For the next fourteen years there was peace, and Ragusa remained undisturbed save for one or two small disputes with Venice about certain _prava statuta_, which denied all value to the evidence of Venetian witnesses at Ragusa.[151] But in 1316 another quarrel broke out with Uroš, who arrested and plundered a number of Ragusan traders. Venetian attempts at conciliation proved fruitless,[152] and in 1317 war broke out. The Count Paolo Morosini wrote that “much serious damage has been done to the commune and people of Ragusa in their persons and property by Uroš and his people, who have again raided our territory.” Among other damage, the Franciscan monastery outside the Porta Pile was burnt.[153] The Venetians sold arms to the Ragusans, and deferred claiming payment until the following year. These arms were “many breast-plates, 100 cross-bows, 10,000 arrows, and 5000 _falsatores_.[154] [Illustration: BAS RELIEF OF ST. BLAIZE, NEAR THE PORTA PLOCE] We are not informed as to the outcome of this war; but apparently Ragusa was reconciled with Servia in 1322, as in that year Stephen Uroš IV.,[155] who succeeded his father in 1321, granted the city an accession of territory, _i.e._ the districts of Bosanka and Osoinik.[156] A far more important acquisition obtained during the next few years was that of Stagno and the peninsula of Punta, or Sabbioncello, as it is now called, which converted Ragusa from a city-republic, with only a few miles of territory beyond the walls and some small islands, into a fairly respectable territorial State. The Punta di Stagno is a long mountainous peninsula jutting out from the Dalmatian coast in a north-westerly direction, with a sort of spur or branch promontory stretching towards the south-east and forming a deep bay. Its length is 71.2 km., in breadth it varies from 3.1 km. to 7.1 km. Parts of the peninsula are very fertile, especially in vineyards. Its population is to-day over 10,000, and in the Middle Ages it was probably more considerable. It is joined to the mainland by a narrow isthmus 1½ km. across, with two small towns, Stagno Grande (Slav. _Veliki Ston_), looking towards Ragusa, and Stagno Piccolo (_Mali Ston_), on the north towards the Mare di Narenta, each with a good port. On both shores of the peninsula are other small harbours. On the southern coast, opposite the island of Curzola, rises the imposing mass of the Monte Vipera, with the town of Orebić at its foot. The importance of this territory for the Ragusans was partly strategical, as it formed a bulwark against invaders, from the north, whether by sea or by land, and partly commercial, on account of the valuable salt-pans of Stagno, which afterwards formed one of the chief sources of revenue for the Republic, and are still in use to this day. The Punta and the island of Curzola are the only spots in Europe where jackals are still to be found. This territory had formed part of the