No. VII. — Islands qfProcida and Ischia. 331 



Before giving an account of the constitution of the island 

 and its mineral springs, I shall notice one or two facts connect- 

 ted with its physical history. Its revolutions both from his- 

 tory and from observed structure, appear to have been nume- 

 rous and varied, and, as Dr Daubeny well observes, we here 

 find pumiceous conglomerates corresponding to the Pozzuolana 

 of the Phlegra^an fields, trachytes to the rock of the Solfatara, 

 and lavas to those of Vesuvius. Repeated colonies have set- 

 tled in Ischia : according to Strabo the Erythraeans, and after- 

 wards the Chalcidians were among the first, and they were 

 driven away at a very remote period, by the number and vio- 

 lence of the earthquakes. A colony was established by Hiero, 

 king of Syracuse, about 380 years before the Christian aera, * 

 but being engaged in building some fortifications, they were 

 so alarmed by earthquakes and eruptions, that they also left 

 the island. Not very long after this, as we know, Vesuvius 

 began to give symptoms of activity, and a pretty regular course 

 of eruptions followed, during the dominion of the Romans and 

 the middle ages. The volcanic energy which so long had cha- 

 racterized the western extremity of the bay, took a more eastern 

 direction, and materially changed the character of the Ischian 

 volcano, which had a long interval of repose. The eruptions 

 which, on the testimony of Timseus, took place formerly 

 from the summit of the island, then called Mons Epopeus, 

 now took a lower level of emission, and the returning en- 

 ergy in this quarter, which the eruption of the Solfatara in 

 1198 indicated, not very long after reached Ischia, with a 

 violence which seemed aggravated by the quiescence of cen- 

 turies. At the close of the 13th century this unfortunate 

 island was distracted by political commotions, and alterna- 

 tely fell into the hands of the houses of Arragon and An- 

 jou, but these evils were destined to be effaced, and the 

 contested spot absolutely divested of inhabitants, and threat- 

 ened with annhilation by the natural convulsions witli which 

 the 14th century commenced. During part of 1301, arth- 



* Some corfusion has prevailed from the occurrence of two kings of Sy- 

 racuse of this name, the second of whom lived a century and a half later; 

 it appears, however, to have been Hioro I. who colonised Ischia. See An- 

 uria, Trattato delle acque Mineral, ii. 38. 



