L I P A R I. 



tiarSmir ?nd the por,>liyritic rock, our atitlior found the fea to the fifTurcs of the glafTes, there is no veftigc of a fingle 



forming a kind of bav withiu tlie land, round which a few living vegetable over tlie whole Monte della Caftajnia ; and 



cottages arc built, alFordiiig flicker to a fmall number of in- on Campo Bianco they are extremely rare. Rcyond the 



habitants, who fub fill by the profits of a vineyard that ill pumices, the lavas again appear, begiiuiing from the " Punta 



repays their labour. The name of this place is Car>neto ; del Segno Nero," and extending in a chain of feveral miles. 



s^nd above it is a current of lava, of an argillaceous bafe, 

 fmiilar to that of the Arlio in li'chia. At the dillanceof 

 three miles from the haven of Lipari is Campo Bianco (the 

 White iieldj, fo called, becaufe it is a lofty and extenfive 



For the 

 we refer to 



mountain, compofcd entirely of white pumices. 

 nature, production, and properties of PumjVf, we 



■gno Mcro, ana extenduig 

 wliich on the fide of the fea defcends in precipices and 

 craggy declivities: and procccdimr further, the fea makes 

 an incurvature and forms a fmall bay, called the Valle di 

 Mnria, on tlie fides of which rife high and fteqi rocks of 

 lava, half demolidicd, and among the lava enamels and pu- 

 roicec. In examining the interior of the ifland, Monte 



that article. The mountain, wiiich is a prodigious mafs of Kan Angclo, fituated to the north of the city of Lipari, 



pumice, riles almoll perpendicularly from the fea, and, feen is the higheft mouniain, on the fummit of which is a cir- 



at a diftancc, appears to be about a quarter ot a mile in cular plain, furrounded by eminences flielving towards the 



hci'-^ht, and above half a mile in breadth. No plants grow infide, wliich M. Dolomieu imagined to be the remains of an 



upon it, except a few without fruits, like thole on the tops ancient crater, and which he fuppofes to have been the 



of the Alps. Its fides are ilreaked with numerous furrows, firft that was formed in the ifland, about a mile above the 



widenine and deepening as they ajiproaeh the bottom, and fea, through which the volcano burft forth, and which 



formed by the rains, which ealily corrode and excavate ierved as a bafe and fupport for the other mountains that 



a fuhliance fo loft and yielding as pumice. The fea at the were thrown up afterwards. Soon afterwards rofe its com- 



Lottom lias likewife occalioned great devaftations, by means panion, the Monte della Guardia, which looks towards the 



of which is laid open to view a large vein of horizontal louth, and little inferior to the other in height. Tliefe two 



lava on which the laft wave dies away when the fea be- mountains formed two iflands in the fea, which, enlarging 



comes calm. The formation of this lava was, therefore, each its refpedive bafe, united into one. To thefe two 



prior to the vail accumulation of pumices which rell upon mountains fubfequent eruptions made new additions, until 



it. This mafs of pumice is an agcrregation of numerous at length the whole ifland of Lipari was produced, which, 



beds or llrata, of pumices, fucceflively placed on each from the erofions of the rain and fea, is now certainly 



other, diilinguilliable by their colour ami by their projedion Icls than it once was. 



from the mountain. Some of thefe pumices are lo compatt Lipari, if we except fome few fiat places and praiElica-* 



that the fmallell pore cannot be dileemed, nor do they ex- j^j^. declivities, v.liich the inhabitants have rendered culti- 



hibit the leall trace of a filamentous nature. V. ith a lens vable by great labour, is a ruinous pile of horrid precipices, 



they appear to be an irregular accumulation ol fmall rugged cliffs, and enormous maffes ; and there is no fum- 



flakes of ice. Others are full of pores and vacuities of a p^jj^ f,or projefting part of a m'-UHitaia, which does not 



larger fize, ufually round ; and their texture is formed by exhibit manifeft indications of its future fall and deflrudion. 



