L I P 
ethers by comprehending, fome barren rocks, have dimi- 
nilhed or increafed their number. The largeft is Lipari, 
being 19! Italian miles in circuit. Accordingly this 
ifland, from its extent, the number of its inhabitants, its 
agriculture and commerce, claims pre-eminence above all 
the ethers by which it is furrounded. Nor is it lefs im¬ 
portant in the eftimation of the naturalift from the quan¬ 
tity, variety, and unufual beauty, of the volcanic pro¬ 
ducts which it contains. Of the antiquity of the ifland, 
and of its exiftence before the Trojan war, we are certain, 
fince we learn from Homer, that, after the taking of Troy, 
Ulyfles landed there, and was treated with the utmoft ur¬ 
banity by king ,/Eolus, during the whole month of his 
continuance there; (Odyff. 1 . 10.) and, though we allow 
to the poet the' ufual licenfe of poetry, it is (till moll 
certain that he could not have named this ifland, and the 
city it contained, unlefs they exifted at the time when he 
wrote his poem, above 3000 years ago. But, if we con- 
fult other ancient and credible writers, we (hall find that 
before A 2 olus, Liparus reigned in this ifland, and that 
from him it took its name, being before called Melogo- 
nis, or Meligunis. The antiquity of this ifland may alfo 
be inferred from the manner of its production by fubter- 
raneous eruptions, in which the decompofition of volca- 
nized matters is neceffary, which requires a confiderable 
interval of time. If, therefore, Lipari had inhabitants 
and cities, and was a cultivated country, before the de- 
itruCtion of Troy, it is evident that it mull have exifted 
many ages prior to that event. But, from the time when 
mention is made in hiftory of this ifland to the prefent 
day, it is pretty certain that no true eruption or current 
of lava has taken place in it; for, if this had been the 
cafe, fome memorial would have been preferved of it, as 
well as of thofe of Stromboli-and Vulcano. See thole 
articles. 
Spallanzani made a circuit of this ifland for the purpofe 
of nrft examining its fhores; and he then afeended the 
mountains in its interior parts. In examining its fhores, 
he began with the city of Lipari, which extends along the 
ihores in the form of an amphitheatre; and in his re¬ 
searches in the harbour itfelf, under the caltle of the city, 
he found that it is ereCted on an immenfe rock of lava, 
that rifes perpendicularly from the water, and is entirely 
deftitute of all vegetation, except a few fialks of the Indian 
fig (CaCtus opuntia, Linn.) which grew in its fiffures. This 
lava is joined to large maffes of glafs, which form a whole 
with it, without any reparations or divifions in the mid¬ 
dle. The ancient exiftence of fire in this place is evinced 
by another circumftance, viz. that the vitreous fubflances 
already noticed are frequently accompanied by pumice, 
which is, in fadt, only an imperfedt glafs. Upon atten¬ 
tively examining this mixture of lava, glafs, and pumice, 
which forms the body of the rock, it appeared evident 
that there mu ft have been feveral currents that had flowed 
down the fides, and perhaps from the Summit, of the 
contiguous mountain Della Guardia, into the fea; fince 
the direction of their defeent is found on that fide, and 
even the filaments of the pumices point towards that 
mountain. 
The haven of Lipari forms a curve in the fhore, which 
to the louth begins at the foot of the Monte Capifullo, 
and ends to the north-eaft at the bottom of the Monte 
della Rofa. After having examined that part of the fltore 
which is contiguous to the harbour, lying under the caf- 
tle, and on the right fide of Monte Capifullo, our author 
made the circuit of the remainder of that curve to the 
bale of Monte della Rofa. In purfuing his tour,he found 
that Lipari, like the other /Eolian Illes, is at its bale 
snore or lefs corroded by the lea, which is frequently in a 
Race of violent agitation; the lower excavations caufe the 
parts above them to give way, and, in a feries of years, 
great malfes fall into the fea. To this the nature of the 
lava, which is full of cracks and fiffures, conliderably 
■’Contributes; not to mention the influence of the humi¬ 
dity of the atm'ofphere, and other deftiuCtive elements. 
Vol. XII. No. S70. 
