No. VII. — Islands of Procida and Ischia. 341 



that it was only a small rolled piece : — still its origin could not 

 naturally be supposed to be from the coast. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, I shall neutralize this fact by stating another whicb t^an- 

 dour requires me to. mention. I picked up a fragment which 

 I have no doubt was the same substance, (though I have 

 now lost it,) on the shore of Sorrento, on the opposite side of 

 the Bay of Naples. It would be easy to frame hypotheses for 

 its occurrence there, such as that it was derived from the or- 

 namental work of the temples and the villas of wealthy Ra- 

 mans, which formerly stood nearly on that spot, but I own 

 that the circumstance is a presumptive argument for its ac- 

 cidental occurrence. But farther, I made particular . in- 

 quiry of an intelligent guide in Ischia as to the mode of 

 obtaining this substance, with which he was well acquainted, 

 and his communications certainly never led me to believe that 

 its occurrence was limited to the coast, or most abundant there. 

 I rather carried away the impression that it was found in 

 small quantity on the eastern side of the island, above the town 

 of Ischia, but that the principal sources having been exhaust- 

 ed, it was daily becoming scarcer, and now rarely met with. 

 Nor did he appear at all surprised at the locality in which the 

 rolled piece, already alluded to, was found at a great distance 

 from the sea. The hypothesis of being transported by the sea, 

 and by vessels as ballast, seem equally improbable. Why, in 

 the former case, should it have been thrown in comparatively 

 greatabundance on the Ischian coast, and on the neighbouring 

 ones rarely, or generally speaking, not at all. And in the latter 

 we should be much disposed to question how so large a quan- 

 tity of this beautiful substance (and none know better than the 

 Italians the value of serpentine and its allied minerals,) should, 

 beyond the memory of tradition, come to be diffused over the 

 shores of Ischia, not to ask where this beautiful substance was 

 obtained ; for most of the esteemed green ornamental stones of 

 Italy are not noble serpentine, but Diallage and Saussurite. 

 But it might be asked, if these suppositions are to be abandoned, 

 do the known facts connected with the constitution and pro- 

 ductions of the island warrant the opinion that it could be there 

 .found in situ 9 I answer, that in many respects they do : and 

 {first, as to its connection with volcanic rocks ; next as to the 



