Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. 81 



tion, both from the governor and all the officers of the government. 

 I vi^as received into the governor's family, and requested to occupy 

 a chamber in the palace while I re-mained on the island. This offi- 

 cer is a gentleman of unaffected politeness, of great simplicity of 

 manners, and is much loved and respected by the islanders. 



Elba is about sixty miles in circumference, of an irregular oblong 

 figure, its longer diameter running from west to east. Its surface is 

 exceedingly uneven, being thrown into every imaginable shape ; 

 there, rising into mountains two or three thousand feet in elevation ; 

 here, sinking into deep vallies. Some of the high lands are covered 

 with vegetation, but most of the summits of the mountains are na- 

 ked, and exhibit nothing but rocks, which a hundred centuries have 

 rendered almost as white as Parian marble. The vallies are pro- 

 ductive, yielding grapes in vast abundance, and grain of various 

 kinds, the fig, the orange, the watermelon, (which is here called cu- 

 cumber,^ pears, apples, plumbs, &ic. &;c. The number of inhabit- 

 ants in the island is about fifteen thousand. They are principally in 

 Porto Ferrajo, and the villages of Longone, Capoleon, Marinna and 

 Campo. There is little wood on the island, and what there is, is 

 a small growth. Jackasses, loaded with faggots, and pieces of wood 

 two or three inches in diameter, are constantly seen coming into 

 Porto Ferrajo from the country. The oak grows here, and the ma- 

 ple, and several other trees, which are common in America : but 

 there is one here that 1 have not met with before ; it is the cork tree, 

 whose bark is thick, and is used for stoppers of bottles, to make 

 lines float on water, &£C. I have cut a stick of it, which I shall have 

 converted into a cane when I arrive in Paris. 



The geological structure of Elba is different from any other part 

 of Italy. I saw no decidedly primitive country between Avallon in 

 France, and Naples. There may be land of this character in Italy, 

 and the south of France, which I did not see. 1 infer from what I 

 saw, that the whole country of which I speak, was of volcanic ori- 

 gin : in some places the lava is old, and in others young, but always 

 bearing evident marks of igneous fusion. I have crossed the Ap- 

 penines twice ; once over Mount Somma, one of the highest, 

 where I expected to find primitive rocks, but found nothing but 

 secondary limestone, full of pores, once, doubtless, filled with gas, 

 and a combination of other materials, which nothing but intense 

 heat could have generated. This island presents a curious mixture 

 of primitive and volcanic formations. The rugged mountain which 



Vol. XXXII.— No. I. U 