A R I. 7 69 
Large heaps of thefe fragments accumulate on the (bore, 
and make room for others, and thus a gradual diminution 
of the ifland takes place. Beyond the harbour and por- 
phyritic rock, ourauthor found the fea forming a kind of 
bay within the land, round which a few cottages are built, 
affording flicker to a fmall number of inhabitants, who 
fubfift by the profits of a vineyard that ill repays their 
labour. The name of this place is Caiinelo-, and above it 
is a current of lava, of an argillaceous bafe; fimilar to 
that of the Arfio in Ifchia. At the diilance of three 
miles from the haven of Lipari is Campo Bianco , the White 
Field, fo called, becaufe it is a lofty and extenfive moun¬ 
tain, compofed entirely of white pumices. The moun¬ 
tain, which is a prodigious mafs of pumice, rifes almoft 
perpendicularly from the fea, and, feen at a diftance, ap¬ 
pears to be about a quarter of a mile in height, and above 
half a mile in breadth. No plants grow upon it, except 
a few without fruits, like thofe on the tops of the Alps. 
Its fides are ftreaked with numerous furrows, widening 
and deepening as they approach the bottom, and formed 
by the rains, which eafily corrode and excavate a fubllance 
fo l'ofr and yielding as pumice. The fea at the bottom 
has. likewife occafioned great devaftations, by means of 
which is laid open to view a large vein of horizontal lava, 
on which the laft wave dies away when the fea becomes 
calm. The formation of this lava was, therefore, prior to 
the vaft accumulation of pumices which reft upon it. See 
the article Lava, p. 2S0 of this volume. 
Beyond Campo Bianco and its adjacent hills, rifes a 
mountain of another kind, called the Monte della Calta- 
gna, which, in the part of it descending to'the fea, is about 
one mile in extent, and above four miles in circumference. 
This mountain, according to Dolomieu and our author, 
is entirely compofed of enamels and glaffes. Campo Bi¬ 
anco and the. Monte della Caftagna, though apparently 
ifolated, are in reality a connected group, taken in its 
whole extent, having a circuit of eight miles; nor is the 
extent of its vitrifications lefs, if in thefe we include like- 
wife the pumices, which are in faff only a lefs perfeft 
glafs. The fterility of thefe mountains is a confequence 
of their vitreous nature, which, in the courfe of lb many 
ages, has not been decompofed into a vegetable earth ; if 
we except a few lichens attached to the fiflures of the 
glafies, there is no veftige of a fingle living vegetable over 
the whole Monte della Caftagna; and on Campo Bianco 
they are extremely rare. Beyond the pumices, the lavas 
again appear, beginning from the Punta del Segno Nero, 
and extending in a chain of feveral miles, which on the 
fide of the fea defeends in precipices and craggy declivi¬ 
ties; and, proceeding further, the fea makes an incurva¬ 
ture, and forms a fmall bay, called the Valle di Muria, oti 
the fides of which rife high ami fteep rocks of lava half- 
demoliftied, and among the lava enamels and pumices. In 
examining the interior of the ifland, Monte San Angelo, 
fituated to the north of the city of Lipari, is the highelt 
mountain, on the fummit of which is a circular plain, 
furrounded by eminences Shelving towards the infide, 
which M. Dolomieu imagined to be the remains of an an¬ 
cient crater, and which he fuppoles to have been the fir ft 
that was formed in the ifland, about a mile above the fea-, 
through which the volcano burft forth, and which ferved 
as a bafe and fupport for the other mountains that were 
thrown up afterwards. Soon afterwards rofe its compa¬ 
nion, the Monte della Guardia, which looks towards the 
foutli, and little inferior to the other in height. Thefe 
two mountains formed two i/lands in the fea, which, en¬ 
larging each its refpeftive bafe, united into one. To thefe 
two mountains fnbiequent eruptions made new additions, 
until at length the whole ifland of Lipari was produced. 
Lipari, il we except fome few flat places and practica¬ 
ble declivities, which the inhabitants have rendered cul¬ 
tivable by great labour, is a ruinous pile of horrid preci¬ 
pices, rugged cliffs, and enormous maffes; and there is 
no fummit, nor projecting part of a mountain, which does 
not exhibit manifelt indications of its future fall and de- 
9 K- itruCtio 9 ?, 
