Ragusa’s relations with Venice were on the whole satisfactory. There were occasional complaints on the part of the Venetian Government that the Ragusans did not fulfil their treaty obligations and failed to send the promised galleys to take part in the expeditions against the Almissan pirates and other enemies.[143] On other occasions they were blamed for delaying goods (chiefly grain) which passed through the city on the way to Venice. However, when in 1296 Ragusa was almost entirely destroyed by fire, the Venetians showed generosity in providing money and building materials,[144] and the Count Marino Morosini (1296-1298) issued a decree for rebuilding the city on a handsomer scale.[145] During the Genoese war Ragusa lent four galleys to the Venetians, which took part in the battle of Curzola, and after that disastrous defeat the Ragusan ships lent aid to the scattered remnants of the Venetian fleet (1298). Ragusa had considerable intercourse with the neighbouring Dalmatian townships, especially with Cattaro, which was one of the oldest city-republics on the coast. But there were frequent quarrels between the two communities, partly through the intrigues of the Slavonic princes, and partly on account of commercial rivalries, both towns being competitors for the salt trade from the coast to the interior.[146] Cattaro had sometimes been under the protection of the Servian kings, who used it as their seaport, and sometimes under that of Venice. But in 1257 a treaty was made by which the Cattarini promised in the event of a war between the Serbs and Ragusa to do their best to harass the former without openly espousing the latter’s cause, and each Republic was to try and promote arbitration if the other was at war. We are not told how this curious compact was carried out, but it was not by any means an unusual arrangement among these semi-independent Dalmatian townships. In 1301 or 1302 there was another Servian war, in which Venice and Ragusa co-operated, caused by a quarrel with Cattaro. This town was now under Venetian protection, but continued to hold underhand intercourse with the Slaves. The Venetians protested, and Stephen Uroš, who called himself “King of Servia, Melinia, Albania, Chelmo, Doclea, and the maritime region,”[147] made another raid on Ragusan territory, burning the houses, destroying the crops, and murdering many of the inhabitants and making prisoners of others.[148] The Venetians, however, came to the rescue, and ordered their _Capitano in Golfo_, or Admiral of the Adriatic, to remain with the fleet at Ragusa for so long as the city should be in any danger. The Serbs were defeated on several occasions, and finally induced to listen to the remonstrances of the Venetian ambassadors.[149] In 1302[150] peace was made, and as the Ragusans had suffered much during the war, and the devastating raids had caused a famine, they were allowed to retain the grain destined for Venice, and received loans and other favours.