channel which divided it from the mainland soon became a marshy field, and finally dried up. As a protection against the Slavonic settlement on the Monte Sergio a castle was built by the sea, on the site of the present rector’s palace, guarding the bridge to the mainland.[21] Later the Bosnian colony was also absorbed, and the town walls were extended to the circuit which they now occupy. Of the various groups of refugees who settled within the hospitable walls of Ragusa we have fairly reliable accounts. Porphyrogenitus mentions the earliest of these immigrations, and also gives us the names of the most prominent among the newcomers: Arsaphios, Gregorios, Victorinos, Vitalios, Valentinos the archdeacon, and Valentinos the father of the Protospathar Stephen. All these have unquestionably a Latin sound; they were probably Roman provincials from the minor Dalmatian townships destroyed by the barbarians. Besides the Latin refugees, at an early date a certain number of Slaves, who preferred the quiet life and safety of Ragusa to the constant turmoils and disorders among their own people, added to the population. The Anonymous Chronicle of Ragusa[22] describes several of these immigrations:— “690. Many people came to Ragusa with all their goods from Albania and the parts of Bosna, because many in Bosna were partisans of Duchagini,[23] and wished to save themselves from being accused (punished).” This evidently refers to a civil war, but the date given is much too early: it is not likely that the Ragusans would have admitted barbarians within their walls so soon after the destruction of Epidaurum:— “691. There came to Ragusa the men of two castles on the mainland, from Chastel Spilan and Chastel Gradaz,[24] and they all made their dwellings on the coast, for they were of the race of Epidaurum destroyed by the Saracens.”[25] This obviously refers to the Latin colonists mentioned by the Imperial historian:— “743. Many people came from Bosna with much wealth, for the king, Radosav, was a tyrant, and lived according to his pleasure: Murlacchi from the Narenta also came, and Catunari,[26] among whom there was a chief above all the others; they came with a great multitude of cattle of all sorts: to them was assigned the mountain of Saint Serge as a pasture, for it was so covered with trees that one could not see the sky, and so much timber was there that they made beams for their houses.”