LINOSA AND ITS ROCKS 5 



(the fruit of which serves as food for man and the fleshy stems for 

 beast), some sparse crops of grain are raised, or they are given over 

 to stragghng vineyards, from which a harsh, but not unpleasant, red 

 wine is produced. Fishing is the only industry, and this barely suffices 

 for local needs. 



Communication with civilization is kept up by a small steamer, 

 which touches at the island on its biweekly trip from Pantelleria to 

 Girgenti, and again a day and a half later on the return voyage, 

 touching at Lampedusa both ways. This interval was necessarily 

 the limit of my visit, but the small size of the island enabled me to 

 make a fairly complete study of its geology. 



The earliest evidences of human occupation are seen in some 

 ruins, which consist of long and narrow foundation walls, appar- 

 ently of houses, built of blocks of tuff, and also several pot-shaped 

 graves, lined with cement, which I saw near the summit of Monte 

 Levante, and in which my guide said skeletons had been found. 

 These, as well as vases and coins said to have been found on the 

 island (none of which I saw), point to the habitation of the island in 

 (probably) Roman times. But it was apparently abandoned during 

 the Middle Ages and later, and remained uninhabited until 1845,' 

 when some colonists were imported by the government. These 

 earlier colonists inhabited several rude chambers hewn in the tuff 

 on the west slope of Monte Bandiera, which are now unoccupied.^ 

 The modern village consists of a single street, with low, one-storied 

 houses, and few houses are scattered about the island. At the time 

 of my visit there were said to be about 240 persons residing on the 

 island, including a customs officer, Signor N. Raneri, to whom I am 

 deeply indebted for most courteous hospitality and assistance, a priest, 

 and a government physician. A lighthouse occupies the northeast 

 corner. 



General geology. — The only rocks visible on the island are volcanic, 

 and the whole mass has been built up out of the sea by a succession 



1 Cf. Mercalli, op. cit., p. 161, note. According to D'Avezac, Captain Smyth 

 (before 1823) found no inhabitants nor, indeed, any animal hfe, except some falcons. 

 He set free on the island some goats and rabbits, and planted peas, beans, wheat, 

 barley, tobacco, and castor beans in various places, all traces of which benefactions 

 having now disappeared. 



2 According to Deecke {loc. cit.) they were abandoned in 1878. 



