328 Mr Forbes's Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples. 



some points of view. It is entirely composed of tufa, with in- 

 terposed beds of slaggy Java conformably stratified, and some 

 of the water sections of which present an interesting appear- 

 ance, as I observed in coasting along its shore, particularly on 

 the western side. The character of the island is very uniform, 

 and is rendered still more monotonous by the complete sacri- 

 fice of it to the culture of vines. It is only about six miles in 

 circumference, and in the highest state of cultivation. About 

 the present time the number of its inhabitants may be reckon- 

 ed at 14,000, and formerly amounted to 18,000 ; so that in 

 all probability, in proportion to its size, it is the most highly 

 inhabited land in the world, Malta not excepted. 



On the island pheasants at one time were preserved with so 

 much strictness for the royal sport, that no cats were allowed 

 to be domiciled, by a decree issued in the year 1750. Lalande 

 mentions a curious anecdote of the result : Rats became so 

 overwhelmingly numerous, that the inhabitants were threaten^ 

 ed with absolute destitution, and in a body were compelled to 

 petition against the royal decree. The castle still contains a 

 garrison, and has some pretensions to be considered as a de- 

 fence to the bay. From the point on which a telegraph is 

 placed, there is a magnificent view of the whole stretch of the 

 Bay of Naples and that of Gaeta,— a view in many respects 

 more satisfactory and picturesque than those obtained from 

 higher points, such as the Camaldoli di Napoli, or the summit 

 of the Island of Ischia. 



The north side of Procida is only about two miles distant 

 from the point of Misenum, and the similarity of the corre*- 

 sponding rocks has been remarked by Spallanzani and others. 

 On the south side Breislak thought he discovered symptoms of 

 the original crater of projection in the small island of Vivara, 

 which is at a short distance from the larger mass ; but this 

 authofr''s fanciful discrimination of craters has been formerly 

 pointed at. Vivara, however, seems to form a connecting link 

 with Ischia, which is extended by the picturesque detached 

 rock upon which the castle of Ischia stands, united to the land 

 merely by a low bridge of some length. All these features 

 point undeniably to some species of junction between the 