filaments, and ftreaks, generally parallel to each other, and 1^1,^ materials of which thefe ruins are formed are pumices, 



of a ftiinin* filvcry whitcKcfs. Of thefe pumjces^ there are enamels, and glaffes, fimilar to thofe which we have already 



three kinds, which the people of Lipari dig for fale.' One 

 kind is employed in poliiliing different fubdanccs, and the 

 other two kinds arc ufed in the conftruftion of arched vaults, 

 and the corners of buildings. There are other kinds which 

 merit the attention of the natural hiflorian. In examining 

 tlicfe pumices our author obtained the following refults : 



I'umice of tlie 



rncl< ot" tlio 

 caHIp of Lipari. 



ill Species 

 of Campo 



Bia:iru. 



Silex 



AUimine 



Magnefia 



Lime 



Iron 



60.3 



6 



6 



2d 



Species. 



80 



6 



3 



4-7 



4.8 



aa 



Spciies. 

 80 

 4 



4 

 5-3 



4ih 

 Species. 



6 1 

 32.7 

 6 

 5.8 



3 



63 

 2+ 

 5.6 



2 



mentioned. 



The celebrated ftovcs of Lipari have exercifed the curio- 

 fity of travellers. Thefe lie four miles W. of the city, 

 and fomcwhat beyond the funinit of a mountain, which, 

 next to thofe of San Angelo and della Guardia, is one of the 

 higheft in the ifland. The road from the city to the ftovcs 

 is formed by a deep excavation, chiefly the work of rain- 

 waters, in an immenfe mafs of tufa. Our author conceives 

 that the volcanic tufas have been formed by flimy eruptions ; 

 without denying, however, that aflies, fand, and other fub- 

 tile matter* ejedled by volcanoes, and penetrated either by 

 the rain-waters, or thofe of the fea, where they covered the 

 bafes of the burning mountains, have been confolidatcd into 

 fome tufas. 



The tufa of Lipari, to which we now refer. 



Beyond Campo Dia,nco and its adjacent hills, rifcs a has every appearance of having bien an earthy current in 



5untain of another kind, called the Monte della Caftagna, our author's opinion. It begins at about 100 paces from 



; part of it dcfcending to the fea, is about the city, and continues, without interruption, to beyond the 



xtent, and above four miles in circumference, fummit of the Monte della Stufa, or Mountain of the Stoves. 



in, according to Uolomieu and our author, is (See Tula.) The floves, terminating a defcent of about 



200 feet in length, form a group of four or five caves, more 

 like to the dens of bears than the habitations of men, and 

 exhibiting much lefs art than the tidifices formed by the 

 Monte'della Caftagna, though apparently ifolatcd, are in beaver. Every cave has an opening at the bottom, through 

 reality a conneded groun, taken in its whole extent, having which the warm and tumid vapours enter, and another m the 

 a circuit of ei'rht miles '; nor is the extent of its vitrilica- top, through which they pafs out. On one of tbefe ftovcs 

 tionslefs, it in" thefe we include hkewife the puraiccs, which the thermometer flood at only .}«} ; but the vapour pof- 

 are in faft only a lefs perfect glafs. The fterility of thcl'c feffes fomewhat of a fuft'ocating nature. The lloves now 

 mountains is a confcquence of their vitreous nature, which, retain little more than their name, and whatever may have 

 in the courfe of fo many ages, has not been decompufed been their fuppofcd virtue in the cure of dilorders, they are 

 ;'ile a ven-etable earlh ; if w e except .a few lichcas attached now nearly dcfcrled. Under the lloves, and the adjacent 

 * 6 ground, 



mountain 



■which, in the 



one mile in ex 



This mountain, according 



entirely compofed of enamels and glallcs. For the defcrip- 



tion of thefe in their number and variety, -ive mull refer 



the reader to the work before us. Campo Bianco and the 



