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Ch. XXIV.] 



VOLCANOS OF THE PHLEGRJEAN FIELDS. 



017 



formed in Ischia, within the historical era. 



com 



Monte Nuo 



stratified con- 



formably to its conical surface. This hill was once very cele- 

 brated for its wines, and is still covered with vineyards ; but 

 when the vine is not in leaf it has a sterile appearance, and, 



om 



Vi 



T 



often contrasts so strongly in verdure with Monte Nuovo, 

 hich is always clothed with arbutus, myrtle, and other wild 

 evergreens, that a stranger might well imagine the cone of 

 older date to be that thrown up in the sixteenth century.* 



There is nothing, indeed, so calculated to instruct the 

 geologist as the striking manner in which the recent volcanic 

 hills of Ischia, and that now under consideration, blend with 

 the surrounding landscape. Nothing seems wanting or re- 

 dundant ; every part of the picture is in such perfect harmony 

 with the rest, that the whole has the appearance of having* 

 been called into existence by a 

 power. Yet what other result could we have anticipated if 

 nature has ever been governed by the same laws ? Each new 

 mountain thrown up — each new tract of land raised or 

 depressed by earthquakes — should be in perfect accordance 

 with those previously formed, if the entire configuration of 

 the surface has been due to a long series of similar dis- 

 turbances. Were it true that the greater part of the dry 

 land originated simultaneously in its present state, at some 

 era of paroxysmal convulsion, and that additions were after- 

 wards made slowly and successivelv during a period of 



single effort of creative 



mio'ht 



expect a strong line of demarcation 



the ancient and modern changes. 



of 



But the very continuity 



of the plan, and the perfect identity of the causes, are to 

 many a source of deception; since by producing a unity of 

 effect, they lead them to exaggerate the energy of the agents 

 which operated in the earlier ages. In the absence of all 

 historical information, they are as unable to separate the 

 dates of the origin of different portions of our continents, 



* Hamilton (writing in 1770) says, 

 ' the new mountain produces as yet but 

 a very slender vegetation.' — Campi 



Phlegrsei, p. 69. This remark was no 

 longer applicable when I saw it, in 

 1828. 



