceeds to Pontafel, Saint-Hermagoras, Dobrac and Villach, the latter city being mainly German. Beyond the Drave, the linguistic frontier passes close to Woerther Lake and thence by Kostenberg and Moosburg. From this town the divide is prolonged to Gurk and extends towards Diex, Greutschach, Griffen and St. Pancrace. It next attains Arnfels. Fifty years ago, according to the same authority, the environs of this village were inhabited by Slovene populations. The district has since then been reclaimed by German speech. The same is true of the right bank of the Mur in the vicinity of Radkersburg. At Radgona, the Slovene boundary crosses the Mur once more and extends northward into Hungary as far as the German village of St. Gotthard, which it leaves to the north. Thence it turns southward at the Raab and heads for the Mur, which it crosses at Gornia Bistrica. The line then runs close to the provincial boundaries of Croatia and Carniola before attaining the sea again in Istria. The Slovene area thus delimited comprises the duchy of Carniola, excepting the Gottschee enclave, northern Istria, the Udine region, southeastern Karinthia, southern Styria and part of the Hungarian “comitats” of Vas and Zala. This Slovene land is now but a dwindled remnant of its former extension. At one time the Slovenes extended as far west as the Pusterthal in Tyrol, while their settlements even reached the Danube (at Linz and Vienna). Contact between languages on the Italo-Austrian frontier has influenced the political relations between the two countries. The whole foreign policy of the Austrian Empire, in fact, may be said to have been stimulated mainly by the necessity of keeping its mixed population in subjection. The central position of Austria-Hungary had made it the meeting-place of every important race in Europe. The mountain-girt monarchy is a seething reservoir of nationalities. Germans from the west flow into it. Czechs and Slovaks press in from the northwest, Poles and Ruthenians from the north and northeast. A Rumanian drive proceeds from the southeast. Croats, Serbians and Slovenes are steadily pushing northward. Italians, advancing from the southwest, complete the ring. Facing these racial swarms a central mass of Hungarians are striving to expand against them. [Illustration: FIG. 31--The area of Slovene speech in Austria and adjacent parts of Italy.]