22 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



cone, measuring about nine miles in circumference, 

 and rising to a height of about 2000 feet above the 

 level of the sea. To the south the declivity, which is 

 composed of old scorias, becomes a little less steep, 

 and forms a narrow and inclined plane, over which 

 are scattered about thirty houses, the materials 

 of which have all been supplied by the lava. A few 

 other habitations are clustered together in the north 

 of the island in a somewhat similar locality, and here 

 a little white- washed church forms a striking object 

 by its contrast to the dark rocks around it. In the 

 midst of the lava and scoriaB which have been 

 decomposed by the slow and gradual action of suc- 

 ceeding ages, a few garden vegetables and some 

 vines are cultivated, but the produce of these plants 

 would be insufficient for the maintenance of the 

 population, if they did not find lucrative employment 

 in the coral fishery. 



The mode of collecting the coral, which we had an 

 opportunity of observing, remains at the present 

 day the same as it was a century and a half ago, 

 when it was fully described by Marsigli.* Each 

 boat includes at least three men, who are provided 

 with a cross, to whose equal arms are attached strong 

 hempen nets. A large stone, which is placed in the 

 centre of the apparatus, draws it rapidly to the 

 bottom of the water, and not unfrequently to a depth 

 of two or three hundred feet. While one of the 



Marsigli, who was born at Bologna of a noble family, died in 

 1730. He was distinguished as a soldier and as a man of science. 

 His principal work on natural history is entitled " A Physical Essay 

 on the History of the Sea." 



