ITALY. LETTER XXIV. 315 



LETTER XXIV. 



Milan, July 8, 1772. 



MY journey from Turin hither afforded me 

 fcarcely any opportunity of making obferva- 

 tions worth your notice. A plain, flat, well-culti- 

 vated country, with fome fwampy rice-fields, fpoke 

 the vicinity of Lombardy. The rice is commonly 

 planted in the Milanefe, about Mantua ; and in the 

 Veronefe, in the fame manner as has been defcribed 

 in Spolvermi's Poema il Rifo. The Northern part 

 of the Milanefe, bordering on the Grifon-hills in 

 Switzerland (gli Grigioni') is mountainous. Above 

 the Lago di Como, in a tract of mountains called 

 La Grigna, and in the Valle Sq/ina, are the Mila- 

 nefe mines, which inclofed in micaceous flate 

 partly yield iron ore fpeckled with copper, and 

 partly lead-ore. Many confiderable mountains in 

 thefe parts confift of Granites ; fuch, for example, 

 as thofe which Ikirt the Lago Maggiore, and the 

 delightful Borromean iflands, in the form of an 



amphi- 



